Changing career later in life

[minkies11]

Has anyone else decided to radically change career in their early 40's? I am trying to go from accountancy (can't stick it any longer - get panicky feelings and imposter syndrome thoughts when I go for jobs) to re-training in psychology with a thought to counselling/clinical route. Polar opposites I know but can't summon any enthusiasm for numbers any more

I’ve been reconsidering training in counselling psychology as have a psychology degree, but it’s such a slog. You need a years work experience to even get on a course. Then the course itself for a couple of years. So that’s 3 years of not earning and paying for a course. Then you start and earn about £25k....which is about a third of my current salary.......I’m early 40’s too but just can’t see how it can be done

I'm in the process of doing this. I've just turned 40 and last year I started a 4 year degree course in speech and language therapy after having quite the industry I'd been in for close to 2 decades. It's not easy being a student again, but one of the best decisions I've ever made.

Not me, but my sister decided in her late 30’s that she wanted to be a lawyer. She had a young DS at the time and we thought she was nuts! She went back to Uni and did a degree conversion (I think that’s what it’s called!). She graduated at the age of 40 and was student of the year. She then worked in a couple of law firms, was made partner within a couple of years then decided to start up her own business. She now has her own VERY successful law firm and has won lots of awards. She’s still only 55 and we are incredibly proud of her! It was a huge amount of hard work for her and she sacrificed a lot but it certainly paid off for her.

Good luck, OP and counselling is a great choice in that: maturity is absolutely an asset, many people do it as a 2nd or even 3rd career, and you could perhaps workpart-time whilst training.That said, it’s emotionally very demanding and you need to be determined and have a vocation to make it worthwhile (as with any course of study). If you love it, it’s life-changing. Good luck!

Thanks for the positive messages! I am glad to hear from people who have done similar . Was a bit worried about the old dog/new tricks haha but am happy I've made the plunge.

I’m currently trying really hard to think of what to do and failing. I can’t take time out during the day to train in anything so would need an evening or weekend course that doesn’t cost thousands. Then there’s the issue of actual experience. Funnily I saw evening courses in what I assume to be basic accountancy and bookkeeping but I wondered if they would only lead to basic salaries. I need to be looking at more like £30000 starting salary.

Hmmwhatyodo - you could start with AAT. I'm pretty sure you can self study and its a brilliant entry into accountancy and a qualification in its own right.

Sorry Hmmwhatatodo made a complete hash of typing your name there pmsl

Thank you Minkies. I’m guessing I probably wouldn’t earn much with the starter qualification? I work in a totally unrelated background and have never done any kind of office work. I considered something to do with finances as so many people on here who seem to earn megabucks seem to have something to do with finance or IT, neither of which I have experience in. Can I ask more about why you want to leave?

Hah! Didn’t even notice the mix up, I kind of like it!

I literally started out for the reasons you just listed - finance guys are minted right? I worked in a clothes shop when I decided and had never been in an office. Now it's 13 years on and I've made my financial situation better so want to do something I genuinely have interest in. Sounds very mercenary but had to make a decent wage and I'm not the smartest but was motivated! If you want a start in accountancy AAT offer different levels - depending where you live you should be able to get a decent starting wage. It also allows you to do further study like ACCA or CIMA which will earn you more. I'll still be doing finance for another couple of years (damn) but it was never a passion of mine and I don't get a lot of job satisfaction from it. If my 'new career' goes tits up its something to fall back on

I just don’t understand how people can support themselves whilst retraining. I earn a pretty decent salary (c.£70k) and can’t teallt survive losing that...

Being older is a real asset for counsellor training. It's a largely unregulated profession, with lots of different courses; full time, part time, evening, diploma, degree. Later on in your training you'd also need time for weekly personal therapy (50 minutes) and placements (only a few hours per week). Both of these can often be done outside of normal working hours.

It's life changing, fascinating, scary but amazing.

@nicenewdusters all the professional qualifications I found were for 1 or 2 days a week. Nothing evening only - can you direct me? Am in London

Gimmee There are a huge range of courses, so this is just my experience.The evening course lasts about three months and is a basic entry level qualification. From there the next level is about 20 weeks, one day a week. After that a two year diploma is one day a week plus the personal therapy and work (voluntary) placements.

Or you could consider a foundation degree or degree, which might be one or two days a week. I'd start by looking at the prospectus of your nearest colleges, universities. See what courses they offer, what funding etc. Some courses offer a broad approach to counselling, others specialise from the start, such as psychodynamic or humanistic. Personally I'd go for a broad approach.

Thanks for your advice Minkie. At the moment I’m looking at apprenticeships paying 2-300 a week so not a lot and some want Maths a level which I don’t have. Also looked on the AAT site that suggests lowest pay not even £30k a year so hmm. What else can I consider 😬

You could consider acca or cima...you can self study with those courses so you just pay membership course books and exams fees. But it is tough. It's technical and quite hard on your own - AAT makes it easier to understand some concepts and you can get exam exemptions on both acca and cima (from memory). Once you are part-qualified with either acca or cima your salary goes up. Or go self employed like I did!

nicenewdusters I have a degree so the conversion MA to Psych Counselling is next step and that’s a whole day a week. Never mind