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Job/college advice for 31 year old?!
I'm 31 and I've never had a job, or finished college. Before people start jumping on my back about this, its because I've had a lot of mental and physical health issues, when I was 17 I was studying A Level physcology at college and doing the Computer driving licence, however my health took a bad turn and I had to leave.
Anyway, fast forward to now and I'm getting my life back on track, I have a husband, a child, a house and my health is a lot better,the only thing that's missing is a job.
Because of my "issues" i don't have any qualifications, the best I have is English gcse which I got grade C for language and lit, I think I got an E in Maths, I just didn't get it at all!
However now I'm older and feel its the right time to gain new qualifications, skills etc im wanting some advice on what will come in most handy for a job?
Im thinking of resitting Maths GCSE, I feel now I'm older I will be able to focus more and get the help I need if I'm stuck (rather than middle though and struggle in silence like my 16 year old self did!)
When I look at jobs they all was either 5 A - C GCSE, other A levels and experience, its embarrassing getting to 31 and having to tell someone its my first job so I have no experience.
At the moment I've been looking for jobs such as cleaning, dog walking, charity work etc but its not what I want to do, I want to make my little boy proud, and I want to bring in a decent wage.
So any advice on college courses which would help me get a job would be appreciated, thank you.
Anyway, fast forward to now and I'm getting my life back on track, I have a husband, a child, a house and my health is a lot better,the only thing that's missing is a job.
Because of my "issues" i don't have any qualifications, the best I have is English gcse which I got grade C for language and lit, I think I got an E in Maths, I just didn't get it at all!
However now I'm older and feel its the right time to gain new qualifications, skills etc im wanting some advice on what will come in most handy for a job?
Im thinking of resitting Maths GCSE, I feel now I'm older I will be able to focus more and get the help I need if I'm stuck (rather than middle though and struggle in silence like my 16 year old self did!)
When I look at jobs they all was either 5 A - C GCSE, other A levels and experience, its embarrassing getting to 31 and having to tell someone its my first job so I have no experience.
At the moment I've been looking for jobs such as cleaning, dog walking, charity work etc but its not what I want to do, I want to make my little boy proud, and I want to bring in a decent wage.
So any advice on college courses which would help me get a job would be appreciated, thank you.
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Comments
ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) is a good one if you're looking to do office work. Most places look for maths & english GCSEs (or Standard Grades in Scotland) as standard. Is there any job/career you're particularly interested in?
The cleaning etc jobs or volunteering may not be what you want to do at the moment but it'll look good on your CV when you start looking for jobs that you're more interested in. You could do something like that for a few hours a week whilst studying, if you have the time that is!
Jobs looking for experience can be a nightmare at any age! I applied for a job once & was rejected due to lack of experience so tried asking if I could volunteer there for a few hours a week to gain experience (this was after finding out that they hadn't found anyone suitable for the position). They thought about it then got back to me saying that insurance wouldn't cover me being there!
Judging by the fact you want to gain more qualifications & want to get into work, I think your son will be proud.
Firstly apply everywhere you possibly can. You say you have applied for one! You need to apply for lots. There are jobs out there for people with no experience and qualifications. Take a job - any job, cleaning, care home, call centre, petrol station, whatever. This will give you experience of the work place and the working routine and show you can hold down a position.
Secondly you should be thinking about what you actually want to do. You can then start some college courses that will be suited to a career. There's no point just picking stuff randomly. If you don't know what you want to do think about what you enjoy doing...
It's a nice idea but I wouldn't jump the gun.
The average M.H support worker would be expected to have a full spread of fairly good GCSE's, A Levels and relevant higher education qualifications, as well as I would have thought at least a couple of years of relevant clinical experience.
You can't even do H&S care level 3 without good GCSE's and maybe A Levels. Even L2 would require a 'C' minimum in English and Maths AFAIK.
If the OP did want to end up doing something like that she'd best be placed to re-sit GCSE's via adult learning, work her way up to A levels, get those under her belt and then re-examine her options, all the meanwhile building up work experience doing minimum wage jobs as aforementioned.
I've signed on with a cleaning agency, but that was over a month ago and I've not had a call from them yet, the manager I spoke to was very keen to take me on as I live in a small village and he gets calls from people who live here "desperate" for a cleaner.
Even with cleaning jobs, most want experience. The man I spoke to at the agency said that he'll put I have experience as I clean my own home, no one else seems to be that lenient, they all want experience of cleaning in a work place and references.
Thing is, I'm not sure what I want to do, everyone has figured that out by the time they get to my age and are already achieving it, but I have no idea.
I always wanted to be an art therapist or couceller, but I feel like I'm 10 years too late! If I start learning now, I'll be at least 40 before I can even start looking at jobs in that field.
I love animals so I've been looking at kennel jobs but there are none where I live, and even then they want qualifications and experience.
I also love making things, I've had an idea for making personalised canvases for children and for wedding presents and selling them online, of course it's a hard to to make work and again, at the moment we don't have any money to put into it and but materials to get set up.
I just feel like such a failure and I'm 10 years behind everyone else my age, I feel like I'm destined for crappy cleaning jobs my whole life but I don't want that.
Not sure what the rules are for art therapy, but a friend of mine got into Occupational Health in his late thirties as a complete career change. Can you get in touch with someone and ask what your chances would be? Nothing to lose there!
Regarding your personalised canvasses etc, do you have any old stuff that maybe you can sell on ebay or something to make some start-up money? Even enough for a couple of small canvasses would get you going. If you get quite a few done and manage to sell them, you could always put "freelance artist" on your CV!
If you're creative, have a look at Zazzle. You can create designs for t-shirts etc and if they sell them you get a share of the profits. I've done a few. The pay isn't huge per item, but if you have spare time at home and can knock a dozen good designs/ideas out quite quickly you never know! It's free to do and might make you enough to kick off something better.
Don't worry about thinking you're 10 years behind everyone else. You have an urge to better yourself and are keen to learn something new. Be positive about these things when you apply for jobs. And find a college course you think you'll enjoy. I got my degree in my thirties (I dropped out when I was 18 and came back later!) and it was great fun and a real confidence builder.
I wish you the very best of luck.
Please dont think you are too late - being a stay at home Mum is great experience in multi-tasking, organisation, patience etc. I became a freelance photographer at age 36 with a 2 year old son in tow and being 10 years out of date of a very fast-moving industry, it can be daunting but it's absolutely possible to do with determination.
Check out your local colleges for courses starting in September & do consider freelancing / setting up your own business for your art ideas, it's not as hard as it first seems but if you need finance, you will need a full business plan / marketing plan to get funding or a grant to start you off, but there is loads of help available if you know where to look
Look up https://www.gov.uk/starting-up-a-business/start-with-an-idea
http://www.smallbusiness.co.uk/financing-a-business/government-grants/2390818/achieving-a-grant-in-the-arts-sector.thtml
http://www.princes-trust.org.uk/need_help/enterprise_programme.aspx?gclid=CJ2iu5vH4sYCFUj3wgodPgECog
Good luck
First of all don't worry about not knowing what you want to do... I fell into an industry and just continued on with it but I've had a horrible time with my health which got me thinking and I decided I wanted more so I'm going to be studying an Open Uni degree. It's going to take a while but I'm looking forward to getting stuck in come October. I'd definitely recommend going "back to school".
I've never had anyone check my qualifications but why not spend a year doing GCSE maths and maybe something alongside. There maybe grants available
One of my nieces only ever worked in betting shops or bars. We're only really in touch via Facebook and I was amazed a few weeks ago at a family party to find she's doing her last year in accountancy (after taking a couple of years out), she's 48. As for exams - as you've got English you really need maths and computer skills would be most useful in many jobs. Though you don't want to do cleaning long term you could do it privately - put cards in local shops, look in local newspapers you may see people in there looking for cleaners. Once you've got a few exams under your belt you could look for work as a support worker working with people with mental health problems whilst studying in the evenings maybe for the job you actually want; or maybe able to work part time in that area while studying part time. Once your son is 2 that is. What does it matter if you're in your 40s when you start working as an art therapist or counsellor.
The Works is a good place to buy canvasses. Keep a lookout in Lidl (if there's one local to you) as I bought a set of canvasses at a really good price. A couple of websites for artist supplies with competitive prices.
http://www.pullingers.com/
http://www.artifolk.co.uk/index.htm