Help & advice needed and appreciated!

[Sammylad]

Will try to keep this as short as possible. At present, I'm 35 and drive trucks for a living. I got good GCSE's, but due to family circumstances and alot of things going wrong, I totally messed up my A-Levels and was unable to go to Uni. Am qualified as a financial adviser, but this is difficult to get back into it seems. My question is a)Have recently joined MENSA. Would like to "advertise" myself in a magazine/ periodical for an interesting job/ career. Any suggestions as to which magazine I should try? b)Do you think it would be worth it's worth a try? Feel I have to do something soon-ish, before age catches up with me, if it hasn't already!

[saxy_jag]

Forget the Mensa thing for a start - it gets you nowhere except with other members of Mensa, and not very far then. It makes non-Mensans think you're an intellectual snob.

You need to make a full assessment of your experience - work and otherwise - skills and preferences, and consider jobs that you might not even have thought about, no matter how ridiculous or unattainable they may sound. At 35, you're not old and it's not too late to start a new career (my bloke did it at 46 and he's doing great). You could do worse than nip to your local jobcentre and having a word with a careers adviser - you don't have to be unemployed to do this.

[Sammylad]

I appreciate what you're saying, and it is positive advice. Will certainly chat to careers office. I joined MENSA to prove primarily to myself, that I am intelligent. It seems a shame if by mentioning this in an ad or cv that people assume I'm some kind of intellectual snob, or social misfit, nothing of which could be further from the truth. Alot of employers advertise for people of "degree calibre", yet this means next to nothing these days, with the amount of people who have degrees. But it's even worse for those of us who ARE of degree calibre, and don't have one.

[redlangley]

Hi Sammylad,

I am 55 years old and have been a manager etc for some 30 years. Still need to and want to work despite recent legislation no interviews. Take a tip try and find find something you can be your own boss at. One thing's for sure you will never make yourself redundant!!!!

I am going to start a business as a driving instructor. Be my own boss and answer to nobody!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Fish the Mod]

I agree with Saxy. First of all you need something to aim for, no point chasing paper dreams. What do you want to do?. How can I get there?. 35 is still young and as I work in a local Libraray the way young people are turning out, employers are aiming for the more expeirenced worker.
Decide what you want to, then find a college that have courses and then go from there. I left school with nothing and today I work in the Library and teach Drama. Education is a lifelong thing and the most suscessful people do the work the least suscessful dont want to do

[saxy_jag]

I do understand you re. the Mensa issue. I was a member myself and joined for exactly the same reason you did - I had a brain and wanted to show people that. But it didn't make a jot of difference when I applied for jobs.

What did get me the job I eventually landed was that I'd had a fairly wide, if not in-depth, work experience and had a willingness to be flexible in the job. In short, it was my experience and attitude - which I was able to show them - that mattered more than anything I had on paper.

These days I have a degree, but I don't hold that as anything special in the world of work. It's only special to me because of the unique experience of studying for it. I don't work in a degree level job, but I'm happy enough doing it and intelligent enough to realise I'm happy.

Saying that, having a Mensa level IQ is nice little 'trick' to have up your sleeve when you're up against someone who thinks they're 'it'. I pulled mine out the other week, and the idiot shut up like lightening when I told him what my IQ was.

[Sammylad]

Yes, you do need qualifications to be an FA, or IFA. And its not "willing idiots" who listen, the idiots are the one's who don't listen.

Also, thanks for you're advice saxy_jag. It makes alot of sense, and thanks for taking the time to write. I appreciate it.

[littlemiss74]

I wish i could drive a truck!!
good luck whatever you decide.