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!!

@PermanentTemporary I do really like working with the elderly , it's just the lifting and manual handling that I can't do now. It's such an adjustment and it's causing me anxiety. I looked at Care Home Administrator jobs and they are all looking for people with tons of admin and finance experience. Maybe an HNC is the way to go - I saw a HNC - Administration with Medical.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz Thanks for that encouragement. Social Housing jobs seem like something I could do. I have experience of being homeless when I was younger, and I had help from Shelter a few years ago when my private landlord was selling. I will ask my HA for any help they can give. If I can get some experience or qualifications.

Thanks @Edmontine I will look at all those suggestions. I remember years ago someone suggesting the parachute book to me.

@likemindedarseholes Wow, my sister says band 2 jobs are swamped with internal applicants, agencies, and people who have degrees. Worth a try though because it does seem suitable for me. There is course I looked at - NQ Administration with PDA Medical Administration - do you think that would be of any use?

@SleepingFrog Thanks. My late mum was a teaching assistant actually! I thought that would need all sorts of qualifications now, I'll look into it. I'm a mum of two but I had them young so they are older and don't need childcare anymore, one is heading off to uni!!

@HollaHolla Yeah, College / Uni Administration has crossed my mind as well, but the jobs I've looked at stipulate all sorts of experience required.
I will look more into this.
I would prefer a public service / educational / care related employer because (and I don't want to offend anyone here) I have a 'cosmetic' disability which does not affect my work in any way, but I would be more comfortable with an inclusive employer. This is probably outing, but I have alopecia and wear headscarves.

@Xpologog Thanks phlebotomist had crossed my mind too. I'm not squeamish lol and I'm good with people, but how do I train in that? It seems a lot of things are geared towards apprenticeships but I can't get into apprenticeships at my age.
My aunt said she could get me into vaccinator job when the vaccines first became available but I didn't take her up on it. I should have, looking back.

Retail experience often provides lots of good transferrable skills for customer service roles. You also clearly have good written skills.
Try a local authority/civil service employer? Once you are in the organisation there is usually lots of scope for further training/career progression

I work in a financial services company, they do apprenticeship qualifications - a lower one and then a degree, you work alongside the qualification, they pay £20k salary and also pay for your qualification.

From my experience, I have developed a physical disability, whilst in this role. My workplace have been really pretty good at acting quickly on getting me the appropriate reasonable adjustments.
Without being too outing, I have someone deaf in my direct team, and someone with a prosthetic limb in my wider area. A number of people have reasonable adjustments - special chairs, fancy keyboards, standing desks, etc. so it's not something that would particularly stand out, I'd guess. There are people who wear headscarves for all sorts of reasons.

My boss is a massive arsehole, but you get that in every workplace, I guess....

@SweetSakura Thanks I will try for civil service as well. Got family who work in civil service. 20k would be amazing for me. If I can't get a job, pretty soon I'll be on UC alone which for me will be £6840 PER YEAR for ALL bills, rent to pay out of that too. Just not possible to even eat and heat too with all the rises and why I am really worried.

@HollaHolla Yes it constantly amazes me how some people in life can be such assholes!! I hope you are ok xx

@caitlin88 - what area do you live? Only ask as if it is local to one of our sites I can pm you the details of the apprenticeships.

Pretty much every bank is recruiting customer service staff at the moment and most of them will allow you to work from home some, if not all of the time. They will pay 19-20k to start with and normally have great benefits packages and progression is possible, maybe something like that?

@maddening I'm in Glasgow. Apprenticeship would be perfect for me. I was under the impression they are only for younger people??

@PenguinLove1 Thanks. I am getting good ideas here.

You don't need qualifications to get into clerical or admin entry level jobs, social housing jobs etc - sure they can help, but they're not a requirement (sometimes actually set people back as they're seen as over qualified and not likely to stay)
I had a similar work background to you when I got a job processing housing benefit, and then went on to work in a few different social housing roles, before later retraining in social work.

Public sector jobs - council and NHS, police, (lots of admin there!) Social housing etc will all be signed up to respect 'reasonable adjustment' need and while you say your condition is quite new, it's a very reasonable/common requirement to have.

Have a look and see if council jobs are listed near you - in some areas the local councils club together and put them all on one website - eg in the northwest there's one called 'greater jobs'. West Midlands have something similar too..

Honestly - I've interviewed people for similar roles, and enthusiasm, being interested and asking questions, doing a bit of research about the job/organisation, being friendly - go a long, long way in interview. For entry level jobs (that in theory most people could be trained up to do) finding a hard worker who wants to do the job well is winning the lottery!

Receptionist at a leisure centre
Activity organiser in a care home
Work with a charity supporting people with sorting their life out
Florist
Cafe
Retrain as a social worker

Retrain to work in tech? Lots of opportunities. You could even get free training

I am a watching with interest as I am in a similar position. I may have a connective tissue disorder (am being investigated for possible EDS) and I currently work as a PA for a disabled person but it involves a lot of lifting and is causing me some issues atm. I am looking to retrain.
I hope you managed to find something suitable, good luck.

Have pmd you op, there is no age limit from what I understand.

Look at opportunities in voluntary sector - eg charity jobs.com
Social prescribers, fundraisers, general admin, telephone/reception, support workers, advocacy, advice worker (if training provide) shortage of debt advice workers

I am the same and worried about how ill cope. I have back problems and mental health problems to all diagnosed by doctor and on meds. I was a carer to but want to work but finding it hard on my back so I put a claim in for esa and today had the nicest nurse do my assessment and was very caring and listened well. She said she will send the report today and I can get a copy to. With esa you can work under 16 hours to so I'm hoping I can like you retrain. Don't worry about the assessments there all not that bad really.

Call handler NHS 24 in Clydebank.
Ambulance service call handler.
GP receptionist
NHS clinic receptionist
Ward clerkess
Library assistant
Benefits adviser
Foot care assistant (need to do course)
You have loads of transferable skills

Thank you so much everyone who has replied, and commiseration to those posters in similar situations as me.

Plenty to think about and research. You have all helped me to think that if I can get the confidence in myself then I CAN do this!!

Look on the nhs jobs website, starting at band 2 no experience usually needed other than good people and basic computer skills.

Try call centre work. I've done it for many years and often we have women move from bar/cafe/shop work (like me) into call centres. We also have ex hairdressers often who can no longer be in their feet all day.

Ultimately it's a job for people with people skills. If you have that and are confident with basic English and Math you will be fine. Everything else is fully trained.

Some are offering full time work from home roles now, others hybrid with some days from home and some from the office, others will want you office based.

I would say do your CV and for each job give the title and place but under that when describing the work you did include things like "supporting customer queries", "selling products and providing information to customers to maximise sales" and "dealing with complex complaints to really ensure good customer care". For your care work use phrases like "liaising between service users and key stakeholders such as family members, social workers, medical staff" also "this workplace enabled me to gain experience in handling conflict and challenging service users which is a skill I am now confident in".

These are your key transferable skills and qualities.

And gaps explain and treat like a job too so if you have a 2 year gap when your kid was little mention skills developed there "parenthood has honed brilliant time management and organisational skills which I now bring into the workforce"

Upload it to reed (online recruitment site) and they have click to apply so you can click 2 buttons and using your saved CV it does the application. It's great as you can apply for many many jobs in one afternoon of quiet time.

By the way @caitlin88 I have alopecia too. Even in a busy call centre you won't stand out. There are usually many Muslim women in call centres who wear hijab (and many who do not), I've worked with people with facial tattoos, people with visible disabilities and invisible disabilities, people of all ethnicities, transgender people who are out at work. All sorts. I won't lie the work can be hard but no harder than other customer facing jobs I think. It's an adjustment getting used to having all your time managed so much but that's the hardest part imo.

You've just missed the Scottish Water modern apprenticeship application date but i think that would be quite physical site work. Keep an eye on their jobs page though as they have a couple of offices around Glasgow. www.scottishwater.co.uk/About-Us/Careers/Modern-Apprenticeships
Hospitality (pubs & cafes) seems to be crying out for staff if that's something you could manage

check the Sky contact centre jobs on here www.scotjobsnet.co.uk/jobboard/cands/jobresults.asp?c=1&bms=1&localstrKeywords=&locallstregion=Glasgow&localdivtypeOfJob=&pg=1

I’m really surprised your sister says Band 2 jobs are swamped by internal applicants, that’s entry level so swamped from where?

You could sign on to NHS Professionals (locus bank) and try out a few departments to see what you think. We’ve taken on several staff permanently after they have worked for us as bank staff.

I wouldn’t do any qualifications yet. Better to get an entry level job and let your employer tell you the best qualifications to progress. They may pay some or all course fees.

As you are in Glasgow might the Inland Revenue at Cumbernald be worth looking at? They usually have a range of Admin Officer/Assistant roles and quite a few will be "customer" facing where your previous work experience would be a bonus.

I don't want to put a downer on all the positive posts but in my experience jobs require lots of computer skills these days. Almost any job.
I work in retail and am finding it physically demanding now but in interviews it's the computer skills that let me down. I'm really surprised that people are saying you could walk into an admin job.