Careers advice

[Bumperlicious]

I'm on maternity leave at the moment, and was pretty miserable in my job when i left. it's public sector and the only appealing thing at the moment is the flexibility and security (unlikely to be compulsory redundancies). The pay isn't fantastic considering my education level, so that isn't even reason enough to stay.

My job isn't really related to my degree (I have a BSc and an MSc). I feel pretty demotivated work wise and feel like i need something to get my teeth stuck into. I just don't know what. I'm sure there is a perfect job out there for me, I just don't know what it is yet. I've become a lot more aware of my strengths and weaknesses recently and want to find a job that suits me. The problem is I am realistically qualified for nothing. I have lots of transferable skills but nothing specific.

Is there any such thing as a careers adviser? I know there are advisers for younger people (I'm 29). But I could do with someone who could look at my skills objectively and point me in the direction of a new career and advise me on retraining if necessary. Is my only option some sort of life coach who charges ££££?

Bump

Round here Connexions are helping the old folk at the moment :) It may be worth contacting them.

here

Must say I am rather confused - have just looked them up and Career Service is now called Next Step. I saw a Next Step advisor today at Job Centre and she was from Connexions!

Government just announced a new all age careers guidance service to launch September next year.

Meanwhile there is Connexions for teens and Next Step for adults - how it is delivered varies from area to area. In some areas, both services are run by one organisation.

Quality of service varies - the spending review has led to loads of redundancies in this sector.

The Next Step website is not a bad starting point.

See if you can use your local College/University Careers Service. Many of them now have qualified Career Coaches. It's a free service.

There's a great site that will give you your signature strengths (terrific because it makes you feel good about yourself) [(www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu)]
Also- start a journal and use it to start jotting down anything that captures your interest, and use these questions to begin "when were you happiest in your career?, who is your career hero?, who do you envy? what do you find it difficult to stop doing? what would you take on if you knew you couldn't fail?.

What you are looking for is a career coach. My friend went to one and it changed her life! She quit her job and took some time out to refocus, switched careers and she is much happier. Yes, it did cost her, but she would say it was worth every penny.

Thanks for the tips. not sure about a careers coach, i imagine they could be hit and miss, and i wouldn't know if they'd be any good.

i looked at the next steps site but couldn't see anything about where they may be based in my area.

Bumperlicious - if you phone the number on the Next Step website re face to face advice, they should be able to make you an appointment with an adviser in your area. There may not be a Next Step office as such - often advisers are peripatetic and may be based in the job centre one day, the local college another day, and so on.

Next Step might give you free advice, but they usually only take referrals from the job centre. Might be changing, though. You are probably unable to find the info because what was Next Step under the last government (careers guidance for long-term unemployed) is now supposedly becoming an all-age, free-to-all guidance service under this government, also called Next Step (how this is going to work is anyone's guess, and probably won't be impl;emented until well into next year).

The Careers Group, who service most of the Univ of London for careers guidance, provide a careers guidance service if you are in London (not sure about elsewhere?). Think they are about £90 an hour, so not cheap. Have heard good things about them.

There are loads of private careers coaches out there. Just make sure they have professional experience and ideally the QCG or at least NVQ4 Advice and Guidance. Lots of charlatans out there.

For more generic direction and advice, I would really recommend this book - www.amazon.co.uk/Strengths-Way-Mike-Pegg/dp/1852525428 - no relation or kickback, honest.

Mike is a coach I was luckily introduced to via an old job, he really helped me recognise the things I liked doing, what I was good at, and therefore change jobs and direction. There are tons of exercises and forms to fill out in the book which are really worthwhile doing, however obvious some of the questions might seem (and the language can be a little irritating - get a taster in the Amazon review).

I should also say you've got tons of time so don't panic, I'm ten years older than you, also on mat leave and also thinking wondering if/when to retrain, change direction but thinking hey, I've probably got thirty more years at work to do it!

I agree with the idea of using a book if you can't locate an adviser near you. Careers advice is a form of counselling - you are the person who has the answers inside about what to do with your life (what you love/hate/are good at, your values, your financial situation, etc) - all a careers adviser does is help you bring that information out. If you are fairly disciplined, you could achieve the same thing through a decent book with self-exploration exercises.

Once you have a list of possible jobs/careers, you can look them up on something like www.connexions-direct.com/jobs4u which is aimed at young people but is very good for information on what qualifications and training you need for different jobs.

I could read books and am fairly self aware, i think what i am missing is the job ideas iykwim? there are so many jobs out there that i don't know even exist.

The website I mentioned lists different types of job.

What's your degree/masters in? If you type a subject (history, science) in the search box it will give a long list of jobs linked to that subject.

I would also caution against the idea of the "perfect job" - like there's something out there just waiting for you to discover it and if you did your life would be so much better. It's likely that there are 50 job types out there that would suit you well, and even they might change over time as your circumstances change.

I just came across your post and wondered if you found a solution. There are many career development professionals available. Psychometric testing can be such a great tool to help you in making these big decisions. I have for example done career assessment for people of all ages. If you find someone that are familiar with the tools they use and able to interpret the results for you it can be of tremendous help. Also, I would suggest looking at various careers that might interest you and give you the flexibility to work around your child/children. There is so much information on various careers out there, but I found the collection here: www.robwilliamsassessment.co.uk/career-resources/
quite valuable. Have you ever thought of going into business psychology? There are even job searched attached to these pages to see what the demand and salaries are. www.robwilliamsassessment.co.uk/business-psychologist-jobs-london/