Leaving the City...what do people do?

[Peppaagain]

After 15 years working in the City and two dc, I have decided this may be the time for me to leave. I've worked really hard but have decided the hours and politics stress is creating too much of a compromise to my family life - and that comes first imo..

I've been considering my opinions - same job/ different industry, same job but setting up on my own, retrain, or a completely different business venture ( very appealing), but I'd be really interested to know from other MNers who have already made similiar career changes. What did you do and did it give you a better work-life balance or did you need up seeing even less of your family?

Bump :)

What are your skills?

I qualifed as an accountant but work as a controls risk manager now (similiar to audit). Unfortunately my financial accounting skills are very out of date.. :-/

DH left after 5 years to become a physics teacher. He is infinitely happier now, albeit with less free time! (But better holidays - it's a boarding school). There are several other ex-City teachers at the school too. One woman I know left the City to start a kids' cooking business.

I have thought about teaching, especially as the holidays would work well when the kids are at school, especially if i was a local school. But i know you can't underestimate the hours that still need to be put in.. Do teachers normally work late at school or come home and then work later when kids are in bed? Also how did you husband go about converting to teaching?

I think it depends on the person, I'm sure either approach can work. DH has periods where he comes home around dinner time and still works in the evenings, and periods where he doesn't do any work at home. He almost always prepares lessons on Sunday afternoons.

He did a PGCE and swears that it's the only route to go as it gives you a year to 'try things and fail', but all the other ex-City teachers at this school did either the GTP or came straight in without a teaching qualification and then did the GTP or PGCE part-time. I think GTP places are becoming harder to get, but if you don't want to go back to 'studying', it's a good option.

I have just resigned as a legal secretary after 15 years working in the City to stay at home with DS (9 months). An old friend has started his own business and needs secretarial assistance so I've registered as self-employed, bought a new laptop and will be doing admin for him during naps and when DS goes to bed. Thats the plan anyway

well done minibmw2010! I thin making the decision to just do it is the hardest part of all - and it sounds like you will have a nice balance of work/ earnings and time with DS. I've been just thinking about this today (in fact that is a lie because I am thinking about it every day at the minute!) and I think my fear isn't the loss of earnings, or the change, but that if I have a 'career break' then I might not be as employable in the future. After almost a year off for maternity leave I could see that you can quickly become out of touch of industry/ market events. Good luck to you though!!

Bue - this is a really cheeky question (and pls don't answer it if you don't feel comfortable doing so) I just don't have a clue. What earnings bracket did your husband move to, and did he go into private education?

Anyone else do anything different on leaving?

Today I've been wrecking my brain and came up with the following options:

• stay in the city but find an organisation that works shorter hours so I can get home for DCs bedtimes (possible??)
• change industry and find a company closer to home so I can have more time in the morning and evenings, and in time perhaps negotiate a couple of early days to do school pick ups
• contract on an X number of hours a week basis (if possible) but in time plan that school holidays would be taken off (this option sounds good but childcare could be a problem I would imagine...)
• retrain as a teacher (reduction in salary I am sure, but would hopefully be more local and would definitely be better when DCs start school, AND it has always been something I have wanted to do)
• start own independent business (I'd love to do but in all honesty I don't think with a baby and toddler, and the possibility of a no.3 at some point in the next few years this is really a viable option)
• take a full career break and concentrate on being a FT mum (which I love more than anything in the world!)

Childcare costs are an really important factor too - options 1, 2, and 3 would probably leave me with net earnings every month, but I am not sure option 4 & 5 would, as we would still need a nanny/ childminder/ nursery option..

Peppa, Bue's DH is obviously working in the private sector which can vary dramatically but in the state sector, both primary and secondary teachers are now on the same pay scale. See here

I left teaching as I found it to be very family unfriendly.

thanks lovingthecoast this is really useful. Why did you find it family unfriendly? Worried I might have rose-tinted glasses on when I think of it being one of the best careers to manage family life and work through.

Do you know anything about Bursar roles? Someone recently suggested that this might be a better option given my experience and background..

Well, I currently have 3 kids in school and 1 still at home. I started to realise how rigid it was when my eldest went through Reception and I realised I could never attend a class assembly, couldn't make the Christmas production as both were afternoons in the infants and missed sports day. It was also very difficult when one of them was ill as by not going in you are having quite an impact on everyone else.

When working f/t, I also was spending hours each evening doing stuff (was teaching Y6 at the time) plus most of Sunday. With 3 small children and a DH who is away all week this is very hard on family life. I think the amount of evening and weekend work you do really depends on your age range and subject. I have taught juniors and English at secondary. Heavy work load with both. In Y6 on days when they had science or history that would be 90 books to mark on an evening. At least 60 every other evening. Perhaps if you are thinking of doing maths or similar at secondary, your workload may be less. Certainly less planning and prep at the weekend I would imagine.

The holidays are certainly helpful and I try to do very little over Christmas and for the first 4wks of the summer hols but ended up dragging kids into school during half term breaks.

Having said all that, it's a fantastic job. I have taken a step back and now work as a TA. Crap money but I get to be involved in the job I love and walk away at 3.30! However, if you go into it just for the family friendly aspect without a real love/passion for it, I can guarantee it will wear you down as it is incredibly emotionally draining.

Has anyone managed to find something closer to home after leaving the city? I am a 1.5 hour commute each way, so that in itself would make a huge difference if I could work more local..

I work as finance manager in a school. I love it, family life is improved unimaginably, but I earn less than 10% of what I used to. I don't mind because we were set up quite nicely from what I'd earned before, with tiny mortgage etc, but it has meant a massive change in our lifestyle. For the better IMO, but then I was never one for the flash cars and holidays.

Working in school is family friendly in that you get the holidays, but it is incredibly inflexible if you need time off in term-time (basically you can't have it). None of the teachers I work with ever go to events at their own DC's schools for example. I'm fortunate in that I work part-time and my workload isn't generally time critical so I can swap my days if I need to, but even part-time teachers can only do that if they can find someone appropriate to swap with.

Hmmmm you sound just like me when you say you are not into the flash cars and holidays! i didn't get into the city to make megabucks, i just wanted to make a living, and thankfully now we are fairly comfortable (although not mortgage free unfortunately!). Time with my family - kids and husband, is without a doubt a top priority for me now. That being said, i still want to work both because i it makes me a happier person, but also to keep myself in the game. Is a finance manager the same as a school bursar? I like the sound of using my finance skills but in an educational environment.

What is your current role in the city/background? Have a look at these school business manager/bursar jobs on here and see if you fit the person specs just to give you an idea

www.tes.co.uk/office-and-administrative-jobs/

Civil service government accountancy service, national audit office could be options depending on your background?

I do contract work, and try not to work in the holidays. I have just applied for a 3 month contract to see me through until the summer holidays.

If you can find short term roles, they will be better paid and use your skills you have worked hard for. Also, you can often work more flexibly as you are paid by the hour/day

I looked at Bursar roles, but found they tend to be 'normal' hours and do not benefit from extended holidays

Thanks crazy! Im a qualified accountant - currenly work as a controls risk manager with an american bank, but have many years of auditing (internal and external) in investment banking behind me.

Just looking at some of the roles on the link and it is quite hard to know what the roles are as they are very high level (perhaps thats the nature of the jobs? Bit of everything?)

I worked in investment banking for about 6 years after leaving university. When I had had enough (pre children, but I could see that it wasn't compatible with children) I went back to university to do an MSc. in social sciences. I then went to do something totally different - consultancy, but in a non financial field, drawing quite heavily on my MSc. I've been doing it for about ten years now, and we recruit from all sorts of backgrounds, and always find ex City people to be great hires. Very focused, very organised, very structured thinkers. It doesn't use the specific financial knowledge I had, but the client managements skills are similar. We are interested in people who can think creatively and logically at the same time - not so much in people who are trained in a particular field.

There was a huge income drop. I am only now, as an extremely senior employee, earning what I earned in the year before I left, and my lifetime earnings are a fraction of what they would have been. But I have a massively enhanced quality of life - able to go to school events, work from home, bring dcs to the office if I have no childcare, etc etc. And I absolutely love my job in a way I could never have imagined before.

Octopussting, i've been thinking about contracting for the reasons you say in that i could try to structure it such that i have selected periods (ie school holidays) off. One question i had though - are a lot of contracting jobs fulltime/ 5 day weeks? Also do you think what you lose in terms of paid holiday, pension etc is compensated for in the daily rate? Do you mind me asking what type of role you are in and how you go about finding new contracts?

Have a look on adzuna.co.uk as i have found some good opportunities for contract work.

I think the money is fine, especially for the flexibility. PT run of the mill finance jobs are pretty poorly paid.

The one i have applied for is FT, but i have told them i can only do 25-30hrs per week in 'core office hours' but can do work in the evenings etc. Wait to hear what they say

My background is in M&A work, so little around at the moment. Most of my work has been through old contacts. This new role is a cost review and strategic planning, so fits my skills very well (although much lower paid without an M&A 'premium')