What job role could suit my wifes skill sets.
Discussion
Sarah is more and more hating her job, is the long and short of it. I want to help her find something better, but my imagination is failing me.
She works as a Quality Lead for a large College. This role is assessing learners (students) with their tutors. She needs to report on both of their performance, and ultimately ensure that tutors are following Ofstead, best practice and the like.
The job involves being at home a fair bit, largely writing up reports, which is important to her. She also likes the travelling about, and seeing different places. She has a good boss, a decent man, which goes a long way to make any job bearable.
What she doesn't like is that (I suspect because the collage - not her dept - is so badly failing) the workload and expectations of her are becoming unbearable. She's saying more and more 'I don't like this job'.
amongst her qualities are; thoroughness, and an eye for detail. She's a good people person, if not the most extroverted. She has a good grasp of the written word, how to put points across, her boss has used her reports as templates for others 'how to do it'
She has good people patience. She's very reliable.
She has been in education before too, previously teaching hair and beauty. She has also practised this as a proffession previously. She is a qualified in massage too.
A potential negative is that she is fairly sensitive. Anything too high pressure wouldn't be a good match.
She is currently on £32k. Any more would of course be nice, but less would stretch us.
Has anyone any bright thoughts/ suggestions?
She works as a Quality Lead for a large College. This role is assessing learners (students) with their tutors. She needs to report on both of their performance, and ultimately ensure that tutors are following Ofstead, best practice and the like.
The job involves being at home a fair bit, largely writing up reports, which is important to her. She also likes the travelling about, and seeing different places. She has a good boss, a decent man, which goes a long way to make any job bearable.
What she doesn't like is that (I suspect because the collage - not her dept - is so badly failing) the workload and expectations of her are becoming unbearable. She's saying more and more 'I don't like this job'.
amongst her qualities are; thoroughness, and an eye for detail. She's a good people person, if not the most extroverted. She has a good grasp of the written word, how to put points across, her boss has used her reports as templates for others 'how to do it'
She has good people patience. She's very reliable.
She has been in education before too, previously teaching hair and beauty. She has also practised this as a proffession previously. She is a qualified in massage too.
A potential negative is that she is fairly sensitive. Anything too high pressure wouldn't be a good match.
She is currently on £32k. Any more would of course be nice, but less would stretch us.
Has anyone any bright thoughts/ suggestions?
In the nicest possible way... Your description of her is too vague. Attention to detail and ability to write reasonably well is not a USP. What is there about her role that is difficult, that others might struggle to do?
The only thoughts occurring to me right now are HR or project manager. But pm might be a bit stressful, depending on what project is being managed.
The only thoughts occurring to me right now are HR or project manager. But pm might be a bit stressful, depending on what project is being managed.
marcg said:
In the nicest possible way... Your description of her is too vague. Attention to detail and ability to write reasonably well is not a USP. What is there about her role that is difficult, that others might struggle to do?
The only thoughts occurring to me right now are HR or project manager. But pm might be a bit stressful, depending on what project is being managed.
I get that. Her job is fairly one dimensional, she observes, and reports. It's the work loads which are becoming untenable, and it's not just her complaining about it, by far.The only thoughts occurring to me right now are HR or project manager. But pm might be a bit stressful, depending on what project is being managed.
A few more character traits, which suit her role well
Approachable
Intuitive
Perceptive
Highly organised
Compassionate and understanding
Along with a teaching, beauty and massage background. I'm not sure what more I can add? (not said sarcastically BTW)
Well look at it another way. What does she want to do? In an ideal world?
I'd say project manager isn't a bad shout though. Last time I looked into it, she would need to do a PRINS2 (or something like that) course costing a few thousand and taking a few months (but not years). A project manager with the skills you list could be very valuable.
I'd say project manager isn't a bad shout though. Last time I looked into it, she would need to do a PRINS2 (or something like that) course costing a few thousand and taking a few months (but not years). A project manager with the skills you list could be very valuable.
Both good calls, I'll mention them too her. Apologies that the brief is, well brief. Her job is well paid for what it is, but it is really about how facts are presented, and how well it is all written, as well as making sure all boxes are ticked.
I suspect she will be better suited to the private sector TBH. Although she is higher qualified (and in some instances better) than her immediate colleagues she is paid the same, 'equality' and all that.
I suspect she will be better suited to the private sector TBH. Although she is higher qualified (and in some instances better) than her immediate colleagues she is paid the same, 'equality' and all that.
Sounds like she'd suit Project Management. Organisation skills plus people skills are probably the two most important things for that. Prince2 self-study qualification shouldn't take more than a few months of evenings and £500-1500 depending on the level of self-study vs online training course, and will give useful work skills even if she doesn't go down that road. Good luck!
MYOB said:
Why are people suggesting PM?
Well, I can't speak for others, but I suggested it because it's a job that you can train into for next to nothing, has easily accessible recognised qualifications, is instantly recognised in all industries, doesn't need a discussion about breaking down existing weird skillsets to matching old role with new role, pays roughly the same as before as a starting point with room for growth, can be applied to any industry as desired, from wedding planning to HS2, and requires pretty much no skills except excellent organisation and people interaction. It's also not very hard to be better at the job than 75% of those already doing it. 
Training for and doing something are two different things, she could get her Prince2/Agile qualifications but unless she would be going in at the bottom she would unlikely to be offered anything with a reasonable salary up front.
You needs years or experience in delivering projects, what value projects have you been delivering always comes up too.
I don't want to burst anyone's bubble, but if someone is going to invest months of their time and potentially £1-2K to go through the exams you still need experience.
You needs years or experience in delivering projects, what value projects have you been delivering always comes up too.
I don't want to burst anyone's bubble, but if someone is going to invest months of their time and potentially £1-2K to go through the exams you still need experience.
Having done some PM work in the past, you’d definitely need to be very a very robust character to remain sane.
From the info you’ve given I think something in compliance would work well, for example working with a company that helps smaller firms through quality control compliance (ISO 9002 I think was en vogue when I was still working), or even for the compliance department of a bigger operation.
Or one of the growth areas in the insurance industry is regulatory compliance - you don’t generally need an insurance background just an appetite to read detail and review existing frameworks, and compare whether the two match/recommend changes so they do/make sure they continue to comply.
Hope things work out for you both, there’s nothing worse than being miserable at work...
From the info you’ve given I think something in compliance would work well, for example working with a company that helps smaller firms through quality control compliance (ISO 9002 I think was en vogue when I was still working), or even for the compliance department of a bigger operation.
Or one of the growth areas in the insurance industry is regulatory compliance - you don’t generally need an insurance background just an appetite to read detail and review existing frameworks, and compare whether the two match/recommend changes so they do/make sure they continue to comply.
Hope things work out for you both, there’s nothing worse than being miserable at work...
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