Who is going to employ a 40-something, burnt out academic?

[NoWorkInProgress]

How have I ended up with almost no work? My days are so dull and dire. I feel I’m wasting my life away. There must SOMEONE out there who would employ me?

I have a degree & PhD in Psychology. I drifted into it, and ended up as in a senior position as a lecturer in a good university after a few years as a postdoc. I struggled a lot in academia. My ex worked full time, too, and I was juggling kids. Plus I have ASD, it was a difficult environment. So I quit my post and reconceptualised it - did freelance work. This was successful for several years and the short term contracts suited me well. I gave a lot of tutorials, ran courses on a short term contracts, taught online, and even got involved in some creative projects involving various charities. It was great while the DCs were growing up.

Fast forward a few years. I’m divorced, my DCs are teens, and I’m left with the online work only. I am too worn out to give lectures. I can’t keep up with the new research, and it feels like a performance art that I can’t do any more. My online work is not fulfilling any more. It’s the same thing every term. I run it with my eyes shut.

How do I get out of this? I am panicking. I did a counselling course a few years ago, but it’s not for me. I can’t afford to retrain. I’ve applied for non research posts at local universities but get nowhere with those.

I am now pretty distressed! Who is going to employ a 40-something, burnt out academic of yesteryear?!!

Has anyone else been in my position? I’m so scared.

@latticechaos

Yes - I was worried that I was coming across as negative to everyone’s suggestions. However, a lot of the suggestions have been mental health related and it’s not the sort of psychology I do, or suggestions have been about psychology itself. I feel done with the area, and with teaching it. And I really am not good at crafts/eBay/sports!

I just need a realistic plan. I think I’m already doing what you propose - this is the job I have for now, this is the cash I’m making, and this is the time I’m using to think...Tgere has been a lot of thinking time. It just feels like I’ve hit a wall, with no sense of creativity.

@tara66

A stab in the dark - what about something in HR? Supposed to be a ''growing field''.

It’s a possibility, thanks Tara. I think it might mean retraining? Will have a look.

[quote PaddingtonsHat]@speakout nailed it- you need to deal with the burnout and your mental health before you do anything life changing.
Be kind to yourself.[/quote]
Thank you, Paddington. I don’t feel too bad. I had some counselling and my mental health feels in a reasonably good place. It feels like this is the time for a shift!

You could move into the corporate world? For example someone I know has a PhD in Psychology and manages the Behavoural Research Unit at a large reinsurance company.

Have you looked at civil service or defra for EU Exit roles or the temporary COVID management type roles. There’s been several generic type adverts. They like natural leaders and those who can sift through policy type documents skills you sound like you have.

Also as an aside don’t discount your age and peri-menopausal hormones impacting how you feel in terms of panicking or lack of focus or imposter stuff. I’ve seen several friends all hit this period in life and get it without realising our flipping hormones have a lot to answer for. In my case HRT and cleaner eating is helping alot to improve my general well-being. Good luck.

@totallyyesno

What a lovely positive thread. I had no idea that some of these jobs even existed. I also have PhD (never "used"), imposter syndrome and am sick of teaching so thanks for starting this discussion. Good luck!

Thank you, Totally! I’m glad you think the thread is positive. It has been great to think through some of these different jobs. Hope you find something that makes you happy

It does sound like you need to worn on mindset and find what would interest you . There are a lot of books, podcasts etc. I listened to one , it was for creatives but relevant for anyone . It said think back to what interested you when you were 12 and under . What were you drawn to , what excited or interested you, before you cared what others thought .

@Minta85

You could move into the corporate world? For example someone I know has a PhD in Psychology and manages the Behavoural Research Unit at a large reinsurance company.

Yes, I was wondering this, Minta, thanks. I wonder how one would make that move? I wonder where to look for this sort of role? Hmm.

You can set up job alerts on LinkedIn by searching for job types and locations you’re interested in, and then job adverts are emailed to you.

Hmm the natural leader thing makes me wonder if you'd do well in the civil service. Plenty of areas to choose from, develop and driving forward policies and strategies etc. The civil service is very good about taking people from other walks of life as well, and your psychological expertise would definitely come in handy for dealing with stakeholders. They also have social science posts as well...I know you said you don't think you're a good researcher but who are you comparing yourself too? You've done a phd and then worked in the field for years so you can't be that bad! I wonder if it might help your imposter syndrome to think back to good feedback you've had. I have a problem with myself and keep a little diary of all the good feedback I've ever received. Sounds a bit narcisistic but it really helps being me up when my brain is pulling me down.

@TriSkiRun99

Yes, I looked at civil service but I’m not very good at statistics, which seemed core to those posts. Do you think I would be able to walk into a management type role? It seems so far from what I do now. I will look at defra, too. I don’t know where to look for those sorts of adverts.

Also as an aside don’t discount your age and peri-menopausal hormones impacting how you feel in terms of panicking or lack of focus or imposter stuff.

I’m not peri-menopausal but I’m worried about the age thing and the employment market. I’ll be competing with all these recent graduates. Not good. The imposter thing goes waaay back to my university days.

@Minta85

You can set up job alerts on LinkedIn by searching for job types and locations you’re interested in, and then job adverts are emailed to you.

Thank you... of course! I already have this set up, but of course it’s linked to psychology/education posts. I will change it!

What would happen if you were to rent out your house and relocate somewhere cheaper and completely different? While you are there, work in a shop, office or anywhere that gets you out and about.
Don't think about psychology for at least six months. You may find that your interest comes back.

I should've said as well that psychological knowledge will also be useful for policy development....lots of focus on behavioural sciences in gvt!

Thanks, @metalkprettyoneday

It‘s fair to say that I need to find my interests again. All I’ve done is talk brains and minds for the past 25 years. I’ll look at some podcasts. When I was 12 I wanted to be a spy 😂 Not sure about that one...

Charities are crying out for trustees with good skills and experience. In many it is very fulfilling, especially as chair, you can really make a difference. You could then use the online work to pay the bills and trustee ship to get fulfillment and knowledge of a different area. Obviously no pay but usually some expenses. Or justice of the peace/ magistrate/ children's panel depending on country. Fostering for challenging kids as a random suggestion!

Lots of larger firms have a psychology aspect to their HR teams as they use assessments as part of recruitment. There is a qualification to do to become able to use and evaluate the assessments.

MI5 and MI6 advertise their vacancies. Check their websites

EU exit stuff you don’t to be good at statistics it’s more can you sift through written information (policy or EU legislation type stuff), can you think strategically can you ask questions others may not have considered. Can you juggle a few different work projects at once. Or can you help lead and manage others to do this. That’s what Defra/Civil service roles are more looking for. Strategic thinking is more key. Someone with a different perspective but with a high level of education is what they look for.

I haven’t read the whole thread, but ex academic here and it was partly imposter syndrome that drove me out. I was late 30s and people told me that I was crazy for walking away from a permanent contract at a RG uni
I did find another job, with a small charity, taking a huge pay cut and I’m still here, whilst having some counselling to figure out what’s next for me. Would this be an option for you?
I enjoy my job, but it doesn’t really fulfil me and I accept it’s not a long term venture. Until I figure out what really makes me tick, it’s where I need to be for now

Lots of jobs opening up to remote working, I'm mid 40s and just took a maternity leave job with an organisation I am passionate about but it is the other end of the country and would never previously been able to. I'm hoping it will lead on to other options there but if not at least I tried.

Look at the civil service jobs site, you can set up alerts etc. I wouldn't restrict your search to one department unless you know you only want to work in that area. Even then, once you're in the civil service people move around a lot and there are lots of jobs that are only advertised internally.

For management roles, you're looking at minimum SEO grade (who sometimes manage 1/2 people in my experience), but probably ideally grade 7 (who normally manage at least a couple of people). I think you could definitely get an SEO role, and may be able to get a grade 7 role if you can sell yourself in the right way. They may expect some policy experience for a G7 though which might be difficult to show. The CS is very mobile though so if you do get in at SEO and then get the policy experience, there will be plenty of G7 jobs to apply for. The pay is slight less outside London and varies by dept but SEO in London is about 40k, G7 about 50k (couple of depts are higher). There's more levels above that of course if you wanted to progress!

Just so you know Civil service recruitment is very particular - they use success profiles and ask 'behaviour based' questions. It's worth reading up on!

Thank you, Alez. Interesting that the civil service has come up so much in this thread. When I looked into it, it seemed that a strength in statistics was needed for those social science posts. This is one of my weakest areas. I’m not a very good researcher. I managed to hold it together for my PhD but during my post docs it was clear that I’m not a good researcher. Those skills are not my forte. I’m good at coming up with research ideas but not so good at executing them or at doing all those things you need to when running a research lab. I found a way, through teaching, of using the boys of the area without needing to do research.

Interesting what you suggest about looking back over feedback! Mine indicates a passion for the subject, but I’m feeling worn out in its delivery. I get great student feedback, but I feel done with teaching.

I made a late career change and just had to be very pragmatic - what work is out there? I looked for a field where I knew they were hiring, didn't involve years of training, and would fit in with my life. I stayed in that new career for 15 years and then eased into something else less stressful eventually, which I've now been doing for a number of years.
So I would recommend not only thinking about what you would like to do, but also what - in this mad time - is going to available.

Would you be interested in doing a journalism course? There seem to be hundreds of popular psychology articles in newspapers/magazines/online, and most are clearly written by people with no specialist knowledge.