Please help me make some sort of bloody decision!

[FuzzyEd]

I really feel like I need to bite the bullet and make some sort of decision about what I am going to do about work/career going forward. In such a muddle and can't seem to get any clarity. Any advice or ideas would be SO welcome.

I'm 38. I want to career change. Got an arts first degree and postgrad qualification in education (not teaching). Currently a student welfare advisor in a college. There are things I like about the job (the students, mainly!), but I feel it is a very under-valued role with no real sense of professional expertise (bit of a jack of all trades master of none) and no career progression at all.

Ideas that appeal:

Speech and Language Therapist
Occupational Therapist
Teaching ESOL or young people with SEN/LLDD (so post-compulsory, not secondary teaching)

I've researched all of these ideas thoroughly, talked to people doing the jobs etc...but still feel scared about making a huge commitment to retrain and it not being the right one.

How do you make these decisions?!

My 'passion', I guess, and something that I am good at is relating to people, working with clients/service users directly (wouldn't want a job that involved sitting in an office all day), supporting people to make changes and overcome barriers. I am a bit of a 'champion of the people' type (union rep, diversity champion at work etc). I like making a difference to people's lives (cringe, but true).

Any opinions? Anyone doing any of the jobs above? Any other ideas about the sort of career that might suit me?

I think the best way to make a decision, is to shadow someone for a few days, and see what you think. You will also get to talk to them about what are the good bits and what are the drawbacks.
I realise there's a time commitment there that might involve you using some holiday, but if you work in a college, maybe you get college length holidays?

What about the charity sector? You might need to work in a voluntary capacity for a while but it would give you the experience to go for a paid position later.

Not that it's directly relevant but the BTCV (seems they're called TCV nowadays) used to take on volunteers - I worked as a fund-raiser with them for a year and it was brilliant experience for a career in that sector.

I can highly NOT recommend ESOL/EFL as a longterm career- unless you nab one of the v few decent managerial/university positions in it. Pay is truly appalling for the preparation/marking/paperwork expected and v v few decent contracts. Think it's one pf the most casualised sectors out there! I'd do the LD route - better pay, prospects and could move away from teaching into a council service role.

I agree with mamacat about the charity sector. They always need people in their fundraising departments and if you were able to offer to work for them voluntarily to begin with it would give you some experience of the work to see if you liked it. I worked for a local Hospice for a couple of years and, despite what a lot of people think, it was a lovely place to work. Unfortunately, due to re-organisation, my job didn't last and I had to leave but I loved it whilst I was there.

Oh my goodness I know what you mean!

I had a crisis recently which made me re-evaluate things as I realised I needed to do something that I felt was worthwhile and helping people.

I was lucky enough to be introduced to a company which sell health and wellbeing products and with comprehensive training, I have given it a go. It amazing to see the difference the products are making in peoples' lives and I'm making money at the same time, working from home approx 15 hours per week!

I'm not sure it's right for everyone but I know anyone can do it if they want to!

Maybe you could consider something more 'out of the box' like this?

Good luck with whatever you decide! x