With people living longer and less security in the job market, it’s becoming increasingly common to change careers during your working life, sometimes more than once. However, if you have small children, you may be worried about the impact your career change will have on them and want something a bit more flexible. Here are some career options for those who need flexibility around study hours and their work. They might even end up being your dream job when you really start getting into your career.

1. Going freelance

If you like your current role, but find it doesn’t offer enough flexibility, then going freelance and doing a similar role may be an option for you. For example, if you work in IT, you could look at being a database administrator, and if you currently work in admin, you may have transferable skills to become a virtual assistant. There are lots of online guides to becoming a freelancer, and if you have a skill that’s in demand, then you may find yourself earning a better salary. 

2. Nursing

Nursing is a popular career choice for moms as there are often flexible, part-time roles available that fit in well with family life. Like many countries around the world, the USA has a shortage of nurses, and it’s not a job that’s likely to be automated in the future, giving you good career prospects. If you’re already a registered nurse, you could consider upskilling with one of the CPC programs offered by ValleyAnesthesia, which will allow you to become a nurse anesthetist, one of the best paid RN positions around. 

3. Teaching

Struggle to find childcare during the long summer vacation? Becoming a teacher means you’ll get that time off, too, giving you a schedule that fits into family life. If you have a bachelor’s degree and a passion for a certain subject, then you may well enjoy passing on that knowledge to a new generation. As a mom, you will have some experience with kids, but it’s worth seeing if you can get some classroom experience as well, perhaps as a teacher’s assistant. Each state has different licensing requirements; you’ll generally need to do some postgraduate education, which you can sometimes do via distance learning. 

4. Coding and web development

If you’d like to work from home, but your current career doesn’t allow it, then you may want to look for jobs that encourage remote working. Tech and IT are industries where many of the workforce are remote, and not always in the same time zones, so there tends to be more scope for flexible hours. Some of the most in-demand roles revolve around web development and coding, and there are many routes into the IT industry. A job in web development is considered as a lucrative career for skillful individuals. Learning to code certainly isn’t easy, and it’s not for everyone, but if you’re considering this career change there are free courses online for you to try before you commit. The quality of online coding courses varies a lot, so do your research before you hand over any cash and be wary of any courses that claim you can become a coder in weeks, it’s a long process.