What to do? Teaching? NHS? Something else?

[pancakes22]

I am 35 mum of 2 and completely miserable in my job being a PA that I just fell into and kind of just drifted along until 10 years have past. I have 3 years left until my youngest goes to school which is heartbreaking and sends me into mid life crisis thinking what on earth will I do!

Since home schooling I have actually considered going into early years teaching however before that I also toyed with the idea of healthcare assistants particularly maternity.

Teaching
Pros
Term time and family friendly
Little ones
Satisfaction watching them learn

Cons
Might not be as rosy with the more strong willed children
Work in evenings with prep etc
Would always feel less than nhs

NHS
Pros
Would feel so proud to be working alongside people who have my upmost admiration
Learning clinical skills
Helping new mums/witnessing birth has to be incredible

Cons
Hours/Shifts/sleep deprivation/not family friendly
More confrontation which I am not good at
Higher demands
Lower pay as I probably wouldn't go on to qualify as nurse/midwife as I don't think I'm clever enough and 3 years full time would be hard with family

Basically I think I just have an obsession with how amazing I think NHS is and feel unworthy doing anything else! However I know it's not practical and a really hard option. My friend is doing maternity at the moment and every shift she tells me about I'm just in awe.

I want a career that I can get some personal satisfaction from, that helps people but doesn't involve too much confrontation and fits in with the family.

If your thinking Healthcare why not try getting a part time Health care assistant or support worker job to see what you think of it, NHS currently have a recruitment campaign for entry roles.

Also there are now other routes into nursing through apprenticeships, many trust recruit trainee nursing associates - 2 year programme, work as a band 3 while studying - 4 days a week in work, 1 day a week in uni, it's hardwork but you don't need to leave work and self fund. Full nursing degree apprenticeships are expected to be available later in the year. For the Nursing Associate programme the entry requirements are usually GCSE English and Maths.

Sorry, just read about your degrees.

In terms of NHS, if you want to rise up the ranks you will need to keep studying. This is easier for nursing as they really encourage the HCAs to progress and there seems to funding/training. For allied health (physios, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists) you would need a degree or masters in that subject to progress to Band 5 and beyond.

What about HR? Could you go that route? It sounds like the most logical.

Why don't you use your current skill set to move over to the NHS as a medical secretary or PA to a consultant? You will likely have patient contact so are feeling that personal reward of postively impacting on people's lives but also the NHS are quite flexible for support staff in regard to hours worked which fits better with you work/life balance? Down the line once you are in the NHS you can explore other job roles and opportunities within it?

@Riddlediddle

Why don't you use your current skill set to move over to the NHS as a medical secretary or PA to a consultant? You will likely have patient contact so are feeling that personal reward of postively impacting on people's lives but also the NHS are quite flexible for support staff in regard to hours worked which fits better with you work/life balance? Down the line once you are in the NHS you can explore other job roles and opportunities within it?

No, don't do this. If you are disillusioned as a PA in private sector then you will be utterly miserable in the NHS.

There is a very strange hierarchy in the NHS whereby qualified clinical staff trump admin staff. IMO admin staff aren't very well valued. In comparison to clinical staff they are very poorly paid and receive little to no training.

I’m a GP and have teacher friends and siblings and would echo everyone else in saying neither of the things you are considering is particularly family friendly and are both high stress careers with quite a bit of confrontation built in ☹️ . I would give social work a big swerve too for the same reasons although they are crying out for more staff. TA might work for you but it’s pretty low paid.

Having said that, you do sound like you are hankering to work in healthcare somewhere and you sound very naturally compassionate and caring. Until a decade ago I would have said that the NHS, although it is stressful and demanding, does have a good camaraderie and good morale which makes up for a lot, but as the stress has ramped up and conditions and pay have got more and more rubbish even pre-pandemic, that’s kind of gone or the window now too as everyone is so stressed we either don’t have time to talk to each other or spend all day biting each other’s heads off ☹️

I do think actually you could probably find a job and choose your hours as an HCA somewhere to make it work. And it’s not that high stress although can involve a bit of confrontation. But it’s also pretty low paid and you definitely sound like you should be aiming higher qualification wise longer term. I 100 percent think you have it in you to train to be a nurse or midwife if you want, and although nursing shifts are long, often 12h, the advantage is you can work a 3 day week which can work for family life.

I would personally really recommend that you look at becoming a physicians associate. We are using them more and more in GP surgeries these days, and I think it’s pretty well paid for the level of responsibility it involves, and the training isn’t super long.

I also agree you might be well suited to a role in working with children with special needs or adults with dementia or mental health issues etc. What about being an IMCA (mental health advocate) or working as a support worker of some kind, a dementia buddy or domestic abuse support worker? Or an educational psychologist, play therapist, speech and language therapist, OT as already suggested etc. Or a charity worker of some kind - not well paid but very satisfying. Or what about becoming a psychotherapist/mental health counsellor or even a life coach?

Or if you really want to help people maybe politics is the field for you?! We could do with some decent politicians!

Ooh I’ve really enjoyed planning your new career. Ok now someone just needs to suggest a doable career change for me please! From where I’m standing right now, PA is sounding quite attractive in many ways, but as a single parent in an expensive bit of the country with a rubbish ex, I need a higher earning job 😂

I am a healthcare professional and was previously a teacher so have a good insight for you.

Teaching= less family friendly than working in healthcare.

When I finish at the hospital, I finish. I don't take my work home with me and I don't feel guilty when I leave. (When teaching we were made to get guilty for leaving before 5:30...)

Healthcare work can be flexible. They are in short supply, so you may have some clout when it comes to choosing your hours.

Both jobs are equally exhausting. But I feel teaching was more thankless and less fulfilling than healthcare. This is just my personal opinion of course.

Agree with a PP don’t move to NHS admin, they are being phased out anyway longer term really as we can’t afford any admin staff any more!! We GPs do a lot of what medical secretaries used to do ourselves these days with everyone having better technology and IT skills. And NHS medical secretaries and receptionist get a lot of confrontation from patients!!

I don't know if my story helps you. I retrained as a primary school teacher at the age of 45. I'd had a previous career of 20 years working in law enforcement and knew I didn't want to do it for another 20. I have a science degree. When I left my career, I worked for one year in the NHS as a health care assistant, whilst also volunteering in schools to gain some insight. I knew I wanted to do something rewarding and couldn't decide between something medical (I was thinking nursing or radiography) or teaching. I did enjoy my time in the NHS but decided that the time taken to retrain to a professional level was too long - I couldn't afford to take 3 years out to get a nursing degree. So I got myself on a PGCE course, in itself a challenge, and yes it was one the hardest study years ever.

I've now been a teacher for 6 years. I love it, its the most odd mix of creativity and responsibility, but boy it's hard. I make hundreds of decisions a day, rapid fire, and I'm "on the stage" all day, then the job starts again ready for the next day. I've just finished work, and was in school at 7.30 this morning. I am emotionally invested in all the children in my class, it really does define you. My family are used to having me sat at my desk every night, in the corner of the living room.

I have no regrets at all, but don't go into it lightly.

Ooh just had another thought though, what about becoming a practice manager for a GP practice? Decent pay, reasonable family friendly hours, can’t say low stress/confrontation these days with patients being what they are but maybe not quite the same as in a clinical job. And you would be helping NHS staff as well as patients, a good practice manager is worth their weight in gold and can really affect the whole atmosphere of a workplace.

Yes, stay where you are!

I did a career change into teaching after having kids and have never worked so hard for so little reward. You’ll end up working every night of the week, and weekends, and not even allowed to take time off for your own kids shows. You’ll also need to be prepared to be slagged off by literally everyone on the planet because people LOVE to hate teachers. We’re never good enough, yet nobody would want our job.

Oh yes, radiography is another good call.

Teaching seems to be weirdly a lot like being an NHS GP from what I can gather on here and IRL from friends and family!

If you like working with children and have a psychology degree, what about something like: play therapist, CAMHs therapeutic support, OT, speech therapist, portage worker, family support worker, social worker (it's not all child protection), early help practitioner, specialist teacher of children with SN, educational psychologist,.

If you have HR and psychology training I would go into the 3rd sector and focus on charity work.

There are loads of different jobs in NHS admin, that might fit already. How about clinical coding?

[quote NoNeedToArgue]@stuckinatrap do you mind me asking what you do now? I am desperate to get out of classroom teaching but don't know what direction to go in. Education is all I've ever done so probably still in this sector...[/quote]
I'm a Teacher of the Deaf. I did an M.Ed in hearing impairment and taught in a school for the Deaf for a few years and then moved into Local Authority Specialist Support Services. I LOVE my job. All the nice relationship building with children and seeing them progress along with relationships with families. None of the politics of being in school. Lots of paperwork (but that's inevitable in all jobs now, I think, but none of it is pointless or for OFSTED. It's all stuff that makes things happen.
It was another 2 years of study, though, but I would recommend it to anyone.