To jack in my ‘good graduate job’ and change direction at 24?

Careers evolve, they don’t start and end with the ‘good grad job’ you get at the age of 22. If you were my daughter I would be encouraging you to think broadly.

You are well educated and you have some experience under your belt.

I get that London seems daunting - my own daughter felt the same and now she’s taken the leap it’s all turned out ok. As others have said, London is full of young professionals sharing houses or flats and working out what they want their life to look like.

Join LinkedIn if you’re not on there already, check out what your friends and uni colleagues are doing and how did they get there. Use contacts - my daughter took 2 weeks annual leave from her job and spent the time doing some work experience in a company she thought she might like to work for. They offered her a permanent job and she’s glad she took a leap of faith.

If you were my daughter, I’d be telling you that you’re only 24 and should be following your dreams. You’re far too young to be feeling like that going in to work every day considering you probably won’t have a retirement age!

I probably wouldn’t just Jack it in, I would look around for something else, maybe study for something else. Have a good think about what direction you want to go in. Good luck OP. The world is your oyster!

The other thing you could do is move in a different direction.

Good data analysis skills are relevant for lots of careers in the private sector, often with good long term financial prospects.Cybersecurity for example is a growth industry and they are trying to increase the number of women in the sector, I managed to get a free place on a uni accredited evening course for this in Scotland, there may be other opportunities elsewhere.

There’s a huge shortage of Ed Psychs in the public sector. I’d pursue that in your position. Start finding out what the training options are- do your local LA sponsor student EPs?

And also- get yourself on Bumble, have a few dates, see what happens. And join a hobby group. Running? Singing? Knitting? Get out and start making the most of the life you’ve got now whilst also making plans for the one you want.

Psychology could be helpful in marketing/advertising, if that’s of interest at all.

At 24 you really don't need to be stuck for life in a job you hate and a town that no longer meets your need...

It is much easier to change direction when you are young.

I don't think you should aim to stay in a job you hate for 25 years like your father did. That's soul destroying and not something that most people do anyway in the current job market.

Your parents seems to be guilt-tripping you and being 'horrified' and 'devastated' because you simply want to choose your own career, explore your options and live your own life is completely over the top.

Life’s too short… .

Don’t rush, do your research and find out what you want to do. Are your skills transferable to a more attractive job?

Don’t be intimidated by going for a graduate job. Your work experience may be beneficial. I know graduates who are now school leaver apprentices schemes.

Run to, not from. If you don’t, you could end up making a massive mistake. I changed my career at 24 and whilst it’s never made me rich I have had an enjoyable 26 years making a difference. I decided what I liked about old job and what I wanted to be able to do in the new job and off I went.

What do you currently do? Why did that attract you in the first place? What would you like to do now?

Do not impose false constraints upon yourself- at 24 you can go off and do (almost) anything.

Think about what motivates you and what you hate.

There’s no such thing as a perfect job but there are jobs what will suit you more than this one.

@Ponoka7

Go on city breaks, especially up North. It isn't grim up here (I'm in Liverpool) and houses are affordable. There's also lots of fit men. You have no commitments and qualifications that mean you can earn well. You've got to forge your own life.

😆This is excellent advice. The North is beautiful in parts, housing is cheaper (generally speaking) & yes, there are indeed some fit men there.

The other thing I would say is rereading your posts, is that you are clearly very good at what you do, to be offered a role without interviewing and for your boss to clearly want to keep and develop you despite your obvious reservations about the role.

I do wonder how much of this is general life ennui rather than specifically about the job itself.

As I say, book yourself an adventure holiday as a way to dip your toes into what travelling feels like. Then start applying for other roles stilling your inner critic. If you don't get interviews fine, take another approach, but the only point you need to decide if you genuinely want a role or not is when it is offered, and then your gut will tell you loud and clear if it's the right thing for you or not.

Yes, I know that. I was simply using her wording. "The thought of starting over completely feels terrifying though."
Although I'd add she sounds more that "mildly worried".

What is daunting about London?

You said lots of uni friends have moved there so you already have a social starting point.

London is full of 20 somethings in flat shares so you can find a place to live easily.

The job market was graduates with good quantitative degrees really isn't that bad and besides, you now have two years work experience.

Don't rush into living in a quiet small town just because you can buy a house there. Enjoy your youth. Have adventures. Go travelling. Live with some weird housemates. Get lost. Go to a sticky floor dark cellar dive bar. Get a tattoo. Date a handsome but unavailable artist.

You have a decade or more to do that before having a family.

Time to cut the apron strings a bit and be less influenced by what your parents think. They love you but they are flawless, all-knowing super humans. They look at you through the eyes of what they want, not what you want.

Well, in a way you are sorted. You have skipped that phase. You have a good job, and you are at a prime time in your career to move on. You've got an income to live on while you research and apply for the next step.

Is your job office based? Could you move with it? Sorry if I missed that in your posts.

This! Now is a great time to be looking for your next job.

You don't stick on one job for your whole career these days. It's just not how it works for most people!

Did you grow up in quite a cautious family, OP? There’s a lot of ‘it might be hard’ and ‘that awful phase’ etc. 24 is a perfect age to apply for tons of things, have lots of interviews, investigate different routes. Has it occurred to you that pulling pints or serving wine in a nice well chosen bar or gastro pub normally results in meeting a wide range of other people around the same age and stage? You don’t have to work in a massive Wetherspoons or boring old man pub. I earned a ton and learned a ton by waiting tables here, there and everywhere, with the added benefit of learning all the social skills of how to behave when I then was using high-end restaurants for work lunches etc - I always felt comfortable and at home!

This is the perfect age to start throwing things against the wall and see what sticks, and I’d agree that civil service would sound ideal for you as there are SO many potential careers within it and moving jobs and departments is often encouraged. If London is too daunting, they hire in Liverpool, Belfast, Edinburgh, Manchester, and about a million other places. It’s also a safe and secure career, which it sounds like you’ve been brought up to think is paramount.

Also, to allay your own and your parents fears, don’t think ‘oh but what if I went to Liverpool (or wherever), is that really where I want to be forever??!!’. It’s okay to take a punt, get a job, get a house share with other young professionals (who may have nice friends you might want to date) then move on in two years time. Now is the time, you have no ties. Don’t be scared of taking risks, trying new things, going new places. Break it down into chunks, do one bit at a time.

There are many places other than London as well. You say public sector, are you properly Civil Service? Have a look on the recruitment site at what other roles there are, you will find loads not in London, there is a real push to move to other parts of the country tbh.

Don't rashly give up your job and move. But you are 24, at the very start of your working life! Travel, move towns, change jobs, you can do all these things.

To me it sounds like you need new hobbies & interests outside of work

I would suggest some volunteering & joining some hobby groups where you meet new people.
This is how I have met more people.

Do you have any uni friends or old flat mates that you can go & visit ?

Secondly, this is your life, it is nothing to do with your parents.

Seems a lot about your parents and keeping them happy in your posts.

stop talking to them about it. You are allowed to travel and to change jobs and live in London. Don’t let their expectations stop you. Say ‘thanks but it is my life and I will handle the regrets’

at 22 your life sounds very boring! Get a plan together to re train or travel or move to London. Start today !!!! This time next year your life could be wildly different !

What do you like doing? What are your interests and hobbies?

You are so young and have plenty of time to train for something completely different.

I am boring and have only ever worked in education, but have friends who have had such a wide variety of jobs.

Friend 1 - was arty at school, did an art course, then stage design and worked in theatre, then did office/secretarial jobs, then worked in hospitality. Ten years ago she trained to be a paramedic and she loves it, has finally found her niche.

Friend 2 - musical family, did music teaching degree but just didn't enjoy the career. Switched completely and trained as a midwife, worked in NHS for about 10 years, got married, had kids, got divorced. Aged nearly 40, trained to be a member of the clergy and is now happily the priest-in-charge of a group of country churches.

You may find yourself at 40 on a completely different path to the one you are on now. You only have one life, don't waste it in a job you hate just to please your parents. You are the perfect age to train for anything new.

I'd take 6 months out, do some travelling, see some of the world, meet new people. On return look for jobs in Northern cities. Or do your sums and see if you could make London work.

24 years old is way too young to be committed to a boring job and lifestyle.

I see a therapist. I’m a woman in my fifties with four degrees who has lived and worked all over the world , have a demanding career, a son and husband, a lot of complex life experiences including some traumatic ACEs. What on earth could a naive 24 year old who gives a lot of weight to her parents’ opinions bring to me as a therapist?

OP, your life currently sounds extremely depressing, and I definitely think you should change it. Stop listening to your parents — if I’d listened to mine I’d have left school at 15 and done hairdressing and believed ‘university is only for posh people ’. And while I agree with pps that you should use your current job to its utmost while planning your next step, building up a fund to carry you through etc, I think you should also think about the fact that you chose this because it was easy and avoided change, difficulty, uncertainty, effort and new experiences. You’re 24. This is the time to embrace uncertainty, newness.

(Also, I think you should think about why it wasn’t obvious to you that staying on in your student town after graduation was always going to be demoralising?)

It definitely sounds like the job is not for you. I read the description and I would love to be doing something like that, but you either have a passion for numbers and stats or you don't.

It sounds like it's not just the job that you're struggling with though, it's living in a small town and settling with your DPs ambitions rather than your own.

Why don't you book yourself on an Exodus type adventure holiday with other young people to somewhere far flung for a couple of weeks? It sounds like you really need to start stretching your boundaries and a holiday is a safe way to do that.

I would worry slightly with the TEFL that you're throwing away everything and it doesn't sound with the PGCE that it's something you particularly want to do.

The other thing I would say - and I am probably closer to your DPs age than yours - is that whilst it's important not to do a job you hate, there is something in the compromise of doing what you love and paying the bills. Some lucky people do what they love, the rest of us do something we're good at and don't hate. I am not saying you should stay in current job though.

What about retraining in something like Occupational Therapy or as a Physiotherapist? So many different roles, job shortages in most places. A fairly decent salary once you have a few years experience £50K in London but more in private organisations and some potential for private practice too.

Physio teams tend to have quite a few young male workers too so there might be social/romantic opportunities. Also it's a role where you feel you are doing some good for people so can be personally fulfilling too.