Transferable skills ( for lost/disillusioned ex pat!)

[rosbif77]

I'm not going to fill you in with my background ( see posts 'Health: another hard knock' /'Jobs: expat career change' for all that), but basically i feel totally screwed and on the professional and personal scrapheap at aged 49.
I'm completely on my own ( no family or friends to help), so either i work out some sort of plan for my future now or i'm going to end up popping pills!!! That's where you come into it.
The first is a list of my transferable skills ( based on my employment career so far), and the second is a list of my hobbies/interests/passions to see if anything can match up. So here goes:

- Excellent communication skills ( oral/written).
-Clear/effective public speaking.
-Persistence and perseverance.
-Ability to inspire.
-Strong motivational skills.
-Caring about others.
-Passionate about the subject. (history/English)
-Patient.
-Having a 6th sense ( power of observation).
-Excellent listener.
-Generating new ideas.
-Working under pressure.
-Meeting rigid deadlines.
-Coping with stress on a daily basis.
-Effective time management.
-Enjoys researching.
-Perceptive ( ( awareness of how others react).
-Monitoring/assessing performance.
-Ice breaking skills.
-Resolving conflicts rationally and fairly.
-Giving instructions.
-Making (split second) decisions.
-Grading and assessing.
-Excellent admin skills.
-Logical and reasoned thinking.
-Ability to work independently.
-Project planning.
-Coordination.
-Complex problem solving.
-Multi tasking.
-Open minded.


Ok now for the second list: ( hobbies/interests/passions)

-reading/learning about history.( used to have about 500 history books before divorce. Now about 200 due to lack of space!)
-reading novels( anything really but especially action/adventure/conspiracy thrillers).
-Buying books ( can't stop like a compulsive habit. I just love the feel/smell of a new book!)
-visting historical/cultural sites/travelling.( love visiting castles/museums)
-writing (filling up notebooks with ideas for characters/plots etc).
-Going to the cinema ( and analyzing/dissecting the plot, trying to work out the ending, imagining how i would change it)
-Reading the papers/surfing the web ( looking for interesting/unusual/strange ideas to answer ' what if.....?').
-spending hours in bookshops browsing ( especially traditional local bookshops).
-Fascinated by 'horrible historical' anecdotes/the real personality of famous historical figures.
-People ( watching/observing on buses/trains/sat on café terrace)
-Meeting new people.
-Following motorsports ( Formula 1/Le Mans/Nascar)).
-Passionate about cars( history/trends/technology)
-Love of fast cars.( never miss Paris car show/retro shows).
-Collecting CD's ( currently about 900! Was about 1500 but sold quite a few due to divorce)
-politics and international relations.( reading up on the origins of conflicts etc)
-Collecting cinema posters ( had to sell most to fund divorce!!!).
-Cycling ( i love getting the bike out and heading off into the countryside for the day).
-Exploring 'off the beaten track' villages/local curiosities etc.

There are probably some others but this is my first list that springs to mind.
Ok, now it's your turn. Any ideas/suggestions about what i can do to get out of my current situation and change my life?

Edited by rosbif77 on Thursday 14th July 10:20

Edited by rosbif77 on Thursday 14th July 11:32

[rog007]

Realistically, busy people with the insights to assist may not have the time to search your other threads, so it may be helpful to at least give a summary here; a lack of any response since you posting yesterday morning may validate this assertion.

The transferable skills piece is usually not the most important factor when career counselling so the other back ground stuff will helpful.

What is usually more important are the lifestyle issues: any dependents; locality constraints; level of effort prepared for; commuting tolerance; 'must have' minimum wage; what do you enjoy doing; what do you not enjoy doing; what are you qualified to do; are you willing to retrain etc are all key to helping inform next steps.

Hope that helps a little.

[andy-xr]

Both those lists are bullst and fluff.

What can you actually do? You were (I guess?) an English teacher in France? Where are you now....Paris?

You could walk into many jobs where I'm sure you'll be happy, but tbh, it sounds like you're trying to find approval from others in what you're going to be happy with. We dont know - your satisfaction of how well you're doing is the yardstick of your happiness. Everything on your first list, including these amazing powers of observation you have would work well in a lollipop man, cos you'll be able to spot dangers to people crossing the road, but would you do that and be happy doing it?

[rosbif77]

Why don't you bother to check out my posts listed above instead of jumping in using language lacking intelligence?

[Countdown]

To be honest, based on the skills you've listed above, I can't think of any jobs you WOULDN'T be qualified for. I think they pretty much cover the requirements for every job going.

What kind of things interest you?

[rosbif77]

rog007 said:

Realistically, busy people with the insights to assist may not have the time to search your other threads, so it may be helpful to at least give a summary here; a lack of any response since you posting yesterday morning may validate this assertion.

The transferable skills piece is usually not the most important factor when career counselling so the other back ground stuff will helpful.

What is usually more important are the lifestyle issues: any dependents; locality constraints; level of effort prepared for; commuting tolerance; 'must have' minimum wage; what do you enjoy doing; what do you not enjoy doing; what are you qualified to do; are you willing to retrain etc are all key to helping inform next steps.

Hope that helps a little.

Thanks for the reply.
The story so far: history/English degree Exeter uni, 5 years work experience (car sales/marketing), then PGCE followed by 5 years teaching history/English in tough secondary school in Portsmouth, even replacent head of history. Met future ( non ex) wife to be (French). Emigrated to France in 1997.
Passed TEFL ( teach English as foreign language) then loads of teaching jobs in company language centes/ replacing absent teachers in state schools/ part time contracts at universities. Got knocked down by speeding car in 2004 ( 12 months physio) then since 2005 i've been teaching in an international school ( baccalauréat English/history).
90 mile round trip. Both my children go the school( secondary/6th form).
Divorce in 2015. Ex got family home, joint custody 50/50, but i see kids more as i take them to school everyday.
Successive pay cuts mean difficult financially, but my son is of to uni in Paris in Sept.
I tried to pass French equivalent of PGCE 2x but got failled.

Getting seriously fed up at the school where i teach. Lack of recognition ( offered to take on more responsibilities/ organisant exam programs etc but refused due to boss waiting her own friend to do it).
I get 100% every year and students love me teaching them.

My main priorities are my children ( son 18, daughter 13), earning much more to buy a house/flat and boosting my pension.
I definitely miss England despite living in France for the past 19 years.
I've got no friends or family here in France now, and only my dad (Newcastle) and my sister ( Southampton) in the UK.

[rosbif77]

Countdown said:

To be honest, based on the skills you've listed above, I can't think of any jobs you WOULDN'T be qualified for. I think they pretty much cover the requirements for every job going.

What kind of things interest you?

Apart from what i've already listed above not much else.
What do mean by interests?

[andy-xr]

rosbif77 said:

Why don't you bother to check out my posts listed above instead of jumping in using language lacking intelligence?

Because you've written such a load of wooly intangible st that if you dont get the exact answer you want you're going to sit around and complain how great you are and how unfair it is that you cant do anything when you've got all these great attributes. I'm not going to wallow with you to be honest.

The things you've listed are things everyone says about themselves. Everyone. And they're on every employers Must Have list. So what use are they in narrowing down what you want to do?

What cant you do? I dont mean you're not a good astronaut, I mean you cant handle criticism well, so going for a high performing constant stress job isnt for you You cant travel the world because you have family commitments and a cat that needs feeding, so Foreign Secretary is probably out. You cant work at high levels across a company, so being a high flying presenter who understand how a FTSE thinks isnt for you.

The reality for many people is that they're suited to about 10 job types. Me giving you a list of them to approve or dismiss isnt going to really help anyone, you need to figure out what's going to make you get up and out of bed each morning to go do them

[Foliage]

Your a teacher, as with the majority of people ive met in 'that' profession you are part of a closed system, you have no experience of the real world of work, you churn out pupils who are unfit to work in a professional environment. Your profession is one that is done as a vocation not for the money. Its likely you have very little to bring to the table I surmise this primarily due to the fluff bullet notes you've put in your initial post above, you've described id say 80%+ of the uk population, nothing makes you stand out.

You need to consider how your skills can cross over, where your real strengths are, what is your primary strength? Your an English teach? are you able to put together eloquent copy? are you good at correcting errors and editing copy?

What is your number one passion? what gets you excited?

Edited by Foliage on Friday 15th July 13:52

[Countdown]

rosbif77 said:

Apart from what i've already listed above not much else.
What do mean by interests?

Law? Finance? Banking? Engineering? Property Development? IT ?

The skills you've listed above are very very wideranging. As I've said it seems like you could do most jobs. So the question is not "what are you capable of doing " but "what would you enjoy doing"?.

Alternatively what specific Job experience do you have?

[edc]

How about corporate training jobs?

An ex colleague of mine was an ex teacher and he at the time of knowing him ran our Learning and Development function. This included apprentice programmes. Some of the larger corporates will have dedicated roles focussing on new entry/apprentice/graduated that may be a nice fit.

[Foliage]

edc said:

How about corporate training jobs?

An ex colleague of mine was an ex teacher and he at the time of knowing him ran our Learning and Development function. This included apprentice programmes. Some of the larger corporates will have dedicated roles focussing on new entry/apprentice/graduated that may be a nice fit.

Its a good shout, I get the impression the OP teaches English as a second language but I could be wrong, id imagine massive corporations in Europe and the rest of the world would need such a service and corporations throw money at people who are willing to go the extra mile for them.

[edc]

You may benefit from a relevant training certificate. Modern corporate training roles on the whole are less focussed on the material and delivery but more on the system, processes, course design, sourcing, organising, and needs analysis. You need to remember that whilst it may not look like it to the individual on the ground but training or learning and development are part of a broader framework of processes and are inherently linked to succession planning, performance management, leadership development etc. A lot of this just doesn't exist in a classroom based education establishment, at least not from the OP work perspective.

[edc]

Another example not dis-similar to yours, another ex-colleague was a policeman (and another in the Army). The former moved into a training role with the police and upon leaving did some training certs and set himself up as a freelance trainer to the private security/risk/investigation industry. This turned into joining forces with another organisation and became a fully fledged if small training business. The latter had all the soft skills and joined the later incarnation of the aforementioned business.

[rosbif77]

Foliage said:

Your a teacher, as with the majority of people ive met in 'that' profession you are part of a closed system, you have no experience of the real world of work, you churn out pupils who are unfit to work in a professional environment. Your profession is one that is done as a vocation not for the money. Its likely you have very little to bring to the table I surmise this primarily due to the fluff bullet notes you've put in your initial post above, you've described id say 80%+ of the uk population, nothing makes you stand out.

You need to consider how your skills can cross over, where your real strengths are, what is your primary strength? Your an English teach? are you able to put together eloquent copy? are you good at correcting errors and editing copy?

What is your number one passion? what gets you excited?

Edited by Foliage on Friday 15th July 13:52

Yes i'm a teacher ( 24 years teaching exp) but i did work in 'the real world' ( car salesman in a posh second hand dealership, a bit of telesales then admin and marketing for Coca-Cola).
I was an excellent salesman but got
passed over for promotion by the bosses son.
Left soon after but drifted in/out of diff jobs( i got the job done but no passion involved).

Lots of teachers churn out the same type of student due to testing/curriculum constraints etc.
I always based my teaching on interesting/inspiring my students. I got fed up with lack of support from head management and wanted to be head of history in another school.
Yes teaching is a vocation (like nursing) but that shouldn't mean poorly paid! Not every child is unfit for the modern job market and not every teacher is a closet socialist stirring up revolution in the classroom.
By the way how did you get to where you are now? Was it due to your education or something else?

[R8Steve]

Without wanting to be overly harsh, i have read your other posts and it kind of further reinforces the fact that a lot of your bullet points are just put there because you think they sound good, not because you actually believe them yourself.

This post alone shows that some of these are not what you really think so you need to be truthful with yourself firstly.

If I was to take anything from what you have put down though I would probably steer you towards journalism.

I couldn’t see it in any of your posts or may have missed it but are you planning to stay in France or move back to the UK?

[rosbif77]

edc said:

You may benefit from a relevant training certificate. Modern corporate training roles on the whole are less focussed on the material and delivery but more on the system, processes, course design, sourcing, organising, and needs analysis. You need to remember that whilst it may not look like it to the individual on the ground but training or learning and development are part of a broader framework of processes and are inherently linked to succession planning, performance management, leadership development etc. A lot of this just doesn't exist in a classroom based education establishment, at least not from the OP work perspective.

I feel totally unable to do anything but teaching since i've spent nearly half my life doing that. Living in France is fine if you want a nice quiet family life but sadly when things go wrong job wise, it's really diff to ré train for something else.
My major problem is that all i know how to do is teach, i'n good at what i do, but i'm completely disillusioned with it now. I'm facing my 3rd pay cut in 2 years and i'm too old now to pass the French equivalent of the PGCE ( all prospective teachers in France need a 2 year masters degree followed by a one year teaching certificate). The starting salary for a newly qualified teacher in France is about 1600 euros which rises to 3000euros at the top of the pay scale. Teachers are well respected in France but they qualify in their early twenties and stay all their life in the profession. If you're talented or very hard working you get paid the same as someone who is average!!'

[edc]

OP - for starters, you've got to believe you can do something else. Having the desire to do something but not the belief or confidence to do something to get there is not going to change your situation. Look at the police or military threads to see some similar attitudes but also perhaps some inspiring stories that despite 15+ years not in the commercial world that people can make it.

[rosbif77]

R8Steve said:

Without wanting to be overly harsh, i have read your other posts and it kind of further reinforces the fact that a lot of your bullet points are just put there because you think they sound good, not because you actually believe them yourself.

This post alone shows that some of these are not what you really think so you need to be truthful with yourself firstly.

If I was to take anything from what you have put down though I would probably steer you towards journalism.

I couldn’t see it in any of your posts or may have missed it but are you planning to stay in France or move back to the UK?

Ok point taken. I need to have a career review with someone qualified but here in France you only get that paid for by your company, and my school won't pay for one for me.
I put down roots here in France and everything was fine for 17 years. Now that's gone and i just don't know what to do. The problem with living and working in France is that the comfortable way of life lulls you into inactivity, a false sensé of security and you end up almost like a zombie. That's why i'm having so much difficulty. deciding what to do with my life.
Firstly i've never been in my current situation before, and secondly i feel wholely unprepared for a career/life change.

[rosbif77]

edc said:

OP - for starters, you've got to believe you can do something else. Having the desire to do something but not the belief or confidence to do something to get there is not going to change your situation. Look at the police or military threads to see some similar attitudes but also perhaps some inspiring stories that despite 15+ years not in the commercial world that people can make it.

The divorce, loss of friends, lack of support from my own family have shattered my self confidence. The self esteem has evapourated and the successive setbacks have worn me down.
The world of work has also changed a lot even compared to 10 years ago. No one really has a job for life nowadays and even if people are used to that fact in the UK/the USA etc, here in France that's not the case. It's still pass your baccalauréat, go to uni then get a job for life your qualified in. It's bad enough for young people here but even worse for those in the age group 45-55. Employers still think there's something wrong with you here if you have to change career.