Switching Careers

LaurentD

Hi Guys,

New to the forum - signed up as I've been doing a fair amount of reading but wanted to specifically ask a question about my own circumstances...

Essentially I'm looking at making a career change due to health reasons and a (rather well timed) redundancy.

I'm 31 and for the last 6 and a half years I've been in hospitality management - mainly bars. Most recently stepping away from front of house and concentrating more on back of house paperwork and events (essentially selling parties, events, functions etc). I have decent GCSE's, poor A-Level's and a Foundation degree that might as well have come with a set of Micky Mouse ears at the end. My 20's were not spent sensibly. Though now I have a child and need to make the career switch to something profitable but not as time consuming as hospitality. Weekends would be nice!

My plan, based on the number of job adverts I've seen, is to gain a CeMAP1 as quickly as possible and then start applying for jobs. I'm fortunate to be in a place with a buoyant and growing market, from what i can tell. I'm looking at mortgage advisory then possibly moving to brokerage once i've gained the experience. I'm not someone that is good at the cold hard sell, but i do have a great deal of customer service experience and have spent years working with numbers and money as well as all the customer service stuff you pick up along the way. I'm good at talking, basically.

Does this career jump make sense to the more experienced people out there? Have other people made similar jumps? Would an employer take one look at my CV and disregard me? Is there any value in gaining the CeMAP 2 and 3 or even going back and re-doing GCSE's and A-Levels? Is there a best or better respected company to go through to gain the CeMAP qualification? Some of the adverts i've seen boast large starting salaries for junior or trainee positions with little to know experience, is this a con? is there a 'typical' experience gaining path that i should try to follow first or just jump straight in and apply for anywhere and everywhere? What are the pros and cons of working for a bank instead of an estate agents, and vice versa?


If this is a stupid list of questions and i'd be better to carry on trawling through the past threads please tell me and i'll continue my hunt!!


Many thanks

L

LaurentD

wrong thread or stupid question?

ACG

With CeMap 1 you are showing you can go to the exams and you could potentially get a trainee role with an estate agents or at least a job in the Mortgage world with a bank maybe.

However, last month I had 3 people get in touch about jobs and they had passed all of their exams, so it is those people or similar you are potentially coming up against in interviews.

The exams in this job are worthless in the real world, but a requirement to do the job. The hardest part of this job is getting customers followed by learning the job, it took me 6-12 months of doing the job before I actually felt like a broker and after 4 years I am still learning new things (and teaching other brokers who have been doing the job 20 years new things).

It is a great job, but getting your first step is very difficult.

You are lucky you have a job, so it just means you can do your exams and you have the luxury of applying for jobs until someone is happy to take a chance on you.

I do not think this is a sales job, although others would disagree. As I work for myself, I have no targets to meet - so long as I earn enough to pay my bills. But if you get a job for a bank or an estate agent it is likely you will have targets to hit.

LaurentD

Many thanks!

I am aware that there's going to be a fair amount/loads of competition out there for positions. I'm pretty confident though, as I'm normally pretty good at selling myself in interviews and tend to get roles i interview for.

Would you recommend doing the 2nd and 3rd modules as well? would that give me a head start on other candidates?

ACG

Having one will give you a head start over some people, but there will be people fully qualified so you probably sit somewhere in the middle.

Although I am sure people would prefer to wait for the right people to get their exams than take on the wrong person because they already have them.

LaurentD

I'm hoping the CeMAP and my winning charm will get me a foot in the door.

If not i'll do the other courses. I've found fast track ones that run regularly and aren't too expensive.

Thanks for the advice!