Retraining in my 40's

[Chickaletta16]

Hello ,

I would like some advice from you lovely wise people. I would like to retrain into something that will give me a good income. I have a degree in Business Mgt and graduated 20 years ago. I have held some good jobs in the past but took 10 years out to raise my young family. My youngest is now at school full time.

I am currently working part time doing admin work for a law firm. It's NMW and even though I enjoy it..I want to do something that pays well and offers career progression.

Looking at jobs available in the workplace..there don't seem to be many available that pay well and offer flexible / part time working. I've recently qualified as a beauty therapist but don't have the room at home to have clients over. I do offer mobile services as and when I can.

I've been looking into educational psychology , pharmacy technician, teaching.

Please could you give me your own examples if you've retrained - I'm at a loss as to what are the best careers that offer a degree of flexibility.

Thank you in advance.

Teaching has absolutely no flexibility at all. It’s probably one of the most inflexible careers, certainly in terms of time off. Bin that one.

I think your issue is wanting flexible and part time working. I think many careers offer some flexibility but only after several years in the job.
Is there a reason you can’t work full-time for several years before dropping to part-time?
Medicine pays well if you qualify as a doctor and can be done part-time (my brother retrained in his 30s and did exactly this) but in those early years it’s hectic and full-time.

Thank you purple daisies - yes everyone seems to suggest the same thing about teaching. Alot of teachers are leaving the profession. I was also looking into interior design but like I said I'm not really sure what would be a good career to retrain into at this stage of my life.

@Oly4 i have no issue working full time - but I need to do the school run so a typical 9 - 5 job would be hard . All my children are still in primary school. I would absoloutely love to qualify as a Doctor but think it would be too much for me to juggle that aswell the children.

OT or Physiotherapy?

That’s quite a varied list.

I wouldn’t recommend teaching to my worst enemy but if you do want to do it, go and post on the Staffroom board.

For Educational psychology-there is a national shortage, but...you’d need a psychology undergrad degree (or conversion) and then a 3/4 year doctorate which is very difficult to get a funded place on. It’s also obviously very adacemic-not everyone is suited to or able to commit to this sort of level of studying.

I think you'll struggle working full time and doing the school run. You need to think about school holidays, what are you going to do for childcare then? It takes many years to become an educational psychologist. It sounds like being self employed may be the way to go?

i have no issue working full time - but I need to do the school run so a typical 9-5 job would be hard

What hours do you think teachers do?

@fedup21 I am well aware that teachers work long hours - IF it was something I went into I would make arrangements for the children to be picked up and dropped off to school.

I'm an SEN teacher and I work part time, it's not 'flexible' but working 3 days a week term time only suits me well. Training is a pretty brutal but after that there are part time options and supply work can be flexible. I feel I'm well paid and there ar bursaries to train. I looked into ed psych a few years ago and the training path was very long, very competitive and very insecure, that may have changed.

Thank you @cowfacemonkey I'll look into both .

@wonderstuff thank you for your input. There are some funded places available for educational psychology at the moment which is why I was considering it.

To be fair OP you did say you needed to do the school run. If you find a job that pays well, has career progression, family friendly hours and no recent training or experience let me know. I've been looking for years! Maybe take a look at nhs jobs near to you, some of them can have family friendly hours. Some of the admin jobs are band 4, which is roughly 21-23k a year full time, although it's more likely you'll be expected to work up from a band 2 ward clerk position.

I am well aware that teachers work long hours-IF it was something I went into I would make arrangements for the children to be picked up and dropped off to school.

Sorry, you said you needed to do the school run so couldn’t do a 9-5 job.

If you are going to make arrangements for before and after school childcare, being able to do the school run is irrelevant, isn’t it?

I want to do something that pays well and offers career progression.

These can’t be the only criteria. What do you enjoy? What was it that attracted to to teaching/ed psych?

Cyber security?

Software Development

I think you need to be clear what 'pays well' and 'flexible' mean to you...do you mean 10-2 only, not in school holidays and £15 per hour? What part of the UK are you in? Do you mean 9-5 3 days a week and £20 per hour? Admin/clerical work/executive assistant / virtual assistant could all fit with your existing qualifications and pay this.

Apologies I should have been clearer. I would like to earn £40 k plus. I currently work 9 - 5pm 2 days a week..It is flexible in the sense if I need to pick up the kids at 3pm (if their father can't for example) I'm ok to go and do that.

I have no issue with working mon to Friday 9 - 5. I just want the flexibility that if I need to go and pick up a poorly child for example - or picking.up at home if I had to - without being penalised for it.

I can work through the school holidays if I need to - childcare is not an issue for me - I have great support from family.

I'm in the North of England so pay isn't great. I am considering self employment. I've always wanted to set up my own business and am currently researching an idea to see if it would be a viable business.

I come from a family of entrepreneurs and they have done very well for themselves. But I guess I want the security of a monthly salary first ..then if I do decide to go into some sort of business I have something I can always fall back on.

I would like to earn £40k plus

I have been teaching for over 20 years and don’t earn over £40k.

I just want the flexibility that if I need to go and pick up a poorly child for example

Teaching doesn’t offer this at all-I am completely reliant on my parents and DH (who works flexibly) to pick up poorly children and look after them for the next 48+ hours, covering snow days/Inset days, watching children’s assemblies/plays/nativities/sports days, strike days etc etc

Teaching is not for you, I don’t think.

Yes @fedup21 it seems like teaching would not be suitable for me.

I'll have to keep doing my research and also look into what's out there in terms of jobs. I am also going to seriously look into self employment.

I earn £54k in the civil service (the equivalent outside of London would be a bit less) and I have the sort of flexibility you’re after, to leave unexpectedly at 2pm to collect a sick child or whatever and make up the time online later, without any aggro from my boss or colleagues. I really enjoy my job on the whole, and appreciate I am very lucky for things like this (also fantastic maternity pay, although sounds like this is not a consideration for you).

BUT I don’t want to make it sound too much of a cushy number - I think I average about 55 working hours (and that’s efficient single parent working hours, not the sort of slow and indulgent coffee break perfectionism working hours I did before I had children ) per week, where my contract says 37... Morale can be a challenge at the minute (this was not the case when I joined the civil service just five years ago). Career progression outside of London is not quite as easy as within London, and I’m in a profession (one of the analytical ones) where demand outstrips supply, all of which makes it easier for me to say ‘look, I work bloody hard and I perform well but at 4.30 I walk out the door to collect my children and I won’t be back online until they’re both in bed, take it or leave it’ than it might be for, say, a policy professional outside of London. Nonetheless it is probably an option worth exploring.

Thank you @NellWilsonsWhiteHair that sounds fantastic for you. I will definately explore that and see what the North has to offer in terms of civil service jobs.

I can't see pharmacy tech being particularly flexible - it'll be shift-based, in a pharmacy. It's not the kind of job you can do from home or catch up after hours.

Educational psych you're looking at a bare minimum of 5 years of study FT to qualify unless you already have a degree in psychology. Longer part time. And that's if you get accepted onto the doctorate at all.

I admittedly don't know where rates of pay would be expected to come up where you are but I'm not sure what you want is feasible. Earning 40k+ AND having significant flexibility usually either involves a lengthy and competitive path of qualification which excludes many people, or very savvy positioning of yourself and working your way up in the commercial world. And I think you're going to need a bit more direction than "I want to make a lot of money and also be flexible".

After your last update, definitely not the NHS then. Or any public service.