What are some valuable skills I could learn by next summer?

jasonmac

Hi all,

Been lurking here on occasion but never set up an account before. Now that I've taken the plunge I have a question for the board.

My work is asking for people to go part-time, dropping from 38 hours a week to more like 20, and I'm tempted. It's a fairly dull admin job on the edge of Oxford, and tbh it isn't going anywhere fast. I have fairly low costs, sharing a rented house with mates and cycling to work, so I could just about live on the money from working 20 hours.

Does anyone have suggestions for things I could do with the spare time, that would help me get a better job (anything responsible, exciting, cool, well paid would be nice, but I'd settle for something that doesn't have "assistant" in the job title ) by next summer?

I won't really have spare cash each month, but I've got £1800 savings I could spend on courses or new kit. Needs to be something that would pay off within a year or so.

dizzyrascal

There are loads of things you could do
First thing that comes to mind is teaching cycling proficiency as you are a cyclist. I know It's not called that anymore but there will be some sort of cycling scheme within your local council. These programmes are usually crying out for volunteers to help children or adults get the confidence to cycle.
Is there a local focus or hub where volunteering is organised? If you can find it I'm sure there will be no shortage of projects that you could work on.
Can you teach computer skills to people? Loads of demand for this at the moment.

jasonmac

Thanks, those are both really cool ideas. Do you think doing them as a volunteer could lead to a job, or would I need more formal training? I know there's a council volunteering office so I'll ask them about it.

dizzyrascal wrote: »

There are loads of things you could do
First thing that comes to mind is teaching cycling proficiency as you are a cyclist. <snip>
Can you teach computer skills to people? Loads of demand for this at the moment.

phill99

If you have a career path in mind, then volunteering in that area may be appropriate. Also think about developing your transferable skills such as IT, supervisory / managerial skills, customer care etc.

Kynthia

Have a look at your local college prospectus and see what part time course you could do that would interest you. You could do a book-keeping course and get into finance and accountancy roles, although you would need more than one year's training to get the best jobs.

Bear_Grills

Juggling is something that is always a welcome addition to anyone's CV.

jasonmac

I lol'd

Bear_Grills wrote: »

Juggling is something that is always a welcome addition to anyone's CV.

dizzyrascal

Ok. As we can now surmise from the student board, it turns out you have a degree albeit not a in a named subject.
Was there any part of you degree that you really enjoyed? Have you thought about doing extra study in that area (say a certificate or diploma) to show employers that you are serious. It will help to show some focus and show you can apply yourself or you can sometimes do a conversion course, law and psychology are two popular ones.
Also, I think you need to get some career focus before you decide where you are going. Are you still eligible to use the OU careers service? If you are I would get them to help you do a skills audit and some career planning based on your skills and interests.

marybelle01

Assistant Director has "assistant" in the title - are we to assume you wouldn't be interested?

I agree with dizzyrascal. It's impossible to answer a question like this. Being well paid doesn't mean that a job is interesting, and being poorly paid doesn't mean it's boring. And neither mean that there are actually any jobs in the filed easily available! Far better to decide what you want to do as a career and have a goal in life that you want to achieve, rather than a bunch of strangers telling you what they think you could be.

Savvy_Sue

Bear_Grills wrote: »

Juggling is something that is always a welcome addition to anyone's CV.

Get good enough and you could earn money from busking!

jasonmac wrote: »

I lol'd

But I'm quite serious: DS1 learned to juggle in 6th form and his homework time was punctuated by the sound of juggling balls falling to the floor. He's very good now! He does have a proper job too ...

Slinky

Learn to drive. The number of times we see on here that people are limited in their choices because they can't get to a job which is too far to cycle to and public transport takes forever or doesn't go where they want to go.