Back on the job market after 11 years out of work
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Anonymous
| No advice but just want to say 46 is young! It may take a little time, but you will get there. My former boss went to law school at 40 after raising her kids. She worked until she was 80. |
Anonymous
There’s a reason we are recruiting so heavily: it’s because people are quitting at record rates. Even people traditionally trained as teachers aren’t keeping up with the demands of the classroom, so we are expanding the recruitment pool in an effort to fill positions. I am a career changer who came into the classroom through an alternative education program. I thought I knew what I was getting into, but I was woefully unprepared for the classroom. I had two advanced degrees and college teaching experience, so I thought I’d transition easily. Many career changers quit. I’ve been at this long enough now to see patterns. The ones who make it are the ones who are generally up for the challenge. The ones who came because it’s an available job quickly realize it’s not for them. And that’s what I’d like to avoid: the midyear empty classroom that the remaining teachers need to split and cover. |
Anonymous
This is good advice. Finance like accounting and back office work like this has less age discrimination |
Anonymous
She entered the job market in the 90s! Those were halcyon days… |
Anonymous
What does this even mean? Is it hardship Olympics? Everyone has experience in a classroom as a student, so what is the unexpected challenges that are derailing careers? |
Anonymous
Restaurants are hiring. I just asked a friend who has a restaurant to hire a friend who is a teacher. My own restaurant is hiring and we cannot find workers. I retired at 46, but had to come back to help out. Same with a friend who gt a job at an embassy, but still is asked to go back to her restaurant to help out. We need an assistant manager and 10 servers making $30-$50 an hour. Nobody is applying. |
Anonymous
I have experience in an operating room and a lawyer’s office. Guess I’m ready for both of those careers! Is that how this works? When you were a student, you were responsible for YOU. As a teacher, you are directly responsible for 150 teenagers… many of whom aren’t interested in what you have to deliver. You are responsible for their performance and you evaluated on how well they learn. When you were a student, you got to passively sit. As a teacher, you’ll be presenting for 5+ hours a day. And it better be engaging and personally applicable to a variety of learners. As a student, you were given time to get work done. As a teacher, you receive about 45 minutes a day to: 1. Plan all of your lessons 2. Grade many papers — with comments 3. Respond to ~25 parent/admin emails 4. Update records and check IEP accommodations. (Screwing that up is BAD!!) 5. Eat lunch and visit the bathroom The environment is overstimulating and exhausting. You live by the bell. Didn’t get around to planning your lesson last night? Oh, well! The students show up at 8:12 anyway… and don’t be surprised if 4-5 administrators visit to do an observational walk-through. They’ll want you to explain why 2 students in the 3rd row were watching Netflix, 1 student was sleeping and 4 students weren’t wearing their IDs. These are all marks against you. (And I haven’t even touched the violence in classrooms, the aggressive parents…) |
Anonymous
| Op have you looked into development/fundraising? With a brand management background and board work it might be a good fit. Maybe start with the urge at the places you ere in thr board and networks from there??Learn to use raisers edge etc if you need to. High turnover field but that means open positions . Lower level won’t pay well but foot in door and at lest where I am our donors prefer to interface with people closer to their age, though we have lots of pretty young things to staff events. |
Anonymous
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If she’s the main parent she probably can’t work in restaurants because it’s nights and weekends and doesn’t make sense to pay a sitter.
OP, can you contact your kids former private school and see if they need a Finance Director or could work with their CFO or in development ? Speak to people you used to volunteer with and see if they have any ideas. What were your roles on Boards? Put them on your resume because they matter. Leave off your dates of graduation for your degrees and network. If you focused on education look at education non profits, foundations, private schools, universities. Look at development, fundraising or advancement roles. Spin your time on boards with making money/ relationships with donors. That with your MBA might help you. Look at even temporary or leave replacement roles so you can get your foot in the door. Look at temp agencies! I knew two people who went from temps to FT employees granted this was a couple years ago. If people offer to introduce you do it. If you need to hire a sitter do it. Two friends were laid off. One was laid off almost two years ago now. I offered to connect them with someone in my network who would have interviewed them. They weren’t interested because they lucked into a tech role and made $200s and this role paid only mid $100s. They didn’t have a degree and basically were lucky to get that high paying job. Last I heard they were working odd hour roles because they were determined to only work at Google, Apple, or Microsoft and that didn’t pan out. This happened again with another friend who refuses to go for another lower than an AVP even though they were at a lower level before. If people offer to help or connect you do it. Doesn’t mean you have yo take the job but connecting with people and practice interviewing is always good! Lastly, when you get a new role you gotta work hard. A previous post said something about how someone couldn’t work late or attend functions because of your kid. I’m a mom and that’s not an excuse. Especially when you’re new back to the workforce. If you want to move up you’ll have to work late or attend some of these functions once in awhile. I don’t mean every night but coming in at 9 and leaving at 4 won’t make you shine. If you’re offline from 3 onwards we know it’s because you don’t have afterschool child care. You will have to now focus on your work for to make a name for yourself. You were lucky to spend so much time at home with your child, now for your future you will need to make a name for yourself. |
Anonymous
Not al all. DH is terrible and controlling. It's super obvious from the post |
Anonymous
| The age discrimination is real, especially from younger managers who don't know what they're doing but find themselves in a leadership position. |
Anonymous
No but she needs a job so yes, she could jump into teaching. I wouldn't recommend it but it's an option. |
Anonymous
Don't forget all of the BS trainings they make you do that they don't give you time to complete. Add in some BS PDs that waste your time. Going to IEP, SST, and 504 meetings too. |
Anonymous
No, you can’t simply jump into teaching. I know people like to think they know what the job requires because they sat in a classroom once, but it actually takes training and skill. You’re still going to need to become qualified. That means additional coursework, certification tests, observations, and evaluations. I’ve directly worked with new teachers for years. Many career changers don’t even finish the process because teaching is more challenging than they had anticipated. |
Anonymous
| I went back to work at 50 after a 15 year break. I went into accounting where age and maturity are valued. I first took an online Small Business Accounting course, which showed recent training, and then I applied to every job out there. It took a long time, but I was eventually hired. All you need is a foot in the door, and you can gradually turn this into a solid and lucrative career. |