Interesting Jobs/courses

[ste v]

my friend is about to loose his job but is getting a considerable payout - he wants to retrain and is looking for jobs/courses in interesting areas such as offshore oil/gas or operating large construction vehicles, basically something interesting that pays well, he says he's got over 20k to spend on re-training - any ideas please ? thanks

[boxtops]

It's almost impossible to advise without knowing what his current skills and experience are, where he lives, and if he's willing to locate - and if jobs are actually available in some of these "interesting" fields. No point in spending thousands on retraining to do something, if the vacancies aren't there.

[kloofnek]

You are so right ,Boxtops!!!

[Buenchico]

This link might be useful to your friend:
https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/advice/planning/jobfamily/Pages/default.aspx
(I suggest using the list of job fields, at the foot of the page, as he might see something listed there that he wouldn't otherwise have thought of).
That link provides loads of information about career paths and, importantly, provides further links to information about relevant training courses).

However he needs to be aware that the number of people working in the offshore gas/oil industry has fallen dramatically over the years. That's largely because companies are replacing group of rigs (all with their own teams) with automated rigs operating as satellites of a single manned rig. So where they used to need to staff, say, 6 rigs, they now only need to staff just one.

The construction industry might be a better place to look. Although there are still lots of unemployed construction workers, those with highly-specialised skills (such a tower crane drivers) probably find it easier to get work.

[ste v]

sorry ive not give many details but that's because he's not putting any limitations on this - his background is telecoms engineering but he doesn't mind retraining - he lives in Manchester and is willing to relocate but would prefer the type of work where you work e.g. 3 weeks on 3 weeks off ? I understand that theres no point training for something he might not get a job in but he's just wanting job/course suggestions as something might get mentioned that he's never thought of (i.e. tower crane operator - thanks buenchico) he'll then look into opportunities in that field.