Help, please ! I need a job change !

[Twink]

I know there have been loads of threads about work/life balance and what can be done to fit in with family life but nothing seems to cover my situation.

I'm an electrical engineering graduate who worked for 10 years pre dd in a construction site environment, ie 12+ hour days with up to 4 hours travel a day - no I didn't have a life, and was so career obsessed it nearly wrecked my marriage more than once.

I've not worked for the last 5 years, and frankly am terrified, usual story, lost confidence/self -belief etc. I'm computer literate (or at least Mumsnet literate anyway), and need to work but can't go back to my old life. Can any of you recommend a way of finding careers advice to someone who desparately needs a direction ?

Sorry, last sentence should read 'for someone', my proof reading skills are usually better than that !

Just saw an advert along these lines, with an 0845 number, called jobseeker
Thats literally as much as I know about it, but it appeared to be suggesting they can help you find the right job
Would recommend you doing some voluntary work in the interim, not in a charity shop, but something more office based, to convince you your skills are just fine!

Twink

Totally sympathise with your situation - am in similar position - I need to change my job to fit in with family life (15m DD) as commuting 60 -odd mile round trip even for 3 days per work now getting on top of me. I have so little energy for my DD and DH I am getting worried. I too have lost confidence despite being a career minded graduate etc etc buit now am more than a bit depressed and feel very anxious that I canlt cope and feel I need to change direction but it seems so hard to do because there are so many brick walls.

Got no particular advice to give but if you find a route out please let me know too!!!

twink, only time for a short message, but I'm sorry your're feeling so worried about returning to work. Do you think you're nervous about your ability to do the job itself or are you worried about getting sucked back into the long hours culture? Can you separate the two?

If you found a job that used your experience and abilites, but had shorter hours, would you feel more OK about returning? If so, my experience might help:

A year or so I realised I simply couldn't work in an advertising agency hot house environment again, working silly hours along with 20-somethings who live and breathe advertising, simply becaue my heart would no longer be in it. When I had to return to work this was a huge worry for me. I knew that if I landed such a job, I would be living a lie and feared I would be found out very quickly.

By luck I was in the right place at the right time and changed over to working in the public sector. I am still using my skills and enjoying learning new ones. Family friendly hours, flexible working and a 35 hour week make tons of difference. I really like my job and don't feel daunted by it at all.

Do you think it would be worthwhile continuing your engineering career with your local council or some other public sector organisation? would this be a solution for you?

Hi Twink,

I attended a careers evening with dd1 at her school, and while we were there we used a computer programme that helps you find a list of jobs to suit your preferences.

You answer loads and loads of questions about your likes and dislikes, and your skills, and at the end the computer spits out a long list of jobs for which you are 'very suited', 'fairly suited', etc etc.

I have just looked and I no longer have my list (must have cleared it out) but I believe there is a website you can go on to do this test. Perhaps someone else out there can tell you the name of it.

Tigermoth - would you mind if I asked you what area of the public sector you work in now ? Is it still advertising related ?

metrobaby, I work in a 'sort of' in a communications unit. Don't want to say more and blow my cover here!

Posts such as mine that require an advertising, marketing or pr background are available in both national government ie the Central Office of Information, and locally ie local councils. If you want a more detailed explanation, please feel free to email me.

oops - didn't preview that message. Hope it makes sense!

Thanks for the responses, I've checked out Sue's volunteer site and discovered that there is an organisation which sorts out all our local volunteer vacancies so I've made an appointment with them.

I googled and found a couple of sites which let me do questionaires to find out my strengths & weaknesses (not entirely convinced by the one which suggested I was ideally suited to repetitive manufacturing !!!!)

I've contacted our local FE college to see if they can give me some careers advice, which is a bit ironic as I've already asked to do voluntary work with them to teach numeracy skills.
I'm waiting for our local numeracy skills NVQ4 course to start, following on from the basic induction course I did - but so far it has gone from an anticipated early New Year start to a ???? not got a clue at the moment as the literacy course hasn't got accreditation yet and numeracy is due to follow.

I've also got in touch with my professional organisation and found they offer careers advice too.

Many thanks to all of you, I really needed a kick as I don't 'do' January very well and as you all perceived, self-esteem is currently lacking - but having just watched Child Of Our Time I know I must try harder and it's not impossible to change

hi twink

good for you on your progress so far, and good luck with the remainder of your search