Trying to figure out a new career.

[Gadgetgeek]

Hey all, I've found myself at position where I will probably need to make a fairly drastic career change at some point in the next year or two. The trouble is that I need a new job sometime within last week. I live on the Sunshine Coast, and my current "profession" if you can call it that is doing AV (lights, sound and projection) for events, conferences, and such at one of the local resorts. (you might know it, its been in the news, has a new mascot from the cretaceous period) Due to several factors, I pretty much have no work, even with traveling as far north as Noosa, and south to Brisbane, its gotten unsustainable. I don't feel like this is going to change much, as the market has really dropped for this kind of work, and it is very over saturated with very qualified people. (I can only get by on canadian charm for so long)

I've been considering FIFO work. I did three seasons in northern alberta as an on-site standby medic, doing exploration and pipelines. So even though that qualification is no good here, I am familiar with living out of a ute on the back side of nowhere. Not something I want to do, but something I am capable of.
All I've been finding is senior positions or grunt labor (I'm not un-fit, but I don't have what you would consider a laborer's physique) Even then almost all of the positions are listed as needing some level of certificate, or experience. Or any that I could do are local, and relocating isn't an option until the end of the year, and at that point it won't be an option as my wife will have finished her degree, and we may need to move to wherever she gets a nursing position.

So I've got lots of useless technical skills with no attached qualifications. In two years I'll qualify for tuition assistance, so at that point I'll probably go for some type of education. In the mean time I'm looking for something that will either put cash in my pocket or set me on a career path. However it seems that few companies actually want to invest in people and since every market is so over-saturated its nearly impossible to find something where the main requirement is being willing.

I know that things are tough everywhere, so I don't what to make this seem like a whine. But I thought who knows, maybe someone out there has some ideas or thoughts.

[Strider]

I am starting a new job this week in what is both a significant change of career, but also leverages my strengths and experiences of my previous employments. Just over two years ago I resigned from full time employment to go back to uni and worked in casual positions while studying and up until last week.

What do you actually WANT to do? You have to have a starting point in order to work out what steps you need to take to get there. One thing really on your side at the moment seems to be time - don't underestimate the benefits of this!

[Gadgetgeek]

From the economic side, time is solidly against me. But I get what you are saying. The problem I run into is that of the career paths I've started down there are big things standing in the way. I started the path towards becoming a paramedic, but the trouble with that one is that I don't have the personality to handle the stress of working in an ambulance environment. I'm also not a fan of working in an industry that should be very clearly non-profit, but is the plaything of politicians. I've also found from friends who work in that sector that like teachers, everyone else knows best how to run things. There were big changes about to happen right when I was making the decision to continue on, so I decided not to, and now I'm in australia. At the time I didn't feel like selling my soul was a great plan, and I'm glad I didn't. I would still love to be a paramedic or do something else in the medical field, I'm just not sure quite how or what. Plus I would have to start from scratch, and without having a clear idea of what I want to do with it, I don't feel like its the right step. I guess I just don't have the passion for it enough to push past those factors. I have several friends who are teachers, and I think that would be something I would enjoy, I've worked with kids and taught skills and activities, but it still doesn't outweigh the downsides.

Like I said, I've got lots of technical skills, and I'm pretty good with tech, but its pretty challenging to get into any sort of other work in the tech/IT sort of sphere without a significant cash investment. Also since most people in this area are already specialists, I'm quite a bit lower on the list. Everyone my age was told that IT would be the big industry, but since no one could say what the needed skills were, some guys picked up the right ones, and some didn't. But its also a competition/market saturation thing.

None of the other things I've done have any long term legs. I'm a bit of a mechanic, but I'm behind on the tech, and I don't see myself doing that in 10 years.
I have no way that I can think of to leverage any of my other interests into a paying job in the short term. I would love to design, develop and build stuff but that requires capital. I guess I sort of have too many skills, and too many choices. If there was only one or two things that I could do then I would have the focus.
When it gets to schooling I'll probably look at engineering of some sort, as that sort of thing interests me, and maybe I can either find a job doing what I want, or invent something cool. It seems weird to me that from my perspective that for someone under 30 I've got a huge range of experience, and yet I can't make any of it work for me. That said, I've got an over-inflated ego and no ability to sell myself.

[icefest]

Regarding the medical field; up to the age of 35 it is still possible to study medicine.
You will have to work really, really hard though and your free time will suffer.

[Strider]

I've worked in non-profit and hated it. I'm not all about the bottom line but I do like to have clear goals and take pride in observing measurable improvements to my outcomes.

Do you have any interest in business? I finished an MBA last year as I wanted something non-specialised that I could apply in a range of industries/locations. My upcoming role is in marketing. My previous working experience has been in the sciences.

[wayno]

it doesnt necessarily take a lot of cash to get into IT... there are numerous courses you can self study from home and sit exams and get recognised qualifications that are relevant to getting work, you've worked in a technical background which puts you ahead of all the kids that come out of school and quite often don't have a clue when they get to the work place

[Mark F]

If the Newman government has left any shreds of it still operating, go along to TAFE.
Lots of courses,
Quals recognised Australia wide so you can keep studying anywhere in Australia and your past studies must be recognised if you change location.
You can build up quals Cert III to Cert IV to Diploma to Advanced Diploma in (usually) six month blocks so even if you change tack or move, you will have some officially recognised quals.
Several quals articulate from Advanced Diploma to University with a reduction of up to 2 years to gain a bachelors degree.
Past experience can be taken into account through recognition of prior learning (RPL).

[tastrax]

Also think about GIS and spatial analysis if you have a technical bent - everything these days has a spatial component - Mining, tourism, app development, emergency services, police, health etc etc. also a mix of indoor and outdoor work and opportunities for remote work (doing the work remotely from home)

[Gadgetgeek]

Thanks for the ideas guys. I'll be trying to sort all this out, and who knows, maybe one of the short term retail roles will pan out, or maybe something better will line up.

Strider, I've done non-profit work in other things (child care) and it is what it is. The reason it became a factor was that there was some idea that Alberta would go to a cost-recoup model for emergency medicine, and most services at the time were private run for profit anyway. I didn't see that as a system I wanted to be a part of, and the friends I have that are in that field are either goal oriented away from front line paramedics, or have gotten out completely. All thats left are the type A "God Complex" bunch that run on adrenaline. Not the lifestyle I want. Not that they are bad people, just not me.
Wayno, Its not just a matter of having the ticket where I live. There are lots of IT jobs that are listed, but they are sys-admin level stuff with very specific needs. And this is a great place to live, so not only do they have the choice of talent, all of that talent is willing to re-locate. I might be a better candidate than the kids from high school, but there are a lot comp-sci grads who are above me.
So it seems like TAFE is actually a useful thing here? Or at least employers use it as a skill basis. From the way I looked at it, compared to Canada, it looked more like the training schools that provide "qualifications" to jobs that don't actually need any. But its good to know that they are not entirely a waste of time.

Thanks guys, its helpful to me to even be able to put all these thoughts down and see what they look like from a distance. I'm not the first one, and not the only one to have this situation, so its not like its an unsolvable problem. I appreciate your thoughts and bothering to share them.

[wayno]

yeah i had to make the move to the big smoke for work... , anywhere outside of auckland is hard to find decent paying work... lots of experienced qualified immigrants are looking for the lifestyle and compete with locals for what jobs there are in the smaller towns... auckland has the usual big city lifestyle problems.. smaller version of sydney... can be a hard choice, live where you want to live and scrape by or move to where you'll have a bit of money in your pocket but not the lifestyle you want...
in some ways auckland is worse than sydney, the decent tramping is half a days drive away. the really decent tramping is even further..