Change of career at 52 22 October 2017 at 9:02PM in Over 50s MoneySaving 16 replies 8.6K views

simpywimpy

Has anyone changed career direction over 50?

Ive just finished a BSc degree with the open university and work in admin but feel with a good 15yrs work left to do, I should be aiming for a career rather than a job and am thinking of training for HR.

Its expensive however and I wonder whether employment wise I'm a bit over the hill to start something new?

missile

15 years is a long time in a job where you feel unfulfilled.

If your degree is relevant then you should be well placed to change career. Make a plan and target those employers where you feel you may have relevant experience to offer.

elsien

I had a bit of a change, although in similarish fields.

Made redundant on my 50th birthday (yay) from a care home manager job. Decided I'd had enough of being a manager so moved into advocacy. The pay is similar although I could have made a lot more if I'd stayed in management and moved upwards. Main advantage was being able to retrain/get the required qualifications on the job.
I'm glad I made the move instead of sticking with what I knew.

funnymonkey

I took my HGV....I now work when I want through an agency. Long.hours, good money so benefit from not working everyday. I'd prefer to work 3 days of 15 hours than 5 or 6 days working 8 hours.

missile

funnymonkey wrote: »

I took my HGV....I now work when I want through an agency. Long.hours, good money so benefit from not working everyday. I'd prefer to work 3 days of 15 hours than 5 or 6 days working 8 hours.

Are there not laws which limit HGV driver's hours?

no1catman

As part of your degree, were there modules that covered this area of interest - Employment Law, HRM, Personnel, etc? If so, how well did you do in those? Did you do a Dissertation? Did that relate to HR?

You may be able to talk to the Tutor who was involved with those modules and get an 'opinion' also, does where you work have a HR?Personnel Dept. that you could transfer to - to get some experience?
HTHs Good Luck.

Ilona

missile wrote: »

Are there not laws which limit HGV driver's hours?

I've been out of it for nine years now, after 32 years of trucking, but yes you can legally work a 15 hour day. You can drive for 29 hours over a three day period, (2 x 10 hours, 1 x 9 hours) the rest of the time would be taken up with other work, loading and unloading, driving off road, shunting on site, and breaks. Periods of availability are not counted in driving time, even though you might be sitting in the cab but can't leave it. There is a lot of waiting around on some jobs. Also some jobs are wholly off road.

The emphasis is on daily breaks, so if you worked odd days, not consecutive days, you would get enough time off before you were back on duty. Driving is not a Monday to Friday job, it is 24/7. Weekends and nights are better paid, so funnymonkey might be doing that.

Quote from the web site you linked to.
As a result, you could still legally complete up to a 15 hour shift by having enough Break and POA.

Ilona

Sorry to divert from the original post.

savvy

So I wasn't exactly over 50 (that happened this year yay!), I was 46 when I was technically made redundant from lecturing (long story!). Spent a year unemployed and desperately trying to get back into the rat race but with a change of career, and happy to drop salary to retrain......but nobody wanted me, possibly age and female thing, or possibly didn't believe I did not want to ever go back to teaching!

Was fed up of getting nowhere and wanted to get off benefit as it was causing me more stress - so I decided to employ myself Now run my own successful pet service business Maybe you could try self-employment or freelance linked to your degree?

missile

Ilona wrote: »

.... I thought he meant >

I'd prefer to work 3 days of 15 hours (driving)

Ilona

missile wrote: »

Ilona wrote: »

.... I thought he meant >

This is what he said
I'd prefer to work 3 days of 15 hours than 5 or 6 days working 8 hours.

An HGV driver must keep records of all hours worked, and all rest periods, daily rest and weekly rest.

The 15 hours is on duty time, not actual driving time.

Ilona

missile

You are correct - many thanks <LOL>