To ask you all for job/career advice?

[Swankyswishing]

I haven't worked for a few years now and am a SAHM but would like to go back to work in a couple of years' time when my youngest is at school. I've never had a career as such, so have only got GCSEs and an NVQ in Business Administration. I really don't want to go down the admin route again as it's low paid and I didn't enjoy it.

I really haven't got any spare money to pay for re-training at this moment in time. Has anyone got any ideas of careers I could enter and then train on the job or do training alongside working? I might possibly be able to afford to pay to re-train once I do actually have a job but obviously I'm assuming I'd be on a fairly low wage initially if I was doing something new?

Thanks in advance for any advice

Not all admin work is low paid, but almost any job you go into with little experience is going to be on the lowest end of the pay scale.

Admin also covers a very wide scope, but it depends what work you want to do too.

What sort of thing would you LIKE to do?

I'd quite like to go into sales, I did briefly have a job in a sales and marketing office, doing telesales and working on marketing campaigns, that I really enjoyed but whilst I was on maternity leave with my middle child the company ceased trading.

you could get a childcare job or a teachoing assistant job and do an nvq at the same time
or you could try your local college, they sometimes do free courses
or try the job centre and ask what they suggest training wise to get back into work

I have to admit I'm not really keen to work with children. Another avenue I thought might be good would be to try and get a job working for a bank, not sure if I would need some other qualifications to do this though, such as a finance qualification?

Sales is a very stressful job, or can be, if you are expecting to earn a lot of money.

It is easy to get a job in sales, it is much harder to be successful and KEEP a job in sales.

Market research may be something that you would enjoy, and the hours can be fairly flexible too.

Yes, market research sounds very interesting, Squeaky. Is that the kind of job where you interview people in the street or go door-to-door? Or is it done via the telephone? If it's the latter it could be a no-go round here as I'm in a rural area so there are no call centres in this area.

firstly, you need to have some idea of what it is you want to do. Also, if you're not planning to go back to work for another couple of years then you should take this time to see if you can gain some qualifications in the meantime.

As a sahm looking to go back to work I can tell you that it is incredibly difficult to get back into work where unemployment is at its highest level in decades and where it is essentially an employer's market.

If you have something to fall back on in terms of something more recent i.e. a qualification which you have gained in anticipation of your return to the work place you will be looked on more favourably.

I totally agree with what you're saying, wannaBe, however money is very tight for us and I definitely couldn't stretch to, say, one of the £300 courses from the OU or anything like that.

You can start in a bank and work your way up. You'll need a GCSE pass in maths and English or an equivalent but your NVQ in business administration will stand you in good stead. When I was recruiting we'd always look for people with common sense. That is often lacking in many candidates.

A cashier salary is about £12-15,000 a year (depending where you live) and a personal banker salary is about £13,500-18,500 depending on location and experience. Full training should be provided by the organisation with many offering in house academies now.

Apply to high street banks now. No need to do more qualifications. What I would say is don't work in your local branch unless you want to be stopped in the supermarket/park to discuss why so-and-so did not get an overdraft.

Banking - apart from in the city - isn't actually well paid for most people. And banks are shedding staff all the time.

You need advice from someone in sales and marketing to know if this would be seen as worthwhile - but I know large national charities do have marketing departments and you might be able to volunteer remotely from them i.e. over phone and internet.

But unless you are planning to move in the future you need to think about the kind of jobs that are actually available within travelling distance if you live somewhere rural.

I recommend getting on the next steps Gov site and completing their skills profile, it gives you a report that shows what you are suited to, they have centres all over that you can go to, used to be connexions I think but the adult version who can point you to free training and job seeking advice such as putting together a CV. very helpful.

There is such large turnover in front of house banking staff (pressurised environment, sales targets not everyone's cup of tea) that there are always cashier and PBA vacancies.

Branch staff are generally not being shed unless they are qualified advisors (mortgage/investment types) although back office shedding is getting more common.

most sales jobs are quite tough entry level, and will involve alot of telesales! can you handle that? Why not try

estate agent
recruitment
sales admin work

you may as well do something you are interested in!

I have been in sales for 15 years now! It is tough but if you get the right role it can be challenging and fun
feel free to PM me if you want more advice

It's a good start that you like sales. Lots of people don't, but if you have a flair for it then you should be okay without a particular qualification as long as you can find an entry-level position (in your rural area!) and can sell yourself.

As others have said, it's not a great time to be starting a new career, but it's not impossible. Why not investigate sales opportunities with some financial services companies (large and local) and see what they're looking for, then you can gear up for that - do some work experience maybe to get your foot in the door and prove yourself?

Have you thought about setting up a business of your own selling things?

How about supermarket work? You don't need much in the way of qualifications to get a foot in the door (and now's a good time to be applying as they'll be starting to look for Christmas staff soon). The big names will train you up, and if you make it clear that you are wanting to go beyond shelf-filling and the till, and you show willing, they will train you beyond that. They can also be very flexible about what hours you work and when.