To think that there are no well paid family friendly careers?

[Careerhelppp]

I’m currently a SAHM to young children. Whilst my children are still young, I’d like to start preparing to return to the workplace in a few years time.

I previously worked in PR in London and have now moved over 300 miles away! The majority of PR is in London so it’s not really feasible for me to return to this. The area I was in was also the opposite of family friendly so it just wouldn’t have worked anyway.

DH is a high earner and there is no need for me to return to work. However I’ve started feeling like I’m just letting all of my potential and independence fade away and that I need to have a plan about getting a career back. The difficult part is that DH’s career completely dominates everything. He works away a lot and at short notice so I’d have to work around this. This is non-negotiable - DH couldn’t not do this and if he moved to a different role, we’d be taking a huge pay cut (probably over double what I’d ever realistically earn).

I’ve thought about law (love the academic side but I don’t think the hours would be flexible enough), teaching (not well paid enough to make it worthwhile for us), accounting, being a financial advisor, even being a therapist.

Ideally I’d like a job that is fairly flexible (eg. Allows me to finish earlier and pick back up in the evening), includes some WFH and is has a salary of over £50,000 if full time. Perhaps something where you could become self employed?

Any ideas?! Totally prepared to do another degree if needed and the cost of retraining isn’t an issue.

To become a psychiatrist she’d have to do
a medical degree and then all the years as a junior doctor. Her children would have left home by the time she’s actually a psychiatrist (or near enough). This is the complete opposite of a family friendly career. Her husband would probably be home more

I work in academia as a mid career academic with a FTE salary just over £50k - I have lots of flexibility (am able to work hours that suit me, generally no problem to attend a school event, take time off for an appointment, plan last minute annual leave etc). But like so many options posted by others, you don't walk into this pay level (undergraduate, masters, PhD, and I have around 10 years experience post PhD). Me and my partner share all aspects of family life 50/50 including school pick ups and drop offs, housework, and childcare in holiday periods. We have to use ASC 3 days a week and some holiday cluba. My partner dropped to 4 days a week so that I can also work 4 days a week. We would have a higher family income if he worked full time and I worked 3 days a week but that was never something I would agree to - it's about the long game, I want my own career, financial independence and pension.

I work in a family friendly job, I am an NHS clinician but currently doing a project, 22.5h a week but I manage my own diary. I earn about £45k pro rate. Before this I worked in the community 22.5 hours spread over school hours.

I do have a husband with a ‘big’ job but he also supports my career. He will do pick ups and drop offs as needed and also does his share of the sickness, sports days etc.

I think YABU to think anyone will walk into a field unqualified, earn £50k off the bat and get the flexibility you desire. That isnt going to happen, you need to either accept the lack of flexibility for a higher salary, or work up to that level and accept a lower salary.

Since I had children, I work as an Operations Director in the secondary education sector, earn upwards of £70k for term time only, work from home 1 day a week and leave work at 4pm so am home by 4.30.

I have 20 years experience is HR and Finance roles but pivoted to education for the term time only hours. Some independent schools will have marketing roles that may work for you but you would have to work up to a £50k plus salary.

Have you thought about a management role in a charity? I'm pretty low on the ladder and earn £42k, my manager is on £60K. Our contracts are one or two days in the office. Most charity jobs are based in London which is annoying but a few colleagues have agreed to one day a month when accepting the role. There aren't any benefits and you'll likely have enough work for two people but it is flexible. I don't enjoy my job but it allows me to do pick ups and attend sports day and assemblies.

I retrained whilst on maternity leave as a software developer and after six years earn six figures and work remotely. However with AI I think this route is not one I’d start out on now.

I think WFH is the biggest benefit when it comes to managing work with children- mainly because you can work right up to pick up time with no lengthy commute (ie finish at 5/5.30 and be a school right after). Plus most companies would be flexible about popping out for an early lunch break for an assembly or something. But unfortunately there has been a massive drive to get people back to offices which has reversed a lot of this set up

I was a SAHM for 4 years. Prior to that I worked as a fashion designer earning 60k 4 days per week. When my child went to school full time (4.5) I wanted to go back to work. I decided to try a career change went back to uni spend a year studying, loved it but in reality didn't want to start at the bottom on less money and really missed my original career. So I decided to set up a freelance consultancy- i work full time from home and earn around 90k. It's full on and I do travel a fair bit but I love it and i can still do pick up and drop off at school, no wrap around care, work flexible hours.
I think it depends how motivated you are, if you were great in your pr career and could utilise that then I would. Plenty of companies don't want full time employees, but are hiring freelance part time hr etc, is that something you could in pr.
What about a pr service for local businesses - monthly retainer for 4 days a month etc. Make it affordable for them and workable for you?

The idea that you could start again in a new profession, get paid £50K plus and have infinite flexibility is pie in the sky. And a lot of your judgements about careers are just plain wrong. Plenty of experienced teachers earn £50,000 and many teachers earn more than many solicitors earn outside of the big fancy firms. Teaching is not a flexible careers. It is a vocation and it requires retraining and working to gain experience and additional responsibilities, but its certainly not a career to be sniffed at. It also has school holidays and a good pension.

I imagine your fashion design background gives you a unique skill set, so people use your consultancy for those skills. I am not sure PR offers the OP this career route, but I might be wrong.

I'm self employed and now employ 8 staff which means I can be very flexible. My dc are in high school now but it was great when they were younger.

BUT I earned very little for a long time, relying on uc top ups as a single parent. I now earn a good salary but it's been a hard slog to get here, but I wouldn't change it

So you want to train in something that pays £50k with part time/flexible working?

If you want to earn that kind of salary you generally need to have been qualified and experienced for a long time

I agree; there’s almost a snobbishness about the boring jobs outside London that aren’t worth getting out of bed for.

I agree that you need to be pretty senior to then start getting what you want. I am just about to consider going to 0.65 to give me a better work life balance, I’d still be on £58K and would be at home 3 days a week with 24 weeks a year off work.

A PP mentioned Non-Executive Director (NED) roles. Depending on what your DH does he may have some contacts for these types of positions- they often invite interest through personal recommendations. Even if he can’t help, you could start with applications to Charities and Non-profits and ease yourself back into work with one of these asking for 2-3 days a month. Would help put more sparkle back into your CV too.

You could also look at Trade Associations - many are based outside London and comms roles are a key part of what they do.

I am 50k FTE after starting a new career post dc. I could earn more in the private sector but have a good pension, holidays & flexi hours.

I only got here by DH helping to support me.

Accountancy can be incredibly flexible. You don't need to go ACA route. You can teach yourself/remote learning with either ACCa or CIMA. Booking keeping and finance roles are often very flexible or you can be self employed and pick your own hours. Depending on what sector you end up in the money can be very good.

In thinking about future careers; do think about the impact of AI. Does your DH do something that AI could replace? If so you retraining in a field that is less vulnerable to AI could give your family some resilience

This is misleading. She doesn't live in London and would be starting as an ECT. I have been a teacher for 26 years and am only just recently on £50k.
Most mums I know are leaving teaching as most definitely not family friendly.

I'm a dentist and that is very flexible and self employed. Have you thought about dental hygiene and therapy? It's a 3 year degree but can be self employed and most that I know work 3/4 days a week. You can also be a locum which is more flexible around your husband's work.

Yes agree with this entirely.

Part of my reasoning for never being a SAHM is you simply can't jump back in on a salary you want. Especially if like OP says she is completely unqualified! I am a nurse and on £60,000 specialist role. That's taken 16 years of experience to get into.

What about teaching law? Or editing legal documents?

I'm sure there are plenty of law-adjacent roles you could do. Family mediation perhaps? You could even run your own legal practice if you wanted to?

Running a legal practice isn’t family friendly

I do know someone who had a highly paid job in finance and gave up work after having her second child. She had a good maths degree and Chartered Accountant qualification.

After a few years she got a job as a teaching assistant, loved it and became a teacher. She teaches maths full time and earns reasonably well.

You might have to do some sort of refresher course if you want a career in law - presumably you have some legal qualifications. There are solicitors who work part time, the wife of a friend of my son is one and she earns a fair whack alongside caring for her two young children. He is a teacher(senior), so his work is quite family friendly though not as much as people often think, ie teachers don't have all the holidays the kids get, they have much preparation and have to go into school for a certain amount of time during the breaks. It works for them, they have a good lifestyle.

You must still be quite young, the world is your oyster so it is said but you may not start off on the sort of salary you'd like, it takes time to build up to that so be prepared. It will worth it eventually.

Good luck!