I still dont know what i want to be when I grow up!

ickle-squirt

Help!

I have worked for the Civil Service for nearly 12 years, in a number of the departments.
I have never really enjoyed any of the roles - but the wage was nice, so I stuck with it!

However, i am now 31 and redundancies are being offered - I would get a nice lump sum, allowing me to pay of my debt, and so could earn less in a job that is more satisfying!

And thats the problem . . . . . . having been a generalist for 12 years I dont know what I want to do (when i grow up)!!

I am a 'people person' so it makes sense not to sit behind a desk for 8 hours a day! but have no idea where to start . . . . .

Has anyone else been in this situation?
Are there any organisations that can help? (like the careers guy at school??)
How easy/expensive is it to study full time?

Heeeeeeeelllllllllllllpppppppppp!!!

Probably the start of my midlife crisis - but really feel its time to make a change - not waste the next 30 years doing something I dont enjoy!

Any advise is much appreciated!

Ta
Andrea

purplerose

Places to get help:

If you're in England you could make an appointment with a Next Step advisor https://nextstep.direct.gov.uk/aboutus/Pages/default.aspx

If Scotland it's Careers Scotland you'll want http://www.careers-scotland.org.uk/home/home.asp

Without even seeing anyone, both of those sites have a wealth of useful information on redundancy and also tools to help you figure out what kind of career might suit you. So having a browse around there will help a lot. Both also have call centres where you can speak to career advisors on the phone if you don't fancy face to face.

You've identified that you are more of a people person and aren't so keen on sitting behind a desk. You've also indicated that having a decent wage is important and whilst a desk job isn't ideal - you've managed to do one for 12 years so that shows you've got 'stickability' and that a job with at least some paperwork involved wouldn't be terrible if you've managed to do it for that long.

So already you've identified a list of things that are important to you when looking for a job.

The next thing to look at is what is available to your with your resources and with time/family constraints.

Ask yourself things like:

What else is important to me in a job?
- Do you want to work indoors, outdoors, in loud places, quiet places?
- Would you rather work in a team or on your own or a bit of both?
- Is money important?
- Is promotion and power important?
- What would give you job satisfaction? Helping people? Achieving targets?
- What have you enjoyed in your working life so far? Ok, you said you never really enjoyed the roles you were in but if you scrutinize what you did every day there must have been some bits that were ok enough to keep you there. Which bits did you enjoy and can see yourself doing again?
- Which parts of previous jobs have you disliked? Would you avoid doing these in another job?

Do I want to study/train?
If so:
- How long would you prepared to do this for? 12 weeks, a year, 3 years?
- Can you afford to study/retrain? You will get a lump sum payment but if you are studying - will this be enough to live on? Will this pay for your study costs?
- Do you have family commitments? Will family support you realistically?

Do I really have to study/train?
- Are there jobs out there that will offer you on the job training?
- Is there any other way to gain experience? Such as voluntary work

What is available to me?
- Where do you live? What kind of jobs are available in your area?
- Would you be prepared to commute?
- Would you relocate?
- What kind of college/uni/training facilities are in your area and what do they offer?
- Would you relocate to study/train?

Are there any barriers?
Such as - looking after a family, lack of opportunities in the area/UK, public sector cuts, debts etc and can these be overcome?

Those are just to start you off. You can answer most of these before even thinking about which kind of career to go for and the answer to these things will help you narrow down your choice further.

As for costs for studying full time - most colleges and universities will list their fees on their websites so it's a case of doing a bit of research and finding out these costs. There may be loans/grants available for courses depending upon where you live.

Anyway, I hope some of that helps. I'd definitely check out one of the 2 links above as a good starting point.

Also, if uni seems an attractive prospect another good site is the prospects website http://www.prospects.ac.uk/ they also have good tools for figuring out which job might suit you as well as job profiles/types of jobs found under the Jobs and Work Experience tab on there.

Another good site to check out is this one http://www.sscalliance.org/Home-Public/SectorSkillsCouncils/SSC_Contacts.aspx it has links to all the sector skill council websites. If you check out the websites of the sectors you might fancy, a lot of them post facts and figures with regard to how well that sector is doing and which areas of the UK are best for employment within certain sectors. They also usually have links to training providers and professional bodies for the sector which may be useful to check out too.

Good luck and I hope you figure it out. Take time to know yourself and do the research and you will hopefully find something that suits you

Parva

Nice post Andrea and refreshing to see someone in a similar situation. I'm a time-served printer and it's the only thing I've done since school (other than brief forays into other fields but we'll forget that). Without wanting to sound big-headed I know that I am damned good in my field of work but I hate the job with an absolute passion!

I am in a position now where I either accept a position in a job with the minimum wage that I may detest or get back into printing on a pretty decent wage that I hate even more. Now if I could find that job that inspires me to get up and go to work everyday (even on the minimum wage) then my outlook on life could be so different!

Good luck on your quest and I'll watch with interest.