Career Stages

Do you ever wonder why some peoples careers progreess smoothly and at apace throughtout their lives and others come to a standstill ?? ..like mine at the moment..so I am speaking from experience and with the wisdom of hindsight !!,,A very useful idea is to be prepared to see your career as life stages, in the same way as we pass through different ages and are able to do different things, but not others...eg we crawl. then walk …..things change...

I have come to this conclusion as I am aware that what I did and did well for over twenty years, so well that it is still in fact the only work I actually get offered, even though I haven't done it for over ten years....childcare, is something that physically there is no chance of my being able to manage.

This is going to become an increasingly common scenario...If I was currently employed, the earliest even under present rules, and we expect them to change again, that I would be able to claim my pension is sixty-seven. I was still a comparitively fit nursery nurse when I used to laugh with my colleagues at the image of seventy year old nursery nurses..... The fact is that women especially are affected by the raising of the pension age because it is frequently women who are in the care related professions, which become increasingly stressful for a woman to physically manage as she gets older, even if she is in good health.

Actually, I didn't always want to be a nursery nurse at all...I wanted to teach, but family circumstances meant that it was not possible for me to continue my education and go to University.Yes, I had all the dreams and plans as people do ,of going to evening classes and getting to Uni via an Access course,....but being at nursery with shifts sometimes starting at 7.15 am and not getting home until the same time in the evenings, with activities to prepare ...the evening classes didn't happen, and to quote the famous saying about hindsight.... it is indeed a wonderful thing, and would be good if you had it before rather than being wise after the event....I really wish that I had stopped to consider that physcically I might not always be able to work with young children, and in effect stored up a few alternative future careers by learning other skills, instead of it now being a race between my gaining new skills and getting work that physically I can do, and Jobcentreplus stopping my Jobseekers allowance.....having already been refused sickness benefits in spite of... considerable health issues which affect the work I can do...

Its very good both mentally and for the effect on physical health to feel in control, to feel that we have options... and to have a sense of direction ,and this is very relevent to our careers. Increasingly with benefits being denied and removed, more and more people will find themselves with no choice as to what work they take, they will just have to take whatever job is there or is forced on them by the Depertment of work and pensions....Its really beneficial to take a career check in the same way as we would take a look at our finances and decide if an invstment is still working for us...

….It is important to have realistic career plans with a reasonable chance of it actually happening, in order for us to attain at least a level of job satisfaction in what we are able to do even if it wasn't our first career choice...I know that I have spent a lot of actually pointless time regretting that my first career choce wasn't possible....had I understood my family background more, then I might have been aware that further education was not possible for me, but that sort of recognition is a tall order for any child who dreams dreams.....Your plan needs to be realistic and able to allow for changes of direction.

If at all possible , it is good to undertake any classes and training that might be useful for any career change that you think you might make in later life, as well as career deveopment training for your current job. Think about jobs you might like to do and what skills, training and experience you will need, as well as the job you are doing...especially if you see yourself considering self employment.

Valerie Hedges