Kelly Said:

change of career advice in the UK?

We Answered:

try running your own business, it doesn't get more interesting than that..

Victoria Said:

Career change advice - How would I go about this?

We Answered:

A lot of colleges are having open days/nights so maybe you could try calling your local colleges and seeing what they suggest, you are never to old to learn something new and your age shouldn't be an issue, also have a look on the internet to see if there are any online courses or information that may help you.

Michele Said:

I need some advice on a changing my career?

We Answered:

First, you need to put together a portfolio of photographs showing you doing the sort of modeling that you want to do. Work with a local photographer to do these shots -- you will have to pay for them, but paying a pro for good work is a smart thing to do. Each picture should have your contact information on it, if only a Yahoo mail address.

Then plan on taking a trip or two to the places where these catalogs are put together, such as New York and Chicago. Make a list of modeling agencies in these towns and visit them with your portfolio. Be prepared to hand out copies of your shots. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, so call them back often. If you get a gig, show up on time, in a good mood and in good shape. No one will hire you if you're always grumpy and late.

The modeling business is hard to break into at a level where you can earn a living at it. The world is filled with people who would love to earn a living wearing nice clothes and having their picture taken. You would be wise to plan for a career outside of modeling if the modeling gig doesn't work out for you. Cindy Crawford studied engineering in college, so some of the best models have a fallback plan.

Enrique Said:

career changing advice plz!?

We Answered:

Im a mature student and complete my first year of college in june. I worked in sales but never realy enjoyed it and when i thought my job may not be secure i thought it was definatly time to change. I have been doing a BTEC Level 2 coarse in elecronics and computer hardware which iv enjoyed and you get alot of help along the way. I have however been told by my tutors that employers dont recognise the lower level 2 so it would be best to complete a higher lever 3 BTEC national Diploma which takes a further 2 years. The good thing is though a full time coarse at my college is only 1 day monday then 2 half days wed and thurs so plenty of time for a part time job if you dont mind working weekends. I also get £20 per week ALG (adult learning grant). I would say you should go for it!

Dorothy Said:

Any advice on changing career at our age?

We Answered:

There are many possibilities: Real Estate, Property Management, Activities Assistant, Retail Sales, Non-Profit groups (various jobs, some involve client contact and some do not), Pharmacy Tech, Travel Agent, Customer Service Rep, Office Assistant-medical, Instructor, Information Desk, Associate at a museum-theme park-public park.........

Look at web sites for your State Government, local Government, and local non-profit groups serving 'seniors' for career advice, training, and placement services. My local area has at least two groups who will help seniors explore and prepare for new careers.

You might also read some of the articles at the AARP web site to find some ideas.

AARP
Money and Work Section
http://www.aarp.org/money/

Daryl Said:

Desperately seeking career advice about changing careers?

We Answered:

We all make mistkes. Having said that, you should have done more diligent research before accepting the POS analyst job. Now you need to ask yourself if it makes sense to give this new job some more time, or if you should cut your losses now. If you're positive this isn't the right job for you, you're not going to be productive, and it's going to be a waste of time for you and your employer. If that's the case, I would resign now and thank the employer profusely for the opportunity. Be professional about it. Tell them you realized this isn't the right job for you, and offer to stay on for a transition period of 2 weeks, if they would like. As to your question about transitioning to a normal working environment, the first thing you need to do is determine exactly what it is that you want to do. Then do your research about the industry and prospective employers. Find out everything you can about the company's culture. Do not accept the job if you aren't 100% sure it's the right opportunity for you. If you've done all of that, making the transition shouldn't be difficult, though you may come to the realization that working in a casino is in fact the right job for you, and you may not want to work anywhere else.

Erik Said:

Can someone help me with some career change advice?

We Answered:

Hi there
A good place to start is with a skills audit.
Think about all the skills that you have gained through teaching (or elsewhere) that would be transferrable to the kind of job you're interested and write lists
These might include things like the ability to engage audiences, a talent for disseminating complex information in an easily understood way and flexibility and responsiveness.

Charities are always looking for good fundraisers (paid and unpaid) and you can them frame those skills within the terms laid out in job ads

Your application might be more convincing if you have some quality voluntary work under your belt first, it doesn't have to be extensive, but being able to say 'reframed short and long term strategy for achieving £300k findraising target to reroof village church' or similar would certainly carry a lot of weight. You say you love fundraising so it sounds like you've already ticked this box?

You'd be competing against people with qualifications in the area so it might be worth considering an evening course in one of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) qualifications - available in a wide range fo formats at most universities and by distance learning. You wouldn't necessarily have had to have completed the qualification for it to help you get jobs, just the fact that you've started it can look impressive

I don't think you need to talk at length about your career change - it can sound awkward and 'she doth protest too much' when people do that. Just state matter-of-factly that you have realised this is where your talents and passions lie and then go on to evidence it with the details above

I hope some of this is useful - good luck!