lets try and keep this on topic and not turn it into a shit thread please ,


im currently 29 , worked as a window fitter for ten years, done all manner of jobs from working in the usa in summer camps , rail work , building , wharehouse work , coffee shop manager ect........



so ive never really had a career as such with qualifications ,my window fitting was time served opposed to qualiyfied ,


im trying to look ahead , i dont want to get to 50 and be scrabbling around doing poxy labouring jobs ect ect ,


so......my question is what would you consider up n coming or stable lines of work / careers to look into possible training for a future


i know alot of it boils down to what you want to do in life, but after filling in some applications today i feel like even with all my skills , ive been pidgeon holed into labour style jobs, and dont know what to look into


so looking ahead what would you look into


beef ,

 

What are your educational qualifications?

When retraining a lot also depends on what income you "need". Sometimes people can't go an retrain as they'd take a wage drop in between.

There are certain oil and gas qualification courses you can do from hom if you want to go down that route.

Depends how far you want to progress on the wage scale also as to what you choose to do. Say lorry driver might be a good job to get into but i guess theres quite a low salary cap.

 

its difficult to look in any direction at the mo with the country the way it is..

im closing my garage at the end of the month and am hoping to find a job of some sort...problem is i have been self employed for the last 6 years and have lost my way/confidence now.

im a qualified mechanic,both wagon and car and i een worked on fork trucks for a few years,but that was in 1986-1993.
i then worked for a breakdown company from 93-95
ive worked in a bodyshop as a trimmer/mechanic from 95-2002
but have since then only really done my own car sales and afew repairs so am a bit out of touch with the mechanics really.

i would be happy to work in a parts place or even as a parts deliery driver but dont seem to have the confidence to apply.im 40 now and feel like i cant find a direction now

you still have time on your side beefy to train up for something.

 

Beef & Jay

have you considered vehicle window fitting?. I work for a national company and the business is booming!

i'm not a fitter myself, but i know the company is currently recruiting all over the place. They dont seem to worry about age and they tend to look for people who have had hands on experience of vehicles. We've got ex-mechanics etc that work for us.

Salary is bloody good as well, its not great to begin with but the more work you do the more you get. Ł25-Ł27k is the norm. some of my fitters earn Ł35k a year

whats more, you will be ATA accredited plus its a worldwide company so plenty of oppertunites to be a fitter abroad etc.

worth looking into; PM me if you want to talk further.

Matt

 

....if they'll help, I'm listening!! ...here or Facebook, whichever you prefer Mr Chop.


Cheers,
Grant

 

i take it by gas oil you mean off shore work then chop?

 

thanks for the input matt ,


yeah jay toatally see where your coming from , somthings will always be there but with things devoloping at such a rate is there trade coming up worth looking into maybe out the ordanariy ,


qualifications wise , got good gcse grades wich are prob redundant now got a gnvq in engineering at college , most of my life has been about onsite training and getting on with the job , so as for having a list of qualifications behind me is pretty poor , i have the ambition , and willing to retrain , just considering directions to look into... the current climate is dire !!


lambchop the oil n gas industry seems so bloody hard to get into , its deffo a family thing , i know a 3 genaration family , they were gaurenteed a career at birth so to speak lol

 

Doesn't have to be offshore I don't think.

I had a fucking cracking job in Slough for a year as a technical clerk with absolutely no experience in oil/gas/energy at all.

As with everything though it was temporary contract, got a good 10 months out of it though.

 

hi lads,

I know its not what you want but I do feel sorry for you. It must be really hard to face that kind of problem. I can kind of relate because a few years back I was working at Tesco wasting my life away stacking bananas but I came out of school with some good GCSE's, even though I fucked about most of the time.

I decided to get my act together and went back to college at 21. Did a National Diploma in Aerospace Engineering for 2 years, now im a aircraft engineer working for Thomas Cook at Manchester airport.

Moral of storey is, try having a look into college courses, I dindn't even know the course I did existed until I had a look in the brochure while having a shit.

Your never too old, even at 40, and believe me, when your life depends on it, you will do better than you expect (not like when you was at school), and learning is fun if its something you are interested in.

Go to your college and just have a look, you never know, plus theres all sorts of grants you can apply for if you have family, mortgage etc.

Hope I havent bored anyone lol

Dave

 

just the training for oil (oftec ) oil boilers is a week course thats all but at
a training collage you carn't do it from home is what i ment

 

Well the view of get a trade eg sparky or gas ect doesnt really help at the mo with the ways things are, But for me its the way to go. I say that as im an electrician but when things pick up it should see alot of the out of work trades men back in work. If you could find time to do a couple of days a week at college over a year then you can move into a trade.
The problem with doing any crash course is that you dont get any onsite training.

As you have and are doing alot in the way of body repairs then why dont you look at getting a qualification in that or painting?

 

i know where your coming from beefy

my work is dire (scaffolder)

been looking at what to do but what i wanna do i would need to start at the bottom

just cant afford that

 

beefy despite all the advice about this and that careers, you need to ask yourself what will make you happy.

being happy with work means different things. for some means a job they love, for some means working hard like a slave and saving to have a good early retirement/pay for toys etc.

you need to think where you want to be, but also remember that like it or not, people our age beefy, WILL need to make our own arrangements for retirement and if that means you have to have a second job on top of a low paid job you love so you can get a pension/pay off a house or save for future then so be it.

dont want to sound all doom and gloom but its something you need to consider.

Im only a year older than you beefy, and even with the stability of the forces disability pension, i still worry a little about making sure im going to have enough for when im older.

what lights your fire mate?? dont write off the idea of further education either.

 

male model for http://www.jacamo.co.uk ?
say's they sell clothes for the husky gentleman


or you could be the new stig

 

it all goes down to what you really want and and love mate

 

I'm a Truck driver. Cat2 Rigid only. i did lots of other jobs before, labouring, landscape gardening, commie (sp) chef, i was an IT technician for 3 years, on horrendously shit wages with every c**t on the planet telling me "computers is where the money is" well i never saw any money. only a load of suited tossers if i'm honest. i went to college, got microsoft and cisco certified, got A levels at school, then went on to do a degree but left the job half way through that.

I did my HGV license when i was 21, My dad put me though my test and i worked with / for him for 3 years but now i'm 24 the work is abit shit on the tippers so i'm working for his mate who runs a scrap metal yard and i'm driving an 8 wheel ro-ro (hook loader)

I love my job immensely. i'm abit of a loner it has to be said but that just means the job suits me down to the ground. although its only short distance i'm only in the yard for about 20 - 30 minutes a day and thats only for 4 or 5 mins at a time; i'm on the road for the rest of the day in and around birmingham picking up bins, dropping them off, switching them for empty ones etc. i'm pretty much my own boss when i'm in the truck. i go my own routes, stop when i want have the radio on if i want, the heater, etc etc without the boss breathing down my neck like the poor fuckers depoluting cars in the yard! lol. As long as the work is done at the end of the day when i hand my sheets in he's happy.

As long as i keep my license clean(ish) i've pretty much got a job for life which i love.

money wise at the moment i earn Ł380 a week take home plus bonus. (thats a 5 1/2 day week) not great but not bad money by any means.
its not for everyone and the market is tight at the moment, but like i said it can be a job for life and things will pick up in a few years if you wanted to even look into it then.

Joe.

 

Its a similar question I've been pondering myself Beef, I'm 30, worked in the motor parts trade for years and all I could find after that was retail stuff
And I HATE the general public with a passion
Started a C&G 2330 to become a spark but the college closed the course after a year and i couldn't find anywhere else local to finish it.
I'm at Screwfix now and its not particularly good money but I've got enough free time now to go and study with the OU in something I'm genuinely interested in, so hopefully that will lead me down a fresh career path
From experience, I'd suggest, if you want to study for a job, aim to study something you like/enjoy and then look what career that would fit with rather than looking at a job and then seeing what quals you'd need for it

 

Very simple.

General public = bastards

Robbing, lying, cheating, ungrateful, horrid, lying, cheating, chavy, scum, cooonts.

After 10 years of dealing with the general public I can happily say never again.


I now use all my experience of being on the other side of the counter to get exactly what I want all the time - without reverting to any of the above - its called..... patience!

 

Exactly the position I want to be in in a few years time

 

So very true!!!!!

 

If job credentials relied on personality alone you could do owt mate, plus you'd be a millionaire already!! But alas they don't.... I'm in the same position, in as much as I've got fuck all on paper, and would LOVE to be either earning or on track to earn a decent living.

At the end of the day you need to find something you enjoy, whatever that may be, and then you'll thrive. Money ain't everything fella, happiness is!

 

the way i see it is ,

is it worth the effort now to secure my future ...

as posted my biggest issue right now is what do i want to do with meself ,

lol the truth is i really dont know i mean yeah i love cars and larking about in a garage but i dotn know if its where id see myself full time , same as i enjoy travelling and seeing the world


the only thing that excited me reecently was when i applied for the royal fleet axilllary , the idea of travelling the globe n stuff was up my street ,


but as fucking always i didnt get that either .......cunts !!

 

i went from:
warehouse stacker
to
trainee mechanic
to
apprenticeship
to
accident
to
warehouse stacker
to
builders merchant lorry driver
to
builders merchant bigger lorry driver
to
builders merchant fork lift truck driver
to
bus driver
to
coach driver
to
white van man
to
white van man boss
to
warehouse manager

with bits of college and stuff in the middle which gave me a btec in electronics and an engineering degree

i currently LOVE my job, even though i work with a bunch of cunts

have you thought about being a holiday rep? seriously?

 

beefy did they say why you got rejected for the RFA?? could always reapply in a few years. Dont forget there is the rest of the merchant navy out there and travel industry if thats what floats your boat.

 

If you applied for the RFA, why not apply for other jobs in the merchant navy? Tankers, containers, bulk carriers, even cruise ships or the ferries.

All let you see the world, earning good wedge, tax free, only working half the year etc etc....

 

im offshore and after seeing some of the nuggets out here im amazed some folk who have a clue find it hard to get offshore.its prob the only industry where you ould start with nothing and be on 60k after 5 years if your good.
its not for everybody,especially if you have a family.i hate it and im looking for a change to a job where im home every night.used to be a self employed plumber,thats good except youre working in peoples houses,never had any bother but you have to be careful not to break anything or dirty a carpet.and you never get offered sex.

 

I'm also at that "I need a career for life" stage, which I should have done years ago as i'm now 27

I went from working in a supermarket, to being a mechanic.....only ever had 2 jobs.

have no other qualifications other than GCSE's, which i'm pretty gutted about but only have myself to blame.

I reckon I need a hands on type job, i'd consider anything....deffo not an office type, dont want to work on cars, not the mechanical aspect of them anyway.

I could potentially go to college to learn something but I really need to earn whilst i'm doing so.

Suggestions?

 

What about an escort. Lol

Not taking the piss mate but I know how you feel. I'm 33 now with 3 kids and was a valeter for 13 yrs but my backs fucked and my knees arnt much better so got into a warehouse doin car parts nearly 4 yrs ago. The moneys quite good and it has it's perks, cost price bits etc but no prospects and I want to better myself but can't afford to really take a pay cut to retrain so I'm basically stuck where I am unless I win the feckin lottery.

I can always dream I suppose. If you have any good ideas be sure to share them with me

 

My nephew was on over a grand a week doing some sort of data nerdyness on a rig 2 months on 1 month off but jacked it in after a week as he said he was so bored he was contemplating suicide But he was only 23 at the time and wanted to go out partying with his mates and getting pissed up and shit like that.

For that sort of Ł I would have found ways to make it work but he said it was about as pointless a job as homer simpsons and didn't go back after he was allowed to go home and think about his future, so if you can imagine beefy being cooped up on a rig and driving everyone else bonkers.......

 

I have taken a change of career recently too. I'm just finishing off my qualification to be an NVQ Assessor. I have been in the Business Admin and Customer Service sector for so long I thought I can teach this! I have to do a separate teaching qualification too that will allow me to teach in college's. I have been out assessing students and I love it. Just hope I can get myself into an Assessor job up North!

 

Experience also counts for alot.

I have an HND in mechanical engineering and every job you look for says min 2-3 years experience but very few people will give you a chance so how do you get the expenerience

Im lucky as the owner of the company i work for now rang his friend who is an engineering lecture at tech and asked for some people he thought would be suitable.

I got a call and went for the interview andi got the job and now i have been here 4 years so i got the experience i need if i choose to move on if i wanted too.

 

Where are you based Helen? I will be getting assessed soon for my plumbing and heating NVQ. Do I get any lee-way for being a PF member lol

 

I will be based in Tyne & Wear, but I dont do plumbing and heating, just Business Admin & Customer Service

 

Loving the tag

 

At that age, with no qualifications I have three suggestions.

1. Look at getting a class 1 HGV licence
2. Look at getting an all-terrain forklift licence (for building sites)
3. Look into setting up a business for the cleaning and maintenance for large glazed buildings

 

Have you thought about possibly setting up your own garage business?

 

 

Just pick something you like/interested in and have a knowledge at and give it a fucking good go.

I'm trying my hardest in Motorsport at the moment - and it seems to be working for me.

 

He should set up a shop selling hopes and dreams, he'd never run out of stock