What to do next?

[WilloughbyWallaby]

This might be a little bit of a ramble, so I apologise in advance, but I really need some advice!

DD is 11 weeks old. Very, very young, but I'm already starting to wonder what I should do about returning to work. My mother was very driven and focused, but she had me very late in life and had already done much of what she wanted to do. I am 23, and feel that having DD makes me want to do more with my life, as if she has focused my mind somehow.

I didn't finish my degree (economics), so was thinking about doing an OU course while she is small with a view to returning to work when she starts school. Problem is, I have no idea what I'd like to do with the degree when I get it.

Before DD I was an office manager/PA and in charge of a team of admin girls for a few years and really loved everything about it. However, it was really long hours and fairly non-stop (getting calls from boss late at night, going in really early, travelling between offices etc) so when DH and I decided to start trying for DD I left, worked as a nanny for 8 months to see how I'd like working with other children long-term, i.e teaching or childminding, etc. I hated it. I missed the corporate world, organising things, creating initiatives and generally sorting everyone out and improving efficiency, etc. Thing is, I didn't earn loads when I was doing it, and would have to go in at a junior role again, while paying for childcare, which would leave us in a bit of a deficit!

I also feel as if, now I have DD, I need to start building a proper 'career', something I can really work towards and feel passionate about. I have no plans to leave her in her formative years, so have some time to play about with and do some training or further education, but I want it to be geared towards a purpose.

I've been contemplating HR (so some sort of CIPD qualification), but also swinging the other way, should I just try to do a degree in something I loved during A Levels (got As in Economics, English Lit and Sociology and would love to delve back in to any of those) and see where it takes me?

I just feel that I don't have anything pointing me in any particular direction and could do pretty much anything, as long as I put my mind to it. I know that's a very fortunate position, but am feeling very overwhelmed with choice and have no idea what to do!

Sorry for long post, but this has been circling my head for months now (since I was nannying) and I really want to get myself a bit of direction.

Hi WW...first of all congratulations on your 11 week old...

I'm really interested in your post because I'm in kind of the opposite situation. I did the career thing before I had my ds. I had him when I was 35 and he is now 7. I worked in the media and had a great career. But I gave it up for motherhood and never regretted that. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have had kids in my early 20s.

I've been doing OU courses for the last 4 years and am just a dissertation away from finishing my Masters. I'm really chuffed I've been able to do it while raising DS and it's given me a change of career which is exciting. However, I haven't got age on my side so I'm competing for jobs at entry level in my field with much younger people. But I'm hopeful.

The good news is, you are young enough that you have many many years to get your career going. And you sound very ambitious which is great.

I would highly recommend OU courses. I would advise you do your research into something that you really want to study, that has practical applications too. Also, think about how that career could fit in with family life. I find that is my biggest stumbling block - returning to my media production career isn't an option because it's just not conducive to looking after kids.

OU is great for getting your brain in gear. Even if you aren't going for the degree. If you already have some economics courses, could you not finish that degree? OU might accept some of the courses as credit.

But my advice is to think about what sort of career you would like and go for it.

Have you tried looking at the prospects website. They have a 'what job suits me ' section which is a questionnaire leading to a list of job matches and details of how to get those jobs and what they entail, including hours worked, part time oportunities and gender balance. I think its quite useful.

Wow flibertygibet, thank you so much, it's really interesting to hear the other side of the story, and it's really inspiring as well.

I'll definitely look into OU much more seriously, I'm sure they will take the part of the degree that I did finish as credits.

Good luck with your job search.

Feelingsensitive, thank you, I'll try that website now!