To give up lovely pt job to go full time?

[JobDilema]

Sorry - have nc’ed and am posting here for traffic. Also I realise I’ve spelled my user name wrong, so three cardinal MN sins in one go, but hey ho.

Anyway I’m in a bit of a dilemma as to what to do. I have a lovely job: fun, part time, flexible hours, lovely boss, well paid, nice colleagues. The kind of job that you would bite your arm off for. However, I’ve been there over ten years now and I am bored! I’m bored with the place and the limited variety of my work. I like the people but that is not enough to make me want to stay. I feel as if my life is passing me by. My teen dcs don’t need me so much, I feel as if I’m not much more than a servant to the rest of the family, I seem to exist to serve others! I have two degrees and have lots of professional experience ffs. My position at my current place of employment offers no promotion prospects... basically I feel as if I could plod along there until I retire.

A new role has come up locally. Quite rare in my line of business. It’s full time. Commensurate in salary to existing job but of course more hours therefore more money. Big company (household name) and I would imagine great promotion prospects too, should I want to push further. I should add that his is a step up from my current role and the wages reflect a more realistic amount than what I am being paid (not putting myself down but I am being paid more than I really should be 😬). I am excited about this job.

I’ve been asked to an interview the week after next. But I don’t know if I want to go for it! Going ft will be really hard work; I will need to sort out School run logistics for one of the dcs, and we have a dog.

I don’t want to waste the company’s time! Has anyone gone full time and regretted it? Am I being completely mad to consider it in the first place? I can’t get my head straight over this and I’m already starting to panic about coming across as insincere in the interview.

What age are the DCs sorry if you've posted already ?
Definitely go for the interview entirely possible that they may go for 4 days a week if you're the best candidate.

They are 13 and 14

I’ve gone from PT flexible hrs to FT 9-5 through necessity though.
I can’t say I regret it, but I hankered after my PT hours for a bit- it was a big wrench upping to FT and I was knackered, but it’s been worth it career wise. However after 5 years at FT I’ve just negotiated compressed hrs (5 days over 4) as I do feel lacking in time for myself ie for exercise, general house stuff (we have a cleaner), appointments.

I'm in a similar situation and I've decided to go for it with the new job. My current job would "tick along" but I needed to take the plunge.

As soon as I did , I felt so much better!

Best decision I ever made was to return to full time, following several years of part time when the children were pre schoolers.

Although some part time roles can be great, there do seem to be more full time opportunities for the more interesting roles. It also meant that it was only for the few years while I was on maternity leaves and part time working that I took on the lion’s share of domestic stuff: once I stepped back to full time, we shared everything pretty much equally, like in the pre-children days.

Having a more interesting and fulfilling role has been the number 1 reason for being f/t but a close second reason is my pension, which is far better than if I’d remained p/t for ages. Not that I really thought too much about it years ago, but now I’m in my 50s it’s high on my agenda.

Personally I think you’d be mad not to go for it. You’re bored in your current role. It may be easy, and in your comfort zone because you’ve done it so long, but sticking in it will mean you missing more exciting opportunities out there. Yes it will take some adjusting because you and your dh are used to your current set up. But life is a journey; you don’t stand still.

I'd also say go for the interview and see how you feel after that.
One thing to add though - how full time is full time? There's 9-5 with a short commute and a bit of flexibility and there's jobs that require travel, overnight working, working from home a lot and doing stuff on evenings and weekends.
I went from part time to full time 18 months ago but it was full on full time. I barely had time to make a personal phone call - and am expected to answer emails and attend evening 'socials' regularly. It took its toll through exhaustion and never actually having any time off. I'm moving to another full time role but it's not expected to have nearly as many extra hours required!

Thanks again all, I’m reading each of your posts with great interests.

It’s 37.5 hours pw so I guess standard 9-5 with probably a bit of working late from time to time as is to be expected (but I’m not prepared to do it often as I will need to rush back for family duties). AFAIK no travel however I wouldn’t mind a bit every now and again!

If I get through this stage I will be asking about the possibility of WFH, as it’s something that can be done quite easily in my current role.

Sorry - great interest (singular!)

I did the same when made redundant from a nice pt role. It is knackering! And you have to fit a lot of shitwork into the weekends (buying school shoes and uniform, vet appointments, dr, dentist, present shopping, queueing at the post office for half an hour on a Saturday to post a letter overseas). All that stuff has to be crammed in on a Saturday. You have to be uber-organised, and outsource cleaning, childcare, as much as you can.

I also found that I pay full price a lot more for children’s clothes shoes etc, as I just don’t have the time to seek out bargains. I used to get a lot of kids clothes by popping into m&s next etc in the sale straight after the school run. Now it’s full price at short notice. And exercise - I’m on the go all day so I’m sure that must count for something.

I quite like the new job I have and have bee doing this for 3 years now. But I do hanker after a day a week just to take the pressure off.

Oh and get as much online as you can - banking, groceries, insurance, all that kind of thing.

You’re not a library assistant atm are you?

I'd say go for it. Your DCs are old enough to help out around the house and do the dog walking. Also, are they not able to get public transport to school? I was doing that from 11!

I did, kids reacted quite badly at first, but soon got used to being more organised and resilient etc

It's very tiring I think because your older!

Have you thought about the holidays? I found mine sleep until lunch time any way and generally hang round til tea time.

But so look into a cleaner and a dog flap if he's not too big!

You are overthinking this OP.
Go for it full speed ahead. And damn the torpedoes, there aren't any.

Definitely go for it - DCs are teens will encourage them to be independent

I once worked in a Library. Trust me - they aren't over paid!

Of course I regret going full time. However the opportunity arose to move into another job and increase my hours, my kids were at High school and Yr6 and we needed the money. Prior to that I'd toddled along on jobshare hours and had the best of both worlds. But DH hates his job and I didn't think it fair that he bear more of the financial burden so I could stay at home half the week when I had the potential to earn more money that was needed.

It isn't that hard to adjust if you are organized as your kids are teens but it can be a slog. I work in a lovely team but if I could afford to I'd love to be part time.
Be prepared for it to be very different to what you are used to but it sounds like you are up for a challenge so go for the Interview.

I’m not a library assistant no