How do answer this question about my degree/ in an interview?

[personalized]

I have a degree in a healthcare care profession. after graduation I would have needed to do a years pre reg training / exams to have qualified but I didn't.

Long story but I had a very very tough time at university with mental health issues. I couldn't find a placement after graduating and just wanted to quit as I felt the profession wasn't for me. I had zero support from family. I didn't get to choose my course subject. It was "chosen" for me. (Whole other thread!) I got a really hard time from my family about it and it was just awful. I didn't want anything to do with my degree. It left me traumatised.

Anyway in interviews, I usually never get asked about it as they've just stuck to the set questions and I've never needed to talk about my education.

However, I've applied for a job where certain knowledge about health/ biology/ medical terminology is useful and I will like to mention my degree subject which has covered this. My issue is what do I tell them when they inevitably ask me why I didn't pursue that career Further? I don't want to mention my mental health problems I had at that time. What can I say?

Is it Pharmacy or Dentistry? If so a lot of talented grads drop out before the pre-reg when they realise they now face a lifetime working in the same job, at the same level, at a hospital / Boots. You could just say you enjoyed the degree, the subject, but felt it wasn’t the right option careerwise.

I have a chemistry PhD and am an accountant. I get asked at every interview why I changed and am completely honest that I was so sick of it by the time I finished the three years that I could cheerfully have thrown all the kit out of a window and danced on it. It wasn’t what I’d expected and I was frustrated. Nobody has ever blinked (or not given me the job). So I would go with ‘it wasn’t what I’d expected and whilst there were elements I enjoyed I didn’t want to do it as a career’ or some such. We ask people to make these decisions very young (good luck telling me that at 18) and many many people change their minds for all kinds of reasons. Don’t fret...it’s useful that you have the knowledge rather than negative that you didn’t do the full career.

Hello, I think I would just be honest and say that you learned and grew a lot during your degree and you made the decision after qualifying that following that career wasn’t what you wanted, and then swiftly turn the subject to what you DO want to do and how good you will be at it because you have x, y, z skills and learned x, y, z during your degree.

I think reading between the lines you have a medical degree but didn’t want to work in medicine, if so I can tell you this isn’t at all unusual (doctor myself) I know lots of people who have changed direction along the way and done all kinds of other things. If the interview is in a related field you may find some of them have a clinical background themselves. I don’t think you need to mention your family or your mental health if you don’t want to, I would just focus on the positives and say it was a great learning experience and you gained a lot of skills which you will be keen to use in this new field. Medical degrees have a lot of transferable skills (organisation, dedication, people skills, team work, communication) and I would play those up. Good luck!

Teddybear45 it's not either of them but close! I feel really embarrassed telling people as I have mainly received sniggers and laughter when I've told people I have this degree but didnt pursue it further. If the subject comes up I tell ppl I have only a levels. I'm that embarrassed by it.

Are you embarrassed by the actual degree or your decision not to pursue a related career?

If you mention that you realised during the degree that it wasn’t the career you wanted to pursue then you can actually spin it as showing how committed you are to seeing things through even when they are difficult and not exciting.

So, during the course of my degree I realised this wasn’t the field
I wanted to work in but I knew that I was gaining many less direct skills and felt it was important to continue and complete my degree. I learnt about (communication, organisation, managing others etc) and those skills will be hugely useful
In this role.
I have taken time after my degree to evaluate what it is I would
Like to do and feel this role
You are offering will be a great fit for me.

Is it optometry by any chance? If so ivy known a couple of people who didn’t complete the pre reg year for different reasons. Both went into other careers.

Thank you. There's so many great suggestions I can use. It's been really used useful.

MsLucyHoneychurch I'm embarrassed that I didn't pursue it not the actual degree I guess it was because I felt so shamed by my family. I've come to hate ever having done it.

Similar thing here, I just say that whilst I loved the subject, 3 years of studying it was enough to tell me that I had no desire to do it for a living.

OP - are you sure you're not imagining the laughter and sniggers. I trained to be a teacher, hated it so much that I didn't do my NQT year. No-one bats an eyelid if I tell them. My parents were teachers so as a naive 18 year old, I didn't think it through properly.

MsLucyHoneychurch I wish I was imagining it! It was more straight after uni that I experienced it mainly from extended family but haven't had that for a long time. People at work haven't batted an eyelid. My family vilified me for turning my back on my degree. It was utterly awful.

I was in a similar position with my degree (different field) and I always got asked why I didn’t continue on. The real reason was my family were not wealthy and I had no connections, which at the time you needed in order to be successful. So I used to respond that I felt as though I didn’t know much about what else was ‘out there’ having gone straight from A-Levels to degree, and before committing a large amount of time and money to the next step I wanted to explore what other options there were and learn more about how businesses work.

I worked in HR/Recruitment for a while and I can assure you lots of people change the course of their career. So please don’t worry!

Just an update. I had the interview today and as I predicted the question about my degree came up. I used some of the useful suggestions about not what I wanted though I learnt useful transferable skills etc etc. The interviewers, particularly one was very very "why on earth would you quit?!" and came to the conclusion that I obviously had problems with committment. She mentioned it again at the end saying she wasn't sure about me as how could I have given up such a good chance. It seemed she was basing alot of what I'm like on that and the fact that I haven't gone on to have a glittering career. I'm a bit upset really. If my degree was in day History she wouldn't have come to conclusions about me.

That sounds like such a weird thing to say as an interviewer. She sounds a bit odd.

It's good she gave you the opportunity to address it I suppose.

SuperLoudPoppingAction yes the other interviewers were not so bad about it but the other one had definitely made a judgement about me based on that.

I wish you could say what degree it is and what you're applying for as we may be able to help think it through for the future.

I would say you handled that fine. What a terribly unprofessional thing to say to an interviewee! I think it's quite normal for people to complete degrees but realise they want to take a different path in their careers and to not ever apply that degree in a direct sense (of course, you use it though as that experience continues to inform the choices you make thereafter, which isn't a bad thing at all!). I work in Higher Ed, so I wouldn't find that to be odd at all. My dh in fact did a degree in Marketing. He worked for a year in a IT job, quit and started his own business, which has absolutely nothing to do with IT. He obviously uses some marketing skills as everyone who works for themselves must, but he never pursued work in the field he was trained in (IT). He is now in a creative/artistic field.

I would brush yourself off and try not to focus too much on one person's bad interviewing skills. It sounds like you tackled it the best way you could. Good luck with the job search. Hopefully if this wasn't the right one, then the right one comes along soon.

You’ve still got the degree! I dropped out of university, and occasionally get asked in interviews what happened. I just say I was 21, I thought I knew better than everyone else and I had to work very hard through my 20s to recover the lost ground. I don’t think it has ever counted against me, and I failed. You didn’t- just tell them it wasn’t the right direction for you.

OVienna it's too outing! After my degree I'd have needed to do a training year/ exams then I'd be qualified.

I have then gone into low paid basic admin jobs. I think this is what makes people even more in disbelief/ thinking I'm stupid for giving up my degree. It's like people are saying you gave up having a really good job to be an admin worker! What on earth is wrong with you?! Alot of people I've encountered unfortunately do think like this but in interviews I have only been asked about it one other time and they were very professional about it and moved on unlike the woman today.

Doobigetta thank you, however I very much do feel like a failure! I honestly wish I never even had this degree as things like this wouldn't pop up. I feel like it's used against me/ used to judge me. I mean the woman saying I'm not committed is so far from.the truth. I am very committed to every role I've had. I'm very hard working and have always had positive feedback from managers etc.

I graduated with a vocational degree- I've only ever been asked about it once in interview and I tell the truth. I chose my university course at 16 but by the time I graduated I knew it wasnt what I wanted to do. However, it gave me skills and work experience I wouldn't have got otherwise.

When do you hear if you got the job?

Queenbetty can I ask what your degree was if you don't mind saying. Also what career did you then pursue?

I'll PM you- it's really outing!

It sounds like architecture! I think it's really short sighted of an interviewer to judge you on not completing the extra year. It's so common for people to work in an area completely unrelated to their degree subject!

showmethegin exactly ! Tbh it put me off working there!