To be itching to get back to work?

[ByThePowerOfRa]

And how the devil can I do it?

I’m a sahm to one dc with another on the way. This has been lovely and I’m glad I’ve been able to have so much time with my dc, but it was not ‘the plan’; I was made redundant, (two years ago), while on maternity leave with dc1 and would have preferred to return to work.

I love being able to be with my dc, but I also hate having no income and it panics me to think of how on Earth we’d ever pay our mortgage and bills if Dh suddenly lost his job. Thinking of the long term as well, I don’t want to be at home for too long as I worry about my cv, my general lack of career and experience when both dcs start school and I’m trying to find work.

Dc2 is due in January and I’m now thinking about how and when I’ll get back to work.

I worked in admin pre-dc, so a lot of my experience will now be out of date.

Any advice much appreciated.

Blatant bump (sorry). Maybe morning people might post.

Hopefully a lot of your skills and knowledge will still be up to date, and your general work skills - working efficiently, problem solving, etc are still relevant, two or three years out isn't too bad. Are there any free courses you can do to get knowledge up to date? For example there's a future learn one about the new data protection laws, would that be relevant? Proves you're still in the work mindset.

NHS or local council - always have gazillions of jobs up

If you have degrees etc and aren't out of the work place too long I wouldn't worry overly. I was out for 5 years and now 4 years on I'm back to where I would've been without the break. I did an OU course while off to keep my brain ticking over and would highly recommend it.

Could you do freelance work for a few hours each week,? On your CV it would then look like you've continued your career. You could also keep up with developments in your line of work and perhaps make useful contacts.

I was quite happy to return to work after 6 months myself by the way. A career and income is important to me and spending all day every day looking after my DD would probably drive me insane.

Yes, I’d love to do some freelance work in the week, but have no idea where to begin finding it! I’ll do some more research (not just browsing on my phone). I’d also consider nights or weekend work if it was something I could do around dcs.

I’m looking into some courses I can do from home or short courses I could do in person as well.

Glad to read some people have returned to work and got back on track career-wise. I have a degree in modern languages and politics, . Maybe I could brush up on my language skills, as I wouldn’t feel confident using my languages at work atm.

Can you afford the time and money to retrain in something you'd love to do and use it as a way to ease back into the workforce and start career again somewhere you will be happy 10yrs from now? That's what I'd do!

I have some savings, but probably not enough for another degree. I don’t think many universities would take me for a masters as I have a 2:2, so that might be tricky. I considered a pgce a while ago, but my modern language skills aren’t up to it and honestly, the more I think about teaching, the less I think it would be for me. It sounds incredibly stressful and challenging. Hats off to people who do it.

Also, I’m worried about spending all my savings unless I can be sure a job would result at the end of it.

No no, don't trade one hard job for another! What about trying to build on your admin role (was it in companies?) and looking for some training to set you up in HR direction or something? I'm not sure where your interests lie but I'd be looking for something that has generally controllable hours and possibility to earn well and progress.

I did work in a regulatory body for solicitors and then went on to do a paralegal qualification, (not valid here as was in another region of the uk). I was thinking of maybe building on that by doing a legal secretarial course, but then it’s a bit of a gamble as my only legal job ended in 2010 and I’ve done other admin since. Tricky.

Good legal secretaries are hard to find so you'd have options if you did that. They also get paid well and part time is common for people with families.

Thanks oddman, that’s reassuring. The diploma is £900, so not insignificant, but wouldn’t bankrupt us!

Maybe doing that plus brushing up on languages might be useful. If I could get one of my languages up to a standard where I could use it at work it might boost my cv.

Definitely brush up your language skills. I have two language degrees and they have been absolutely invaluable in terms of getting the job I am in now. I have a c-suite job in a European company. Never underestimate language skills.

Never used them myself but there are sites that connect freelancers to people looking for work on a task by task basis. Freelancer.co.uk or peopleperhour.com are two. Might be worth a look?