Career Change

inarut

I am looking to see if anyone can help me out here. I am my late 20's, have a good BA (Hons) degree from UCD and am currently working in a government department where I have been based in various sections for the last 5 years. While I work with a nice group of people and the work atmosphere is generally relaxed,I feel completely unfulfilled and unchallenged in my current position and cannot get promoted despite getting praise for the quality of my work and consistently good recommendations in my feedback reports.

In my organisation, merit and ability count for absolutely nothing when it comes to promotion which usually occur after antiquated aptitude tests which take place about once every 2 years. When they come up, it is essentially all about being lucky on the day and being able to decipher countless passages of tripe in 2 hours to advance regardless of your experience and qualifications.
As a result I now feel completely demoralised and demotivated knowing that I have very little control over my career in this sense and will not have another chance for at least 2 years.

For the last year or so I have been thinking about going down the Post-Graduate route and am looking for a complete career change. I have just commenced a pt postgrad course relevant to my work but feel ready to drop out as I am unsure whether it would be worth the effort given the difficulties in advancing in the public sector and I also don't feel as if I can be totally committed to study on a part-time basis over 18 months to 2 years for something which is not really my thing.
I would rather direct my efforts into a full-time course leading to a specific qualification or career path. I have considered an MA in Journalism, given that I have almost 10 years experience in this field on a part-time basis and
have also considered going into teaching or doing something else more rewarding. I also have a keen interest in sports and travel and also might like to incorporate this into a career.

I am eligible to take a career break so I don't feel as if I have too much to lose.I have a good work ethic but this situation is really getting me down so any help or ideas would be greatly appeciated.

Dudess

inarut wrote: »

I have considered an MA in Journalism, given that I have almost 10 years experience in this field on a part-time basis and
have also considered going into teaching or doing something else more rewarding. I also have a keen interest in sports and travel and also might like to incorporate this into a career.

I am eligible to take a career break so I don't feel as if I have too much to lose.I have a good work ethic but this situation is really getting me down so any help or ideas would be greatly appeciated.

Go for sports journalism so. There's always plenty of work in it. Definitely use your career break to do that M.A. I did that course too. Now it hasn't really worked out for me but that's because I'm interested in the arts and there's bugger-all work in arts journalism - only bits and pieces so it's impossible to make a full-time living out of it. It really can only be done on the side. But with sport, you're laughing. Travel writing is more limited, but if you got a position as a sports journo, you could easily do the odd travel article.
Only thing about journalism though: it's not always easy to get a full-time position. You might get full-time hours freelancing, but no security, benefits etc. But you'll probably get a full-time position after a while - again, particularly as a sports journo. And of course there's broadcasting too - Setanta, NewsTalk, TV3 etc. With experience from those places, you might even get into RTE - semi-state so there's security there.

I know loads of people who have studied Journalism, they all say that it was a waste of time.
Your better off imo to start looking for journalism work straight off the bat.

Dudess

I disagree. True, nothing beats experience in a newspaper or station, but it's not easy to get in there in the first place. Back in the day, there were apprenticeships, junior reporter traineeships etc. Those days are gone.
Doing a course really is the best way to get in there now. It doesn't guarantee you a job, and it's limited in its scope when it comes to giving you practical skills, but it does open doors - e.g. it helps you to build up contacts. There's a two-month work placement, and weekly broadcast/print workshops treated as real-life editorial situations.
I haven't ended up as a journalist - I work as an administrator and do bits of freelance on the side, but that's because there aren't any jobs in the area of journalism I'm interested in. I'm being fussy really. But every single person in my class got a job - except for those of us who chose not to pursue it full-time, so I would highly recommend the OP do the course. Especially, as I said, given his interest in sport. There seems to be plenty of work in sports journalism. And go for the masters in DCU - it's the most recognised.

Mrs. MacGyver

Is there any way you can get promoted on interview only within your department eg for Staff Officer or Higher Executive Officer if you received high PMDS ratings?

Could you not look in the union maghazine at the vacancies at the back and transfer laterally to another Government Department? Maby all you need is a change of scenery? You could still do a post-grad under the refund of fees scheme to broaden your qualifications. That way you have job security while at the same time getting a qualification in your chosen area of interest.

Teaching is really a vocation so you would have to be quite sure if you decide to make this commitment. I wasn't and ended up leaving.

Best of luck with whatever you decide..

Tom Dunne

I have had a somewhat similar experience to you, albeit in a much shorter timeframe.

I have a BSc and an MSc in computing and am currently working in a public sector organisation. Much like you, I got on very well, great bunch of people to work with, but found the work quite mundane. I also found that there were virtually no opportunities for advancing myself.

I am currently in my second last week of the job, by the end of next week, I will be no longer a public servant. In short, I had to get out. It's not worth it if the job isn't doing it for you.

You obviously have contacts in the world of journalism - use them. Use them for both advice and potential opportunities. If you like journalism, that's half the battle.

inarut

Dudess wrote: »

I disagree. True, nothing beats experience in a newspaper or station, but it's not easy to get in there in the first place. Back in the day, there were apprenticeships, junior reporter traineeships etc. Those days are gone.
Doing a course really is the best way to get in there now. It doesn't guarantee you a job, and it's limited in its scope when it comes to giving you practical skills, but it does open doors - e.g. it helps you to build up contacts. There's a two-month work placement, and weekly broadcast/print workshops treated as real-life editorial situations.
I haven't ended up as a journalist - I work as an administrator and do bits of freelance on the side, but that's because there aren't any jobs in the area of journalism I'm interested in. I'm being fussy really. But every single person in my class got a job - except for those of us who chose not to pursue it full-time, so I would highly recommend the OP do the course. Especially, as I said, given his interest in sport. There seems to be plenty of work in sports journalism. And go for the masters in DCU - it's the most recognised.

Thanks Dudess!
Having done research, I will definitely apply for all the MA Courses here and particularly the course in DCU. The sports aspect and work placement would definitely appeal to me though I am interested in other areas of journalism. I would also not go along with view of trying to get in there without formal experience or without having done a course of some kind. Again thanks.

inarut

Mrs. McGyver

Rather than being a motivation tool, PMDS is an annoyance at best. Whats the point in filling out endless interim and end of year review forms, when if you go for promotion you have to sit an aptitude test?

As for the refund of fees scheme, the courses have to be relevant to your work and are mainly at an undergraduate level and generally not worth doing unless you are at least at a mid-managerial level. Thanks anyway

Tom,

Yeah thats what its about. The job isn't doing it for me- im in a position where its impossible to be in any way ambitious in a career sense. I think I know where to go now.

Mrs. MacGyver

Best of luck inarut with your new career path.

Dudess

inarut wrote: »

Thanks Dudess!
Having done research, I will definitely apply for all the MA Courses here and particularly the course in DCU. The sports aspect and work placement would definitely appeal to me though I am interested in other areas of journalism. I would also not go along with view of trying to get in there without formal experience or without having done a course of some kind. Again thanks.

No probs at all. Happy to help. But you seem to have enough experience - ten years part-time? There are people on the DCU course who wouldn't have anywhere near that. It's a great course - I thoroughly enjoyed it. It can be hard work at times, but you get there in the end. Nobody dropped out when I did it. I'm not working in the area but that's my own choice - I'm still really glad I did it. And there were all ages in my class, from early 20s to early 40s. I made some great friends there as there's only about 25 in the class. The deadline for application is March/April so you've plenty of time. You have to submit an article and put a good bit of detail in your application. If you get called for interview, bring along a portfolio if you have one (that isn't specified on the application instructions, but they do still expect it). As I said, everyone in my class got a job except for two of us who chose not to do it full-time, and someone else who went travelling, but she's starting to get journalistic work abroad now.
Anyway, best of luck...