Anyone went from professional to casual?

[flowerpot258]

Hate my job. Currently in the civil service. It's an office job and it's just not for me anymore.

Thinking of leaving to be a stay at home mum but I still want to work and get some kind of 'pocket' money. Thinking of joining a supermarket or tanning salon as evening and weekend shifts would suit me a lot more around childcare and my husbands shifts.

Has anyone been in a professional career and given it up to work a casual post? How was the transition?

Bump

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No but I can see the appeal in this. Do you have any experience in these other roles? They too have pros and cons and can be draining.

I haven't but have been thinking the same.

I haven't worked in retail for 19 years (before chip and pin) I'm wonder if that would matter.

@flowerpot258

I understand the drive to do that. I am also a civil servant and am leaving under VES in May. I'm going to be a full time foster carer.
I am however 58, my own son is 18 and off to uni. As a foster carer I won't have any issues with child care over school holidays, snow days, teacher strikes etc etc.
I would think very carefully about giving up your pension , flexible working and other T&Cs
I think retial looks flexible but it really isn't.
My son in working at Tescos and is on £11 an hour with extra for overtime. He is on good money for an 18 year old at home - but only because 65% of his hours are overtime. Retail have a habit of giving 15 hours or less contracted hours but pulling you in when they need you on overtime. Sickness policies tend to draconian.
It's a pain in the proverbial sorting annual leave, particularly for Bank Holidays. My son was in Christmas eve till 19.00 and back in on Boxing Day, same over New years eve and the new year Bank Holiday. Again fine for him as he wasn't the one running round sorting Christmas.
A few weeks him and a colleague stopped a 'shoplifter' - he had a trolley with over £600 worth of goods. Their reward - a single bottle of cider.
Yes retail has its advantages but the benefits of the civil service is a heck of a lot to give up when you are younger.
I've stuck it out for 10 years longer than I would have done of I didn't have a child.

@TortolaParadise - yes I have done retail for about 4 years in various stores. Two of these roles were fixed term contracts to cover the Christmas period and I was also supervisor at one point so I'd hope this would still be good enough experience to be accepted back into a role like this. The main attraction is the later shifts but I know the pension/holidays isn't as good and I haven't forgot how stressful it was at times dealing with the public haha

@motheroreily - I think the fact it's mostly chip and pin now is actually easier as it's less cash handling which is something I found a bit stressful!

Cant you reduce to very part time? A couple of days per week in a professional role may earn you more than a lot of unsociable shifts in retail. Or do consultancy? Interim professional work? Seems a shame to give up your potential of earning £x per hour to downgrade to a % of that.

@Ted27 - thanks for your reply. I totally get what you're saying. I suppose with the civil service being off for bank holidays and weekends etc is a massive perk and there's usually no overtime so no pressure to work extra hours if you don't want/need to. I do sometimes miss the freedom of not having kids! It's a lot harder to juggle childcare with hours of work etc
The main issue for me is office hours. My wee one is only 9 months old so it'll be a long time until she's at school and I feel the casual work, less hours and being able to work evenings and weekends would be good in my circumstances but I know it's not completely as black and white as that.
I have spoken to my work about possibly taking a career break. Apparently they can offer breaks from 1-5 years. If approved it would be good knowing I have something to go back to when I'm ready.
That's shocking that your son never got much thanks for saving the company £600 worth of stock!
I know this might sound like I'm trying to be all high and mighty but it does give me some fear going from a corporate environment and being treated as an equal and respected to the possibility of a supervisor or manager being rude to me and bossing me around acting like they're better than me. That's obviously a me problem but I have worked in retail before and I do remember feeling like I was undervalued

I’ve been thinking of doing the same. In a professional role but part time and it’s still draining. Seem to be forever running around. I don’t hate my job but not particularly in love with it either

im thinking of going very part-time as @bumpytrumpy suggests, as less hours in my current role will still provide me with a degree of protection and still a good wage.

I’ve submitted my application for this, just waiting to hear back from my manager.

if not accepted may have to consider leaving for a casual role

@bumpytrumpy - I have already went part time but still need to pay for childcare the days I'm in the office and apart from that I just feel like I am a bit trapped sitting at a desk all day. Part of me wants to do something a bit more active that involves a bit more walking around. It's not something I considering lightly. I have spoken to my husband about it all and he supports me either way but at the moment I just feel as though working evening and weekends might be more suitable at the moment.
My work have raised the idea of a carter break, which sounds like it could be good, that way I can explore my options with part time / casual work and potentially return to the office once my wee one is at school

@SanRaz1 - is it an office role you have? If it's the civil service they are usually quite good at accommodating part time work and family friendly hours so fingers crossed they approve your application

My sister taught full time and now does supply work and examination marking and exams officer roles she much prefers it

@flowerpot258 I work for the NHS and they are good. Just hoping that my reduced hours are approved. I think my manager is a bit worried that if hours are reduced, will it be enough to do the role!

@MumOf2workOptions its interesting you say that. I’ve been looking at exam invigilator roles as a back-up plan

@flowerpot258

A career break in your situation is a idea. Try different things out but have the safety net of going back
I must admit I cracked when I was 40 and tool redundancy. I didn't have my son then so travelled a bit, had a few temp jobs and got my dream job in the voluntary sector.
I came back into the civil service became the pay and adoption leave policies in the voluntary sector were just not enough to support us s a single parent when I adopted my son.
I've lasted another 13 years but completely done with it now.
Good luck whatever you decide to do- there is life outside the civil service !

I took redundancy from my professional role when my kids were preschoolers. I worked 3 shifts a week in a supermarket for a few months and really quite enjoyed it. I would volunteer for extra shifts 10-2 on nursery days. And I also worked as an exam invigilator, boring (ish) but easy and flexible. The exam timetable would be published and we'd say which hours we could do. I did the smaller rooms usually for the kids with extra time, movement breaks etc and it was nice.
I then moved into a very part time role in the local council.
It's 7 years since I left my career and I now work 4 days a week for the council in a professional role but over 10k less than the salary I left all those years ago! I definitely enjoyed the flexibility when kids were small, and I'm happy with the work life balance I have now.
Be careful though, that professional confidence, self esteem and self worth can take a battering. Apparently mine was very tied up with my work status and I didn't realise that at all until I was "just a mum".

I used to do office work and now I work at Sainsburys two days a week. My main reason for doing this was I wanted to work part time and part time office jobs in my area are like gold dust! It was bloody hard work to start off to go from sitting on my arse at a desk all day to be on my feet and dragging trolleys but once I got used to it I definitely felt better physically and even lost some weight.

It has its ups and downs of course, management can be a bit shit and some of the customers are a pain but it suits me. I'm on replenishment so customer interaction is minimal and it's convenient for me as I can walk there. Ted27 is right about the sickness and annual leave, at my store there were loads of people off in Feb and March using up the annual leave they hadn't been allowed to use throughout the year🙄

I do daytime but there are a lot of 1600-2200 or 1800-2200 shifts which sound like they would suit you. Also plenty of overtime if you want it.

@Skecherslover - it's good to hear you've had mainly a positive experience with the transition. Weight loss is a plus! That's not the reason I want to make the change BUT I do feel a bit unhealthy just sitting at a desk all day and I've definitely put on some weight compared to when I started. I used to work retail and was always on my feet and walking around all day so from going to that to just sitting around is hard!