Have any mumsnetters changed career direction?

[handlemecarefully]

Have any of you actually taken the plunge and successfully changed your career?

If so - how did you identify what you wanted to do (rather than just a vague being disaffected with what you were previously doing), and how did you set about making the transition?

I've been in my career for circa 13 years (immediately post graduation), and whilst never thrilled with it I am incredibly turned off by the whole thing now! Don't want to waste my life any longer!

yes, but I went in stages:

teaching English > teaching IT (there being few jobs in English) > being a programmer.

In answer the the question about how I identified my career choice: I didn't. My career move came out of necessity really, and though I enjoy my job, I would seriously consider going back into teaching English if the opportunity arose.

However: do you have any idea of what you would like to do? Is there any kind of "halfway" job which would be more like your ideal job, but which would use some of the skills you already have? Have you tried the careers advice bureau? (called something very adolescent now I think, but they can be very helpful). What are your main skills and what do you most want to get out of a job? (last questions so that perhaps we can make some suggestions).

Am in the middle of doing exactly that.

Complete career change from Finance to Counselling/Social Care, wanting to eventually specialise in the arena of Children and Families.

As a result, not in a 'great' job, having to start at a lower level than I am used to and the pay being dire, but have learned so much in the short time that I have been doing the job. Am also embarking on OU studies in Feb.

I knew about 10 years ago what I really wanted to do, but my degree(French and German), earning good money and my fear prevented me from changing career. However, don't regret for one moment having done it. Am much happier at work and at home

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Pupuce had quite a radical and IMO inspirational change - she may post it here

Beccarolla, I know that Pupuce is now a doula...(and rather fab at it I guess, since she has already helped me considerably on various childbirth threads)....I wonder what she did before - I'm curious now. Maybe she will enlighten me....

Answering Senorapostrophe's questions, I'm in a boring bureaucratic NHS management job - basically its sucks because I've become cynical and battle weary and don't really believe that it is in my power to change anything for the better. Work seems to be pointless process, process and more process.

Although I am reasonably academic and educated to masters level that doesn't totally float my boat. My competencies are analytical skills and problem solving skills, communication skills and (this may surprise you!) people skills!

The most important aspect of career satisfaction for me is to doing something which is of real tangible measurable benefit to someone else. Something where I can see that I have made a direct and valuable impact. So I am attracted to clinical professional roles like counselling (funny you should mention that Lady P!), speech therapy, dietetics etc.....Have also thought about teaching.

Have great admiration for you Lady P i.e. that you have already taken the plunge, because I am currently caught in the mire that you describe (trapped by relatively good pay....). I must do something though because I feel like I am leading a half life. Also feel that I am defrauding the NHS of money by taking a salary for the risible contribution that I make!

Money is not that vital to me at all really, but realistically I do need to earn sufficient to cover child care costs. Also if there is a protracted period of training in my new profession - I question how I will pay childcare whilst no salary is coming in ... That's basically the guilded prison.

I am hoping to gain impetus and inspiration from other mumsnetters who have already gone for it!

.... that's right.... post behind my back

I use to be head of external affairs for a very big multinational.... did it for 12 years - could have made even more progress but got bored took advantage of a loophole in their system and managed to get myself a redundancy package....(which was needed as DH was a SAHD) My carreer was very good but I felt this wasn't how I wanted to raise my kids (seeing them 30 mins a day is not IMPO being a mother) and now I'm a doula !

There is a thread about my past....

I totally agreed with 'handlemecarefully's second paragraph. I was a civil servant and feeling so useless - I went on Springboard (a women's development course) - this completely changed the way that I viewed my life and work. It taught me a different way to priorotise the things in my life and I have been a Childminder for 8 months and can't understand why I didn't escape sooner

I went from Sceintific research, information provision in the pharmaceutical industry, SAHM, Science teacher. Driven by dh moving, and change in family circumstances. Loves all the jobs I've done.

I'm fascinated to hear all this, as I'm also thinking about a career change. I'm an academic, and, after 10 years, I've got bored with it and also hate a lot of things that are happening in universities. However, I've been thinking about moving into NHS management, in the hope that this might lead to a job where I made a more tangible impact on something that matters more than my current job does. Do you think I'm naive, handlmecarefully? I'd be so interested to hear more about why you dislike your job.

I've also been thinking of something more hands-on, and have just spent a few mornings in a primary school. On the whole, I found it an inspiring place, with some excellent teaching (and some that wasn't so good). But I'm not sure how I would be able to cope with a 50% salary cut.

I loved what I did for a long time, but after a yr in another company were it was acceptable to be bullied by boss and finally being zapped of all and every drop of confidence & energy. I thought I would try my own thing & walked away from large pay packet/20% bonus/ fast car/much travelling business class & 1st class/wining dining/great clothing allowance/disposable income/enough to save also blah blah blah.

I started a Freelance Furniture design and consultancy business making 90% less!!!But it is what I had studied for 10 years ago and had to do it at some point in my life. As had turned my back on great talent and skills. Mind u with baby, dont know when or how to get back to it!!!

KatieMac - can I ask what the springboard course is?? Is it part of civil service or independant course?? Sounds interesting. Can U tell us more??

After working in personnel for 10 years, I went back to do a post-grad to become a primary teacher when dd was 8 months old.

It was a hard year, with no money coming in, and I had to pay nursery fees and the uni fees too.

However, completely worth it. Love my job. Get to spend loads of time with both children during holidays, and am home by 4.30 every day.

Always work to do at home, but can do that when kids in bed.

In ideal world I would be a SAHM, but then reality kicks in- or rather a bill appears!!

Good luck with your decision

Oldiemum,

I wouldn't call you naive - but if you are looking for a new career where you can make a 'tangible impact on something that matters more' I personally believe that you would be hard pressed to do this within NHS management.

The term 'manager' and NHS are in fact mutually exclusive in my opinion. As a manager you might have the insights and the will to change service provision and improve the patient experience, but you are constantly thwarted by powerful vested interests. The consultants have de facto power of veto. You can't achieve a damn thing unless they offer their support - which would be fine if they always supported what was best for the patient but many don't. Sadly a significant number of consultants (especially surgeons and orthopaedic surgeons in particular) care a good deal more about private practice and lining their own pockets than patient care...and this is their primary motivator, which often works to the detriment of NHS patient care.

It could be that I have a very jaundiced view of NHS management so please don't base any decisions purely on what I say. I suggest the best way of gaining an insight re whether it is the right thing for you is to phone your local hospital and ask to be put through to Personnel or the Chief Exec's office - and then request whether it would be possible to shadow a manager for a couple of days...

I changed direction at 32! Left my horrible going nowhere job in book publishing and did a short post-graduate journalism course and now work in magazines (so not that hugely different, but I now work part-time and freelance and wouldn't have done it without giving up everything and going back to college). I figured I wasn't even halfway through my working life and I didn't fancy the thought of doing the same thing for another 30 years!
Initially, it was quite hard financially (had to get rid of my car and remember a period of buying a lot of depressingly packaged supermarket own-brand groceries) but actually only for a very short time ? about 6 months. Much happier now. Go for it handlemecarefully!

Melsy - I did the Springboard course at work. Most of the sessions involved trying to establish 'me time', trying to identify where you wanted to be in 5, 10 years etc and the baby steps you could take to get there. You want to live in France? - do French at night school etc. the ethos is to 'empower' women. I'm sure the civil service use/used (I did it about 7 or 8 years ago now, don't think my dept still does it) it to enable more women to get promoted etc. Each session I attended had a woman who had 'achieved' However, they were all the same old, 'I started at the bottom, had domestic pressures but look at me now, I'm a Grade blah blah blah.' I got a few funny looks when I said I wasn't interested in women who had achieved in the civil service, I was interested in women who had achived elsewhere where that didn't mean promotion/money.

It's not such a bad course in itself, a bit touchy feely and American and came at the wrong time for me (I was single and childless, had a bit to much 'me time' but it is quite depressing when you find all the course material about 7 years later and nothing has changed

Hi handlemecarefully,
I've changed career twice sucessfully ( I think) so maybe my experiences will help.
I left University and started off working in an Admin job in the Civil Service, Tax Office to be precise. I remember thinking on my first day that I wouldn't be there long....I ended up staying for 9 years and by the end of those 9 years, I loathed it. Why did I stick it so long? Well during those years I acquired a dh and 2 kids and dh went back to college full-time so I was the breadwinner so no matter how much I hated it I was stuck....Also, it wasn't quite so bad to start with and I think I got into a bit of a cosy rut where things weren't great but weren't bad enough to push me to change jobs.
Anyway, once dh got a job after leaving college, I started thinking about what I could do. Unfortunately I was pretty limited as I couldn't afford a drop in income far less having no income at all while I trained. I decided to apply for the Police, something I'd always wanted to do when I was younger. I never thought they would want me, a 30 year old, not very fit, short-sighted mum of two...but they did and I loved it. It was a great job!
However, 7 years and another child down the line, despite still loving the job,we (dh and I) decided that family life was suffering - I was working 3 weekends out of 4 plus nights and evenings - and that I should try to find another job with more 'family-friendly' working hours. The result is that I've re-trained to be a Health and Safety Inspector, which I really enjoy too.
I won't say that it's all been easy, it hasn't but both changes have definitely been worth it and much it's certainly been much better than mouldering away in a job I disliked, wishing my life away.
As to deciding what I wanted to do, with the police it was easy as it was something I'd always wanted to do and I just applied for it. With my current job, when I was thinking of leaving the police, I took a Post-Grad qualification in Admin & Info Mgt part-time(not sure whether this really helped or not) to give me extra and more current qualifications. I saw the advert for the job I'm in now completely out of the blue - it wasn't something I'd ever considered - and again, just applied.
Hope this helps..and good luck!

I'm so jealous - i wish I had the guts to change direction but I feel trapped by a decent salary and familiarity plus I cant think of anything that I feel passionate about other than animals and that never pays well and may be too emotional for me anyway - but you only get one crack at life so I am trying to get inspired by this thread.

When I was 36 I chucked in running press offices, took a part-time job doing something similar, and built up a career as a journalist. I have never, ever, once regretted it.

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I've changed twice, but both quite early on (pre child...). Graduated and got a 'milk round' job in brand management with Procter & Gamble, left after a year to do a PhD (massive salary cut but had just got married and we'd only just left uni so didn't really feel it). Then was an academic for a brief period, then started training for ordination in the church because I felt it was really what I was meant to be doing with my life. Now a curate. The training was appalling really - they didn't pay me anything at all on the grounds that I didn't need it as my husband was working (didn't even pay childcare costs when ds came along), so although pay now is low at least its better than nothing which I got for 3 years!! We partly coped because we saved a lot in the first few years of marriage so used savings for childcare costs until I started working. Financially we're comfortable (eg, don't qualify for any benefits), but compared to friends with household incomes of 60/70/80/100 k we're poor - though living in the north east our quality of life is pretty much as good and we don't have a mortgage to pay becuase I get a vicarage provided. Not much help probably, but I'd say do realistic budgets and work out what you could do - could you relocate somewhere cheaper, save more now to subsidise training, get any relevant training part time in evenings etc (Open University?) whilst still doing your current job?? Good luck!

Majorly. Went from being local newspaper reporter to journo on pop mags to vicar to book editor to working in the law. Also dabbled in TV and radio.

Still want to try something else. Read this yesterday; Jim Carrey said it -
'There's a time when you have to separate yourself from what other people expect of you, and do what you love. Because if you find yourself 50 years old and you aren't doing what you love, then what's the point?'

Inspirational, I thought.

Thanks for the support, HMC. Believe me, making the choice to change was not easy at all, but thank god for DH (who is my rock) who, fed up with my constant moaning and towards the end, depression, told me to 'Shut up and do something about it'. So I did.

Still can't afford to go away on long-haul holidays at present (my fave), but I see that as my reward once I reach my goal, plus we did have some great holidays pre-DS. But I can't tell you ENOUGH how much I LOVE my new career direction, especially my voluntary work (Homestart).

Anyway, will stop rambling, but the Jim Carrey quote is spot on. So take some inspiration from the stories on here and do what's best for you.

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Hi everybody

This has really helped - i.e. to be shown that it is possible to break free and do something different.

I agree that Jim Carey's insights are spot on!

Springboard wasn't run by civil service I did it through the local council, and my speakers were not civil servants - one was an owner of a care home and someone else was organic gardening. I am going back to the course next year (hopefully) to talk about the childminding.
I think it depends on your course tutor.