To ask if you have changed careers in your mid 30s or later in your life?

[judybloomno5]

I am currently on maternity leave and I am considering changing careers.

I am currently in HR where I have worked in a call centre helpdesk environment and its recently been restructured so i feel my job has been downgraded and my skills will disintegrate. I have a good general business degree and I work for my DP part time (its not a business i could go into without us buying a premises which we aim to do but don't currently have the finances for, I just collect his receipts and manage accounts for him).

Have you changed careers at this stage in your life? What did you move to?

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. 31 and feel I want a career change. I just have no idea what I'd like to do!

How do you know?!

Good luck @Moonshine

Thanks Vivienne-I'll certainly keep my eye out. There are so many possibilities-quantity surveyor, train driver!!

cguk81 Your interests and skills are really transferable into the areas you're looking at so definitely worth a bit more research. I thought about the advice route but decided I didn't love any one topic enough to become an expert in it and coaching ticked my boxes because it's work related without being too narrow. Shame about police and crime commissioners not being in Scotland as that might have been a good fit.

Your middle management heavy comments rang very true with me. I jumped ship from a similar environment despite being offered an improved role simply because I couldn't stand the idea of suffocating under that any longer.

(Quietly desperate to find out what kind of PhD TiredClare did)

I have had 2 "careers" in academia. In 2 rather different areas, you wouldn't expect one to follow the other. I can't recognise the difficulties others describe. I didn't follow the path they think is only right one, we haven't yet recruited any 25yo males :).

I imagine I will get quite bored in my 2nd academic career, some time in next 5-8 yrs. Not at all sure what I'll go do instead, at that point.

I'm another one who has left nursing and has no clue what to do!

TiredClare - analytical services at ministry of justice is good for academics crossing over, lots of research, you get published in different areas. I worked with lots of PHD holders and researched really interesting areas of the criminal justice system.