too old?

glitter_fairy

Is 32 too old for a career change? I work in the beauty industry but I want to change to something that will help other people. We looked in to be foster parents a few years ago but that's not suitable right now.

I would like to do some sort of work with teenagers in care, possibly pregnant teens? Those needing help, support.

I have done charity work in the past with teenagers.

Taking in my step daughter has really opened my eyes to the fact some children are growing up with no support, I always knew but it has really brought it home to me. I would love to be able to make a difference.

I am possibly thinking social worker, I dont really know what other jobs there are in this field.

paulineb_2

I changed career at 41 so I would say no. I also went back to uni when I was 34, Im a drug and alcohol worker by profession and that was the degree I was doing at the time and there were many people older than me on the course.

You dont need to be a qualified social worker to work in projects for homeless people, I was qualified, but my degree is community education, it is possible to do that kind of work with an HNC in social care, you can progress if you want to after that.

What I would say is get some voluntary/part time work experience and possibly do a course in basic youth work. It can be a tough job and its not for everyone.

Goldiegirl

From where I am, 32 is young!

If you want to make a change, go for it, you have a lot of working life left, so you might as well do something you want to do

puppypants

You're only a chicken! My daughter, aged 42 is doing her midwifery training, after being a sister in ITU for many years, and also teaching advanced life support to doctors etc. She is old enough to be mum to some of the girls, but she is LOVING it. I say go for it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!! Good luck! x

paulineb_2

You could look at jobs such as social work assistant, support worker, project worker. I started off as a part time youth worker, did a post grad in comm ed, worked as a community education worker for a time, working with sessional youth work staff, then went to work for a charity who worked with young homeless people, was assistant manager for a while, went to manage a project for people with addictions who were living in supported housing, then went back to uni and back into working with young homeless people as a project worker again and my last job working in that line of work was doing youth work and working with young people with addiction issues.

What started me off in that line of work was doing a basic youth work course and working for about 10 hours a week with youth groups in my local area. I also worked for a few months in local childrens homes, sometimes the social work department takes on temporary staff to work in local kids homes.

You'll find once you get some work experience a lot of the skills you will have are transferable to other similar jobs. A basic youth work course run by community education (or whatever its called now, leisure and learning maybe) would be a good place to start, along with some voluntary or part time youth work.

Billie-S

32 is WELL young! I wish I was 32 again! Good luck to you. Go for it

Person_one

32 is definitely not too old for a career change!

However, the situation with your step-daughter is very very new and not entirely settled yet. I would be very wary of starting a role that involved working with challenging teenagers and young adults when you've got one to come home to who is a relatively new addition and still very troubled herself.

You don't want to burn out, and you don't want to feel that home and work are the same.

top_drawer_2

The older you are in the caring / support field the better they tend to be, as staff - less judgemental / more action / know stuff / compassion. It is however difficult in terms of money as tends to be very poor in this sector.

glitter_fairy

Person_one wrote: »

32 is definitely not too old for a career change!

However, the situation with your step-daughter is very very new and not entirely settled yet. I would be very wary of starting a role that involved working with challenging teenagers and young adults when you've got one to come home to who is a relatively new addition and still very troubled herself.

You don't want to burn out, and you don't want to feel that home and work are the same.

Its not something I would do right now, but it has really got me thinking.

SailorSam

When i started doing voluntary work with Victim Support i was expecting most of the volunteers to be old people with time on their hands. But it wasn't anything like that, many volunteers are straight out of Uni wanting to get into Social work or even the Police and they were taking advantage of the VS training to get a years experience on their CV.
Maybe if you think Social work is for you, you should look at VS; Womens Aid , or something similar, perhaps a Police cadet.

ciderwithrosie_2

I've just got a secondment to a completely different area of work than I've always done, I'm hoping it will become more permanent - I'm 50 this year, so you're just a spring chicken!

I know you said you'd like to work with teenagers/young adults, but as you've worked in the beauty industry would you consider approaching your local Macmillan Unit or Hospice, ours runs pamper days for ladies who have been having cancer treatment, maybe experiencing hair loss, but generally just need a little boost.