More childfriendly career after adoption???

Hi,

I had posted this question in another forum a couple of days ago, but unfortunately nobody has answered yet, so I thought I see what you girls think, any advice?

I am currently working full time as an Executive Assistant for a pharmaceutical company and I would be the stay at home parent if we get lucky with a little one via pc or adoption as I am entitled to 12 months unpaid adoption leave.

I could then probably work part time after the stay at home time, but you cannot do EA work part time, so it would be some sort of admin position and most of them are quite boring and there are not may of these jobs here anyway. So I am thinking of a career change, something I could do around kids.

My background is one of business/banking and HR backgound, but as most immigrants I had the problem that foreign qualifications are suspiciously looked at and I did not find a job in my original field. I have a master of business. But I am not really that keen to reenter banking or HR as such anyway.

Recently I develloped quite an interest in naturopathy through all my fertility problems etc. I have been doing quite a bit of reading and have been discussing with the two naturopaths I know.

The problem is diplomas take 2-4 years full time, not to mention part time and with 44 I am not sure if this is the way to go especially since we would need some money coming in once I am allowed to be working part time again.

There is the possibility of a naturopathy assistant long distance course which would probably only take a year part time and can hopefully be extended to lead into a diploma with further study. (have asked the question and wait for feedback from the school)

Not sure if the whole thing makes sense as it will take time and money. Should I look for something else, my SIL suggested selling something on ebay - if I knew what, would need some kind of niche.

Any advice or thoughts are very much appreciated.

Flossyinoz http://s2.images.proboards.com/undecided.gif

What about studying to be a Teachers Aid?

The course through TAFE is 6 months. Then after you do the course, you can work part time, bringing in an income. The beauty of this occupation is it is through school hours and is a child friendly career option.

While you are doing that you could even further your study through the various teaching courses available through external study and become a fully qualified teacher. The hours you would work as a teacher aid may even work towards prac. Once you finish your course you would be paid even better than you were before, still working as a substitute teacher part time while your child is still young. Then once they are school aged you can work full time if you wish.

Perfect! lol :)

Just an idea ;) The reason I thought of this is I have been thinking of doing the exact same thing :)

MMMH - interesting suggestion. As a child I always wanted to become a teacher, later I was not so sure about it anymore, this is why I took another career path. I am honestly not sure if I would have the patience and determination to be a teacher's aid and ultimately to become a teacher though I definitely see the advantages in terms of timing, working hours and pay. Good luck to you Fuzzypeach, sounds like a great career path, only not sure if it is really for me, but thank you for your reply. Gives me something to think, also a bit outside the square....

Is job sharing an option? i.e. doing the same job but part time with someone else. I guess continuity could be a problem there...

Would you be interested in looking after other children in your home at the same time as your child perhaps?

Is there any chance of working as a naturopathy assistant while studying? Like an apprenticeship...

Do you have other interests outside of work that you could turn into a job? Like music (teaching), or crafts (to sell as your SIL suggests)?

Sorry...not a lot of help here :) I hope you can find something to suit you when the time comes.

Hey Floss
I'm going through a similar thing atm - planning ahead for after-much-longed-for-child.
I'd say definitely start the naturopath assistant course - 12 months will be over before you know it and it's another string to your bow.
I know that you said the other admin jobs are a tad boring but I'm willing to bet that after you have a child in your life that probably won't be such an issue :)
Good luck!

Thanks for all your help girls.

I think I probably won't do the naturopathy course as it only leeds me to a Certificate IV in 1.5 years part time, would earn less than now and would still be working for someone and most naturopaths don't have assistants. A diploma with which I could be my own boss takes 3 times as long, by which time I would be 50 - so I think I have to find something else.

Job sharing is not an option as a PA, you have to be there around the clock. It would possibly be an option in an admin job. I don't say I would not consider admin jobs part time, only at my present compan there are not many as we employ mainly scientists being a pharmaceutical company.

I will just have to keep looking until I find something which is right for me, this is why I start early, don't expect to be linked with a child until some time next year (we hope we get linked at all, there are no guarantees - got to be lucky some time during the whole becoming a family process :) )

Flossyinoz

Have you considered doing a PhD? If you are an Australian citizen and did well at your masters, you can apply for an Australian Post-graduate Scholarship which gives you a living stipend for 3-3.5 years. This is what I am doing as for at least the first year, I will be doing so much background research etc that I can work from home. Depending on your field you could do the whole thing from home if you wanted.

Another option is doing some part time teaching at a TAFE or similar. They are always looking for people with qualifications in the area to teach things like business and HR. Call the HR department at your local TAFE and have a chat with them. It is usually contract work for the duration of the semester but here in Canberra they pay about $60 per hour of face to face.

What about massage therapist or Remedial Massage therapist? I had a career change before I got pregnant via IVF. I did my cert IV in sports massage over 1 year and started a business from home. You can then do a further qualification of remedial massage over 1 yr.

I am so happy you come up with all these ideas, I do appreciate your thoughts, but (you knew there would be a but :) ), but most won't work for me.

I am not an Australian citizen, I am a permanent resident (I am eligible for citizenship but would loose my German citizenship without gaining anything) and I do not see what a PHD in business would bring me in terms of having a business around kids and/or making money.

Teaching at a Tafe at least for HR won't work as my qualifications are German ones and this has been a big problem from the start that I do not have any Australian qualifications. I could teach German, but to be honest, not sure if I am patient enough. When I was in highschool I taught English to a girl and she was just so lazy and it was no fun at all, though very lucrative. And of course I don't have any formal German teaching qualifications, but I do know a friend of mine has given Geman lessons and she did not have any qualifications other than being a German native speaker. Taffy Lou, maybe Tafe is really something I should look into.

Remedial massage. Yes I have been looking at these courses, you can even do them by correspondence (not sure how that works in a rather manual job though, but I guess probably for the anatomy part) , but I am not that much a hands on person and not a big massage fan myself, so once again I don't think it is for me.

I am a hard case I know ;)

Flossy, I wouldn't be put off teaching German privately even though you didn't have the best experience teaching English in Germany. It does pay well and you'll be able to fit your hours around your parenting. You will find you're very grateful for that, no matter how annoying the students might be! You don't have anything to lose by giving it a go, since you can always go back to admin. And you could start while you still have a job and see which way you'd like to go.

I do know of a few companies who have job-sharing with their EAs. In fact, I think it's becoming more common to have a part-time EA or to job-share with the admin cutbacks a lot of corporates are going through. It might be hard to find, but possible.

Thanks all for your input, I have several ideas now (have also searched some websites) and it looks as if I will have plenty of time for market research or preaparations as we were just told today that we won't be allocated social workers for assessment for another 2-3 months or more yet as there are 5 couples ahead of us. Why do there have to be that many in my region now grrrh :cry: Does sometimes feel like the famous :wall:

But then after 7 years of waiting, what are another couple of months....;)
Hope and :pray:

Have you looked into doing something like family day care perhaps? although.... I can imagine that would be pretty exahausting with a new bubby.

Well I guess it is time to update you what I have actually done. I have started a little business a couple of months ago, totally different from my previous ideas or the suggestions but somehow a bit of a childhood dream.

I am creating personalised giftware. so people are giving me photos and I print them on mousemats, mugs, T-shirts etc. I also add words or nice borders around the pictures and also have a range of funny designs. I had a couple of Christmas orders mainly from freinds or friends of friends and will now spend time to get known and get more customers, go to craft markets. This Sunday I will be at the Geelong Showgrounds market. If anybody will be there, look for a stall called subli Made 4 U which does T-shirts on the spot amongst other things.

A lot of hard work and unfortunately money went into the design and printing equipment, hope it will pay out eventually. It should definitely be something I can do from home with a bub (still no news from the adoptiona gency when we will be assessed) And kids love craftmarkets, so could come with me.

Well it will take some time to grow the business to a good runnign routine and then we will hopefully get a child to adopt or permanent care. Wish me luck!

Cheers

Flossyinoz