To retrain in my 30s with children

[SundayGirlB]

Well, child but I intend to have another, DS is 1. I'm early 30s.

Work in HR and while it's given me a lot of confidence (something I lack) and skills it's not really my thing. I live in Kent and don't want to commute to London anymore and local HR jobs are few and far between anyway.

Re money, I want an investment that will pay off so am open to ideas that aren't funded but funded also good! I have a first in Eng Lit and a CIPD level 5.

Things I've considered: teaching, social work, nursing, law, psychology. People seem to retrain as accountants but that leaves me cold and I wasn't great at Maths.

Thoughts and experiences please! I am probably going to be working for a loooong time and want the time spent away from my son to be worth it! As always I'm unsure of what would be a good career move.

Love that someone suggested careers advisor, that's my job, no one ever suggests it!

peppermoomoo
It's a wonderful job which is massively undervalued :)

@nicenames I did the HMRC graduate scheme so I am now a civil servant working in tax.

What about copywriter? And/or proofreading/editing? You could go straight to freelance, but would take a while to build up your client base. It's not something I've done, but something I keep considering from time to time...

www.louiseharnbyproofreader.com/blog/a-new-year-a-new-career-transitioning-to-proofreading-and-copy-editing#

Speech & language therapist? Think it's a 2 year conversion if you already have a degree.

Solicitor here and I agree with @emsyj37 about law. The hours and working culture (at least where I work) are brutal.

What about organisational psychology? Clinical psychology as very very competitive and very few manage to quality due to lack of job experience you need to do the doctorate.
Organisational psychology is not as competitive and theres some overlap with HR so your career could definitely give you an advantage.

I think you need to think what interests you have first. You could do anything. Financial advisor?

if it helps- subjects such as nursing, physio, etc, health subjects are entitled to a minimum 5k extra bursary this year, plus normal student finance.
if you have children, its £7000 a year you do not pay back

like i said, on top of normal student loans/grants/etc

best of luck

if it helps- subjects such as nursing, physio, etc, health subjects are entitled to a minimum 5k extra bursary this year, plus normal student finance.
if you have children, its £7000 a year you do not pay back

like i said, on top of normal student loans/grants/etc

best of luck

T@AdultierAdult this may sound like a cliche but I want to do something that makes me feel like I am making a difference. I also love studying so something where I could do further study to build in career would be interesting which is why I considered nursing, lots of different branches.

I love to be busy in work, I get bored easily but do not want to bring loads of work home with me so I know I should steer clear of teaching really.

@MissPatty I hope it gets easier for you, major respect here for you! My mum trained as a single parent and she worked so so hard but it was totally worth it.

@Welshmaenad I have seriously considered social work, I was thinking about adult social work as I have volunteeted mentoring young adults with learning difficulties and really enjoyed it. What is the workload like and staff morale? What experience did you have before starting the course? How easy was it when studying to balance family life and once in the role? I have a supportive partner but he is out from 7 to 7, though my parents are happy to help.

"@Welshmaenad I have seriously considered social work, I was thinking about adult social work as I have volunteeted mentoring young adults with learning difficulties and really enjoyed it. What is the workload like and staff morale? What experience did you have before starting the course? How easy was it when studying to balance family life and once in the role? I have a supportive partner but he is out from 7 to 7, though my parents are happy to help."

Adults is where I work. Obviously I can only speak for the local authority where I work but a full time hours caseload is around 20 cases, though in your first year in practice that will likely be capped at a smaller number. My team is lovely, we are incredibly supportive of each other and we get on very well, so even though stress can be high (adults SW in a pandemic is...interesting) we have a good outlet for it.

Prior to study I had spent most of my working life in supportive/people facing roles and was working in domestic abuse for a number of years. If you have work experience of support work that's really positive as you would need this just to be accepted onto most courses. I trained in Wales so cant speak for English and Scottish courses, but there are work placements involved, which for me were 20 days in yr 1, 80 in yr 2, 100 in yr 3. I got half a days study leave a week. Getting assignments completed and portfolios done whilst working pretty much full time was a challenge, but if you have a support network it is manageable. Once you're working, most local authorities offer flexitime and options to agile work from home, so although there may well be times when half your caseload seems to be kicking off at once and you end up working a lot of hours, there's the ability to recoup at least some of that! Switching off can be the hardest thing, and that's a skill you have to develop, good quality supervision with a decent manager helps a lot.

There is a misconception, even amongst some social workers, that adults is a 'soft option' and easier than child protection work. This is not the case. Some of the wisest advice I've had came from my manager in my current role, who told me to "get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable". It is challenging, but rewarding work. I love it wholeheartedly.

If you're genuinely considering it, I'd recommend trying to get your hands on some introductory social work texts - Neil Thompson is very good, and accessible - and having a look at the SCIE website.

More than happy for you to drop me a DM if you want any more info or help with applying.

To become a professional psychologist you’ll need a conversion diploma plus postgraduate training (and possible a years experience in the relevant setting depending on the field you want to go into). Have you thought about doing the Level 7 CIPD and possibly becoming a lecturer at your local college or university business school?

I'm early 30's and at uni just finishing my second year, I had to do an access course full time at college first as indidbt have a levels or any recent study. I started doing it as a single parent to 2 kids age 2 and 6, best thing I ever did.
Don't expect it to give you the school holidays off though as none of my uni holidays line up and I've had placements through a lot of the holidays.
I'm doing OT and looking forward to the bursary next year.

@SundayGirlB nursing sounds like it could be a good fit. Or with HR background have you considered occupational psychology (would need to go to post grad so lots of studying) leading into in house change consulting or L&D? The latter being a bit like teaching in some respects but definitely less work taken home. Obviously you’d need big organisations close to home to provide those opportunities.

If you do go for it and retrain will you please come back and update us?

I was qualified in HR and it bored the pants off me (each to their own) so after a few years of full time nappy duties I retrained to be a teacher. Taught adults for years, which was ok but badly paid, then moved to secondary school. I love my job indescribably but after 4 years full time, we are tightening our belts so I can go part time. Teaching full time in secondary whilst parenting teens has literally aged me. It is exhausting. However, I love it so much and feel like I am doing something that counts to kids in difficult life situations...if you are a whingy do-gooder like me, you will love it!! Nothing is as funny, exhausting, rewarding, heartbreaking, frustrating, satisfying as teaching. And if you are retrained fully by, say, 40, you probably have 25 years left in the working environment. Just be aware that the work load horror stories are true (but you have all the holidays with your own kids, priceless!)

I’m in the same sort of boat as you and not sure what way to go. Having a terrible time being heavily pregnant with DC2 so plenty of time to think about it.
My loose plan just now is to do some free short Open University courses initially to see what fits. The thought of committing years and £££ for the wrong career makes me just not want to try at all so hopefully this approach will help me make the right decision.

@PepperMooMoo I quite like the idea of being a careers advisor, how did you get into it/who do you provide advice to? I've seen a role I could probably get, given my background, providing careers advice and support to people with disabilities so just pondering...

Thanks everyone.

@Fizzysours haha I am a bit of a whingy do gooder!

I think nursing or SW. My mum was a health visitor and she is always pushing nursing. I wouldn't want to be on the wards so would do further study. I have a particular interest in womens issues and know you can focus on domestic violence in both roles. I am in sabbatical until January and I had planned to do some volunteering to get some experience but not sure if this is possible now because of the pandemic. We shall see and when I decide I'll update you!

I left teaching to go into HR. The skills are transferable

Teaching sixth form? Seems to be quite a bit less work than in schools (disclaimer; my experience only)

I would seriously encourage you to focus on accounting. Sadly the female dominated professions you are considering aren’t generally paid or treated very well. Teaching and social work involve a lot of work outside ‘office’ hours. Nursing is likely to involve shift work for many years before you become experienced enough to work sociable hours. I think health visiting is great though and involves a lot of safeguarding which might suit you if you have an interest in social work.

I'm retraining this year from teaching. As pp have said, it's not family friendly at all. I also have dc with additional needs so feel like I'm doing everything badly atm. I'm studying part time so will take upto 6 years but I'll still only be early 40s when I finish and will have many working years ahead of me. I appreciate that I'm very fortunate to be able to take the time out to do it though.

I also deliberately applied this year as think competition for university places will be much more fierce next year

ducks to become a careers adviser I'd highly recommend undertaking at least a level 6 qualification in Advice and Guidance.....or a level 7 ( Masters level) if you can.
You can get into it without qualifications but there is now a recommendation ( hopefully soon to become statutory) that anyone offering personal guidance in schools / colleges is qualified to at least level 6.
An MA would give you more flexibility and allow you to move into working at a university.

The CDI website has lots of info as well as listing training providers and universities which offer the qualifications. AGCAS is focused on university.

Feel free to PM if you want more info 😊

Hi at the grand old age of 42, and five children later I am starting a mental health Nursing degree this September. I think if you want to change your career and are realistic to how much work it will be on top of juggling children you should go for it. I completed the access course at college this year and the age range was really varied, I have no doubt I’ll be one of the older ones on the degree course but honestly I don’t think it matters. Good luck to whatever you choose to do op!