What job could my DH do?

[frencholives]

I am desperate to help out my lovely DH but at a loss what to advise him. Any advice would be .

DH is an experienced mechanical engineer of 12 years, but he absolutely hates it. He doesn’t enjoy getting sweaty and dirty, and often finds the tinkering away to fix something stressful. He has tried several different jobs in several different companies and is currently in a role where his workload is massive. He is incredibly stressed and down and this is the final straw for him. He is desperate to be ‘done’ with engineering but struggling to find a new career.

What’s frustrating is he has soo many transferable skills and interviews well if he can get to interview stage! (He has got every engineering job he has ever applied for). He is confident and gets on well with lots of different people. Intelligent, good English, excellent maths, a good problem solver.

I am the higher earner so he can afford to drop his wage to £28k ish and retrain. He is open to different roles but probably looking for some kind of office based job. He has applied to the civil service and is getting nowhere. I know the civil service can be difficult to get into so we are unsure whether to persevere with trying to perfect his application, or if it’s a non-starter. He feels employers see his background in engineering and discount him.

He has so much to offer and I’m sure there must be a career move he can make after engineering but we’re both a bit stuck what the next step is. Any advice would be very much appreciated!

Further education teaching engineering? Worked well for husband of s friend of mine

My son is a mechanical engineer (undergrad and masters) and works for the engineering department at one of the top universities.
It obviously depends where you are but unis and colleges etc need engineering staff and my son certainly does a huge variety of projects.

My DH was a mechanical engineer in power stations for around 16 years and is now working for a large insurance company as an engineer surveyor inspecting equipment under specific legislation for insurance purposes. I think something like Lifts and Cranes would be probably most suitable, rather than pressure or electrical.
This could be something worth looking into for him, DH was in a similar position - fed up of being on the tools and working away. Now we have a much better work life balance and he’s happy in his job, wishing he’d done it sooner.

ETA - although they are called ‘engineer surveyors’ and have tools etc there’s no ‘fixing’ on the job e.g. if something’s broken or needs servicing that’s on the client to do, all DH has to do is write a report stating what they recommend in line with the legislation/insurer rules and it’s on the client to sort out, or he makes a report direct to the HSE (this is simplifying it a lot but I hope you get the gist). He manages his own area and sites/clients, manages his own days and diary - if he’s home after 12 on a Friday that’s a bad day 😅 that was a massive pull in for him after working 16 hour shifts 12 on 2 off for months at a time.

Technical sales for companies that supply parts he is currently using.

My DS trained in car mechanic, then paint spray and panel beating. Decided he didn’t want to get dirty every day and got a job at the airport. He absolutely loved it, there’s lots and lots of roles if you live near an airport from security to tower control, from aircraft mechanic (which I had hoped he’d would get into ) to actually working for an airline in management etc. my DF’s son is working in the immigration and loves the work as it’s never the same each day.
meanwhile if he enjoys driving he could take his HGV license?

Work in a college or university? Many would pay him to get teaching qualifications Just what they are after. Good work life balance holiday pay pension etc.

Anywhere near London - self employed handy man or gardener. High demand and not enough good people.

My last handy man was an engineer by trade.

I suppose if you are up north etc might not be worth it.

Not sure where you are in the country/world but if you are near a BAE Systems there are loads of jobs for people who have a trade but have now moved into office roles like Project Engineering/Management. My husband was originally an Electrical engineer and is now a Project Manager. There are also adult Apprenticeships if you can afford that wage if he doesnt meet the criteria for the roles straight away.
A lot of my school friends now work there after previously being Teachers, Police officers etc. There are so many different roles
Or maybe he could get a job teaching at a Further Education college in Construction?mine is always adverstising

How about Highways Agency (Highways England?) Engineering background might be a plus.

The HSE are always looking for specific engineers to become specialist inspectors. Worth keeping an eye on their jobs for when his speciality comes up.

Maybe keep an eye out for any BT or Openreach job vacancies. They have lots of office based jobs in support of their vast engineering team. So he'd be off the tools but his skills may be a good fit. He'd pick up the new context well with an engineering background and the intelligence you describe. Its a large company with a high chance of future opportunities and a solid pension scheme etc.

I don’t know if your husband has a degree in engineering but my brother did an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering and carried on at nightschool to get his degree. He then went into teaching and progressed to lecturing at the local college.
Is this something your husband could be interested in?

QS work or Housing Association Surveyor or Repairs planners? How about Scrum Master jobs?

Service advisor at a car dealership?

Environment Agency - we employ Mech Engs for our MEICA teams to keep our major flood defence assets running (pumping stations, flood barriers, Thames Barrier). The bulk of the “dirty work” is contracted out. In house staff deal with programming, planning work schedules, reliability analysis, project management - more desktop based stuff.