Changing Careers as a Single Parent
Embracing career change can be difficult enough at the best of times, but how do you go about doing this as a single parent? Which jobs are most suitable for you? How should you find the time to retrain and to pick up the skills that you are going to need in the next part of your career journey?
In order to figure out your next steps, you need to know which jobs are most suitable for you. The types of jobs that will fit around your childcare commitments are optimum, so you are looking for jobs with a high degree of flexibility. Some jobs that fit this criteria are listed below.
Jobs for Single Parents
Administrative Jobs
Many administrative jobs are part-time, so as long as the hours fit in with your childcare, they can be a good solution for bringing in some money. Data entry and online research are two such jobs that can be done from the comfort of your own home, so you may be able to find something suitable without having to leave the house.
A Virtual Assistant job may be ideal as well. This is a popular job with many young mums and there are thriving online communities of people doing the same thing, so you may be able to pick up some good hints and tips for getting started. It is like being a personal assistant in an office except that you handle everything remotely, so if you are good with handling diaries and appointments for people and sending emails on their behalf, then this could be a perfect fit for you.
Creative Jobs
If you are a creative person in the fields of writing or art, you may be able to earn a living as a freelance copywriter or a graphic designer. Competition is fierce but in the freelance realm there are also a lot of potential customers to find. The only limit to your earning potential is your imagination and how good you are at finding clients.
Luckily, there are online freelancer portals such as Upwork, Fiverr and People Per Hour which can help you to put yourself out there and find people who are looking for the services that you provide. It may be a bit of work to get started but there is potential to earn well, and to be your own boss, with flexible working hours.
Sales
Many sales jobs are home based and rely on you making calls to potential customers. Be wary of any pyramid schemes, as these are often a trap for the unwary and can end up with you actually spending rather than making money.
Also beware of any sales jobs that offer “commission only” jobs as many of these have products that are very difficult to generate any sales for, so you will be putting in a lot of effort and actually not making all that much money for your efforts. If you translated it into an hourly amount you would be appalled.
Having noted the potential pitfalls, there are genuine companies out there who are hiring sales people to work remotely for them. If you do secure one of these jobs, it could be a good fit to tide you over for a while until your child or children are a little older. Being able to speak on the phone is a skill and not everyone has it, so if you do, this could work well for you.
Teaching Assistant
If you are interested in working in education but maybe don’t have the qualifications to become a teacher, working as a teaching assistant is a great way to go. It is most often a part-time role so it can be a good fit for single parents as your schedules may align with that of your children, so you can spend quality time in the evening after you have finished with school for the day.
If you are looking for experience in the education sector, this is a brilliant way to gain it and get a feel for the classroom environment.
Customer Service
Working in retail is another option, and there will often be appropriate outlets near where you live, which may have part-time vacancies. Depending on their requirements, they may be amenable to giving you hours that you can work around your schedule.
You may have to swap shifts with colleagues in order to achieve this but in many workplaces, they will find a way to accommodate you. This is obviously much more doable in some of the larger shops like supermarkets when there are more staff, so it is easier to find someone who is able to swap with you.
Retraining for Jobs as a Single Parent
There are several ways to retrain for different jobs and one of these that is open to most people is an apprenticeship. Most people associate apprenticeships with younger people but they are actually useful for those who want to change careers, and you will be paid while you are learning. It is also not uncommon for apprenticeships to be offered on a part-time basis, so this could fit very well with your family commitments.
As well as apprenticeships, you can look into online courses for information on the skills that are needed in each of the job areas you are interested in. If you are looking to do a freelance job online, it should be easy enough to find some courses that can give you the fundamentals of what it is that you are wanting to retrain as.
If you need more in-depth training, you should consider the Open University. They offer distance learning and actually pioneered it in the days before the internet existed. The Open University has an almost overwhelming array of courses at different levels which provide real world qualifications. They are an established and reputable institution and can give you a head start in your new career, if you sign up to do a course with them.
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