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.

@Moranne

Hi OP I will go through and RTFT properly soon, but just wanted to send you some solidarity. I am also 40, successful academic with feelings of inferiority and have lost all my initial enthusiasm for the job, traits of Aspergers, retrained as a counsellor but not using it and I often feel lost, lacking in ambition and wondering how on earth do I figure out my next step when I just don't feel any drive to. Not to be too morbid, but let's just say that the idea of death has definitely lost its sting.

Thank you SO much for this post, Moranne, and sorry you are going through similar. The traits make it very hard indeed, and overwhelming. I wish you the very best of luck

The Civil Service is on a drive to recruit more people with scientific backgrounds and specialisms - it is a feature that has been identified since the early summer so brand new and uppermost in team leaders' thoughts. You might find you're pushing at an open door!

And much of the stuff government does is fascinating from pysch POV. How do you (random examples off top of head...) persuade people to download a track and trace app? Or to fill in a census form correctly and not deliberately muck it up just because they think it's all Big Brother? What is the best way to present new environmental schemes to farmers? Or to 'sell' electric cars to petrolheads? If you're designing a new benefits policy, how do you make it as fair and acccessible as possible to people who have no access to the internet or are otherwise disadvantaged? On education - could you have thought of a better way to approach the A level nightmare? After all, hasn't giving everyone in 2020 a uni place put an unfair squeeze on the 2021 cohort? Etc etc.

Agree with PP that once you're in it is common/encouraged to move around a lot (although the moving around element is also doing looked at, because often it's happening as the only way to get promotion and as a result important corporate knowledge is being lost). There are websites that explain the interview process - it is rigid but if you prep in advance you will recognise exactly what is being asked of you.

I'd have a good poke around, set filters for G7 or SEO/HEO level policy jobs and see if anything catches your eye. You might consider stakeholder or strategic Comms posts in eg DHSC (they're quite busy I reckon) or the new PHE. Or any other department. It's a boom field. You're good at communicating, you're confident talking to people, you're mature, you can write and spell, good grammar etc. Massively overqualified but foot in door and whole new world?

GreyGoose1980

I’ve applied for a couple of these, but have not made the shortlist each time.

Yes, I think it’s teaching that I’m fed up with. The universities I am associated with will not be running my courses as face to face ones.
My research record is such that I wouldn’t be considered for AL posts any more, but I think I’m at the stage where I don’t really want to carry on in the field.

Thanks for luck!

@NoWorkInProgress - but you don’t “just want a job”, you are clearly looking for something you can feel enthusiastic about, that gives you some energy back and gives you a sense of purpose. You may not be peri menopausal, but you certainly sound it!

I’m not very good at statistics
(not good at writing, can't do anything really...)

Not truly aggressively, but omg I want to thwack you round the back of the head, OP. How do you get a PhD in psychology & be rubbish at both writing & stats? I don't believe you. You are talking down your skills and ability. STOP IT. Stop seeing obstacles. Your problem isn't your skillset or lack thereof, your problem is inability to see opportunities.

Sensible not to out yourself here, so although I can offer to look at your CV,* You may have better option to ask the careers councillor at any past Uni you got your degrees from for help (they help alumni forever at my institution).

*I work in academia & with psychologists...

My DH did his degree late and is now in the Civil Service through the graduate recruitment scheme. He finds them a really good employer.

@NoWorkInProgress - how important is flexibility and time to explore/rediscover unpaid interests that give your life meaning; how important is income (does your current online teaching not give you sufficient income, or is the greater problem the boredom and lack of challenge?); how important is novelty in the role? Eg would teaching the teachers, or training rather than lecturing be too similar? What do you still enjoy that you would want to retain in any new role?

[quote Walkaround]@NoWorkInProgress - but you don’t “just want a job”, you are clearly looking for something you can feel enthusiastic about, that gives you some energy back and gives you a sense of purpose. You may not be peri menopausal, but you certainly sound it![/quote]
Dunno, Walkaround, right now I’d be happy to just have a job! Some security would be good. I guess you have to set a bar somewhere. I’m amazed by the high powered suggestions that are on here! I don’t have any symptoms of being perimenopausal, just general dissatisfaction with work!

I'm also going to suggest HR but more the occupational health element. Many multinationals are looking at internal culture, team buildings, mental health, work life balance etc. Post COVID is a good time to break in.

Being part of a team that changes practice to benefit individuals within the company sounds like it could be a good fit, especially with your training experience.

And if you were in a well paying vertical, such as energy or pharma or insurance, you'd not take too much of a pay hit

Depending on what your area is but what about human factors and investigations? I work in the energy sector as a recent graduate and this is a pretty big field as things can go wrong and it's psychologists they look for. They look for the "why" did a human make that mistake or was it the environment that caused them to do it.

I would check out the the Charted Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors www.ergonomics.org.uk/

I don’t know if anyone has already suggested this but how about a non-teaching role in FE or HE? There are different tiers of administrative staff and also work in departments like Quality etc. You have vast experience of working with students and in the college environment and could tweak your CV to fit the other bits. Not amazingly well paid but there’s often room for progression if you want it.

What are you tired of with respect to teaching? It sounds like you have been good at it, so what else can you do with those skills?

Is it teaching teens and adults in large groups that you are tired of? Or have you done a lot of 1-1 online recently that has worn you down? I noticed you said children aren't really your thing, but I've ended up working with sometimes quite young children 1-1 and find it very different to groups. (music teaching in my case just now but have done other tutoring in the past)

My mother "fell into" remedial teaching and found her psychology training immensely helpful for this (though, she'd predominantly done child and family work, this was before higher qualifications for psych registration came in too). How much educational psych exposure have you had? Being able to understand an ed psych report and plan how to work with a child with specific learning difficulties could be something you could do. There are a lot of "programmes" and training about for helping children with reading and maths skills etc, but to be honest my mother's great strength was her ability to individualise the work she did; over the decades she saw so many things go in and out of fashion ... Mostly she worked privately. This is the sort of work you could also do in a SEND capacity within schools. (do feel free to PM me if this sounds at all relevant)

Another area I've come across (mainly because I need someone to do this with me!!) is decluttering / home organising. If that appeals, I get the impression that there is at least some market at the higher paying end that you could work towards for decent income. Your understanding of mental health issues would help without being quite the same as counselling work.

People who've posted about civil service jobs - I'm also interested in policy development work but with no idea how I would start to move into it. Their application structure scares me to be honest. Is there any way you can get advice and guidance to help work out how (and whether!) to position yourself in applying to the civil service?

You might also like to have a look at the National Careers Service - it has stuff about retraining as well as advice for 8 yr olds ... it could be so much better in my opinion but it’s worth a browse ... nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/

Just taking a breather to say OMG huge thanks for all your lovely replies! I can’t believe how much energy this thread has generated.

THANK YOU

Advice for 18 year olds ! Not 8 yr olds !! 😂😂😂

You could consider care work OP, at least to pay the bills whilst you work out something else.

With regard to you saying you're not a good researcher etc. etc., academia has become an extremely tough field in the past 25 years. You would not have been able to have a career in it at all if you were not good at what you do.

Octopus37

I’m sorry you are going through the same. I suspect there are quite a few of us out here with “-ologies” who have ended up in these freelance roles. It sounds like you really have had a struggle. Sorry to hear about this. I imagine that the face blindness doesn’t help much, either. I wish you all the best

Another academic here but I work in professional services now. Wishing you all the best OP. Lots of interesting suggestions here which I've found interesting so thanks for starting the thread. I am in the throes of the perimenopause and am struggling with work direction and motivation for that reason and due to burnout from wider family issues. Look after yourself and I hope the path becomes clearer for you.

@SuzieCarmichael

Advice for 18 year olds ! Not 8 yr olds !! 😂😂😂

Thank you for the recommendation. I’ll have a good look...

How about care work OP?
It's easy to find at the moment and could be very rewarding.

Thank you Lisette1940
Sorry you’re in the same sort of position, wish you all the best

I have read the thread (as sometimes have similar feelings) and 2 things jumped out. First, I think you need to list all the positives about you and your working life- your quals are impeccable, you have loads of online experience (really important right now) etc- with no "buts" allowed - sell yourself to you. I also think you need to think about whether you want your career to be inside or outside an academic role - and if outside completely rewrite your CV and rethink the way you sell yourself. I've done professional service recruitment in HE before and an ex-academic can be a very valuable candidate (has on the ground experience of the issues) but not if they come across as burnt out and out of options. Lastly, give yourself a break and remember you are surviving a pandemic! I also spend hours sitting in front of my laptop right now & my job has got much worse (thankful for it though) - some of what you're feeling is what a lot of people are feeling, we're still in it, and just surviving is fine for now.

@MilerVino

You could consider care work OP, at least to pay the bills whilst you work out something else.

With regard to you saying you're not a good researcher etc. etc., academia has become an extremely tough field in the past 25 years. You would not have been able to have a career in it at all if you were not good at what you do.

(Also for Snog)

I don’t think I am interested in care work, but thank you for the suggestion...

Regarding academia - I found a very strategic way of doing the parts that I am good at, only! Sadly it’s not enough. Long (and outing) story. Thank you!

Thanks NoWork you come across as a really lovely person 💐

@Pythonesque DH says that specific roles are often internal only. He suggests the graduate entry route to most people. He was older than most but he's respected and has moved roles (without moving offices) as often as he's wanted to.