What job is right for me?

[Redhothoochycoocher]

I've been a teacher for 15 years. Left a year ago and learnt a lot about my skills since leaving and now that I've done some other types of work. Please help me think about what work I'd be suited to with these skills and interests.

1. I'm very interested in people, curious about them, what makes them tick, what they've done before, who their families are etc.
2. I get on well with people and make them feel at ease. I can bring groups of people together and they all get on well.
3. I'm creative and I like coming up with ideas.
4. I'm a good problem solver. I can visualise a problem and the route to a solution quite quickly.
5. I'm analytical, particularly when thinking about people's behaviour and choices.
6. I'm really efficient. I seem to work at triple speed and maintain quality compared to colleagues.

Things I'm not good at:

1. Not great at accuracy eg looking at spreadsheets. I can do it but I'm not very thorough.
2. As much as I enjoy maths, I'm not great with numbers. I don't see patterns in numbers quickly.
3. Not hugely comfortable presenting to groups or public speaking. I can and will do it and always get good feedback but it's not enjoyable for me.
4. I take a while to feel comfortable around people. I'll appear at ease and can shoot the breeze but it can take me months to show my personality a bit more.
5. I enjoy organisation but if I'm honest it's not a strength. A classic 'ooh I'll buy a new notebook, then my life will be sorted out' type of person.
6. I get bored quite quickly.
7. I'm not one of those people that can capture a rooms attention. Totally the opposite. I have a memory seared into my brain of standing with 3 colleagues. One posed a problem she was having. I suggested a solution which garnered zero response and literally 2 mins later another colleague said exactly what I'd said and everyone agreed it was the best solution. So, yeah, something about that.

Typically the work I've enjoyed most has been assessing problems, suggesting solutions and then moving on to the next problem. Is there a job where I'd get to do that?

Are you planning to do some additional training? CBT therapist if so? Or charity sector project development - or fundraising type stuff? Would be a good sector to take your skills from teaching into?

User researcher/ user experience design?

user-research.education.gov.uk/

Charity fundraising is usually a lot of public speaking or presentations, lots of spreadsheets too…

Yes definitely able to retrain. I don't have endless finds but I could put some money into this. I've already spent some on an entry level prof qual since leaving education so want to be very sure before I commit any more funds to something else.

Have you thought of going into social work with your people skills?

Social Work does interest me but I have a friend who is a social worker and it sounds so so tough. I'm not sure I could do it at the moment. I have a young family and one of the reasons I left teaching was because the demands of the job were too high so I'm not sure SW would be right for me at the moment

Educational psychology? Or of not something related. Also, there is the step up to social work. Family support? Some of these work to limited time scales with families providing interventions.

You talk about your skills but not what you want from work. Money? Work life balance? A whole new career? A stress free job in a different sector? Something to progress or something which makes good money for what it is? Does respect and job title matter? Working from home or working shifts? If training how long would you be willing to retrain, a year? A 6 year part time phd?

Have you thought about occupational therapy? This is a great career if you want to work with people and are a creative problem solver. There are so many places you could work. You can do a 2 year pre-registration MSc and in my experience people with teaching experience are well suited to this.

Good questions. Thank you.

Money wise 25k+ would suit me at the moment but I definitely want a career, I want to progress and I'd like to have the option to earn a lot more eventually.
Work life balance is really important. I want flexibility in my hours so that I can drop my children off at school and be able to work from home. My ideal would be a totally flexible set up ie having a workload and so long as it's done then no one is checking the clock. I don't want to work shifts.
Totally open to a whole new career. Prepared to train for 1-2 years initially but I'd also be open to more studying further along the line.
I don't need totally stress free. I can work to deadlines but I don't want a job where everything is urgent and important and should have been done yesterday. I want my work to have value though and appreciate that this might bring pressure.
I'm not sure about job title/ respect and whether that matters. I want to feel respected at work but I don't care if my friends think what I'm doing is respectable.

Thanks very much for all the suggestions. Lots of food for thought and gives me a starting place for research.