suggestions please!

[boudicca]

I need to earn a proper living,up till now I've done lots of 'odds and sods',ie.been a window dresser,mural painter/paint effects,char,childminder,dressmaker-I've been out of 'proper' work for a v. long time and I don't know what I could be suited for and not a clue what to try and train for.Any suggestions would be welcomed!

just realised I'm in the wrong section,sorry!!

well what do you want to do? What are you good at?

Do you want to deal with the public or would you rather not?

The jobs you've listed sound interesting - I take it you're quite creative. Would you want to turn any of those into a "proper" job?

that's the problem SP,I don't feel I'm good enough at anything!-as for the public,I'd quite like to get out into the big wide world but it's a bit of a scary thought.

I've been to the Jobcentre,they're only too willing to help,but they don't have the facility for finding the 'right job'I feel I need to find a website(?)that you can fill in a questionaire and then it gives you a direction to go in.

off to Google and see Jeeves-again!

you could try this

they charge you about a tenner for the full results (and its a subscription, so make sure you cancel it), but dp and I were quite impressed by their IQ tests - probably worth a tenner.

Mind you, dp came out as being cleverer than me which can't be right

When I a teacher I used to do a fair bit of advisory work for careers options for teenagers and found that many were too preoccupied about specific jobs rather than what aspects of jobs they enjoyed/definitely weren?t suited for. By considering what you are good at in terms of broad "transferable" skills (communicating with others, coping in stressful enviorments, loving relaxed calm atmospheres etc. etc.) you might end up thinking about jobs that you might have otherwise not even thought about. Personally I have seen a lot of those career advice questionnaires and many are just too "obvious" and not clever enough to be of real benefit - eg. "do you like being outdoors or indoors?" - if you say outdoors the options are sometimes even down to about ten jobs - farming, gardening, working for the fisheries and environment agency, refuse collector etc etc. Too limiting.
First of all is there any of your previous jobs that you genuinely enjoyed ?(not taking into account specific people, pay, or situations that might colour your opinion) Retraining can be expensive, time consuming and mean that you earn less while you build up the experience so best to look at what you can do already and at least consider those options first - for example, maybe you really enjoyed being a dressmaker but found that you didn?t enjoy working from home with just "odd jobs" - too unreliable and lonely so maybe consider looking for jobs that involve dressmaking but with a definite wage and where you can work alongside others - eg. a demonstratioin sewer in a large store such as John Lewis....or maybe you like childminding but it didn?t work out as you didn?t get much money and was only a casual arrangement - maybe look at getting fully qualified, hiring a larger premises and running your own nursery? If none of your previous jobs being rejigged works for you, then I would consider transferring these skills on a similar line - eg. lots of your jobs show a real creative aspect to them so what about creative artisitc jobs that can still draw on your experience and knowledge within minimum retraining? eg. jewellry designing, running art classes, interior design work.
If you are still unimpressed, then think about other fields of work but take into account retraining options, time scale and costs - not impossible if you are really keen.
Other considerations off the top[ of my head - working alone or for others? regular hours?full time? part time? Outdoors/indoors? in charge or no responsibilty? stressful deadlines ok or more relaxed important? like a smart office enviorment or hate it? Part of a team or as an individual? Fixed pay necessary or like bonus incentives or working from commission?
HTH Good Luck

Oo! thank you Sp,I'll go and investigate that one

hit a brick wall with Tickle Sp,waited for my results but zilch!(blank screen),
thanks for your input Sm,I did try and get the dressmaking off the ground last year,but my H Asswouldn't let me work from home,I was fairly successfull at it (made dresses for Irish dancers)but I don't think I would have made enough to pay for premises.the fact is I'm getting on a bit!so I would have to really keep re-training time to a minimum,but my brain has turned to mush when it comes to clear thinking or ideas.I expect I spend too much time on my own and do not get enough stimulation to get the brain cells fired up .

I do think that transferring my skills(?)in another direction is probably the answer,esp when i consider the time aspect,you've given me some stuff to ponder on ,thanx

Whymummy are you having a career crisis too?

love to have a partner Beetroot,but sadly no takers on career or home front!no,I meant my housing association.

hmmmmmm yes!!dd starts school in september and i really want to do something,ideally to do with art but i don't know what,murals are my thing but i wouldn't know where to start as so far i've done a few for nothing so i was thinking of taking pictures and doing some sort of portfolio.what about you? anything you really,really would like to do?

think the portfolio makes sense if only for your personal use,have you any Interior shops locally?you could try approaching them for work.As for me..........most of the time I think I'd just like to hibernate for the rest of my life(arsy teenager,another story!)but I would like to think I could achieve something I could be proud of in the workplace.

Wm what did you do pre mummydom?

there's not a lot around here but i'm learning to drive so it will open a few more doors,if you're good at painting how about buying old furniture and painting it for children's bedrooms,nurseries etc,i wold love to do that too but i have no room at all,what kind of murals did you do?

at 16 i made my dad spend a small fortune so i could do hairdressing,after a few months i left as i hated it then i went for auxiliary nurse and i didn't finish it either,looked after children and worked in restaurants,nothing to do with art at all,i'm not good with computers either so i'll just have to go to my local college and see if i can find something i really like,hard isn't it?

where are you then Wm?
I did paint furniture for a while,I used to 'work' out of a shop in Walton St,I really don't have the space to do it in the flat I'm living in.As for the murals,I did dinosaurs and fairies,Peter Pan and there was one I did on tiles for a bathroom,of a lady and her daughter in the bath(lots of bubbles v. discreet

wow sounds great! how did you get into that?
i'm in staines

Have you considered china painting?

china painting sounds good,have you done it?

got into the painted effects stuff through a friend of a friend,started off doing lampbases and mirror surrounds for a v.v. posh lady,but the 'bottom' seemed to fall out of the whole painted thingy after a few years.That's when I turned to the murals.I did the bathroom mural onto tiles,that's what started me off in china painting,then bought some cheapo plates etc from Ikea and used them,painted teddies and ribbons and the birth/christening dates,people liked them but it wasn't/isn't enough to earn a real living at unless you can get the outlets.I sometimes think if you live away from London you can get your stuff into shops much easier.

i might give the china painting a go,i want to learn all sorts of painting techniques,i did a portrait and figure painting course using chalks and i really enjoyed it,do you have good colleges where you are?