To ask about jobs for people who left school with no qualifications?

[Catslovepies]

My sister left school with no qualifications at 16. She then started working in restaurants and became a chef which she is extremely talented at. However she is 45 now and burnt out and wants to do something different.

She loves animals and is very creative and personable. She can't handle being around people who are ill so hospital work and probably also care work are out. She also gets bored easily so something with some variety would be good.

She could do a short course say up to a year long if it would improve her chances? I posted a thread here before about her having some mental health issues so something not too stressful would be good. Thank you for any ideas!

Near us there are animal/play farms/tourist attraction things. Perhaps working somewhere like that. As a chef she'll have a good work ethic and tons of tranferable skills.

Dog grooming? One of my neighbours does it (has an outbuilding in her garden where she does grooming) and she gets a lot of business.

Dog walking/sitting is very much in demand too.

What about teaching cooking, not in schools, but there are hundreds of colleges running evening cooking classes or other organisations running day time classes. These will still be doing what she loves, but in a lower pressure environment.
The vast majority of people who work with animals have a least a level 2 diploma in animal care. If she has no post16 qualification she could go back and do this. She would need to pass level two functional skills in Maths and English as well.

Thanks for the responses. I think dog walking could be good but she has asthma so can't walk as far as most people her age. Grooming would be ideal as would dog and cat sitting. With grooming though she wouldn't have the space so would maybe need to buy one of those dog grooming mobile vans if she can afford one.

I think the level 2 diploma in animal care is something she could definitely work towards, also.

i dont think the fact she left school at 16 30 years ago matters being a chef has many skills associated with that but cant give advice as there are many jobs she could potentially apply and get but wouldnt want/enjoy

I think you're right, greenloon. The other difficulty is her work history has been sporadic due to mental health issues.

I wonder if there is much call for in-home chef service? She could go to wealthy people's homes and cook them a meal. Or a high-end meal preparation and delivery service. Healthy balanced homemade food rather than takeaways. She'd need environmental health inspections and such for that I'd expect.

Could she do anything about training so train chefs?

Has she considered warehouse work? I'm a mature student but during the holidays I work in a big local warehouse. I really enjoy it, it's a laugh, the time flies by & so long as we're hitting targets we're left alone. Pay is usually good at big companies due to it being a traditionally male dominated job (living wage rate plus bonuses & shift allowance if applicable). It's by no means a cushy number, you're expected to work hard & but it feels very much like 'a fair days pay for a fair days work' if you get my meaning.

I dont think she'd be able to get a full time job training chefs as she doesn't have any qualifications...She can only prove how good she is by actually cooking and doesn't have a great c.v.

Warehouse work could be good, though, as long as it didn't involve lifting anything really heavy. She'd love to hang out with fun colleagues and have a laugh while working. I always thought that warehouse work was stressful with really strict targets and constantly rushing. Maybe that's just Amazon though?

From your pp I assume shes not turned off cooking altogether but sick of the restaurant environment? I know a lady who has set up as an independent chef based in London who goes and caters for parties or meals in clients' own houses. She used to be a private chef for a wealthy family too. I wouldn't know what steps to take unfortunately but it seems the demand is out there for this kind of thing.

Thanks Bigfanofcheese. If the demand is seriously out there then I think that would be great for her. I was also wondering about environmental health officers but I think based on googling you need a degree for that. And for something completely different she might like working for an estate agency, especially showing houses.