Changing Career

Author
Discussion

FocusRS3

Original Poster:

3,411 posts

90 months

Wednesday 20th September 2017
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eltax91 said:
I work in IT sales. Have done security for years and recently took a slight detour into selling anti fraud software.

We would give our hind teeth to swap our traditional tech sellers out for people who are good at relationships and have a finance background! So, my advice is take a look at the fraud software space:-

RSA (no EMEA roles currently, I work there)
CA arcot
ThreatMetrix
Experian
Cardinal commerce
Etc etc
Seriously kind many Tks

Stridey

342 posts

106 months

Wednesday 20th September 2017
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FocusRS3 said:
Thanks. Did you end up moving into something you enjoy?
I'd had a good career but didn't have a degree. I ended up doing a two year degree in law, which opened a few more doors. And I got a nice picture of me in a silly hat holding a scroll.

FocusRS3

Original Poster:

3,411 posts

90 months

Wednesday 20th September 2017
quotequote all
Stridey said:
I'd had a good career but didn't have a degree. I ended up doing a two year degree in law, which opened a few more doors. And I got a nice picture of me in a silly hat holding a scroll.
Well done you . Hasn't considered further education but maybe worth looking into

kurt535

3,559 posts

116 months

Saturday 23rd September 2017
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older you get harder the jump is. i worked in the city from 87 till 2004 when the last floor went (shudder worked in metals - harry hindsight)

so i went to uni for the first time at 37 to retrain. it was a ball ache but allowed me to set up my own business i ran successfully for 8 years before that closed due to esf funding going. no regrets though as i wanted a change due to the travel it involved which kept me away from my family.

have been in prop dev for last 3 years. its gone well but have had to set up my own company (again) to keep the quality tradesmen i need rather than hire a bunch of school drop outs masquerading as building specialists....

id urge you to reflect on retraining/uni/fe college and view it more as a learning process about yourself as well as the key to a new career.

one other thing id add is whatever you do, nothing lasts forever so flexibility is key when you step out on your own. I'm contemplating winding down the building stuff as it royally f++ks me, especially in the initial smash and bash/foundations stage plus I'm losing someone my crew who are moving back to europe. so next career? no idea, but am also happy to retrain again, if necessary.

good luck too smile

RanchoGrande

1,151 posts

168 months

Saturday 23rd September 2017
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I've recently been looking to change career after running my own business for 6 years. It's been tough trying to get recruiters etc. to look beyond the job titles and consider the broad transferable skills that i've gained from running a business.

I've ended up taking a job back in the industry I worked in prior to my business which is fine for now, and like someone else said, nothing is forever. I'm meeting a lot of people around my age (mid to late 30's) who are disillusioned with their careers but find it hard to figure out how to change their careers and what to change to.

Escape the city website often throws up some good and interesting roles which I've applied to as I get the feeling that the companies that advertise roles on the site are a little more open minded in regards to the candidates. Work in Startups also has a good selection of roles so is worth checking out.

silent ninja

863 posts

99 months

Saturday 23rd September 2017
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Nobody can tell you what your interests are.

I was always interested in business and technology, so I switched from a mundane IT job to Procurement (technology). It's been a fantastic move. I've worked on some great cutting edge projects in the last few years that have really delivered strategic value to the business. Some great aspects of procurement are that you get access to senior people all the way up to C-Suite (the CIO of a 50,000 employee business is my main stakeholder on a current project), you get to go out explore, meet suppliers, go to conventions and so on. And most of you all, you get to make deals. Negotiating is fun. It's not all fun, often you get stuff that's chucked over the fence last minute, projects that are super disorganised, late, expensive and usually don't understand what they want. But that's life. Behind the big brands is usually chaos.

To get there, I brushed up on my general business knowledge, studied CIPS (it's a procurement qualification), and got involved in "extracurricular" projects in my IT job. Basically volunteer. People shy away from volunteering because usually you end up doing the equivalent of washing toilets. But it also delivers some unique opportunities to meet people and expand your skills and experience.

To make a change, you need to shrug the risk aversion that most people suffer from. Make calculated choices that support your objective, then jump. Don't keep thinking about it, don't keep planning it. Go out and do it.

I just returned from a conference all about the office of the future. Automation will kill a lot of jobs, even jobs like Legal where there is subjectivity will be impacted. Here's a slide with some info (http://www.ipsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/FuturaCorp_Infographic-1.pdf) - bit of consultancy sales speak, but the findings were developed by Goldsmiths university and describe the skills of the future. Most of all you need to be adaptable, continuous learning is going to ever so important in an economy that will probably be dominated by freelancers - we won't work at a place anymore, we will sell our skills to employers and move around on projects. This is already happening.

Just noticed I garbled a bit, but hopefully some of it makes sense.

Edited by silent ninja on Saturday 23 September 15:13

Yipper

5,964 posts

89 months

Saturday 23rd September 2017
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Car sales is a quick and easy one to get into overnight. Try Tesla.

Becoming an expert in IT or AI or robots will take 5 to 10 years of retraining. Try somewhere near Cambridge, like Microsoft.

Do an MBA at a tier1 uni, like Oxford, if you wanna get into elite management.

Go work for the public sector, like the NHS, if you fancy the easy life.

kurt535

3,559 posts

116 months

Saturday 23rd September 2017
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Yipper said:
Go work for the public sector, like the NHS, if you fancy the easy life.
you taking the piss?

Penelope Stopit

11,209 posts

108 months

Monday 25th September 2017
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In reading the above posts - Toilet cleaner looks the best option. I will never forget the first time I heard the saying "Where there's st there's money"
Good luck

FocusRS3

Original Poster:

3,411 posts

90 months

Tuesday 26th September 2017
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Yipper said:
Car sales is a quick and easy one to get into overnight. Try Tesla.

Becoming an expert in IT or AI or robots will take 5 to 10 years of retraining. Try somewhere near Cambridge, like Microsoft.

Do an MBA at a tier1 uni, like Oxford, if you wanna get into elite management.

Go work for the public sector, like the NHS, if you fancy the easy life.
Just checked on Tesla just out of interest .
You need a bachelors degree to sell cars nowadays seemingly , really ?

https://www.indeed.co.uk/m/viewjob?jk=6f3901d119f0...

Hoofy

76,253 posts

281 months

Tuesday 26th September 2017
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FocusRS3 said:
Just checked on Tesla just out of interest .
You need a bachelors degree to sell cars nowadays seemingly , really ?

https://www.indeed.co.uk/m/viewjob?jk=6f3901d119f0...
There are so many unemployed graduates that you can specify that, anyway.