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Complete career change


Everlong

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Looking to hear from anyone who has made a huge career change (complete change in field) later in their life.


Please tell me about your experiences - what were the biggest challenges ? How long did it take you and any regrets ?


I’m currently in banking and have been wanting to move into health care for a long time . I’ve felt it’s always been my calling to work in the healthcare industry . I would have loved to study medicine but a post grad med course now is out of the question due to kids and financial commitments. I did do the GAMSAT years and years ago and got to the interview stage but didn’t get an offer into medicine and one of my biggest regrets is not persevering and applying again instead of going into banking .

I am now looking into allied health (possibly speech pathology) as this can potentially be studied part time whilst still working part time in my current job.

Maybe this is a mid life crisis (I’m approaching 40), but I feel like if I don’t do something about it now I’ll always regret it.

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Not Escapin Xmas

Mate, if you’re not 40 yet then it’s not ‘later’! Go for it!! Having said that, I work in finance but now have my own biz and that’s much better than a large org.

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Social work/community services isn't quite healthcare but there is a lot of overlap, and most positions are very family friendly, both for study and for work. There's plenty of mature age students and workers too, so you wouldn't stand out.

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Guest BusbyWilkes

If you have an existing degree, regardless of its relevance, you could do a masters in speech path or occupational therapy. Two years fulltime (or equivalent part time though not all courses offer part time option). At your age, that’s really achievable.

Both have great job prospects in both city and regional areas and have a wide variety of job options once qualified. Pay would typically start at 60-70 000 and go to $100 000ish, without moving into management positions. So I would imagine a significant decrease in your current income. IME mist people in these fields report very high job satisfaction.

Hope that helps.

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If you have an existing degree, regardless of its relevance, you could do a masters in speech path or occupational therapy. Two years fulltime (or equivalent part time though not all courses offer part time option). At your age, that’s really achievable.

Both have great job prospects in both city and regional areas and have a wide variety of job options once qualified. Pay would typically start at 60-70 000 and go to $100 000ish, without moving into management positions. So I would imagine a significant decrease in your current income. IME mist people in these fields report very high job satisfaction.

Hope that helps.

 

I would love to hear from someone who has done one of these masters courses and how easy it was to find a job afterwards... i have a child who uses speechies and OT and there does seem like a lot of graduates around, BUT it is also quite hard to get appointments so i guess that means they are in demand...

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Right at the moment there is huge demand for graduates in both speech pathology and occupational therapy. Many practices just can't get the staff they want, even when being willing to train and mentor new graduates.

Whether this situation will last forever I don't know. If NDIS budget is ever rolled back it will reduce jobs. However disability is not the only sector of employment, most other areas of healthcare would have sustained ongoing demand.


I did a complete career change via a Master (teaching) at 40... love it, haven't looked back.

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Kiwi Bicycle

You can even run your own busines in ST. I had one lady who actually came to your home ( so no overheads having to have a premises). She only took kids in a certain radius and factored in her petrol/ time into the fee, in fact it was the same as going to someone. She had a mobile eftpos machine and for really young kids, or parents with a young baby sibling, it was really good to do it at home and not have to drag a kid out to a half hour session ( because that's all what little kids can do ).

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What do you do in banking? I'm in background and have become a company director for a government organisation. You could join a health care board (assuming you have some skills eg audit?). That could be a good way to switch career while leveraging your existing skills. Feel free to PM me if that's interesting / relevant

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I'm nearly 53 and retrained the last year while in Oz as an assistant in nursing. I'd gone back to work for a cleaning agency while studying, just landed a full-time job to start after Easter. Never too late or old! A few people i know are studying enrolled nursing as well.

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I'm nearly 53 and retrained the last year while in Oz as an assistant in nursing. I'd gone back to work for a cleaning agency while studying, just landed a full-time job to start after Easter. Never too late or old! A few people i know are studying enrolled nursing as well.

 

Is nursing a 2 year masters or 4 year degree?

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I started my Bachelor of Nursing just after I turned 47 and I wasn't the oldest by a long shot.

I got my nursing registration the day before my 50th birthday and then studied post grad in gerontology.

I have a fantastic career and because I work for a small regional health service, I am doing a couple of different roles.

I have worked in clinical management in aged care, which I still do part time and I do case management in transition care..

I did work in aged care as an AIN before becoming a registered nurse and prior to that worked in everything from manufacturing to community liaison roles for the Department of Education.

I work with allied health a lot and they are all stretched thin.

If you haven't turned 40 yet then the sky is your limit.

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Princess Peach

Absolutely OT or speech path. There's a 2 year wait for public paediatric OT's here.

 

2 to 3 year wait for public speech around me.


There is such a need in this area NDIS or not.

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Thanks for the replies.

I did some research into the Masters of Speech Pathology courses offered at Charles Sturt , Sydney U and UTS today. The Charles Sturt one seemed promising as a lot is online and can be done PT so can still work whilst studying . Requires residential schools a few times a year at Albury which I can handle as they are for a few days only. However the course requires a workplace component which requires you to spend at least 3-4 weeks in a rural setting (actually all 3 courses I mentioned require this) . This will be extremely difficult if not impossible for me due to the kids. Sigh, back to the drawing board for now.

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I'm nearly 53 and retrained the last year while in Oz as an assistant in nursing. I'd gone back to work for a cleaning agency while studying, just landed a full-time job to start after Easter. Never too late or old! A few people i know are studying enrolled nursing as well.

 

Is nursing a 2 year masters or 4 year degree?

 

I've completed a Certificate 3 in Individual support, I've also worked casually where i have done work experience. All support /ain jobs must have this now.


An Enrolled nurse is an 18/20 month diploma with 400 hours work placement. I may do that here or when I return to nz.


A registered nurse is a 3 year degree, i havea friend who has just started that.

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The way I look at it is that in five years you’ll be 45 ish. Degree and career change or not. You’ve still got 20 odd years left- about as long as you have already worked.


Do the change. Try and find a way to make it work. The placements are usually final year. So keep in mind that is still a few years away- how would that change things?

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