Trades- which are in demand, and which could I function in?

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Some background, then a question or two:

I've been spinning my wheels for my entire adult life (I'm 37), never went to any college or advanced education of any kind, and feel like I need to do something for myself. Jobs are getting harder to come by, I'm only getting older and I fear in a very short time I will be basically unemployable.

I strongly dislike technology and computers. I will not pursue improving those areas at all. But I've only ever worked in retail (many years ago) or in an office. I've been badly matched in customer service and data entry, and had mixed success/enjoyment in sales. So I'm thinking that most office jobs are actually not very good for me all things considered.

I don't like acting "professional" in an office sense. It's actually quite hard for me. I tend to hate most of the people I work with because of their fake-ness. I don't do ties. At all. Luckily I've always found work I can dress however for.

I don't deal well with excessive rules. If a rule makes sense to me as it pertains to the performing of my job functions, I have little issue in following it. But if I deem it unnecessary, I can't do it. I often have clashed with managers who try using firm, hardline methods to interacting with me. It triggers a competitive response in me and I feel obligated to defy it. More reasonable people have always gotten a more reasonable reaction from me. Bosses who are "pushovers" I usually try extra hard to work well for because I feel they should be rewarded for being cool to people.

I am not an uncoordinated person. I can use tools effectively, but haven't really had to ever do it too much in my life. I don't have any particular interest in fixing things, or working with my hands, but it seems like it may be more gratifying to me as that work seems like "real" work. I get no personal satisfaction in helping my boss make more money. At all. I actually feel used and like a fool.

I don't have a very high mechanical intelligence, but I've also done very little to develop those skills.

I socialize ok, but am much better with blue-collar peer aged or older type people. My environment is essential to my job satisfaction.

I prefer to work independently and "off in my own world" as much as possible

I have a relatively short attention span, so studying things isn't an easy endeavor for me at all.

I have to support myself, so full time school is basically out.

Now the way i figure, I shouldn't be at my current job for too much longer. I do basically nothing, am a total malcontent, and know nothing about the business in which I work. Whatsoever. I'm only still working there because my boss is very very cheap and doesn't want to pay my unemployment, but that time will soon run out.

So should I lose my job, I can go thru unemployment to get trained in something. I think this is a good idea. But what?

What trades are currently in demand? Where can I find such data? What kinds of jobs may be best suited for someone like myself? Any ideas?

Electricians, plumbers, and HVAC technicians often make more money than "professonals," and unless civilization completely collapses they will always be in demand.

The poster above is correct -- services like plumbing, heating and air conditioning repair and maintenance and installation will always be needed, and people in these trades can potentially make extremely good money.

I knew someone who had trained in all those areas, and he could install and repair gas heating, plumbing, and could also install/refurbush homes, such as put in a new kitchen, bathroom, plaster walls, fit cupboard units, sinks, etc.

He said there is crazy money to be made. It can be a "networky" thing to do though -- all these guys knows each other and get each other a lot of work just by recomendation, like someone needs their kitchen refurbished and one guy brings in his friends with all the various different skills. So sometimes to get work in these trades you need to have gotten friendly with other guys in the related trades. But there's also just advertizing your freelance availability too.

Anything where people need someone to build, install, clean or repair anything about the home and home utilities is a surefire job as there's always a need.

My husband has a day job, but slowly over the years has developed an interest in gardening, butchering, growing our own food, etc. (He grew up on a farm and always enjoyed farm work...but his mom laughs now looking at his well kept garden and contrasting it with the arm-twisting that went on when he was told to help in the garden as a child.)

My husband has slowly gotten one item after the other related to doing his own butchering--first started doing his own deer meat as deer processing is so expensive that it is cheaper to buy meat than to pay someone to process your deer. Then he built a smokehouse and slowly acquired a meat grinder, etc. to do more processing. He does pork, chicken, fish, etc. in the smokehouse and would like to do a pig butchering this winter sometime.

Maybe food and butchering is not your thing...but do you have any hobbies that you could slowly build until you have enough skill to "hang out your shingle" as they say? Then you could work on your own and make your hours to suit yourself.

He also dabbles in carpentry if it is simple (he built the smokehouse himself with $50 of lumber seconds from the a local sawmill--for a smokehouse, it didn't have to be pretty or treated lumber). He always says his carpentry looks like a drunken butcher did it, though. Lol.

Your husband is really a handy guy!

Yeah, he is. Sort of the "jack of all trades but master of none" for a long time...but he has found some areas he loves and has built some awesome skills in those...such as the butchering, etc. It is not uncommon to try something he made and have your eyes bug out, it is so good. You can't buy this stuff in a restaurant. It has to come straight out of the smokehouse, to the fire pit, to the table...that kind of awesome. But, in trial and error, he has had his share of errors to find the right recipes, etc.

That is what I would emphasize to the OP from my end of things--find what you love and work at it. It will pay off, I am sure. A trade job of some kind, or butchering/raising produce can be very financially rewarding where we live.

Don't know what kind of land you have available but it doesn't take much land to raise enough to have surplus. We don't sell our surplus--usually store it for winter for ourselves, and then feed family and a few neighbors because we are able to, and they appreciate it. But the local produce farmers with a "truck stand" as they are called, do very well here. We have less than 1 acre and our garden is only a patch in our yard...but with care, we can produce enough vegetables for a year for a family of 5, with lots left over. I almost never buy frozen vegetables. No need; I have them at home in the freezer. If we really wanted to make it pay, we could.

There are so many options. Maybe several--a day job and a side hobby that brings in some extra $$ as well. I think my husband will have plenty to do in his retirement.

See the thing is, I don't have a handyman's mentality. I never wanted to do any hands-on work, but I really need to figure out something, because I'm rapidly coming up to a dead end.

What I was going to do with my future was never something i gave much thought to. When I figured out I had zero interest in college, I just started working. This was obviously when the economy was much better, pre 9-11. So my entire adult life, I could log on to Monster, fill out a few half-assed applications, and would have a job in two to three weeks easy. This is no longer the way things work.

I'm routinely unemployed, though my current job has been for 2.5 years- the longest I've ever worked anywhere by far. But my gaps between jobs have gotten larger and larger. Last time I was out of work for about 16 months, and I was actually trying to find work diligently (or as diligent as I'm personally capable of). I know without an actual skill I will be unemployable very soon.

As I mentioned, I don't do computers. I mean, I can use one effectively to do a job if I get trained. I mean, most jobs I had in the past used some proprietary software I had to learn. And I'm ok in excel. But things change so rapidly and often I can't keep up. I can't even use the last few windows and still use XP on my home computer because the later ones just confuse the hell out of me. I couldn't see myself training in any form of job that will be deeply rooted in continuing to update myself on new technologies and programs. I just can't.

So I arrive at working with my hands. I mean, I never had to, or did, but I'm fairly adept doing other things with my hands so long as fine motor skills aren't too necessary. I would like to figure out something I can learn relatively quickly when my job finally ends. I'd like to find something at a trade school with a focused program. It's really the only other way I can think of to make a living. But it's not a natural fit. But for me, if it's a job, it's likely not a natural fit.

Do you have a local careerlink office or other type of place which helps people find work? You could check with them and see what jobs are most in demand in your area. Then look into training based on that. Or check out local tech schools. Our local high school works with a local technical school on a program where seniors can do a year of tech and graduate high school already trained for a trade. It is a great program IMO. Maybe if you can't find a tech school, a local high school guidance counselor would be able to point you in the right direction.

Not knowing where you are in New Jersey, I googled finding careers in new jersey or some such term and came up with various results, one of which was this office in Newark. It sounds like you would do better talking to a human being than filling out info via a form online and waiting for results (which were a good part of my google search results). I never have great luck with that kind of stuff--I always go to a person if possible as I am poor at forms and paperwork.

http://jobs4jersey.com/jobs4jersey/jobs ... _oscc.html

The following is a link to the New Jersey council of vocational technical schools.

http://www.careertechnj.org/

Hope this helps you find somewhere to start.

I see the CareerTechNJ website allows you to search schools by county, so you should be able to find something fairly local to you.

I worked as a delivery driver for a while. It doesn't take a whole lot of experience and if you really want you can get your CDL and drive a rig. You don't have to socialize to much and make pretty good money. And as long as you get your job done know one really inforces rules.