From Marketing to Teaching

From Marketing to Teaching Success Story > From: Job To: Job From Marketing to Teaching “The novelty of my job wore off; I realised that there wasn't much to love beneath the glitter.” * From Marketing to Teaching A three-hour meeting about yoghurts was the final straw for Tom Ding's career in marketing. Now he's working longer hours and for less money, but loving his new role. This is how he made his shift. What work were you doing previously? I worked as a strategist in a variety of advertising and marketing companies, both in the UK and abroad. What are you doing now? I am currently a trainee maths teacher on the School Direct programme at the Ark Academy, Wembley. Why did you change? There was an intellectual challenge and a certain glamour to my job â€" all long lunches and fancy bars â€" but after a while the novelty wore off and I realised that there wasn't much to love beneath the glitter. I began to find it very difficult to motivate myself and this was when I knew I had to do something different. When was the moment you decided to make the change? In a three-hour meeting about yoghurts. Are you happy with the change? Absolutely. I'm four months in to my teacher training and working harder than I've ever worked before and for less money, but I know I have made the right decision for me. I gave up a corporate city job for stroppy teenagers, much longer hours and a much-diminished pay check, but I haven't regretted it once. The workload is huge and the pace frenetic, but every day brings at least one moment to cherish. And that's not something I could say about any job I've had before. What do you miss and what don't you miss? I miss the decent coffee and the freedom to manage my own schedule, but not the hours spent nudging boxes around a powerpoint slide. How did you go about making the shift? I took a month off work and spent time observing lessons in three schools. I wanted to make sure it was definitely for me, before I committed. It was time well spent as I now work at Ark Academy, one of the schools I first visited. How did you handle your finances to make your change possible? I definitely kept a tighter grip on the purse-strings once I knew I'd be making the move, but I'm lucky in that on the School Direct program you can be paid a salary whilst you train to teach. That softened the blow. What was the most difficult thing about changing? There are a wide variety of teaching routes to choose from, between PGCEs, Teach First, School Direct programs and SCITTs, so it took some time to choose what was best for me. As I was changing career I didn't want to take any chances, but there is an element of luck to teacher training because schools vary so much. I feel very lucky to have stumbled across one that I really like. What help did you get? I sought advice from teacher friends, who helped set me up with placements. A lot of it was emailing schools out of the blue, though. What have you learnt in the process? I've learnt that every school is different and it's really important to try to find one where you like the ethos, and where the leadership team is supportive. I'm very fortunate in that my school places a huge emphasis on professional development and there is a very constructive attitude towards mutual observation and feedback. What do you wish you'd done differently? Not really, because things have worked out so well. It wasn't that I had a master plan, I just did a lot of research and emailed a few people What would you advise others to do in the same situation? Spend as much time as you can in schools, observing lessons. It will help you decide if teaching is right for you, and what kind of school you might like to work in. When you are emailing schools for experience, it can feel like you are putting a burden on them but more and more it seems like schools are looking to meet enthusiastic potential new teachers. If you send a good email and you are well qualified, the best schools are likely to invite you in for a couple of days. What resources would you recommend to others? The DfE have almost anything you could want on their website, but these days it is also worth looking at the websites for the bigger academy chains. The momentum is definitely towards School Direct as the main route into teaching, and with more than half of all schools being academies these days, it is worth seeing what they are about. I wasn't sure about them before I entered teaching â€" and I think they do vary a lot â€" but I am very happy with my experience so far at Ark. To find out more information about changing to a teaching career, visit Education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching What lessons could you take from Tom's story to use in your own career change? Let us know in the comments below. From Marketing to Teaching Success Story > From: Job To: Job From Marketing to Teaching “I came home from a bad day at work and a hideous journey on the tube, and I just knew I had to do something else.” * From Marketing to Teaching Undervalued and fed up, Mary Evans ditched her office job to discover what she really wanted to do. Here, she shares how Barcelona, late nights and hard work led to a job she's finally proud of. What work were you doing previously? I was working as a marketing manager for a barristers' chambers. This mainly involved organising events and PR. What are you doing now? I'm a Spanish and French teacher at a girls' secondary school in Bristol. Why did you change? I was really unhappy in my job. I felt bored, undervalued, lacking in confidence and generally fed up. I didn't feel as though I was using my brain and wasn't passionate about my job. Mostly, I missed using the languages I had spent years studying. I found working in an office boring as I'm quite an active person; it was hard to sit at a desk all day. When was the moment you decided to make the change? I came home from a bad day at work and a hideous journey on the tube, and I just knew I had to do something else. I kept seeing the trains travelling to Heathrow â€" I had an incredible urge to catch one, head to the airport and travel somewhere exciting. I decided I had to do something about it. Are you happy with the change? Yes, I am â€" very happy. I'm passionate about and proud of my job. I love telling people I'm a Spanish teacher and love talking about it. This is a massive change from when I worked in marketing and assumed everyone would be bored listening to me talk about my job. Every day is different and challenging; I'm constantly tested intellectually. What do you miss and what don't you miss? I sometimes miss the glamour of working in London, the events I used to go to, drinks after work, etc., as life is completely different now. I miss being able to come home from work and switch off; now when I come home I have to do a few hours of marking and lesson planning. I don't miss the stress of organising events and waking up at 3 a.m. worrying about them. How did you go about making the shift? After several career coaching sessions, I decided to go to Barcelona to teach English for a year. I didn't know I wanted to be a teacher at this point; I just wanted to do something different and I've always loved Barcelona. I found I really loved teaching English and speaking Spanish again. Therefore, I decided to enrol on a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). I wasn't 100% sure I wanted to teach, throughout the PGCE, but when I started working at the school I teach at now, I found my feet and started to love it. It's a private school and I've found the independence from the National Curriculum and the smaller class sizes suit me much better than what I'd experience in a state school. How did you handle your finances to make your change possible? I was lucky to get a grant to do the PGCE; they were trying to attract more language teachers at the time. This was enough to live on for the year with my husband's salary. Plus, the PGCE was so intense that I had absolutely no social life for the year, which kept costs down! What was the most difficult thing about changing? The PGCE involves a lot of reflecting and constant observations by your mentor. I found the 'constructive' criticism given by the PGCE mentors hard. You are constantly asked how you could have done things better, which is hard to take when you've been up until 2 a.m. planning your lessons and you thought it went really well! I also found it hard being a trainee teacher having been a marketing manager. As I looked quite young at the time, people thought I had just left university and so treated me as if the post were my first job. One mentor insisted on checking every email I wrote. What help did you get? My husband provided a lot of tissues and chocolate at 2 a.m. when I still hadn't finished planning my lessons. I made some good friends on the PGCE who were really supportive; we still see each other regularly. What have you learnt in the process? It is so important to be happy in your job. If I get bored of teaching, or stop loving it, I will do something else. I need a job which challenges me. I like to learn new things constantly; that's why I like teaching. You never know what a job will be like until you actually do it. Teaching is a really creative job. There's so much more to being a teacher than standing in a classroom. What do you wish you'd done differently? I might have found a school to train in, rather than training through a university. Also, it would have been helpful to have spent a bit of time in France before the PGCE, as I've ended up having to teach quite a bit of French. What would you advise others to do in the same situation? Talk to as many people as possible about their jobs, but take everything they say with a pinch of salt; we are all different and what annoys them might not annoy you. Do as much work experience as you can in as many different settings as you can. Don't let financial constraints get in the way as there's always a way around them. If you hate your job, do something about it! What resources would you recommend to others? The Prospects website was particularly useful. What lessons could you take from Mary's story to use in your own career change? Let us know in the comments below.