Have you changed career / job since you had children?

[Frayedknot]

If so what did you do before, what do you do now? Why did you change?

I am at a bit of a crossroads and need some ideas as to which way to go now.

I took voluntary redundancy when I was on Mat Leave and have since moved to a new area. My choices are

1. try to find similar work to what I did before, part-time, with reasonable pay (seems to be fairly impossible, unfortunately).

2. become a SAHM at least until ds starts school but am worried about being unemployable by then and I also feel I need to do something for "me", now, and finances for next few years would be tight.

3. find something else to do / retrain / start own business.

It's the third option I want some ideas on!

Go to work, have a great shift and catch up with this another day, i will keep checking. Dont make your self late hun, we will talk another time.
Lovely to see you though

I used to be a professional - now I work in the same field but not as a professional. Through choice because after ds the stress didn't seem worth it. Dh misses the money though

Mille1 - there are various different courses for classroom/teaching assistants. Your local college will probably run level 2 and 3 courses. The OU also runs a foundation degree for teaching assistants or a foundation degree in early years depending on where your interests lie. Many jobs don't ask for specific qualifications atm though I think it's changing and I'm noticing more asking for suitably qualified candidates.

Thanks PW ... shall go look up their website now.

Hi sorry couldn't get back on until now, thanks for all the replies.

Just to elaborate I used to work in Marketing, but had a fairly specialised role. I could probably get good contract work in London (and I now live a commutable distance) but DH works long, irregular hours & has to travel abroad quite a lot, so would need to be around for all ds nursery drop offs, pick ups etc and wouldn;t be comfortable working so far away that I couldn't get back quickly in an emergency.

That also rules out evening / weekend work outside the home as DH is not always home to look after DS.

I have always felt both with mny original degree and then my career I did it because I wasn;t sure what else to do and it seemed obvious - but now wondering whether there might be something else I could be doing that would be more enjoybale / fulfilling.

Anyway all this is food for thought, so keep the ideas coming! Thanks.

I worked as a shop assistant and in nurseries before. I didn't find shop hours suited once I had the kids and didn't fancy paying someone to look after my kids to go and look after other peoples kids .

I started doing work at events in the evenings and weekends and MIL would look after them but that doesn't suit now they are at school and she can't get them to school in the morning.

I started working as a merchandiser once DD went to school as i can work the hours to suit me and can still drop off and pick up kids.

I started my own business 2 years ago but i feel i have just been playing at it, I almost opened a shop but got knocked back on the lease and MIL got cold feet too. I have only traded at a couple of fairs and stuffs. I am trying to set up to trade at a local market every week and started the party plan ball rolling too. It's been really slow annd difficult to get the business going mainly because I have no capital to invest and don't want to risk the family home. If I was childless I would probably have a chain of shops by now . Depending on the business you really need money to invest or balls enough to borrow it.

What sort of thing were you thinking of, full blown business or more a p/t work from home thing.

I was a restaurant manager when I had dd1. I went back to work part time after she was born but eventually it lead to more or less full time hours and was complicated by the fact that dh worked in a different restaurant so we worked opposite shifts and never really saw each other.

So when she was about 17 months I gave up work and became a sahm. When she was 3 I got a part time job that fitted in with her nursery hours, she went 5 mornings a week and dh just did shifts when I wasn't working so one of us always had dd1.

the job I have now is in education, I'm not a teacher, but I don't want to post exactly what I do as anyone who knows me will be able to figure out who I am. I'm still part time and it fits in around dd1's school hours and dh still works his shifts around me. Dh has dd2 whilst I'm at work then goes to work at night. It works for us and we've been very lucky that we can work dh's hours around mine as that way we've never needed extra childcare.

I'd love to be self employed but can't decide what I would do.

I still do the same job but with 22 hours a week as an Employee Benefits Consultant and I also teach French part-time at a school and with parents and babies because I wanted to do something more with children

I think that in order to inspire yourself you need to ask yourself some qs, rather than thinking of a job and then asking if it appeals or not. What did you like about your last job? what did you not like? do you like working alone or do you prefer a team environment? what did you want to be when you were little? what hobbies do you have? what do you enjoy about having kids? what do you feel passionate about?

I used to work in a bank - first in branches, then in their head office in London. Work hard, play hard great 20-something lifestyle.

Had DD and moved out of London shortly afterwards. Now do term-time only 20 hours a week admin at her school, almost qualified as an antenatal teacher with National Childbirth Trust and do occasional work for a waterbirth company.

I used to be a catering manager before I had the boys now work in a call centre.

Would love to go back to catering though but it is unsociable hours. I feel with the call centre it's good money for what I do i work mon-fri 7.30-3.30 so have my evenings and weekends with my lads

jamboure with those hours you could work in school catering! Our staff on morning shift work 7am-2.30pm.

Interesting Sue could just about be tempted.

I assume please correct me if i'm wrong though that i wouldnt get paid through summer holiday etc.

FrayedNot, I worked in marketing for 10 years, then went back to uni and did a PGCE to qualify as a primary teacher. This was a couple of years before I met dh, so didn't have children at the time. However, now having two (age 2 and 4), it is a relief to have something that I can get back into fairly easily and has part time opportunities - a lot more flexible than my marketing career.

Miillie1 - IME most effective route into being a teaching asst is to get into a school by volunteering to help. Nearly all of our assistans were appointed this way not nec. at our school but one head recommends x, y, z persons for a job at another school in area. Obviously a course is a bonus but most of ours have done the courses 'on the job' so to speak!

I'm about to start post grad course in public sector management which is a step away from teaching but not a million miles.

Hi Frayed Knot & Everyone

Hope this isn't too late to join in - new to mums net!

I worked in the food manufacturing industry for 11 years before I got PG with DD & got made redundant whilst on maternity leave. Suited me though as I wanted to be a SAHM & also to get away from a bad situation at work. Our savings began to disappear about 12 months ago and I stupidly bought a business idea via net called MY MAG. Bascially they sell you rights to publish a monthly magazine in a particular postcode! Anyway after 7 months of hard toil for both me & DH we decided to jack it in and sold on to someone else. Few weeks later I was "head hunted" by a local newspaper group to work on their glossy magazine selling advertising. Of course I've bitten their hand off!! But how freaky is that?

Anyone out there thinking of MY MAG or know anyone else that is DONT DO IT THEY ARE ROB-DOGS!

night all

I used to be a primary school teacher but gave it up when we moved to NZ when DS was just over 2.
I set up my own business about a year later ... marketing nutritional supplements and helping others to do the same.
I love what I do ... plus sides: No boss, no employees, work from home around family commitments, stay healthy by taking my own supplements, amazing tax advantages with having a home based business, low outlay, low overheads, still use my teaching skills to train others,
Downsides: There aren't any

Oh I'm glad people are still posting on here!

Yes, but not straight away. Prior to DD and stright after I was a secondary school teacher. despoite going back Pt after DD I found the amount of work and stres involved (was at a tough school) was too much. I stucj it out until this Easter when I resigned. I now work at a Learning and Skills Advisor in a prison and I love it.

I work in the city 3 days a week and whilst I know how lucky I am to have a well paid part time job I really want to be home more with my kids after school. As they get older and have more homework and social activities it is becoming harder to juggle childcare.

I have just started my own business selling educational books & toys for kids age 0-12. I am hoping to make a go of it so that I can give up my city job. I'm not looking to replace my salary, just earn enough to cover some bills, as I won't have any childcare costs so will be saving there.
I'm giving myself 6 months to build things up and then (crossed fingers) I can resign.

I've kept the same career but have gone part time to 3 days a week after dd was born and when I return again after my maternity leave will be doing 1 day. I am extremely lucky that I have the kind of job where this is possible, but on a purely selfish note, I don't want to go back at all. Having had nearly a year off, I am enjoying being a SAHM.

I was a food safety expertfor a major company based in central London preDD, we decided to move back to Scotland and very fortunately I got made redundant whilst on maternity leave. Am now a SAHM and am pregnant with no2 however am starting to think about career options, did have an interview with a uni for a PGCE primary but got pregnant instead, don't have a clue what to do next stay in food industry, do PGCE with 2 small children or something different?

Used to be in the army - now I'm a florist!

Satine, LOL that really is quite a change

Have to say, I'm thinking of changing direction again (spent an awful long time around small children recently and wondering whether I want to go back to teaching 30 of them!). I like the sound of what Hulababy is doing. I'm also mulling over becoming an archivist. I have the history degree already. I would need to do an MA in archive management, but before you can apply for the course, you must have a year's archive management - related work experience. Am investigating this possibility currently.