Career Advice for a 42 year old!!!

calleyw

I am at a stage in my life at the grand old age of 42 and I have drifted.

Fallen in and out of jobs with no career in mind.

And now I am stuck. Not sure what to do with my working life.

I am temping or was but no work for the last 3 weeks.

Have no idea or any real skills.

Any thoughts or ideas would be great.

Thanks in advance.

Yours

Calley

Lily-Rose_3

Can't help you darlin'..... Only YOU know what you want to do!

Maybe try looking at some courses at your local college or the Open university?

You may spot some ideas for career options there.

Person_one

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up, and why?

What are you good at? What do you choose to do when you have free time and can pick?

calleyw

Lily-Rose wrote: »

Can't help you darlin'..... Only YOU know what you want to do!

the Open university?

thats the problem no idea lol!!! was more after where do I get career advice at my age.

Waiting for a call back from them.

Yours

Calley

calleyw

Person_one wrote: »

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up, and why?

What are you good at? What do you choose to do when you have free time and can pick?

I wanted to do so many things as a child. And none of them were really me or sensible suggestions.

I like to read, cross stitch and watch films. I have no idea what I am good at. As i said I don't really have any skills.

And no I am not putting myself down but being very honest.

Yours

Calley

dogstarheaven

There should be a lots of employability providers in cities and big towns. Why don't you call on one, and they'll be able to help you to find out what your best matches are with the skill-set you've built up with your previous jobs. Would you mind if I ask you what jobs you've done before? Do you like public facing jobs, or do you like working behind the scenes? Would you like to help people in the community?

calleyw

dogstarheaven wrote: »

There should be a lots of employability providers in cities and big towns. Why don't you call on one, and they'll be able to help you to find out what your best matches are with the skill-set you've built up with your previous jobs. Would you mind if I ask you what jobs you've done before? Do you like public facing jobs, or do you like working behind the scenes? Would you like to help people in the community?

Whats an employability provider?

use to do IT support and then admin. Would rather work behind the scenes and not deal with the public face to face.

There is a also another issue that I lack confidence in myself and my ablities.

Yours

Calley

maman

calleyw wrote: »

Whats an employability provider?

use to do IT support and then admin. Would rather work behind the scenes and not deal with the public face to face.

There is a also another issue that I lack confidence in myself and my ablities.

Yours

Calley

If you've worked fairly regularly and now you're 42 then you must have gained some skills along the way. You've mentioned two in the post above. Perhaps what you need to think about is whether you want to develop your skills in admin and IT or take a completely different path.

Guest101

Have u ever done minutes? Chaired meetings? Run training programmes for colleagues? Organised meetings / events?

I know if I had to name top 5 skills I had now, I'd struggle, but if I had 20 mins I'd rattle off 30+ core skills.

jackyann

Suggest that you sign up with agencies in a couple of fields: one where you look for jobs at your admin / IT level, another where you "do anything". That will keep the money coming in whilst you look around.

You don't say if you need a full time, or certain level of income immediately, or if you have some savings. Neither do you say if you have commitments here - could you think about some sort of "holiday" job abroad next year?

If you do have a bit of spare time, go along to your local voluntary services bureau (it will be called different things, find out from you local authority) where they place people - anything from a few hours a month to full time - in voluntary organisations. That too will open your eyes & mind to what paid work is available.

I have known a number of people with admin / IT skills who feel a bit unfulfilled in an office. Then by some quirk of fate they end up employing those skills in an interesting organisation, usually 3rd sector, and find it very worth while. Only a few weeks ago I was talking to someone who started at one of the Wildlife Trusts this way, now she is very skilled at making applications, understanding issues around protected species etc.

j.e.j.

Just a thought but can you still get those Jiig-cal tests where you answer multiple choice questions and it throws up possible career suggestions?