To change career from teaching to a 9-5 type job?

[careerchangerranger]

Just as the title says really.
I'm not happy in teaching anymore and I have succeeded in getting a non teaching job that pays well. It hasn't started yet as I have to work in my notice. However, I am starting to have niggles and want to make sure I'm doing the right thing.
Obviously childcare needs will be all year round now. I plan on using a mix of holiday clubs and my holiday days (and dh's) to cover that. What else could potentially be different or would need time to plan ahead for or think of?
TIA.

Anyone??

Jealous. What is your new job?

What happens to your pension?

Also interested in how you've made the leap. Teacher of 24 years here . Good luck in your new job.

It's not that easy. I had to go back to college part-time for 6 months to do a basic administrative course, as I got nowhere applying for office jobs with no recent skills (although I had a few years admin experience from the early noughties, before I did teacher training.

I'm now doing agency work in minimum wage roles.

Depends on the job. What is it?

I did the same....it will be fine far more enjoyable, far better work life balance and no stream of nasty little, Heads, SLTS micro-managing the f out of you, as they hide in their offices while the sh hits the fan. I cannot tell you how rewarding it is to work in an environment where your intelligence is appreciated, you are not spoken to like your four years old or where snide parents are running to the Head to whine about f** all one minute then buying you bottles of prosecco the next. Lap it up and enjoy.....yet another teacher getting out they truly will get the education system they deserve anyone with any half decent critical faculties gets the hell out. Use your bank holidays wisely and don't worry about the loss of holidays your life and mental health will improve no end.....

Sorry, for some reason I couldn't see all of your post when I was replying!

In that case, congratulations on the new job. Just give it a go for a few months or a year and then take stock? You can always consider going back into teaching if it's not for you.

I moved from healthcare to 9-5, flexible IT job. Grandparents needed to help with childcare, but on the whole 100x better. Stuff that was out of hours before - and expected to maintain your qualifications etc, are now considered part of the job. Less stress, more flexible to shift around hours.

It depends. I actually don't know anyone who has a 9-5 job. You may be lucky, but most people in the private sector work much longer hours than that.

I don't really want to say the actual job as it could be outing. But it's in a completely unrelated field. It's not the job I'm worried about as such it's issues around the job really. Like childcare during school holidays was an obvious difference, I'm just wondering if there's something else I have missed. Sounds silly when I say it out loud I suppose.

@Bewareoftheblob I have no idea what I'm going to do pension wise, I'm going to (perhaps naively) see if I can transfer it ti what will be my new private pension.

This is what puts me off, thinking about childcare. In my head I'll make the move when the kids are in high school and won't need me as much in the school hols.
Also curious about pension.

@Baaaahhhhh the hours are 8- 4.30 except for friday which is 8-3.30
But it is flexi time so I can change them slightly.

about the pension...
Check to see when you'd be able to claim the teachers one (guessing from 60?)
If you do transfer, it will probably be pushed back to 67.
Can you have a chat with a pensions advisor?

@pussycatinboots I think I may have to yes as I have some years in a pension abroad too...so I need to find out what I can do with that 🙈

Don't move your pension without proper advice. You may be much better off, freezing your teacher pension with the years you have in and then doing your new pension separately.
Many years ago I moved from teaching to higher education admin. For the first month of my be job I felt like I was on holiday!!

I only mentioned the pension as DH had a "frozen" one with Local Govt (payable from 60) and a current one he could claim with reductions unless you had permanent ill health from 55. If he'd transferred his frozen one, he would have to wait until 67 for his lump sum/pension, rather than 60, or accept really heavy reductions for early payment and no lump sum.

See if your union could give you some financial advice re the pension.
And very good luck in the new job, I'm sure you won't regret it.

@pussycatinboots thank you I'll look into it for sure!

How does the notice thing work? I am currently applying, but envisaging start dates being an issue when we are obliged to work longer notice periods than other candidates...

@careerchangerranger

I don't really want to say the actual job as it could be outing. But it's in a completely unrelated field. It's not the job I'm worried about as such it's issues around the job really. Like childcare during school holidays was an obvious difference, I'm just wondering if there's something else I have missed. Sounds silly when I say it out loud I suppose.

@Bewareoftheblob I have no idea what I'm going to do pension wise, I'm going to (perhaps naively) see if I can transfer it ti what will be my new private pension.

You don’t need to, and probably don’t want to, transfer your pension. Obviously check with an IFA.

@Rhoobarbandraspberries it's one terms notice usually

I'm thinking of doing exactly the same thing, teaching has become a very unattractive job. I just don't know where to start! My husband tells me teachers have many transferrable skills but in many of the job adverts I've seen they ask for recent experience in x, y or z which I don't have. Congratulations on your new job, I suspect you will be much happier in the long run and any costs from holiday childcare will probably even out as you won't need so much before and after school care all year round.

Re notice periods, i work in Financial services and it is pretty standard to have a 3 month notice period, so I don't think a 1 term notice period is out of sync with other industries

The specific job and field determine how flexible flexitime really is. And whether there would be collective gasps of horror if you tried to leave on time. Or were expected to work in the evenings or weekends at home.

Some places allow you to "buy" additional holiday or book unpaid leave, so that may be useful re childcare. Or have various childcare schemes in their benefits packages.

Again depending on the job you might be left to manage your own time or be expected to log every single thing you did all day and how long each took. You might be given an allocation of time for tasks that is insufficient but still be expected to complete the work. Or it might be less rigid. You might have to think about billing or how commercial it is for you to spend a length of time on a task. You might be asked to justify the profit or loss they made on your work.

Offices tend to have a window of time (e.g. 12-2) where you have to take your lunch break but leave it up to you to decide each day when to take it. Maybe a rule on how many people can be at lunch at once. If they don't tell you during your induction ask.

Booking holidays tends to depend on who else is there to cover. Some places with big teams will be happy as long as someone in the team is left and deadlines are met, other places buddy you up with someone so you can only book holiday if they haven't. So you need to plan ahead and possibly negotiate with colleagues on who will be off when.

Some places will have a flexitime rota to ensure that there is always someone in the office for the early/late slot, so you may not have the unbridled freedom you expect. Also ask about that.

Or an unwritten rule that nobody is supposed to actually use flexitime other than for emergencies.

Is it proper flexitime where you can build up time to book off later or does it reset each day but just give you flex on what time you start (and therefore finish)?

Does unused holiday carry over to the next holiday year or is it lost if you don't use it? Do they close for Christmas? If they do, are you obligated to use a certain number of your holiday days to cover it?

Policy on emergency leave (booking annual leave on the day to deal with an ill child) or would you have to take unpaid leave?

After a certain period of service will your holiday entitlement increase?

So many variables...

I am thinking of doing the same thing as I'm so fed up of teaching and don't think I can stand it for much longer. I would like to go into some sort of admin work but as OP said, you need some sort of experience or qualification.
Are there any online courses that are available? My local college does one but it involves attending college part time and I can't do that if I'm teaching so I'm stuck atm