help - I need a career!

[LightShinesInTheDarkness]

but have no idea where to start. Obviously I would like to make the most of my skills but also learn new ones. Don't mind retraining but cannot afford expensive courses.

Brief summary so far:
age : 46
education : degree level (2:2 in French but it no longer interests me)
work experience : all public sector, administration mainly within health - NHS, alternative healthcare regulation
other experience : successful Phoenix Trader, Girl Guider, done stints as School Governor, PTA etc

Skills : I have very low self-esteem and find it hard to identify what I am good at, but my skills are mostly that I produce good written pieces for a range of purposes. Am quite creative, good organiser. Confident public speaker.

Weaknesses : not good at managing people, they walk all over me. Hate using the phone.

Can you give me some ideas of careers that may suit me?

Child Care?

seeyouokay - thanks.
I have two DCs - why do you think Chilcare would suit me?

I don't agree re childcare - it seems to be the kneejerk reaction when mums decide to return to work. Your previous experience would not really be relevant to this, you would need to retrain. Also very low paid - you really need to LOVE the job to stick at it.

Could you perhaps work in a schools as an administrator? You have admin experience, have worked with kids, have worked in the public sector before.

Perhaps contact some local schools to see if they have any positions which would be suitable? And speak to a local employment agency for clerical/admin work.

Or did you want to get right away from what you did before and try something completely new?

The only reason I suggested childcare is its what my local college is always offering in terms of free courses and qualifications.

Seeyouokay - the fact that a free course is available is not really the best basis for a career choice!

I think you've done a good job of identifying your skills - it sounds like you're an excellent 'generalist' writer and all-round communicator. Do you think communications/PR would suit you? A background in admin is certainly a good start, and there are plenty of short courses and diplomas offered in these fields.

Actually, scrap PR - if you hate using the phone then PR won't work. But it sounds like my job would be really good for you. I'm a web editor/online communications person - lots of writing and editing and content developing, and very little phone talking!

Bue - yes I should have thought of that, a friend has a similar job, is able to do a lot of the work from home so great with DCs.

Thanks, this is so helpful.

seeyouokay does have a point in that training in childcare seems to be easily accessible, but also with DancingHippo that it is a kneejerk reaction.

Having said that, I have registered with the GTTR to begin to apply for a PGCE to teach English. That links to probably my only other passion in life, namely literature, reading, books. I'm naturally quite curious and often follow up threads of things I am interested in (e.g went to Fowey to see Daphne du Mauriers House, just to get a bit of context, and I calculated on the Internet that in a few days I will have been alive for 7000 days - that kind of thing).

I'm not widely travelled but I love Scotland, and also (oddly) lighthouses.

DancingHippo - I like the school admin idea, but have only limited experience of managing money/accounts. Is that likely to be a factor?

Bue - I think you may be getting warmer, but I do not have any technical expertise in web design - would someone train me? I've had some articles published before (national mags). PR sounds like its out of my league as I imagine very upper class people with all the right contacts, but that is probably my prejudice.

Hi LightShines

Can't really think of anything to suggest directly, but will join in the discussion!

To post articles online you don't need any technical expertise - its not dissimilar to posting on Mumsnet once you are trained on the system.

For PR you have to be - in the nicest possible way - pushy and thickskinned. Bue is right, lots of phone work, much of which is to people you don't know.

My job - industry analyst - involves some writing and public speaking, a lot of home work interspersed with some quite interesting short-term travel, and relatively little people management. However I do have a background in the area which I analyse, if you see what I mean.

It sounds as though you need a "subject" in which to specialise. Your background is general admin which does not give you such a "subject". I read an article about getting started as a writer for magazines once - will see if I can find it - and it said a common pitfall is to say "I can write about anything" but what you actually need to do is develop a name as a specialist, if you were thinking of going down the freelance writing route.

How about a university? If there is an area that interests you, you could start by studying an MA or similar, then see if there is an academic role within that topic. A lot of academics post on MN, it's a tough life in many ways, but its a good fit with your speaking/writing skills and its also flexible around family life. Of course you may decide you don't want to be an academic but if you look at an MA this could give you your "subject" and there may be a whole new set of possible careers within that.

HTH - Good luck!

Thanks, AlarmBells

PR is definitely not for me then, as I am neither pushy nor thick-skinned, one of the reasons why I have never worked in sales or a retail environment, simply don't have the Hunger!

I know what you mean about the subject, almost as if I need to develop an area of expertise?

I like being in a team but do not want to head it up, prefer also working on my own tasks alone iyswim. Not anti-social, just not keen on constant back-and forthing between lots of people.

Bue - been googling 'Web Editor', does this seem a fair description of your role?

If you don't mind telling me, what was your route in?

Web editing is all about the words and the content. You would work with designers who worry about the look and IT people who focus on the technical side. AllarmBells is right - in some ways it's very similar to posting on a forum like this one. All organisations use content management systems to publish to their websites these days, and they tend to be user friendly - it's much like learning any other software or computer program. Hmmm, could you work for Mumsnet? :)

This is the sort of general role I was thinking of for you: Assistant Communication Officer Especially if it were within the public sector, it would be a great 'bridge' between your admin experience and communications.

Oh hi - yes, that's an excellent overview of the role. The other thing I'd say is that web editors increasingly work in social media too now (like this site). In my last job the organisation also had an online community so I did a lot of moderating and blogging on there.

I started out in book publishing but became disillusioned by the shite pay and conditions, so I moved into web. My colleagues have come from journalism, corporate communications, publishing, etc. Since it's such a new field there's not really a set route in.

Any more questions, just ask. Good luck!

Bue - on the school admin side I do not think you would need any specialised accounting skills - the bursar usually deals with that at larger schools. It may be useful to have some bookkeeping knowledge if working for a smaller school - one of the basic bookkeeping courses should give you all that you would need to know.

Bue, I am seriously looking into your web editing idea!

DancingHippo - thanks for that info. I am not very numerate or interested in money, so would probably not want to pursue accounting.

Weekend languages teacher (La Jolie Ronde, etc)

Careers Advisor

Office Manager (doesn't necessarily involve line mgt)

Also, would you consider volunteering in a sector initially to get a feel of it, and of your reaction to working in it?