Career advice needed: I call upon the wisdom of the STW massive :-)

Bored with my current role (managing a travel agency), been in the same workplace for almost 4 years now and finding it tough to stay motivated (no room for further advancement with my current employer, store manager is top of the heap here in the UK). Compounding this, I’ve been in the travel industry for 8 years now (dang!) and am kind of sick of the sh1tty pay for the hours I do (19k base plus commission of around 2-3k a year: working a 7 day roster with only 4 staff including me, 10-7pm shop opening hours)… Never really meant to be in this industry for so long anyway, I just fell into it after travelling for a while, hard to believe 8yrs have passed…

I don’t want to go back to uni as in my youth I started a BSc but due to inherant physchological issues at the time (and probably still around tbh) I wasted 5 years there and never completed the degree… just found out the other day that the credit points I earnt from this, around half a degree, have now been written off and can’t be retreived as it was too long ago… so I’m buggered if I’ll go back to Uni and try again over another 3-4 years… I already owe the Aussie government a shed load and I just can’t face owing even more!)

From my work career so far I have excellent customer service skills, can prepare and present presentations to large groups of people without problem, I’m a very good salesperson when motivated (at the moment I’m struggling a little bit, but only because I’m bored to tears!). What I lack is a technical skill of some sort… In my private life I enjoy fiddling with PC’s (I’ve built & maintained my own for a while now), I love gadgets and technology etc, so I’m thinking IT might be a good field to look into (I know, like so many other folk!)

What I’m wondering is, is there a particular course/training program that anyone would recommend that would give me a useful technical skill? Hoping to do something that might only take 6 months or so (maybe less if I can do it in my own time?) and that should lead to a role paying 25-30k base salary to start with?… or am I dreaming?

Keen to hear all advice and suggestions, really want to make a move on this and start getting my life in order (there are other issues bugging me, but work and money are two that particularily grate right now…)

cheers chaps 😀

anyone?

formalise your abilities in current role and teach? Either travel and Toursim/sales or customer service?

Hoping to do something that might only take 6 months or so (maybe less if I can do it in my own time?) and that should lead to a role paying 25-30k base salary to start with?… or am I dreaming?

largely yes many myths abound about this but someone with a 6 mth qual in anything will be basically a novice …if there is something viable I am not aware of it…. I advise young people on careers amongst other things Forget all the IT /plumbing myths you have ever heard

PS all jobs are sh1t aren’t they?
Forget

“do something that might only take 6 months or so (maybe less if I can do it in my own time?) and that should lead to a role paying 25-30k base salary to start with?”

surely there are not many roles where you can go from 0 experience to 25k basic in 6 months?

For what its worth I know a few people into open source web dev using Drupal and the likes who get around £300 per day on a contract basis. You might be able to go down that route. Not sure if you could in a 6 months timeframe though.

I guess what I’m thinking is that I have a good set of skills (retail management, public speaking, proven sales results etc), I’m wondering if these can be used in another industry that pays better (maybe with the addition of a course of some sort?)

Estate Agents are recruiting and require little/no skills. Market is picking up at the moment.

My daughter came back from Australia, got the first two jobs she went for, chose the best and has sold a couple of houses in her first week.

Just realised I have admitted my daughter is an estate agent. I will have to change my name

Had thought about Real Estate… but I keep getting visions of those Foxton C0cks and shudder… maybe I shouldn’t be so judgemental 🙄

My daughter enjoys it although there are a lot of knobs about

My brother was earning a very good wage selling Mercedes. He now works for himself trading cars, earning between a good and excellent living depending on the month.

He works hard though, and learnt his trade over a good few years. But to give you some idea of the potential, when he first started at the merc dealer he worked in the average sales per salesman was about 7 – 8 a month. Within a couple of months he was selling 25 – 30. Commission on every one 🙂 How? He worked harder, smarter, and chased every lead – the other guys couldn’t really be bothered.

You need good attention to detail, be a nice trustworthy chap, v good listener, know how to close a sale.

He once sold a car to a guy which lost a wheel during the test drive. Now that’s selling skills in action!

He’d probably be OK with a chat over the phone if it appealed.

Downside? Car trade is in all sorts of trouble right now, although used prices are on the up sightly as the market hardens / picks up again

smurf

Another thought. Think about your self in the following ways.

Skills – what can you do e.g. being able to wheelie a bike is a skill
Experience – how much experience do you have in those skills e.g. have you being riding bikes on the back wheel for years or 10 mins?
Talent – what are the innate talents that you have e.g. good sense of balance, quick reactions all help bike skills. Now think about work related talents e.g. confidence, quick thinking, analytical ability, interpersonal skills etc
Motivation – what situations / things motivate you?

Be honest and you don’t need huge lists

You will typically do well and enjoy something that relates well to the things you have listed under these categories. In my experience (long story) you will typically perform best if you have the motivation and talents for the work, as you can more easily pick up the skills and experience

Hope that helps

Smurf

Well worth trying a personality test on http://www.livecareer.com Just opt for the free test – you dont get a massive amount more info for the advanced results. It's a real eye-opener!

Good luck!

Dan

Public services, fire ambulance or police? Worth a look, never two days the same?

IME sales is the same across the board, by that I mean that the only thing that differs is the product. Selling holidays requires largely the same skills as selling windows. So moving to another industry may lead to the same dissatisfaction?

Set up your own travel agency? Take all your customers, then tell them where they can stick their sales targets and commission!