To think about quitting my WFH job to re-train as a plasterer?

[confusedlady10]

Would I be stupid or unreasonable to consider quitting my job and re-train in a new field as a plasterer? I am a 29 year old single mum WFH in a dead end call centre job. It’s quite niche as it involves investigating specialist fraud cases but is still mainly a customer service job. The pay isn’t that great (£2k pm after tax living in London) and I’m fortunate to be able to live in cheap accommodation through family, but it’s not sustainable.

I’ve had applied for hundreds of jobs to try in earn more money and elevate, even paid someone to re-write my CV and do an extra qualification in my field within finance. But I don’t have a degree and regardless, I’m struggling to stand out. Hundreds of applicants, countless ghosting's and unfortunatelys after an odd interview. Finance, admin and banking sectors seem to be too saturated whether remote, hybrid or office.

So I was thinking to quit my job, apply for universal credit of some sort (started doing research on what they can support me with) and then hopefully retrain as a plasterer in a course to try and better myself as I heard that there’s good money if you are a skilled labour and could hopefully work for myself or another company. I would hopefully be able to work it around my son and less competition for the jobs I am not getting. Am I wasting my time and dreaming? (I have no experience in this and trying anything to earn more at the moment, whilst still applying for jobs like crazy, pls be nice!) 😣

Thank you!

If I was your age and had my time again I would train to be a mechanic. Start off as a garage apprentice and go on to own my own business. I don't much fancy spending my time going in and out of other people's houses every day - would much prefer people to bring their vehicles to me. It's something of a physical job but you don't need to be mega fit - it's good for building upper body strength.

Plus it would keep my own car-related bills nice and low. I also think that being a female mechanic is a bit of a USP for other women who have experienced sexism when taking their cars to the garage. Like the man at ATS Crawley who told me the knocking sound my car was making was my 'mascara rolling around in the glove compartment' - no it was a slow puncture that blew out on A24. (I've actually just looked them up - they've gone out of business and their Trust Pilot rating is 2.8! Serves them right)

I am probably being a debby downer, but don't think I'd have the skill to be a plumber or electrician, I am not very technical aha. Thank you.

Get a job in the Civil Service at HEO or above (preferably SEO) I reckon you’d have a lot of transferable skills for something like Project Management. They often say you need a degree but don’t let that put you off. I take home a shade under £3k a month for doing not a lot really. 90% work from home as well.

Ooh! This does interest me, I just worry no one would take me on, and I am crap with maths and technical things. May look into it, if the fees for training aren't too high. Thank you.

Sadly I have applied for every relevant role on there, even using their core values link to match up my answers technically with STAR answers. Been rejected left and right, unless I am just hopeless! Thank you.

Don't you find the physical process loathsome though? Plastering is my least favourite job bar none, it puts me in such a foul mood! I would rather spend 10 hours scraping wood chip wallpaper than 1 hour plastering. Maybe it's just me.

OP it's clearly not the job for me! But I would maybe look into being a painter & decorator too. A couple of female decorators round my way specialise in spray painting, which seems to be on the up.

My DP is a plasterer with over 30 years experience, so he can confidently go into a job and be able to sort it. That takes a hell of a lot of time and learning, so you can do things like solid wall rather than just overboard everything like the ones with no skill do. That involves knowing how to apply sand and cement and also bonding. And knowing when to use those products.

He also knows exactly how to mix his plaster based on the conditions, knows how it will react in each environment, on each type of surface. A lot of people get caught out by the plaster which can ruin the job. It’s far more than just learning “how to plaster”, which in itself is already a skill that takes a lot of time.

He doesn’t work out, but has the most epic arm and shoulder muscles, it’s a strenuous job.

Not to say women can’t do it, far from it! But it’s certainly not a quick thing to learn, at best you’d end up as a “skimmer” after a college course so you’d be looking at site work on new build houses where all you have to do is skim onto board all day. You’d be unlikely to have the true skills to be able to attend people’s residential jobs where they need all sorts doing, including curves and weird angles. It also helps to be able to diagnose issues such as damp, rather than just trying to plaster something where the issue will return. My DP is also a general builder so he can do the full works.

You’d definitely benefit from going into some kind of apprenticeship with another plasterer or company so you can finish your learning on the job for a few years after doing a course.

I started in a call centre after finishing uni and worked my way up quite quickly. Is this an alternative option for you if plastering doesn’t work out?

You need to be physically tough and strong in order to graft for a living and it's hard for women to compete with men because they do not have the same potential for physical strength, especially upper body strength.

If you don’t choose plastering though @confusedlady10then pick another trade, to get out of the rut you’re in. I love the fact that you are really thinking of ways to improve your life, not accepting that you’re completely stuck.

Even if you do end up in a minimum wage job at 55, because you’re tired by then, you might have had 20 years of good money.

I know a couple of women who are electricians, and a handful of decorators. Older and single women tend to prefer having female decorators in the house.

The way I get around heavy lifting is to decant things into smaller loads. It certainly is a faff, but it gets around the problem. So that is something you could look at for the bags of plaster. The boards, I’m not sure ..

If you quit your job, UC usually sanction your benefits for three months so bear that in mind. Also a full time course isn't compatible with claiming working age benefits either. Both of these statements are different if you have a child under three or are a full time carer.

I plastered a small bedroom once. Fucking nightmare it was. My hands were red raw by the end of it, and my arms nearly fell off doing the ceiling. I imagine that job would become unbearable as you age (assuming you're a woman with all our hormone bullshit).

Do you really need a high level of education to become a sparky? That's definitely what I would retrain as. My friend did a course (basic one not domestic installer) and now earns really good money (£400+ a day) rigging up the lighting on film sets. She does live in London though which helps as the big studios are mostly that way.

I think if you talk to any tradesman, you find plastering is up there as the most difficult. “Wet” trades are deemed to be the hardest.

As far as having to work on building sites goes, surely the big plus there would be building up contacts. So if a customer needs pipe work done or a socket moved, you have a bank of acquaintances you could call on to ask if they’ll do it?

There is a market for women tradies. I have a friend that went into trades and there were female plumbers in my college on the trades courses.

Have you tried plastering? Do you like doing it?
There is a realy cool painter and decorator I have seen advertising called 'Poof with a Paintbrush'. He is marketing himself as a gay decorator who can help you select colour schemes and come up with interesting designs. Seems to be doing well.
I think it sounds like a good idea.

Some useful information here, including financial support to train: https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/motor-mechanic

You can train in the workplace with day/block release for a college course - the money is low to start with but opportunities to overtime.

Also some car group dealerships run trainee schemes - I'm in Wales and the Sinclair Group do it: https://www.sinclairgroup.co.uk/careers/apprentices/

I'd be really surprised if there's not something similar in London - I just don't know the names of any dealerships there.

I suggest looking at jobs in your local area

Civil service
Council
Hospital
Prison
MOD
Education
Logistics

I agree that you must have transferable skills for the above jobs.

There is a big difference doing a trade job in your own time, rather than being paid within a tight deadline for a customer.

20kg bags of plaster
No days off to recover if you are stiff & sore
Sick pay ?
Holiday pay ?
Driving licence

Thank you for this. I guess it's not easy to find a company that would take me on after? I am doing a bit of basic research so far.

What about a locksmith course?

Sounds like I might have to pivot into maybe an electrician course? Thank you.

Plastering is incredibly physical, and it’s an art as well, the man who plastered my ceiling had a plastering tray in one hand and finishing trowel in the other whilst on stilts! To be honest I probably wouldn’t employ a woman to do this job because you wouldn’t be as quick as a man purely down to physical strength, meaning the job would take longer and cost me more. I imagine it would be the same for site work, they will employ the quickest and strongest, you will have to be equally as fast and strong as a male plasterer and that will be difficult to achieve.

Id seriously consider plumbing instead of plastering amd a general diy course so that you could do bathroom fitting self emplyed or even kitchens if you got in with a good company.

As my job is very fraud related I am struggling to compete as a lot of jobs seem to want years of experience in a particular field with qualifications, for low pay. I have applied for hundreds of jobs all in those areas and been rejected. I am still trying, but as time goes and I get more rejections with bills sky high, I start to panic, so I am looking for back up options (understand it may not be totally feasible though). Thank you.

I'd say that's your best trade for longevity. You still may be crawling about on your knees long after you want to be, but at least you can strap on knee pads. And you'll be really well paid too 👌