How to find a job in 2024?

[PurpleOrchid42]

I've been a SAHM for 5 years. Previously I was a secondary school teacher, Head of Department, for 13 years. I don't want to go back to teaching, but have no idea how people look for jobs in this day and ages!

What do I need to prepare before I search for a job? Used to be a CV, but is there something online I need to do these days? It's basically been 18 years since I was in this position! Help!

@PurpleOrchid42
Not going to lie, it’s tough out there in the job market at the moment.

The number one thing to do is have a think about what you might like to do and how much you need to earn (if anything) and maybe come up with a short list of three possibilities to research in a bit more depth. There are books out there like What Colour is My Parachute which can help you structure your thinking.

There lots of reasons you need a short list but in particular:

1. the best way to find a job in this market is through your personal network - people who know you and can vouch for you. But to help your family and friends help you, you need to give them a clear steer about what you are looking for.

2. most agencies, recruiters and headhunters are specialists these days. If you don’t know what you are looking for, you don’t know which ones to speak to.

3. when you start having interviews and conversations you need to have done some proper research into the role, the company, the sector, the market etc - and it’s almost impossible to do that if you aren’t reasonably focused.

The number two thing to do if you’ve been out of the job market for 18 years is to set up a good LinkedIn profile. Get a friend to help you. LinkedIn itself has a lot of free resources and training modules on how to do it too. You do NOT need to pay for LinkedIn Premium to get started, but a bit later down the line when have worked out what you want to do and are doing focused networking, you might want to do a free Premium trial for a month to see if you get value from it.

The third thing to do is write a new CV targeted to the new field you have chosen. LinkedIn is possibly more important than CVs these days as virtually all recruiters look at your LinkedIn profile before they decide whether to bother with your CV, but CVs are still necessary. Lots of resources online about what CVs should look like these days - they have moved on a lot in 18 years . Some of the advice is contradictory though and you need to be wary of advice from the US etc as there are cultural differences, so try to find examples from the UK (or wherever you are) which are relevant to the level you want to work at and the sector you want to find work in.

Yup you'll need a standard CV, same as always, and you might want to have a 'general' version, and then tailor it for each application if you need to.

You can look for jobs on LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor, Totaljobs, but you'll probably want to think hard about the sort of thing you're looking for first. As an ex-teacher, how about looking at stuff around education, but not teaching per se - online learning, or local council, educational publishing, that sort of thing?

If you want something more general/unrelated to teaching and there are any big local employers in your area it's also worth seeing if they have a careers section where you can upload your CV.

Good luck OP!

What is it with an influx of landlords on MN today - go away !!

What sector do you want to work in?
Which parts of that sector would suit you most?
Do you want to be public-facing, client-facing, internal, administrative (etc)?

What industries exist where you live?
Are you likely to be looking for a type of role that's readily available or something more specialised?

What subjects did you teach?
What did you like & dislike about teaching?
What did you like & dislike about being HoD?

Which software are you already proficient in, or could easily update?
Do you have any specialist skills?
Do you have any major blocks that would rule out certain work?

Thank you, loads of useful information from all of you!

Would you consider primary instead of secondary?

If you don’t want to go back to teaching (and I understand why you’d want a change after leaving the job market) be prepared to volunteer, go part time, general knock backs. It shouldn’t happen but a few of my friends have struggled to get back into work after being a SAHP.