Recent world events have seen day to day life change in many ways that no one could have predicted. For those who have managed to retain or find gainful employment, working from home may now be a massive part of normal life. Removed from our normal working environments, we’ve all had some thinking to do about whether working alone all day in our line of work is still right for us. For those who can’t work from home, similar introspection about how to spend the working day may also apply. 

Let’s look at some part-time courses that could help give you more job satisfaction and career direction. Virtual learning offers flexibility and convenience of completing the course on your own time.

Occupational therapy 

Occupational therapy can be studied part-time (you may even wish to get an MOT degree online). That means you can study in your own time, in the evenings and at weekends. There’s no point in denying that your free time will be affected by studying in this way. But if you spend your time wanting to change roles and doing nothing about it, why not put that energy to good use? 

Occupational therapists help people to work towards recovering all or some of their independence. For example, returning to work from sickness or injury often means working with a trained member of the occupational health team. The help could include identifying changes to the working environment that would benefit task completion given any temporary or permanent restrictions on mobility. 

If you are a problem solver with a desire to help others, retraining in occupational health could provide you with lifelong career prospects.

Culinary courses 

Are you the kind of person that meanders into the kitchen whenever anyone in the house is cooking to ensure they are stirring things correctly? Do you take over chopping duties and enjoy asking how long things have been in the oven? If so, you may not have realized it before, but you could be a budding chef.

Culinary courses are available for part-time study and can be the difference between being accepted at your entry-level slicing and dicing role or being asked by the restaurant if you really wouldn’t prefer bar work. There’s no point in being good at something without any demonstrable proof. No matter how good your dauphinoise and how tasty your risotto, nobody will believe you. Cooking classes and kitchen qualifications are relatively inexpensive, fun, and you get to eat what you make. Oh, and there might just be a job in it for you, too!

App designer 

If you have a technological background or if you’d like to have a future in tech, studying part-time to become an app designer could be your ticket to a digital nine to five. 

App development requires some learning. But you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Many of your clients will require an app for their business, with only a limited number of functions, such as browsing stock, booking appointments, and placing orders. Once a few basic skills have been mastered, you can offer your app design skills to the market and start reaping the benefits of your career change.