Career change

Hi all

I am basically here for guidance (and possibly helpful advice to where to look) I am 31, I have worked in retail since I was 18 and honestly now, I need to leave. It's not case that I physically hate my job, I am thankful but I am at a stage now where I am ready to settle into a career, or should I say, a job I know has beneficial benefits basically. I have met someone. I make it sound recent but it's been a while and we are ready to buy a home and have children and a find that my job doesn't give me much room to move around and quiet frankly, it's bloody mundane. I am not fullfilled in my role whatsoever! This leading me to the upheaval of trying to find a job that I know will be steady and I can progress in while achieving a home and family dreams all the while knowing my job is secure. The job I am in now, it barely has any pension benefits and along with maternity and sick leave etc, it's really a job for someone who wants to earn a few bob to the side. I am not throwing any negativity to those who work in retail and have this as their career but I would like to experience something else.

I have had an interest in possibly appling for a job in the Civil Service and I am at a lost to how it works. Let's say 13 years in retail didn't exactly give me experience in what these jobs are looking for, HOWEVER I do have training backgrounds in Administration as I did go and do a couple of certificates in Admin in my spare time and work has not been easy to find in this field. I was hoping maybe these courses will help me progress in applying for these jobs in the Civil Service.

I have made myself a profile on publicjobs.ie and I hope I am going in the right direction. Has anyone applied for any jobs on this website? How did it progress? I am at a lost to what it is I need to apply for to be honest. This is the only time I can properly look as I am off work at the minute and it's a good time to have a good gander. I have also set up a profile on Indeed and applied for a couple of Admin jobs but 90% of them are temp and I can't afford to take on that risk to be honest.

Any helpful tips and advice is greatly appreciated. If background is needed, again 31, female, in retail 13 years, I have 1 year certificate in Admin that I've tried to update with physical experiences but no look, trying my hardest to apply for Civil Service jobs.

kiki smiling

My suggestion would be to start as a Clerical Officer, no real prior experience needed. Aim for the permanent positions. A campaign is run for this approx. every 2 years, I think the most recent one was in 2020, so next one should be 2022. You select the locations (counties) you are interested in. Its an aptitude test online, followed by interview. You are generated a number on the panel then and placed according your location choice. There are temp campaigns run for clerical officers throughout each year, but you could only be offered 3/6/9 months work. The permanent positions are the ones to watch out for.
I hope this helps.

kiki smiling

kiki smiling wrote: »

My suggestion would be to start as a Clerical Officer, no real prior experience needed. Aim for the permanent positions. A campaign is run for this approx. every 2 years, I think the most recent one was in 2020, so next one should be 2022. You select the locations (counties) you are interested in. Its an aptitude test online, followed by interview. You are generated a number on the panel then and placed according your location choice. There are temp campaigns run for clerical officers throughout each year, but you could only be offered 3/6/9 months work. The permanent positions are the ones to watch out for.
I hope this helps.

Thank you kikismiling!

Is this advertised on the publicjobs website? where could I locate this?

kiki smiling

Yes on the publicjobs website. I believe you can set up a job alert which would email you when your preferred job is advertised. They also have a facebook page which advertises jobs.

kiki smiling

kiki smiling wrote: »

Yes on the publicjobs website. I believe you can set up a job alert which would email you when your preferred job is advertised. They also have a facebook page which advertises jobs.

Ah brilliant, thanks a million.

I've just updated my CV and realised that I didn't have that much to write in terms of being able to sell myself to companies!

HungrySeagull

clamityjane wrote: »

Hi all

I am basically here for guidance (and possibly helpful advice to where to look) I am 31, I have worked in retail since I was 18 and honestly now, I need to leave. It's not case that I physically hate my job, I am thankful but I am at a stage now where I am ready to settle into a career, or should I say, a job I know has beneficial benefits basically. I have met someone. I make it sound recent but it's been a while and we are ready to buy a home and have children and a find that my job doesn't give me much room to move around and quiet frankly, it's bloody mundane. I am not fullfilled in my role whatsoever! This leading me to the upheaval of trying to find a job that I know will be steady and I can progress in while achieving a home and family dreams all the while knowing my job is secure. The job I am in now, it barely has any pension benefits and along with maternity and sick leave etc, it's really a job for someone who wants to earn a few bob to the side. I am not throwing any negativity to those who work in retail and have this as their career but I would like to experience something else.

I have had an interest in possibly appling for a job in the Civil Service and I am at a lost to how it works. Let's say 13 years in retail didn't exactly give me experience in what these jobs are looking for, HOWEVER I do have training backgrounds in Administration as I did go and do a couple of certificates in Admin in my spare time and work has not been easy to find in this field. I was hoping maybe these courses will help me progress in applying for these jobs in the Civil Service.

I have made myself a profile on publicjobs.ie and I hope I am going in the right direction. Has anyone applied for any jobs on this website? How did it progress? I am at a lost to what it is I need to apply for to be honest. This is the only time I can properly look as I am off work at the minute and it's a good time to have a good gander. I have also set up a profile on Indeed and applied for a couple of Admin jobs but 90% of them are temp and I can't afford to take on that risk to be honest.

Any helpful tips and advice is greatly appreciated. If background is needed, again 31, female, in retail 13 years, I have 1 year certificate in Admin that I've tried to update with physical experiences but no look, trying my hardest to apply for Civil Service jobs.

Hi yes, I would agree Civil Service Clerical Officer is a good way to go.

I was in retail for approx. 13 years too. Have a business degree but didn't do much with it. I'm early 30's as well. I didn't know what to do with myself regarding a future career - I stayed in retail for much longer than I should have.

I applied to Accounting Technicians Ireland and completed the 2 year apprenticeship. The money was rubbish but I have an accounting qualification now. I was not placed in an accountants office as part of the program so I needed other options. I was on the Clerical Officer panel and was called when the apprenticeship was nearly complete. I was recently successful with the Executive Officer campaign.

Keep an eye out on public jobs and here on Boards. County councils also run CO campaigns, I also had job alerts set up for two of the Dublin CoCos and they ran CO campaigns in the last year.

Dublin Lad2021

Sounds like you're doing everything right to get out of retail, keep an eye on public jobs, specifically clerical officer positions but also certain parts like HSE often advertise on Irishjobs.ie or jobalert.ie send your CV to Recruitment agencies as well and let them know what you're looking for, best of luck

Dublin Lad2021

Dublin Lad2021 wrote: »

Sounds like you're doing everything right to get out of retail, keep an eye on public jobs, specifically clerical officer positions but also certain parts like HSE often advertise on Irishjobs.ie or jobalert.ie send your CV to Recruitment agencies as well and let them know what you're looking for, best of luck

Thank you :-)

Kenevil

Afaik the CO 2020 panel will only run until May 2021 so keep a close eye on Publicjobs.ie good luck

job seeker

I understand that you wish to build a career long-term in civil service which is great. Although have you got a short term plan? Perhaps something like a general operative role in a pharmaceutical factory or the like? Something like this would enable you to earn more money while you apply for the civil service! This is just one example I thought of! Or perhaps even into Lidl, they offer really good pay.

There are opportunities in the HSE as clerical staff and many other roles. Some require additional qualifications, some don't...

Here is the pay scale which provides an overview of the roles!

https://healthservice.hse.ie/filelibrary/staff/january-2020-consolidated-pay-scales.pdf

Vonniev

Hi, I spent 13 years in retail and after my second child I said I couldn't do it anymore. I felt like my time in retail was over and I needed the change. I applied and was successful for a role in the pharmaceutical industry. It is a very different environment to retail. I enjoyed the early stages but am now missing the retail buzz. Retail experience is underestimated, you are dealing with a many variations of the organisation, customer service, sales, merchandising cash, marketing. It's how you sell these experiences on your CV that will help you to navigate to your next role. I don't know what area of retail you are in, bit there are many opportunities outside shop floor retail. Head office customer service, sales, buying, HR. I'm not advising you to stay in retail, just giving you my own experience.

yabadabado

OP ,if you are thinking about the civil service also look at HSE and County Council's .

Cerical work can be similar in all of these and gives a few more opportunities to get into the swing of applying for jobs , doing exams and interviews.

job seeker

job seeker wrote: »

I understand that you wish to build a career long-term in civil service which is great. Although have you got a short term plan? Perhaps something like a general operative role in a pharmaceutical factory or the like? Something like this would enable you to earn more money while you apply for the civil service! This is just one example I thought of! Or perhaps even into Lidl, they offer really good pay.

There are opportunities in the HSE as clerical staff and many other roles. Some require additional qualifications, some don't...

Here is the pay scale which provides an overview of the roles!

Thanks for you reply!

I am going to stay in my current position for the time being and keep my eye out for possible clerical roles. I have set up my CV on indeed and jobs.ie to keep my options open and I don't plan on leaving where I am until things are set in stone - like successful interview and possible acceptance of a new job.

Funnily you mention Warehouse Operative, I do have that on my CV along with Data Admin roles so I was hoping with these combined I would have a little bit of a good chance of my CV even being viewed. I haven't got to much high hopes though as I've spent the last couple of days keeping my eye out for roles that are what I am looking for. I've applied for a couple so far so fingers cross.

I don't plan on leaving my current job until something is set in stone but I do have high hopes to be out of retail completely

yabadabado

yabadabado wrote: »

OP ,if you are thinking about the civil service also look at HSE and County Council's .

Clerical work can be similar in all of these and gives a few more opportunities to get into the swing of applying for jobs , doing exams and interviews.

I've signed up to Publicjobs.ie and DCC for email subscriptions to let me know what jobs are available so that's that step done. I've spent the last couple of days having a nosey on the websites and I think I'm telling myself I'm not eligble for them because they are looking for more experiences than I have but sure look if I can switch and change a couple of things on my CV and see how I get on

I think my main issue is how in jaysis name do I make my CV stand out! My boyfriend is good at wording and can make my CV look somewhat decent but I am reading the jobs specs thinking to myself how in jaysis name do I work out matching my CV to it

Vonniev

Vonniev wrote: »

Hi, I spent 13 years in retail and after my second child I said I couldn't do it anymore. I felt like my time in retail was over and I needed the change. I applied and was successful for a role in the pharmaceutical industry. It is a very different environment to retail. I enjoyed the early stages but am now missing the retail buzz. Retail experience is underestimated, you are dealing with a many variations of the organisation, customer service, sales, merchandising cash, marketing. It's how you sell these experiences on your CV that will help you to navigate to your next role. I don't know what area of retail you are in, bit there are many opportunities outside shop floor retail. Head office customer service, sales, buying, HR. I'm not advising you to stay in retail, just giving you my own experience.

Can I ask how you change your CV to suit the role?

I am brutal for putting things together and I feel like my CV has a range between warehousing, admin and retail...It does look messy in terms of what direction I am actually trying to go.

I am doing a course at the minute hoping to use this to help progress into the Clerical and admin fields so I know myself I am working in the background to upskill myself. I have had colleagues that have worked with me for years and found themselves in completley different roles from retail with only retail experiences so I know it's possible but I am not sure if I am selling myself well on the CVs.

daffodill50

Register for HSE jobs too here: https://www.hse.ie/eng/staff/jobs/

Best of luck!

daffodill50

daffodill50 wrote: »

Register for HSE jobs too here: https://www.hse.ie/eng/staff/jobs/

Best of luck!

Thank you!

Had a look there and emailed the portal email given going to have a gander on the Careersportal option and see what's there.

ThumbTaxed

Don't give up. When I was 25 I was on 30k. 3 level 9 qualifications later and I am on almost 10 times than now.

Education is key here... sets up apart from the mouth pieces.

Sheep Shagger

ThumbTaxed wrote: »

Don't give up. When I was 25 I was on 30k. 3 level 9 qualifications later and I am on almost 10 times than now.

Education is key here... sets up apart from the mouth pieces.

What role/sector is paying you almost €300k do you mind me asking?

ThumbTaxed

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

What role/sector is paying you almost €300k do you mind me asking?

Well, I am not paid that, it is my share of profits. Accountancy

ThumbTaxed

ThumbTaxed wrote: »

Don't give up. When I was 25 I was on 30k. 3 level 9 qualifications later and I am on almost 10 times than now.

Education is key here... sets up apart from the mouth pieces.

I don't plan on giving up. I am in the middle of doing an Admin course at the moment that is level 5 so I am hoping that will brush up my CV and give me that bit of experience. I've joined Publicjobs, indeed and jobalerts so my email has been bombarded which I am not complaining about at all because I know there is definately work out there that I can apply for but my main aim is to apply for all I can to get the interview expereinces to brush up my confidence a little bit so hopefully when the time comes and I get to apply for a Civic Service job, I have that small bit of confidence to help me.

I have applied for a couple of admin roles in hospitals. I don't expect high hopes as I know these roles can be really sought after but sure, if I don't try then i wont know

Sheep Shagger

ThumbTaxed wrote: »

Well, I am not paid that, it is my share of profits. Accountancy

Well done but in fairness even with further education, most people won't multiply their income (salary and/or profit share) 10x.....even in one of the big 4 in the case of accountancy.

AndrewJRenko

ThumbTaxed wrote: »

Well, I am not paid that, it is my share of profits. Accountancy

Accountancy in a legal firm then?

Earning €300k while busy applying for €60k - €90k public sector roles?

You're a funny guy....

Mrs OBumble

clamityjane wrote: »

I think my main issue is how in jaysis name do I make my CV stand out! My boyfriend is good at wording and can make my CV look somewhat decent but I am reading the jobs specs thinking to myself how in jaysis name do I work out matching my CV to it

For public jobs, your CV is irrelevant. You have to word things on their application forms, and answer questions about their competencies.

Mrs OBumble

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

For public jobs, your CV is irrelevant. You have to word things on their application forms, and answer questions about their competencies.

Ah so I am just essentially re-wriitting my CV into their application form and just re-word it to match the job spec? Well that probably sounds a lot easier to be fair

MojoMaker

ThumbTaxed wrote: »

Don't give up. When I was 25 I was on 30k. 3 level 9 qualifications later and I am on almost 10 times than now.

Education is key here... sets up apart from the mouth pieces.

All from your mam's attic as well - brilliant

MojoMaker

MojoMaker wrote: »

All from your mam's attic as well - brilliant

Bloody wish it was from my Mams attic haha! More like from an unreasonably price house that is rented *insert breakdown emoji*

Sure look I just have to keep the focus up and apply for what comes my way. There's some decent jobs advertised and I've applied anyways as like people have said to me, interview experiences will help me in the long run and build that confidence up a bit.