what can I retrain in that will definitely lead to a job?

[indemandjobs]

I am about to lose my job (redundancy). Have young kids and no income. I am early 50s. What can I retrain in that will lead to definitely getting a job - so looking for something in a high demand /low supply area.

Can only afford to retrain for a year ( so no degrees) unless its an on the job training deal.

Nothing in IT/ tech as I am not good at that.

Nothing involving blood or gore as I am too squeamish and nothing where someone might die if I make a mistake as I will make mistakes.

Any help gratefully received as I am sick with worry.

Not wishing to hijack the thread, but please may I PM you?

Have a look at Advanced Learner Loans. There might be some training or qualifications that you can do that don't need paid upfront.

If you are considering self employment you could look at a start up period through universal credit. You receive benefits but instead of looking for work you spend a year focusing on your new business/self employment. You'd have a small but guaranteed income.

Are you interested in the beauty industry? There are lots of things you can train to do in less than a year. You can continue to train once you start working and increase your skills. I'm seriously considering this.

I have actually thought about this before. I think I might quite like it. Think they are largely family businesses though and hard to get into.

Welder

starting salary is £100k and they need approx 10,000

1000s more jobs in that sector too that are all really well paid

https://careers.edfenergy.com/jobs-in-nuclear-and-engineering

I've never been a terribly practical person. Or a gardener. But maybe I would like it once I did it. I do hate my sedentary indoor job. It would get me fit. How long did it take you to retrain? And where did you do it? Did you already have an interest in gardening?

what skills do you have from your public sector miscellaneous jobs? You must have had a job title and role and skills that are transferable? If you were on £40k you must have some skills and level of experience and responsibility!

Bloody hell! How do you get into that?! Do you need to be strong? I am a 5foot woman!

UDEMY for your basic excel word ppt skills.

You'd think so, huh? Honestly I feel I have been treated really badly in the public sector. Can't tell you how many jobs I have taken only to find out there is not really a job there. Managers like staff as it gives them status but not so bothered on actually making the role they have created has any work to do. I've also taken on jobs because they said they needed a skill set I had recently trained in, only to find there was no work in that and I lost those skills through lack of use over time.

I have experience in back office functions in housing, social care, research, bit of health and employment support. Partnership working. I think I have a really interesting background, and when I am not held back by control freak useless managers I have done some really good and useful work,. My best time was when I ended up with no manager and was able to build relationships with other managers and started to create useful projects. Managers actually started to compete with each other to get me to work with them. I am intelligent and perceptive and analytical and often able to spot what is not working and how to improve it, or because I am interested in a lot, able to know what else is going on that we can incorporate into our work. So I like thinking and improving things to deliver good services basically. I think I am a good employee, but because I dont' have a specialism I struggle in interviews against those who do. Also, all my best experience is historical now. I like have projects to work on and being able to show initiative and create useful stuff.

My confidence is shot though as its a while since I have had a good job where I can show what I can do, and all my best examples are a while ago.

Thank you!

you're describing a consultancy role in business improvement! What are business improvement consultant responsibilities? | Indeed.com UK
Linkedin can be good for training too.

I don't have nearly enough knowledge or experience for that! Thanks anyway.

The problem is that you will probably have to start at the bottom. A friend of mine (ex teacher) got a job with an undertaker. She absolutely loved it but earned only slightly more than minimum wage.

Driving instructor - there seems to be a huge need for these across the country. Once you qualify, you can set your hours around your children's needs. Lots of teens at 6th form have time during 'working hours' for instruction.

Social work

you gain the experience through working!

Support worker with homeless charities or people with learning disabilities. It can be challenging and is often shift work but there’s usually plenty of overtime so you can bump your salary up quite significantly in these roles.

Following for inspiration. Welding sounds so much fun! I'm not sure I'd be any good at it, though.

Social care assessment officer in an LA who offers social work apprentice degree training. Work as an SCAO (you won’t be responsible for complex, high risk cases; see if you fancy qualifying as a social worker once there; apply for the paid apprenticeship and gain the protected title as a social worker whilst earning - there might be a Masters or PGDip route so training would be shorter as you have a degree already. Social work has diverse areas of work and not all are involved in high risk cases. You could, for example, get a job in ‘front door work where complex cases are referred onwards to specialist team. I retrained in social work in my early 50s. You’re pretty much guaranteed a job at the end.

Unfortunately I don't have a clean driving licence, so I don't think I could do this?

Thanks, I'll consider this.

OP I’m in the exact same boats with very similar background to you. Will message again as I’ve got to head out now. 😁

Prison officer. You can train on their three-year course which aims to have participants running their own department by then. It's around 45k depending on location, but IIRC the starting salary is 38+.

Am in a similar boat and this is something I'm looking at. Several police forces around the country also do fast-track detective training over two years.

Otherwise something like customs/immigration. Look for the 'tough' sectors - there'll always be work, and I've found they generally love smart experienced people, so you could progress pretty quickly.

Am not affiliated with any of these :)

Look on the government apprentice web page, there are some 1 year apprenticeships into the civil service (prison/ probation service) with decent pay (£30k) while you train.

Police staff roles (call handler etc)

Thanks - probation may suit me better than being a prison officer