kitbag Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Hi guys! I really need some advice! I have just become a trainee dental nurse (I only started last Wednesday), and it is so completely different to what I thought it would be like. I'm really not sure it is the right job for me. The problem I have got is that they have employed me to cover maternity leave, starting in July, so if I am going to leave, I am not sure when the best time to do it would be. One of my options is to get another full time job (perhaps doing something like retail) until something else comes up. The other option is to try and get on a university course that has caught my eye, doing Police Studies. I have spoken to the university and I have been told it is not too late to apply. Any advice of what to do would be much appreciated, as I am in such a quandry and it is quite scary not knowing what to do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoid Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Police studies? If you want to be a police officer, apply to be a special constable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitbag Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 Hi Fred, thanks for the reply! I am halfway through the process of becoming a special constable, but the police studies course is a more in depth course looking at how the Police work and the different agencies surrounding it, giving me better chances of doing other jobs eg probation officer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoid Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 I would wait until september, so you can start at the beginning of the course. Halfway through you say, have you done the PIR test yet, or are they still doing background checks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitbag Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 I have to phone and book the assessment centre tomorrow, but they know I am hoping to do the course in September so are speeding things up a bit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoid Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 I would go for it, especially if its an area you want to work in. If you don't like the course, you could aways drop out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Can be an expensive thing to do and just drop out... Have a good think about what you want to do Megan, and if you need a degree to get there. Its almost that we're expected to get a degree nowadays, so many people have them you are (could be) at a disadvantage by not having one. That said there are plenty of really successful people, happy in their jobs without a degree and who do more vocational courses! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bramble Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 I wouldn't give up on your new job yet - I'd give it a full month at the very least to give you time to find your feet, when you've settled in you might start to enjoy it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Difficult choice... I would say though that if you only started your job last Wednesday it's VERY early days still. I remember starting a new at 18 years old - it was only the second job I had ever had - and the first few days I came home and cried each night I hated it so much. But I ended up staying there for 3 years (so it can't have been that bad!) and then I did go to uni as a mature student and was able to keep working on an ad hoc basis whilst I studied. So in total I did 7 years with that company. I was actually quite sad when I did finally leave! Uni will be a very expensive choice if you decide you don't like the course and drop out. Why not give it another year to decide if uni really is the right choice for you and find your perfect course. In the meantime, stick with your job, or if you are genuinely unhappy with it, switch to another job. At least that way you will head off to uni with some money saved or you might even find you end up in a job you really love. I am a great believer in 'The University of Life' and working will give you great experience and life skills that can't be taught on a uni course. You'll probably find you approach a uni course with a different attitude after a year out and will get more out of the course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachel19 Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Mmmm I agree with Bramble, a week isn't really very long to decide if you like something or not. Being the new person is always a bit awkward to begin with and you really need to give it quite a bit longer before you really settle in. University is a big decision and one that i think people make too lightly. Too many people go to uni for the sake of it and because everyone around them is going. I very much regret my course choice as due to poor advice beforehand about job prospects afterwards, I have been left with a lot of debt and am doing nothing to do with my degree now. I would have been much better off doing a degree that is job specific e.g physiotherapy or similar type degree rather than do something that sounded quite interesting at the time but in the long run would do me no good in the 'real world'. If you do decide to go down the uni route, 'dropping out' if you don't like it shouldn't really be a back up plan as its a lot of money for not a lot afterwards. Please make sure you have all the right information about whether the degree does increase your chances of a job in the line of work you are interested in or whether you would be better off working up to something like that or training whilst working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 I would have been much better off doing a degree that is job specific e.g physiotherapy or similar type degree rather than do something that sounded quite interesting at the time but in the long run would do me no good in the 'real world'. I agree, you are very fortunate to have found work and you need to give it a little time. One job often leads on to another so when the maternity leave is over something else may crop up. Definitely pursue your Special Constable application. I would have thought that was more valuable than an Uni Police Studies course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LolaLayla Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 I would try to stick at it a bit longer. It will always look good on your CV to have completed the work. I agree with rachel19 up to a point about vocational courses. However it used to be the case that you were virtually guaranteed a job if your trained as a physio, OT etc however I remember a couple of years ago physios graduated and there were not enough jobs for them. Also a lot of the jobs now are temporary I think these days you have to try to get a lot of "strings to your bow" to make you as employable as possible. My YS is at the point of deciding whether to go to uni, college or get a job after the summer. Although he has a uni place he is undecided if it is in an area that he truly wants to study and I feel it may be best for him to do an HNC/HND for a year to give him a bit of breathing space and also an extra qualification which can only be useful in the future. Good luck in deciding what to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Similar situation here too Megan - my daughter who is 17 wants to drop out of college & get a full time job. Easier said than done...................she has piercings & quite 'funky' hair,but she is also stubborn & not easily persuaded....she has decided that this is what she wants to do & that is that As a Mum I feel she should stay on & at least try to get some decent A levels,but I suspect I may not be on to a winner with this one! Good luck,whatever you decide.....stick with the dental nursing thing for a little bit longer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan08 Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 As an employer, working in Freight Forwarding, I have to admit from past experience I am a little Anti-Graduate. We have taken on graduates from the local universities on placement, and found in many cases they are worse than taking on school leavers. Unable to use the telephone without going to pieces, and in the worst case, writing love letters to his girlfriend by lifting up his notepad and "hiding" the writing underneath then slamming it down when I walked past. He was 24 We have found that school leavers can be more willing to learn and acknowledge that they have no experience whereas the graduates can seem to think they know it all. I have interviewed a girl with a physics degree, when I asked her why she wanted to work as an import clerk, she didnt really know, and when I asked her why she chose physics as a degree, she told me it was because her mum said it would be more interesting than maths These days I will generally look at graduates if they have worked through their degree course. If they have reached the age of 23-25 without even doing a bit of volunteer work I won't be interested. Most employers are offering positions which are not top of the "most Wanted Jobs" list, where they need commitment, a level head, an ability to get on with the job despite boredom, relationship problems, wedding planning, disinterest. As an interviewer I would question why you did not give the current role enough time and it would ring alarm bells immediately. Most of us do not enjoy our jobs at certain points, will have good days and bad days and wish we had chosen a different career path. But the ones who are successful are the ones who make the best of the opportunities given, even whilst planning a different path altogether. Good Luck, you will never know if you have made the right decision until after the event, and in many ways you will always wonder, "what if" Thats life I am afraid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitbag Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 Thanks for all your replies everyone! I think what I will do is I will apply to do the university course, but stick with the dental nursing for a bit longer. That way I will have the best of both worlds, and if I have been offered a place at uni in September, then I can go whilst not jeopardising my job at the dentist. Thanks for your views guys! Sometimes it can really help to get someone else's opinion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
