Can no longer do my physically active job. Please help with ideas for re-training!!

[caitlin88]

Posting for traffic as I'm really worried how I'll keep us afloat.

I've worked in cleaning, care, and retail, mostly cleaning, since I was 16.

I'm only 34 but after a year of pain and problems I've finally been diagnosed with a disorder (connective tissue?? my mum had it) and I may need surgeries and been told that most lifting, straining, or being on my feet all day is OUT!! Those are the only jobs I know!!

I am scared because I have bills to pay as a single parent. I know first hand how the disability benefits process can be from when I had poor mental health for a couple of years and to be honest I'm terrified of being reliant on their whims and reassessments.

I have some savings so for 2-3 years max I could retrain.

But in WHAT??

Needs to be something with no lifting and either mostly sitting or a mixture of sitting and standing.

I am terrible at all academic subjects too. Couldn't do an anatomy or maths part of a course for example.

Keep researching and getting nowhere with what I can actually do.

Please help!!

Can I just ask if you're currently employed?

How are you with people? What about property management? As long as you don’t mind the odd person booting off you don’t need any qualifications just being reasonably organised and good people skills.

An admin job in the NHS? They often take non qualified people and flexible with regards to childcare hours.

I'm sorry to hear of your diagnosis, I know how hard it is to adjust.

Do you have any qualifications? Even GCSEs?

The government has a list of free courses designed to train people for jobs online here: www.gov.uk/guidance/free-courses-for-jobs

Good luck OP!

Social Housing has a lot of desk based roles - including lots which are direct with customers so your time in retail will set you up well. Additionally you have care experience so would be a valuable asset in relation to their tenants with additional needs (telephone support etc).

Some roles include an amount of visiting tenants in their homes, but for the most part it's desk based/at home.

Roles include - Income collection (the system tells you what they owe etc), taking calls and logging repairs, check in calls to vulnerable tenants.

Similarly there are a lot of non customer facing, non maths roles, with things like administration, scanning and logging invoices etc.

How about digital marketing and social media type roles?. Desk based, can be done remotely as well

@PermanentTemporary I'm currently part self employed as a cleaner and part employed as a bank care assistant but I've not been there long enough to qualify for any readjustments.

@Lastqueenofscotland Thanks I've never even heard of that, will look into it.

@Lacedwithgrace I did think that would suit. My sister works in NHS in an admin based role and she says they mostly recruit internally and it's hard to get in, but i could do a college course if it would get me in. HNC?

@GoldenGorilla I do have Standard Grades (Scottish Equivalent of GCSE I think) from nearly 20 years ago.

@HotChoc10 Thanks. Are they available in Scotland?

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz Thank you very much. Roles in Social housing did cross my mind. I live in Social Housing and I think those type of roles would suit me. Are there any particular qualifications which would get me in please? My retail background is many years ago so no references and I've not been in care long.

@litlealligator I would have to learn that but sounds interesting thanks. I thought about work from home customer service too.

Work from home customer service jobs sounds like a good fit. DWP have roles.

I've not been there long enough to qualify for any readjustments but you should certainly ask!

I reckon retail but e.g. at a supermarket might be okay?

If you have a long term health condition it would be a reasonable adjustment to allow you to sit down to serve at the till and at a large shop with many employees having you permanently on check out duty would likely also be reasonable.

@HotChoc10

The government has a list of free courses designed to train people for jobs online here: www.gov.uk/guidance/free-courses-for-jobs

Good luck OP!

Thanks so much for sharing this @HotChoc10 I’m going to look into it too.

@caitlin88 could you make an appointment with citizens advice to see if they can help you work out what qualifications you’d need to be able to move onto to an area that instead you?

Think about jobs that are seen as traditionally “ mens jobs “. They are always much better paid for the same level of skills and experience than “ womens jobs”.

What about train / tram driver or air traffic controller ?

Could you train other people to do the physically demanding jobs that you already know how to do?

Thanks everyone for all the ideas. I am scared to be honest. I've always done physically demanding jobs and never thought I'd be in this position.

Has anyone done a HNC in Administration?

Or Activities Co-ordinator with the elderly in care homes rather than full on care or cleaning? Not sure if that requires walking all day and lifting?

Activities Coordinator did cross my mind. I think there might be lifting involved for equipment for the activities, but maybe start another thread about that . What about reception work at the care home?

No you wouldn't need any specific qualifications for entry level work in social housing. My previous experience was in a hotel. Good that you are a SH tenant too - contact your own provider/their careers sites. Most housing providers actually spend time and money getting tenants into work, and bringing them onto their own staff is a good way to do that.

Sorry you’re finding yourself in this situation, caitlin88. I do urge you to have a good browse through the fairly new Mature Study & Retraining board, here:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mature_students

to get an idea of how people are finding their retraining journeys.

Two or three years gives you a good amount of time to discover new talents.

Teaching assistant? You don't need any formal qualification for it but a reasonable level of English and Maths to be able to support the pupils. You'd get school holidays off and there's not really any reason to be lifting or on your feet all day, particularly if you go for an older age group where sitting with the pupils and helping them with classwork is expected more than with the younger ages where you might be helping with class tasks a lot more on your feet. Schools can make reasonable adjustments for your health needs and trust me when I say there is a huge shortage of teaching assistants so anyone who is interested in the role and has some experience in care or with children has the right skills for it.

Career progression is also possible by moving to a higher level teaching assistant, a cover supervisor (would be more on your feet though) or even an assistant SENDCo (often admin based at a desk) in some schools.

NHS admin definitely!
We put a band 4 job out and recently (externally) and had no applicants!

The National Careers Service has information on all sorts of jobs / careers - but also, crucially, quizzes you can take that suggest what sort of work areas suit your skills and interests. They also provide real human careers officers to speak to.

There’s a book called ‘What Colour is Your Parachute’ which has been around for ages but is surprisingly useful in pinning down your own values and career leanings. It’s worth getting hold of a copy and working through it - if only to prompt the sort of self-questioning that leads yo unexpected answers.

Where in Scotland are you, OP?

If you're near a University or College, there's often a lot of roles (some part-time &/or flexible) in admin, student support, reception, customer services, etc. I head up quite a large Professional Services (student/academic admin) team, and have team members like you, who had no real admin experience, but lots of customer service experience, or just the right attitude! Yeah, they came in to proper entry level roles (G2, so c£18.5k starting salary), but almost all of them have worked their way up. One of my hardest working, most enthusiastic, team members came from a background as a bar/restaurant manager, and has just secured a promotion after 9 months in the job. So, it's worth a look. The roles can be challenging, but largely desk based, with some hybrid working (at least for now), and working with largely decent people - educational establishments are usually full of folks not just there for the job, for better or worse.

If you're anywhere near Edinburgh, give me a shout, and I can probably direct you to some potential opportunities.

@M0RVEN

Think about jobs that are seen as traditionally “ mens jobs “. They are always much better paid for the same level of skills and experience than “ womens jobs”.

What about train / tram driver or air traffic controller ?

You do know how long it takes, and how competitive it is, to be to become an air traffic controller?! I'm not saying the OP isn't capable, but it's a slog - and if you don't pass each stage, then you're out.

How about phlebotomist?
Vaccinator, think we’ll be doing a lot of those for a while.
A specialist TA as in signing, a friend of mine was also a TA who supported visually impaired students, she was able to use Braille.
A. Social media assistant?