Not Sure What My Next Step Is..

Dear Careers Clique

I am a 45 yeard old mother of 2 and I have been a teacher for the last 20 years. I teach at primary school and whilst I started off full of enthusiasm , I have found that in the last 5 years my love of teaching has diminished. It’s a combination of many things – the hours, the workload, the expectations from management and frankly some of the awful parents. I feel I’m at a point where I want to try something new whilst using the skills I have developed. Although I have quite basic IT skills I have thought about something in technology as I have always a little interest in it despite not pursuing it. Retraining would be a major upheaval in my life but I think with the support of my husband , it could be done. I just don’t know where to start.

Confused

Dear Confused

First of all well done on recognising and accepting that you want to do something new. It is very easy to be complacent and stick to what we know.Especially when you have other priorities life children and family. So well done for trying to make that leap.

If you are interested in technology, then you may find that there are more opportunities than you think available to you. There is a dearth of women working in technology and there is a push to have more women in the STEM fields. There are a multitude of reasons why there are relatively few women in STEM however the tide is starting to turn and there are organisations and campaigns focused on correcting the inbalance.

It may also be a good idea to contact a careers coach if finances allow. A good careers coach can help you look at your skillset and help you decide on exactly what your next step will be. A careers coach will not tell you what you need to do but , over a series of sessions will be to gently coax out your strengths and where you think you would be best suited.

When you have decided on which direction to take, you will need to brush up on interview skills and work on your CV so please bare this in mind for the future. The careers coach will also be able to help you with this,

Please also look out for a number of events that will be running this year that you may find helpful. Please make sure you sign up to the newsletter to be kept up to date with careers/training events in your area.

Good luck on your journey and remember that IT IS a journey. You have been a success in your previous careers and you will have built up an impressive set of skills that will help you in any industry.