New career path

[Tobydog]

Iv been long haul cabin crew for 10 years and am no longer enjoying the distruptive life style. Has anyone recently left flying and can recommend a direction I should take? Iv known people to leave the airline world and instantly regret it. I know this is so so vague but any feedback would be great.

[crewmeal]

Half the battle is what would you like to do. It's like being at school and not sure which path to take after your exams. I was in that position when I left flying 12 years ago until someone suggested I carry on training in the form of teaching English as a foreign language which is what I do now. I worked for the British Council in the Middle East and working with many of the other teachers often reminded me of flying days because of the various characters. I lost count of the number of times I said "it's like old times" or "nothing changes". I also teach travel and tourism from an airline side. I still find that rewarding.

However teaching is not everybody's cup of tea. Coming from a job where your office is in the sky to one on the ground can be a drudge. Look what happened to Douglas Bader prior to WW2. He hated a desk job and couldn't wait to get back flying. Sales is hard because it's usually commisson only. Perhaps working at an airport near you might be the answer. If you still need aviation in your blood then check out ground staff positions.

Good luck!

[Tobydog]

Thank you so much for your constructive response. I really appreciate it.

[MathFox]

The discussion about career change has popped up several times:

http://www.pprune.org/cabin-crew/510201-life-after-flying.html
http://www.pprune.org/cabin-crew/375385-career-changes-ex-cabin-crew.html
(use the search function for more...)

The summary is: You've shown capabilities in a consumer faced, very security conscious occupation. You have a job with serious responsibilities and the manager is generally too far away to make decisions for you, still you cope. (And you could have picked up some management or language skills.)
It makes a good foundation for a career change; what direction do you want to go?