Complete change of career, anyone done this?

pinpin

Is an access course one that you do at home with distance learning?
And by uni, you mean you go to lectures and live in a university town away from your home and have a student loan etc?

buglawton

There was a recent BBC radio podcast about this sort of thing, about "The Second Curve"

Business commentator and social philosopher Charles Handy speaks to Peter Day about his new book, The Second Curve, and asks if we should all plan on reinventing ourselves in later life to take advantage of new trends, innovations and ideas that will affect the future world of work
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio/worldbiz/worldbiz_20150409-1157a.mp3

lisaf

Hi OP,

I've been in accounts/admin for 25 years and have just re-trained as a 'nit' nurse!

Absolutely love it and so very different from all I know:)

Lisa

fitnessguy1

flea72 wrote: »

No A levels. I didnt have gcses above grade D either. I did an access course to gain entry to uni

Dont write yourself off as not being clever enough for uni. Im pulling a 2:1 with minimal effort, which for someone who flunked at school, i think is fairly good going

hi i read your post and wanted to know, for someone like myself who isn't very good in maths, how is the maths in the allied health profession degrees? physiotherapy was something i had considered for a long time but decided against it (stupidly) because of my own lack of confidence in my academic abilities. radiography was another area that i considered, but decided against it for the same reason - stupid thing to do really as this was a few years ago and now i'm in my late 20's regretting that i never had the self belief.

fitnessguy1

pinpin wrote: »

Is an access course one that you do at home with distance learning?
And by uni, you mean you go to lectures and live in a university town away from your home and have a student loan etc?

hi mate, i know you was directing that question to somebody else but i was looking into this for a while and yes, it would probably be best to move away to a different town, unless of course you have a university close by to you that has the course available that you would be interested in. access courses are to be studied at a local college during day hours (usually) unless you can study at night somewhere. hope that helps somewhat lol.

flea72

pinpin wrote: »

Is an access course one that you do at home with distance learning?
And by uni, you mean you go to lectures and live in a university town away from your home and have a student loan etc?

access course is basically a 'prep for uni' course. Its an ease back into formal education and teaches you how to write in an academic style. I did mine at my local further education college. It was classed as f/t (but i managed to work 25hrs a week alongside it). Its supposed to be similar to A levels, ie level 3, but as its onky a year long, not 2, you dont go so indepth into a subject

Yes i am uni. Although luckily for me my uni is only 30miles away, so i commute there, rather than live in halls (dont think hubby n kids wld have allowed me to have the proper student experience lol). Yes i have a loan, and CCs and overdraft. But as its an nhs course i dnt have to pay fees, so thats one less expense to repay on graduating.

fitnessguy1 wrote: »

hi i read your post and wanted to know, for someone like myself who isn't very good in maths, how is the maths in the allied health profession degrees? physiotherapy was something i had considered for a long time but decided against it (stupidly) because of my own lack of confidence in my academic abilities. radiography was another area that i considered, but decided against it for the same reason - stupid thing to do really as this was a few years ago and now i'm in my late 20's regretting that i never had the self belief.

Ok, a requirement of my uni offer was to have at least a Gcse C in maths. So i did this alongside my access course (nothing like stepping up the pressure lol). My uni also make you do a maths test as part of your application. Its supposed to be gcse level, but surprisingly at least 50% (sometimes even higher) fail this and these are students who have come straight out of A levels, so 18yrs old (and hold the required gcse C, less than 2yrs old!).

After years of doing a deadend job, i spose boredom finally gave me the balls to take the risk. It was either accept i was going to be there doing the same thing until retirement, or get out now. I left and have never looked back. I think you just reach a pojnt where everything fits and the time is right. I had so little confidence and was very shy, before starting this. Ive grown in so many ways, and friends comment on how much ive changed (for the better). You have plenty of time to grow a pair. I started uni when i was 40 lol

Polarbeary

I work as a PA in the City but I am applying to retrain as an Occupational Therapist and study a degree at university. Sick of admin work and being a glorified secretary!

piggeh

I work in procurement - well paid, interesting. Lots of speaking to different teams about their requirements, speaking to suppliers, seeing whats out there, designing tender competitions, evaluation criteria, etc. Importantly it is something you can transfer into from admin. CIPS qualifications eg level 4 require passing 5 exams but you can self study and each exam is about £100 to do, books about £50 each, CIPS membership £140 a year. It's more affordable than a lot of other professional qualifications.

FredG

I was a trainer in financial services and then the healthcare industry. I know work in IT for a housing org.

pinpin

I want an office job where i'm mainly just doing data entry type stuff and emailing people. Simple stuff.
Someone told me that that sounds like being a 'order processing administrator'.
I've seen lots of adverts in my area, but they all want experience of this.
Is there such a thing as an ' order processing course'' that I could do to give me experience? I can't seem to find such a thing.