Today I’ve had an enquiry from an assistant director in PR.She says

I’m currently a PR Account Director working for a medium sized agency in XXXX. I’ve been working in PR for 7 years when I started a graduate trainee scheme straight from university. I’ve always been relatively happy in my job until about a year ago when I started to crave a change and to wonder if PR is really for me! Having reached AD level I’m just not sure that I want to progress any further and the things I like about the job are actually not specific to PR, and the things I don’t, are.

The trouble is that I’m just not sure what jobs are out there and what I’d be qualified for. Though I’d be happy to take a step down in terms of level and a slight salary cut, I now have commitments (mortgage etc) which means that I really couldn’t take a massive cut in wage. In short, I feel slightly stuck in PR!

MY REPLY

It sounds like you are in your late 20s and a lot of my clients come to see me around this age – they have become successful in the career path they have followed since leaving university but have reached the point when they are not sure if it is the right one for them any more. 

Alongside an interest in finding out what is the right path for the person they are now, there is also the risk that whatever is best fit may mean a significant drop in salary, although not always so. You are not a new graduate and would enter a new career from a position of strengths, skills and experience gained over the last 7 years. One of my clients last year moved from working in the city to train as a teacher, but we are both confident that she will fast track to head teacher with her financial and business background. 

What interests a lot of people about my programmes (and obviously the Gold Programme is far more detailed) is that it helps them to understand more about who they are and then they can use this information to make the right change for them, given all of their circumstances.

For example, use the info to tweak their job, look for an internal transfer or build a path to a new job. It can be good to know that, for example, you should be doing a more artistic job and if you are an accountant you could move to being an accountant for an arts based organisation, or for yourself with a background in PR we could look at the sort of companies that would best suit what comes out of the work we do, so there could be an interim move on the path to a different career path.

Of course this isn’t always necessary and I have had clients move from – for example, Head of Purchasing in a large company to an academic post at University or another moving from being a Vet to marketing and plenty of lawyers moving to different jobs from recruitment to owning a nail bar. 

 The Question 

I have just seen contact info on the ICG website and thought I’d drop you a line.

I desperately need some advice and don’t know where to start!  I am 31 years old and work as an Office Manager .  I have been considering a change of career for quite some time now and am particularly interested in becoming a Careers Advisor.  The problem being that I have a mortgage to pay and therefore can’t sign up to a full time or part time course.  I’ve been trying to find a distance learning course but am really struggling.  I have an HND in Business/Travel Management but don’t have a degree.  I do however have a lot of experience in working with young people (graduate level) in Media organisations.  I feel I really have something to offer but simply don’t know where to start. 

Any help/advice would be very much appreciated.

My Reply

Thanks for getting in touch.

I think that if you are interested in working with young people a good start would be to talk to the people at connexions who specifically work with people aged 13-19.  There is some useful information here which explains the work based learning option 

Your help is like a safety net for me.  For four years I’ve worked in a job which totally drains my energy. It may be seen by others as a good job with perks but none of this means a lot to me. I hate the work as it’s for a big multinational firm and redundancies voluntary and involuntary going on.  

I have always wanted to be a beauty and massage therapist and I am in the middle of a course I started on massage and it is all that is keeping me going.  I’m hoping that I will get voluntary redundancy and I can use the money to set up my own business but I’m not certain how to do this!  I was wondering if you could maybe suggest a good management course for setting up this type of business or lend me some advice.  

Thanks for taking the time to get in touch. It is awful to be in a job that drains us and with bullying it must make it even worse.

Many people dread the thought of redundancy but for others it’s a great opportunity to do something new that you want to do and often get some money to set you on your way.

It’s good that you have found out what it is that you want to do and alongside massage you will probably add on some extras things such as Indian head massage and manciures.

Working for yourself is not an easy option so you could also identify companies and small businesses within travel distance to you so you could get some work for them – even if it is that you are offered just a day or two a week.

There are lots of things to consider when setting up in business, if you are under 30 the Princes Trust could help with advice and support.  

http://www.princes-trust.org.uk/

You can also get help from Business Link. They do free courses for people who have a business idea.

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/home?r.l1=1073858805&r.s=m

That should get you started!

I left university over a year ago with a degree in sports engineering. I enjoyed the course and got a 2:1 but since then I’ve been working in bars which is not really helping me to break into the work I want to do.

My problem is how to get a job that is going to use my degree and start me on a career path rather than continue in pretty unskilled jobs which aren’t helping me to gain relevant experience.

Reply

There are a number of things you can do to enhance your chance of success.

First of all find out about the requirements for the job. Alongside specific experience, most companies also want people to have developed softer skills which you will have gained from the bar work - relating to a range of people, dealing with difficult people situations and the motivation to get to work on time each day. So when you contact companies stress your skills in these areas.

You can also include qualities which you have developed through volunteering and other out of work activities - such as leadership of a scout’s troop, administration skills via working with a campaigning organisation etc.

Then you will want to find companies that may possibly have jobs you can apply for. Decide on your travel to work radius and use the internet to find companies that employ sports engineering graduates. This isn’t a job area I’m familiar with so I have had a look on the prospects web site – I searched for this term and also under engineering and sports did not provide any results. So you will need to find a way of identifying possible companies, your university may be able to help you.

Then you can contact companies direct – not in the “have you got a job sense” but around informational interviews asking questions to help you move forward in your search and possibly even doing some unpaid work shadowing.

I do sell an eBook on informational interviews and you can read more here:   http://www.amazingpeople.co.uk/informational_interviews.htm

Not everyone wants, or needs to pay for career advice. Help is available from the state and it’s useful to look at the options.

If you visit this website http://www.direct.gov.uk/adultlearning you can read about the help available for training and career advice. Free help is available via Next Steps for adults.

This includes adult learning grants where you could get £30 per week to help with learning costs at level 2 (GCSE) or level 3 (A levels).

You can read more about the courses available via LSC - http://inourhands.lsc.gov.uk/ - there is plenty to choose from - 942,272 courses throughout the UK in subjects from mountaineering to cooking.

Of course you may want to have the support from an independent career counsellor and if so I’d be very happy to talk with you!

It is so easy to make a decision but not to have fully thought through options. It might have been better to have considered all options earlier, but he is not atypical, often people only think things through thoroughly after they have made a decision

So how have I helped?

The process I’ve used could also be helpful for anyone who isn’t sure what to do

1.    Write down your options

2.    List the positives against each option

3.    List the negatives against each option

Sometimes it can be hard to think broader about options so then it can be helpful to talk with people and to get more ideas and suggestions.

For this particular client, before withdrawing from the course a lot of things should be considered – how will this look on their CV, are they clear why they want to move to something else and really think deeply about the reasons for the move.