At school, we’d all be dreaming of working as ballet dancers, firemen or astronauts, without a moment's thought about whether it was very likely, whether we were good enough or whether it would pay the bills.
Then you start doing your GCSEs and A-Levels, with perhaps half an hour with your school careers advisor in between, helping you to decide what you want to be when you grow up. In reality, it’s working out whether you can do drama and German as your options because the timetable doesn't look like it allows for it.
It may be entirely different now. The school careers advisors might know all about how to write a number one song, how to get your first novel published, and have great contacts for Work Experience in exciting industries like Advertising and conceptual art. But for many of us, we started on a tenuous career path without a whole of load of advice.
If you’ve reached the stage of thinking that you’re ready for a career change but don’t really know what to do, it’s worth taking yourself back to those heady days of GCSEs (or even O Levels!) and thinking about what lit your fire. What advice would you give to your 16-year-old self? Just imagine how many more career options are available to you than the spaceman or Teacher jobs you thought you had to choose between. Here are three jobs that you may not know exist – to show how you can look at your skills, passions and experience differently and come up with a great way to make a career change.
1. Spread Betting Analyst
If you’re into football, cricket or any other sport that people bet on, and love working out who gets the most corners, runs or knock outs, then spread betting can be an exciting, well-paid career. Betting is no longer just about working in smoky bookies. Now that online gambling is such a huge business, there are all manner of opportunities for working as a spread betting analyst.
A good place to start is by looking on the Internet at the big name bookmakers' training schemes and available positions, and also the online gaming companies. It’s a great job for people who are pretty good at maths and seeing patterns in data, and it’s particularly future-proof in ways that more traditional ‘maths based’ careers are not.
2. Model Booker
For people that love the glamour of the fashion industry but are not suited to being models, Fashion Designers or make up artists, the job of model booker is a perfect way to be part of this exciting industry.
Model bookers are responsible for ‘matching’ models with modelling assignments, so are usually involved with castings, arranging portfolios and negotiating fees. As such, you need to be determined, organised and unfazed by dealing with beautiful people day in day out! Many model bookers start out in junior positions in modelling agencies, with a few going on to open their own agencies.
3. Recipe Tester
There are a surprising number of opportunities working with food that do not involve being a chef and working long hours in very hot kitchens. The success of television programmes like Masterchef and Come Dine with Me have highlighted the public’s passion for cooking, and working with food remains a popular choice for people looking for a career change.
All food brands employ testers, both in scientific and non-scientific capacities to test their products, advise on how to improve them, and come up with new ideas. This can involve travelling to far flung countries in order to get inspired. Many publishing houses employ recipe testers for their cookery books, as do television production companies that need to ensure their celebrity chef’s recipes work time after time.
Finding the Right Career
Before you take the leap into a diverse career change, you need to know that you are suited to it. For help and guidance, read our feature Finding the Right Career For You.
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