As I say, I was thinking about what choices I would have made with the power of hindsight – so I found a great site with a fun little quiz which matches your personality to a selection of careers; if you are just beginning to make those plans or are deciding which direction to take next, why not have a look and see what it can turn up for you?

Funnily enough, those career selections which came up after I concluded the quiz where actually in my field of interests. One thing that struck me was how we change as we progress though our twenties and thirties – ticking the answer boxes was confronting; twenty years ago I would have answered many of those questions quite differently. Maybe this is why the career we choose at the age of eighteen bores the hell out of us when we are thirty-five. Interesting…

Anyway, it’s just a bit of fun even if you aren’t after a career change.

The proposals are contained in a report demanded by Miss Harman into the needs of the so-called ’sandwich generation’  -  working women who have to care for both young children and ageing relatives. They are expected to be included in a green paper published by Miss Harman next year. The proposals, revealed by Miss Harman at a conference yesterday, are likely to prove popular with working women. But they will be dismissed by business leaders as likely to cost billions to firms who are struggling to stay afloat during the recession.

The conference for the centre-left Institute for Public Policy Research yesterday heard that 3 per cent of women  -  more than 550,000 in total  -  and 2 per cent of men are forced to look after children and grandparents, most of them while holding down a job. Women in their 40s are most hard hit with one in 12 forced to perform ’sandwich’ care.

But which one to choose…? you could consider Western Governors University for, say, an online teaching degree that will open up a whole new world for you. And that’s just a quick example. The Student body is a diverse range of individuals from many walks of life with the average age of the students being 36 and encompasses the range of ages from people in their 20’s to people in their 60’s. Accreditation is what counts when choosing an online university and WGU is fully accredited both regionally and nationally so that your eventual qualifications are recognised right across the States. For those who are interested in studying Nursing you can now apply to study for their degree that now carries full national recognition from the CCNE.

Student life is as full and vital as on any other campus only meeting with fellow students who already have life education and skills makes the experience all that more interesting and fulfilling. Just because you are studying for an online degree does not mean there is no integration – you do get plenty of opportunity to mix and meet with your fellow students. WGU also offers various options for financing with tuition and financial aid as well as that all important Student Survival Guide – maybe one day you will become a member of the Alumni. Check them out and start building a new future today.

Once the grapes have reached maturity (around August) the bunches of grapes are hand picked and taken in baskets to the harvest trailer. This traditional method of harvesting ensures that the grapes are delicately handled. On arrival at the winery (cave), the trailer is emptied into a hopper.

The real objective is to preserve the ‘whole’ grapes to capture maximum aromas. To achieve this objective the grapes are transferred by conveyor belt to the destalker where the destalker separates the grapes from the stalks. The grapes then continue into a series of the stainless steel drums to begin the fermentation process. The grape solids float to the surface of the tank to create the cap of grape must. Work continues by pieage (a manual operation which consists of pushing the cap of must into the grape juice) to extract more colour and flavour.

All this is done by manual labour and many wine makers still hand pick their grapes which gives a better quality wine in the long run as the grapes are not bruised as easily as when harvested by machine. Although many are now turning to the harvesters in order to save time and increase volume.

There is so much choice these days too; I wont be studying to be a doctor but the medical field has opened up extensively since I was 18 i.e they were not using radio isotopes when I worked in x-ray at the age of 19 and I used to feed the x-rays into a developer – it is all different now and I am only going back to the 1980’s here! areas like medical coding training courses as well as auxiliary nursing appeal to me but I really enjoyed working in x-ray back then.

My son had an x-ray a few months back and I accompanied him into the room for it as he is only four – it all works the same but I noticed some interesting changes since I worked in an x-ray practice in the 80’s. However it did remind me how much I enjoyed it.

And you can become a Certified Ethical Hacker by completing a specified course of training which will enable you to work in a side of the IT Security industry that maybe never occured to you. ‘Hacker’s’ of the wrong variety – and bear in mind their activity is illegal – have often made companies sit up and take notice of just where the weaknesses in their computer systems lie.  In a way their actions have done many an IT department a good service; and this is a skill don’t forget – you do require a good working knowledge of computer systems. If you do have this talent up your sleeve then why not consider training to ‘hack’ in the legal sense…?

The EC-Council provides excellent training to provide you with the knowledge to assist IT companies manage their systems and work towards creating a secure network. In training you can choose to focus on:

If you already work in the industry the above options will be familiar and cover an area of interest; the Council also offers special one-day courses for free designed to assist those interested in choosing their chosen area of study. Holding the correct qualifications in this industry is highly desirable and will create a fully trained professional who will be highly sought after by employers.

My partner is returning to the civil service as the safety of his job was assured before he left on his career break five years ago. He suggested I do an admin job search but I am just not a person who can sit in an office – I am like a caged lion in such an environment.

I am turning my attentions to my original chosen career – one which I am really passionate about. Orchestral music and performing once more.

Its been a while and I’m rusty but I am about to embark on a real challenge – becoming a musician again.

I have snared myself an evening shift at a major retailer so as to fit in with the kids school hours – somehow I am looking forward to having the chance to get out in the evening for a few hours on my own even if it is just going off to work. It is something I never had the chance to do over in France with the hotel.

I have to relearn some rusty skills though as it is five years since I worked a checkout and since I left the stores have introduced a new POS system to the one I trained on. But here I am again going back into the customer service thing – after walking in the shoes of old Basil Fawlty I feel I am ready for anything!

Todays Nurses are a very highly qualified profession of people – male and female – it is no longer female dominated and more men are successfully entering the profession. But once you are qualified and registered it does not end there – your opportunities for advancement and specialisation are becoming more diverse than ever.

Choosing to supplement your qualifications by completing an online MS nursing course will offer you the challenges and scope that you will be looking. As the world of medicine advances in the 21st century Nursing is advancing right along with it – why not consider expanding your options. There’s no such thing as ‘just a nurse’ anymore.

He has been out of school for three years now and has decided that he wants to study law; I told him a while back to give it alot of thought as such a course of study requires great committment, not to mention quite some financing as well. So he is looking at doing his Degree through the Open University.

This is a great avenue for women as well – particularly those ‘at home’ Mums who didn’t get the chance ‘back then’ to go to university. For one thing you can do it full time or part time, fit your studies around whatever schedule you have and the really great thing is that the textbooks are included in the price of the course. That alone will save you hundreds in the long run.

Go ahead and weigh up the cost; give the OU some serious consideration for sure – I am even considering embarking on a career change myself in the near future and will use the OU as the way to get there.