Careers advice.

[bon3yard]

A bit of a broad post this but I'm not sure how else to tackle the subject. I'm looking for a career change at the age of 38 and have very little idea who to talk to about this. Doea anyone have any idea of which websites/people to talk to? Any recommendations would be welcome. Regards, M.

[Help-Ma-Boab]

There is a new free National Careers Service https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/Pages/Home.aspx

If you are willing to pay, The Careers Group (which provides the Careers Serviceto all uni of London Instituions) offers a package. It is not cheap though: http://www.gradclub.co.uk/CareersAdvice.aspx

The Career Development inst. has a list of qualified independant advisers that you could check: http://www.thecdi.net/Professional-Register-

You could also try Prosepcts Planner which is free to use, and used by most UK HE Institutions. Go to www.prospects.ac.uk and serach prospects planner. It will ask you questions etc and match you to areas/sectors that maybe of interest.Take it with a pinch of salt but its a start, and it may make you question why these areas have come up.

Good luck

[jennypops]

I can highly recommend Obi James, business coach who lives locally - I went to see her when I was made redundant and she was incredibly helpful. Good luck!

[jennypops]

Forgot to give you Obi's website, here it is:

http://www.objcoaching.com/index.html

[bon3yard]

Thanks for the heads up. I'll check them out. Any other recommendations are welcome.

[ed_pete]

I saw this advertised in Time Out recently and passed it on to a friend of mine who's recently been made redundant. I may be of interest to you.

http://www.careershifters.org/london-workshop

[Sue]

I found this book (What Color Is Your Parachute?) very helpful many moons ago, although the author is American as you can tell by the spelling, and I don't know whether these days there are English references as well.

No idea if it still is helpful, but it seems to have good reviews on Amazon judging by the star rating (I haven't read them).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Color-Your-Parachute-2013/dp/1607741474

[Marmora Man]

You might consider taking an MBA - not a cheap option but that's what I did agreed 40 to facilitate a career change from Royal Navy to healthcare.

[OverTheRainbows]

My experience of The Careers Group was appalling; as with most of these things, it probably depend who you get, but be wary, especially if you are paying a lot! (If you want to go with them and want a name to avoid, pm and I can pass it on.)

If you are a graduate, you used to be able to use your old university's careers service for free. Don't know if this is still the case, but worth findings out?