Ex-Teachers: Career change stories

[ClassOf2025]

I’m leaving teaching at the end of this academic year. Changing field entirely, WFH, private sector.

I’m looking to hear from other ex-teachers. How did you find changing career? What’s better? What’s worse? Any tips for the transition? WFH setup tips?

Thanks

Hi

Congratulations!

I have no tips but was wondering what kind of job have you landed and how did you find it?
Is there a pay drop?

I got really lucky and an ex-colleague effectively head-hunted me, they’re matching my pay. I had applied to loads of jobs and was prepared to take a huge pay cut, so I really do know how lucky I am.

Networking is not really a thing in education, and this has really opened my eyes. I’m hoping to ‘pay it forward’ in the future.

That's amazing, you must've been a truly great person!

I wish you well.
I'm a teacher and currently signing a teaching contract abroad so I get it.

I transitioned to an “out of teaching job” in January. It’s been amazing for the most part.
My top tip would be to try to ditch the teacher mindset that working evening, weekend, holiday time is normal.
Everybody will put in extra hours occasionally but if you set off working outside of work hours then that becomes your new work pattern and is very hard to break.

It was tricky for me at first although I did it about 6 years ago. I would say its entirely dependent on where you go. The range of jobs is infinite! If you find somewhere that is a good fit you will be happier. If you don’t invest that time it made me more stressed and it’s a struggle. All organisations are happy to talk about the nature of the role though. Definitely contact them to discuss if they offer an email address for the manager. You need to make sure it’s a good fit as most posts are not anywhere near as defined as when I was a teacher. They can have a new requirement come onboard and suddenly I’m switched to doing something entirely different day to day and interfacing with different teams. Private companies can sway month to month depending on need, priorities and profit. They have reorganisations but you can end up somewhere really different so that’s something to be prepared for 😂 I’m now in a post which in general is far more flexible (rarely get leave refused) but at other times I’m forced to stay on to cover incidents. For part timers I’ve experienced more pressure to be flexible with my non working days. Many of us do and pushed to move days around, you can say no but it can affect your career prospects realistically. They say there are legal protections in place but a lot of companies can play at the edges of that so something to watch out for if you are not full time. There are also a lot of posts I’ve come across where finishing at a set time is an illusion. Speak to employees first if you can. There are often situations where they expect you to work as late as needed which caused headaches with my childcare. Again- it’s all about researching the job before you join!

Career advice, want to leave nursing?
I’ve been a children’s nurse for over 20 years, I’m only child trained, not adult trained. I love the families and children and so many of my colleagues but I’ve had enough of the politics and the culture in the NHS. Tried a brief stint in the charity sector and that had its own pretty big problem with bullying. Any ideas for me please? I’m at a loss. Really love animals and children, still have the drive to ‘help’ people just feel like I’ve reached the end. It’s sad and I can’t really understand it. I’m single and have a mortgage so need to not have a massive drop in pay although I understand this will be difficult. Thank you all so much

Ha!
I’m certainly feeling the pressure not to let them down, that’s for sure!

Good luck with teaching abroad. Lots of ex-colleagues have done that and thrived.

I can imagine, I think you'll do well. If you have survived teaching for this long, you'll be fab :D.

Thank you!! We're a teaching couple so just waiting to hear back from my spouse's school. Hopefully it all works out for us too!

Sorry I can’t be more helpful, but I can relate to your feelings.

Try getting on LinkedIn and connecting with past colleagues & friends. It was the networking that helped me (though I didn’t know it at the time).

Good luck with your job hunt.

LinkedIn is a good idea - it is strange how it is so underused in the education sector.

About ten years ago I went on a LinkedIn ‘sprint’ and got myself from about 200 to 500+ connections in a matter of weeks.

I am writing this in case it helps anyone else to get started.

Apart from the obvious starting points of colleagues, ex-colleagues and friends, I added:

People with whom I had worked with on projects, however briefly
Fellow students on courses
CPD trainers
Key figures in my field, who often want to connect with anyone as they are that kind of person.

LinkedIn limits the number of searches that you can do per month, so sometimes it can be helpful to search on Google first to find someone.

I never worry about writing the ‘personal note’ with an invitation as I figure that someone will either want to connect or they won’t.

I now have 600+ connections and review them annually, removing some each time if they are inactive and/or not really doing anything beyond a straightforward role. But for me it’s not about job status - they might be a low-paid worker in my sector but if they are involved in projects, studying or doing something that connects with others, then I am keen to stay connected.

Finally, you don’t need to fill in every section on your profile, especially if you’re in a state of transition or not working. I am currently self employed so deleted all my jobs a while back and just have a detailed longhand description of myself in my profile. No one seems to mind!

I transitioned out of teaching and into corporate L&D - work hybrid. My biggest advice is make
sure you have your own dedicated home office with at least 1 extra monitor. Otherwise enjoy it - the flexibility is amazing and you’d never catch me back in teaching now

Great to hear success stories. I'm leaving at the end of the year, selling up and moving ip north. Taking pension early but lookin for an easy job, maybe admin. Good luck to us all.

Ooooo @BCBird don't say admin is easy. I got slated by all the administrators on here who told me that I'd find it hard to get a part time admin job with no experience and that admin wasn't easy etc etc.
Dont think they realise what being a teacher entails. Teacher, social worker, first aider, data input, admin, family liaison etc etc.

I had to consciously slow down my pace of work in my first job post-teaching, as I was used to working at a rather rapid pace and it was disconcerting my new manager!

You then realise that all the ‘extra stuff’ in teaching that you are somehow supposed to get done seamlessly and invisibly on top of the ‘proper job’, is actually ‘the job’ in your new non-teaching role.

Thanks @BadSkiingMum- though I do love the actual teaching I am looking forward to being able to sit down and get work done in a reasonable block of time, rather than the snatching random 10 minutes throughout the day and night!

I transitioned out of teaching into IT briefly then moved into learning technology. I still get to use my teaching skills and knowledge but without the surrounding stresses. The biggest problem I had was getting used to sitting at a desk. My instinct always is to stand and move around