Is it too late for DH to go for a career change to try and earn more? He thinks so

[NC1012]

DH is early 40s and been working in the public sector for over 15 years. He has enjoyed his job over the years and worked his way up to senior management which is £55k. However he has been saying there is no real opportunities left to go higher, as the jobs are fewer plus the extra responsibility doesn’t reflect the pay.

Several years ago he said a career change might be the way to go to try and get near a 6 figure salary but has been too scared to give it a go. His friends in the private sector have done really well so he occasionally feels he played it too safe when he was younger. Also he fears a risk in career move now may not get him a higher salary plus job security could be a lot less than he has now. He is a likeable person and works hard and is dedicated.

He recently decided it is too late for a career change with a view to get a much higher salary and now it’s as good as it gets. He said he shouldn’t have sat comfortable in his 20s and early 30s.

We have dc1 5 and dc2 2, I am a SAHM so we have zero child care costs and live in a small 3 bed home. We have never been extravagant with money and have enough to live with a few treats now and then, and tbh it would be nice not to always second think about certain purchases.
Also we have been thinking of moving house to get more space but will mean a bigger mortgage for another 25 years.

Is he right and it’s too late for a career change to try and earn more?
Is the risk too great now especially with this year’s pandemic and who knows what the economy will look like next year?
Am I being unreasonable to agree with him?

Some days I think the risk is too great as he is the sole earner at the moment. But sometimes I think he is worth more but not sure he has the confidence to make a substantial career change.

With only one of you working, I would say its far too big a risk.

Just to add, he was an EHO in local government.

This question can’t be answered without knowing what the potential career change is. There is a big difference between moving between say, “IT manager for the council” and “IT developer for a bank” and moving between “IT developer for the council” and “solicitor”.

Is it the same basic job in a different sector with the need to learn new ways of working and make new contacts, or a completely new set of skills to be learned?

Although public service salaries are low, the benefits are very good. Make sure you are considering the pension, holidays and flexitime, and job security when you comparing the private sector.

Right now, job security is the big one. Mass redundancies of civil servants are less likely than in the private sector, and are more likely to at least come with a reasonable payout and opportunity to move elsewhere within the civil service.

He hasn't necessarily left it too late, but if he wants to do it, he does need to get a hurry along, figure out what he wants and get looking. There's no harm in doing a few applications, and it may get him a better idea of what is out there.

I’m still not clear if you are talking about a career change or an employer change.

I assume he is grade 7 level in the civil service, I wouldn’t rule out promotion, he still has another twenty years career to go.

But he needs to think about the hours he would need to out in and 5e additional stress of a higher salary - either in the probate or public sector.

A mortgage doesn’t have to be 25 years. I am a similar age, 5inking about moving. I will take a 15 year mortgage.

Guessing he has a good pension being in public sector? If he enjoys it then I'd stay put 55k is a fine salary and if he has good work life balance then that's priceless

I want to leave my public sector job too. I am 30. I recognise now is not the time to leave a decent job though. I will give it a year and see what the situation is then.

Going back to 'secure' public sector jobs. I have been working for a local authority for 6 years and faced restructure and redundancy twice during that time. I had to reapply for jobs, interview etc and saw 50% of my team get made redundant with very little redundancy pay. It's not actually that secure.

I'm thinking why worry about him? What he decides is up to him.

Think about your own career/job OP.

He sounds like he is doing just fine.

He might find moving away from the public sector quite a culture shock....

I'd hang fire for now. If he changed jobs it would be last in first out with regards to future redundancies. The future is a bit uncertain unfortunately.
If you want more money as a family what about you working?

@pinkdragons

I want to leave my public sector job too. I am 30. I recognise now is not the time to leave a decent job though. I will give it a year and see what the situation is then.

Going back to 'secure' public sector jobs. I have been working for a local authority for 6 years and faced restructure and redundancy twice during that time. I had to reapply for jobs, interview etc and saw 50% of my team get made redundant with very little redundancy pay. It's not actually that secure.

Yes local government is a lot more volatile than Central government positions

My husband is in local government and they have to make massive savings thankfully his team is already under resourced and identified as critical so they are safe.

I’m also in local government and I disagree that we aren’t secure. In Scotland at least, that is. We have a no compulsory redundancy agreement with the unions. That means that although I’ve been through 2 restructures in 2 years, I could choose whether to accept voluntary redundancy, a new post, or sit on the redeployment list, still being paid, with no end date. I know of people who sat on redeployment for three years before finding a job that suited them (either internal or external). If I chose to take voluntary redundancy, I would be paid statutory redundancy (ie, one month’s gross pay x years of service) multiplied by 2.7. That doesn’t usually happen in the private sector. I now have 12 years’ service. Say for the sake of argument that my gross weekly pay is £750 (that’s not quite right but not far off). Statutory redundancy pay would therefore equal £9000. Council redundancy equals £24,300. If I were over 40 then I would get another multiplier for every year I was over 40, although as that doesn’t apply, I can’t remember what that multiplier is. It’s also tax-free for the first £30k, I think. And I get 12 weeks notice.

So yes, it’s not ideal and absolutely, I have seen friends leave and teams shut down altogether, and I was moved into a brand-new area that I knew little about - but all of that happens in the private sector too. If I had less than 2 years’ service then yes, the picture would be fairly crap, but the OP’s husband has a lot of years, I believe. That’s the trade-off in his position that he would lose in a new job.

On fifty grand and having been there for so long, with the way councils are struggling to fund everything, he'd be wise to sit tight and only start thinking about trying something different once a massive redundancy payment goes into the bank.

He might have not earned as much as others, but he's got a lot of advantages where he is right now.

I moved from public sector to private sector in 2006. One significant pay rise which went with a promotion but annual increments in public sector meant that consultancy job didn't pay more.

Then I went for a career change at 40. Salary went down £15k. Will possibly not ever be the same again. Fortunately I'm not money motivated.

I am a tax advisor and have worked with a number of people, mostly ex-HMRC, who made the switch to the private sector. TBH, none was a roaring success and one or two were abject failures. All of them said that there was a definite culture shock in the way things were done and the amount of things they were left to resolve on their own. If I were your DH, I'd stay put.

I had a major career change and did pretty well. Though I was made redundant twice and out of work for a year due to injuries. DH needs someone to share the load.

It’s definitely not too late and he’s not really changing career by the sound of it - he’s thinking of moving from public to private sector. However, what would stop me is the current economic outlook - if the public sector role is secure, I’d be tempted to stick with it, at least for the next 12-24 months. The economy is going to tank on a level never seen before.

Thank you for your comments.
On reflection DH should stay put and focus on the positives of his job and the work life balance he has.
I will certainly be looking at what jobs and career I could go back into, in readiness for when dc2 is a little bit older.

I know early next year may not be a great time as no one knows how the pandemic and the economy will be, so for us and others we need to stay positive and supportive.
I do hope for all of us 2021 is a better year.

Not at all. I retrained as a nurse in my 30s and there was a medical student who I used to chat to during some of our shared lectures; 1st year med student and early 50's!! He is now qualified, a few of our ward docs we've had over the past year or two shared a class with him and say he's getting on great!

Let's face it, if your DH is say 42, he isn't going to be retiring for another, what 25 years? Why not spend those years doing a job he loves? You are never too old for anything.

No. A secure job with public sector pension - no. I don't know what you did before having children, but if you go back to work full-time in a year, your combined income as a family could be £85,000+. Why take any risk when that is a realistic figure.

@NC1012

Thank you for your comments. On reflection DH should stay put and focus on the positives of his job and the work life balance he has. I will certainly be looking at what jobs and career I could go back into, in readiness for when dc2 is a little bit older.

I know early next year may not be a great time as no one knows how the pandemic and the economy will be, so for us and others we need to stay positive and supportive.
I do hope for all of us 2021 is a better year.

@NC1012 IME of work in this field (career change) it's not a good sign when a spouse or partner asks these questions on behalf of someone. It's not your decision, frankly :) If you are coming to a forum for advice for him, what does that say about his motivation for change? He doesn't sound proactive . I appreciate you wanted a straw poll on his chances but without knowing what he does for a job now, it's impossible to advise. You could have easily given a job role without outing yourselves. eg Finance, HR, supply, H&S ..whatever.