Career change - seeking advice, inspiration...

[mrsS]

Don't know if this is appropriate to post here but giving it a go..

I am thinking, or kind of knowing, that I need a career change and am looking for some help and advice, and inspiration.

I have worked in a caring profession since I first started working at the age of 18. I currently work as counsellor, something that I thought I always wanted to do but finding it completely draining and think I am about to burnout. This is not the first time it happens, I resigned from my previous job because of that reason. It has now become quite clear to me and my husband that I seem to burnout extremely easily when I work with people who suffer mental health issues.

It is a very tough job to do, to constantly be focused on other peoples problems. Not at all as rewarding as I thought it might be.

So I am thinking about changing my career. But I have no idea to what, I don't know what I want to do, I don't know what I can do. I have worked closely with people all my working life and am so tired of it! I know it does sound a bit harsh but that is my honest truth. I feel like I have nothing more to give.

So....I guess I am asking for some help. And inspiration! Has anyone of you got any idea of what I could do instead? What my counselling skills and psychology degrees could be good for?

[steveo]

Work from home.

Go to the office in your pants, talk to yourself, check your emails every fifteen seconds, spend all day on Facebook, get the hump when someone sends you some work, moan when they don't, anthropomorphise the cat and become a hypochondriac... it's much better than working with people.

[giggirl]

Maybe give these people a try. If you are looking for a new direction then they might help and you've nothing to loose.

http://www.landmarkeducation.com/

[Otta]

Gardening! Apparently there is a shortage of professional gardeners.

I feel for you in your situation, but are you sure that this is a good time for a career change?

[Help-Ma-Boab]

Have a bash at Prospects Planner - UK Graduate Careers site. Free. Dont obviously take what it says or comes out with as gospel but it may just give you some further areas to explore.

http://ww2.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/What_jobs_would_suit_me___Prospects_Planner_/Login_to_My_Prospects2/p!ejgFgXm?mode=try_pp

I used it and it came out with auctioneer. Never had myself down as a dab hand with a gavel.

[mrsS]

Otta - probably not the right time, but if I don't do anything now I might just burnout so badly that I will have to take a very long time off. I am trying to prevent it from getting worse.

Thanks for your help guys. And steveo, I am not sure if you were trying to be funny but I would not be posting here if I was not serious. Constantly listening to peoples problems and getting very little back is extremely exhausting.

[Gidget]

I have a friend who had worked for a number of years in another field and then did a psychology degree. I asked her if she was going to practice as a psychologist and her reply to me was along the lines of "I can't think of anything more draining than listening to other people's problems all day"; the sad thing was she was a fantastic listener and very empathetic. She ended up going back into the same profession she had been in.

Good luck with your search.

[El Pibe]

Wasn't there a bit in Office Space where you ahve to sit back and think what you'd lke to be doing right now if you weren't in your office, and that's the career you should pursue.

Sadly I, like Peter in the film, dream of doing nothing, so I'm screwed.

To be serious though, I guess whatever path you choose will involve some retraining and if it's a structured career, stepping down some rungs.

Maybe you should consider working for yourself? Decent plumbers are booked up til the next millennium and do pretty well for themselves.

There's a chronic shortage of decent software developers and it's a piece of piss!!

[Guest]

If you're open to using your existing skills and knowledge and want to continue helping people in some way, how about looking into coaching at the corporate/executive level? With coaching the focus is on dealing with things from the present and you'd be making clear to clients that mental problems and past causes are out of scope, so you'd be setting firm boundaries with them from the start. It's a growing market and pays pretty well. If the idea appeals you could do a freebie weekend taster with the Coaching Academy (don't study with them though).

Or you could use what you know to teach other counsellors/psychologists, or run academic programmes or accreditation processes, or perhaps look into moving into HR, where your experience would be a definite asset but where there would be other avenues open to you too.

If you think you might need a complete change, another idea could be to make a list of all your positive attribtes - characteristics, skills, talents, things you like doing, things other people compliment you on, however minor or non-work you might think they are - drawing on ALL areas of your life, and see what kind of picture of your 'natural' self emerges from that. Some of them will be latent abilities you could potentially develop if you were to change direction. You could also take a look at your underlying beliefs about yourself and life (as a counsellor and psychologist of course you're familiar with that kind of thing already) as it sounds like your motivation to help people is being driven by something that's not aligned with what the inner you wants.

Someone suggested Landmark. If you're feeling worn out and a bit fragile, perhaps best to avoid those kinds of brainwashing outfits until you've got a clearer sense of where you're going.

Best of luck. For what it's worth, I think you're doing the right thing as the pain you're going through suggests that something does need to change.

[Otta]

Be a trainer. Good people skills would be q big help.

Just don't be q careers advisor.

[uncleglen]

Everyone I know with a psychology degree is either a teacher (needs a PGCE) or works in recruitment.

[mrsS]

Thanks for your suggestions. I have thought of doing teaching training but someone said that I would burnout within a month..

And I wanted to apologise to you steveo for sounding so grumpy. Felt so miserable that I took everything the wrong way earlier on today!

[Annette Curtain]

How about a being fireman/person

No burnout there & if you do, well you're a gonner

*fans smoke away*

:-S

[Pugwash]

Social Worker

[Marmora Man]

If you can afford the time (and money) going back to college for a year and completing an MBA can be a good way to change career paths. There are many "focussed" MBA based around different sectors or there are the "classic" MBAs.

I did this aged 40 and went from a life at sea into healthcare - on the way learning a lot of useful stuff, stretching my mind and making a lot of new friends.

[Pickle]

What things do you love doing? Is there a possibility of turning them into a career?

My Dad spent 25 years as a firefighter, took a risk and turned his love of cars into an award winning tourism business in NZ. He gets more enjoyment from going to work than anyone I know (and will never retire!).

Good luck. I did similar a number of years ago, although these days am at home with my kids.

[????]

Market Research is keen on Psychology degrees

[mrsS]

Marmora Man - a MBA, like a Master in Business Administration? Sorry, I am counfused.

Pickle - I love drinking coffee. Can I make a career out of that? :) Oh, and exercising of course, and writing. Husband always tell me to become a writer. Which was my dream when I grew up. Swedish is my first language so if I would try to do something with my writing it would be in Swedish.

[El Pibe]

Swedish is hot hot hot at the moment.

I'd go for a crime drama/novel or swedish horror, publishers will lap it up!!!

[Marmora Man]

mrsS Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Marmora Man - a MBA, like a Master in Business

> Administration? Sorry, I am counfused.

>

> Pickle - I love drinking coffee. Can I make a

> career out of that? :) Oh, and exercising of

> course, and writing. Husband always tell me to

> become a writer. Which was my dream when I grew

> up. Swedish is my first language so if I would try

> to do something with my writing it would be in

> Swedish.

Yep - MBA as in Master of Business Administration. You don't have to have been "in business" to take one - just be intelligent, academically capable with experience of life. Friends of mine were variously - librarians, army officers, a fashion designer, a BT engineer and a musician as well as perhaps the more obvious accountants and general business types. They went on to - equally variously - a UN disaster relief worker, into marketing, setting up their own business (bagel shops), into Human Resources, into the NHS, into publishing (magazines).

However, if you think you could make a living out of writing - I'd go for that.

[Pickle]

A coffee drinking, exercising writer - sounds like a perfect combination :)

Good luck x

[red devil]

mrsS, have you thought about looking into the posibility of reducing the number of hours you currently work?...say a 3-4 day week, in the current economic climate your employer may look upon the idea favourably. The last thing your employer wants is someone burning themselves out, and being off-work long term.

That way you at least immediately reduce the stress levels whilst maintaining a source of income, and you can then use the extra freetime to explore a career change more thoroughly.

Doing 1-2 days a week voluntary work, might be a good way to discover what you like/dislike without making any rash committments...

[ruffers]

Two of my friends have voluntarily left employment in the last six months or so, confident they'll find something. They're both good at what they do but neither has so far got a job with significant financial consequences.

I'd be starting with trying to adjust where you are currently as red devil suggests, and not jumping until you're very sure you have a safe landing. It's tough out there at the moment.

[Ridgley]

In my case I spent quite a few years, in the third sector I was recently made redundant which was not a pleasant experience as this is the first time it has happen in my working life. I was not sure what I was going to do I temped for a while then him indoors went in to hospital over the weekend they put him in a private ward as there was no beds.

When I came to visit him he was speaking to a lovely gentleman about life etc??.. and he mentioned my situation his name was Frank Burrows he is one of the Directors of Apple he offered me a job in administration on the spot !!! I going to see him at the Covent Garden branch on Wednesday so it goes to show you just don?t know what is a round the corner.

[Sue]

This book is quite good at helping you to think in a focused way how your skills and experience could be used in other lines of work:

What Color Is Your Parachute 2012

It's got mixed reviews on Amazon, the main criticism being that it is "too American", but I think for somebody looking to change career rather than wanting advice on job seeking/getting, it is very useful.

Good luck!