New career

Creakykar

Anyone here had to change career completely because of your arthritis?. I'm currently not working but want to as soon as I can. A new career will be needed, just wondering if anyone else had to and what obstacles you may have faced in doing so.

lincolnshirelass

Hi Creakeykar

I worked in admin for donkeys years but took redundancy approx. 13yrs ago & retrained as a soft furnisher, working from home on private commissions & subcontracting for a big department store chain. However, 6yres later I dislocated my shoulder which left me unable to lift heavy fabrics etc & so I returned to admin work part time for a different firm, was made redundant a year later & then found another part time admin job a few weeks later. I've just retired from that position but am continuing to work for the company on an ad hoc basis as & when needed to cover holidays, sickness etc.

I would advise you to think about what you would like to do - admin, teaching, retail, nursing, hair & beauty etc & then start to look into how you could reach that goal. Look at your local college courses, newspapers etc. Ask at the library if they have details of training courses. If you need to go out to work quite quickly for finance reasons apply for as many jobs as you can eg local shops & try to do retraining in your spare time. If you can train first before looking for a job then concentrate on a field that you enjoy or have an interest in - you'll be working for a long time before you draw your pension so you may as well do something you enjoy!

In the meantime why not look into volunteer work -charity shops,care homes etc which would get you back into the routine of going out to work. The Citizens Advice Bureau is happy to take on volunteers, why not contact your local branch & maybe see if you can volunteer on the reception desk which would give you experience to add to your CV

Good Luck!

Creakykar

Thanks so much

keeganc

Thanks for your advice- appreciated by me too!