A thread for those of us who tried who have a career change but didn’t manage to

[123stay]

I’ve considered writing this post for a while, and was finally inspired to do so by the thread about not being happy with where you’ve ended up in life.

Please bear in mind this is mainly a mental health and personal support thread, NOT a job hunting advice thread. Please don’t give unsolicited advice or tell me to update my CV or go on LinkedIn etc. I’m not interested any more.

The point of this thread is that when we’re hear about people having career changes, or studying or retraining to get a new job etc, we only hear about the successful ones. But I’m convinced there’s lots of other people out there who tried but failed.

After years of employers asking why I didn’t have a degree, I went and studied later in life. I did very well at uni, but was unable to get a graduate job because most employers just aren’t set up to deal with mature graduates, unless you want to be a teacher. I applied for so many things, went to networking events etc, the ones with application forms were too rigid for my non-traditional situation, a lot of employers want people with masters degrees now, and so many other barriers.

We’re constantly told that we can change our lives through education. There is a huge amount of privilege involved in telling someone that if you don’t like your job, go and get another one instead. It’s not that easy.

I still do the same type of work as before, because it’s all I could get. I just wanted to know that I’m not alone.

It's fairly obvious that if you choose to go back to the bottom of the ladder in a new career, you're not going to command the same salary or conditions as in an established career.

That’s not the case if you’re currently in a minimum wage or low end job. Some of us who wanted to change career were doing it from having low end jobs in the first place, which is why we wanted to change our lives.

And it’s about how universities advertise themselves, especially the ones with a lot of local, mature students and they tell you how they can change your life. All the way through uni, my whole group of friends were all quite excited about how we could move on to bigger and better things because that’s what we’d been told would happen. But I don’t think it happened for any of us.

If this is intended as a mental health support thread, I don't think feeding each other's sense of sorrow or injustice is helpful.

It’s absolutely helpful, because we’re showing each other that we’re not alone, and that our situation is normal, which not everyone may realise if they haven’t talked to anyone else about it. I have requested no unsolicited job hunting advice because all of us here have already tried very hard, but it has to stop somewhere and you have to decide when to call it a day, so we’re no longer looking.

Yes, it's sad and disappointing that something you were excited about and invested in didn't work out. You have every right to feel that for a little while before picking yourself back up. But that doesn't mean it's all a conspiracy.

Nobody said it was a conspiracy. Lots of products or lifestyles are oversold or greatly exaggerated in advertising. You don’t need to be a conspiracy theorist to see that.

I saw this thread as a safe place for me to express my sorrow @quarrelmerchant and wallow a bit. Just like there are many boards for people to express sorrow for a miscarriage or a death or a job loss, before they are exhorted to pick themselves up and get on with things.

@123stay I agree. It's not like we all tried to retrain as actors or fashion designers. I imagine most of us had well thought out, realistic expectations of what we wanted to achieve.
However how can you predict what the likelihood of being employed will be? If I go and retrain in cyber security, who will tell me that, as a 43 year old woman, it will be very hard for me to get into the industry. If the course is open to all applicants, if I get onto the course, when does someone pull me aside and tell me that I'm wasting my time and money.

@123stay ignore the nay-sayers.
You’re allowed to be upset and start a thread because it didn’t work out how you had hoped and that you feel misled by the whole retraining tropes.

Thanks.

I certainly felt mislead by the retraining tropes. I felt that as a 40 year old shelling out quite alot of money to do a law conversion course then a LPC it would actually be 'worth it'.

Financially it was a very very long way from being worth it. On occasion I have felt it was vaguely useful when we have been involved with a neighbour boundary dispute for example and I knew how to negotiate with the land tribunal etc. But otherwise it mainly ended up being an expensive indulgence. And very possibly a waste of time.

And yes I think we are sold the idea that if you 'work harder' 'work smarter' ' retrain and develop' then success will come as this is what you deserve. I don't think that is true.

@123stay Thank you for starting this thread: this is something that doesn’t seem to get talked about.

Maybe there is room for a list of careers that are a bit easier for career changers though? Social work has been mentioned, as has counselling (although it takes a long time) There might be others?

That would be useful!

I think teaching and the civil service appear to be easier.

But would love to know if they really are.

@27Mankinis your experience in law is not unusual from what I know..

There is this myth that if you legally qualify as a solicitor or barrister you will inevitably end up working in a magic circle firm or massive corporate place for 100k with lots of perks and great career prospects.

In reality an awful lot of solicitors work in high street firms for very average wages with little progression and masses of pressure.

The only real way to make money is by starting your own firm or buying into one and working your arse off for years on end.

And trying to get into the bigger firms when you’ve trained and worked for a small high street firm is very difficult as you don’t have the right type of experience.

@123stay

Thanks for the thread!

I wonder if a few posters here work in HE and are therefore quite invested in the retraining philosophy?

I absolutely emphasise with receiving the mantra when we were young that careers weren't a static thing and there could be multiple changes of direction within a lifetime driven by accumulated experience and transferable skills.

I think maybe people were looking at the demise of industrial jobs and some administrative roles and assuming the world of work was 'forever changed'.

I teach on a degree programme that is offered through a further education college so aimed at mature students - often in their 30s/40s looking for a career and it doesn't always work out. The course takes people into careers in mental health but I do not think that people quite understand the extent of the workload, the need for flexibility, low starting salaries and so on. On this thread I have seen social work suggested twice - 3 years training and a really demanding job.

@PattiDuke I agree, a lot of courses are very intense and sometimes people can be a little naive as to how they will manage it.

In terms of promoting social work as a potential option for changing career, you’re 💯 right it’s a full degree course and a very demanding job. But on the upside there’s an actual job at the end of it and within a few years you can be back earning a reasonable if not amazing salary.

No. For me my search for a new career has failed but I am absolutely loving my Open University degree. I'm in my 3rd year of 6 currently as will probably continue, either another degree or a post graduate course.
Being a mature student has brought so much enjoyment and I am learning so much.

@User7659 can I ask what level in AAT you got to?

Did you get finish Level 4?

And did you find work that fits with your training in the end?

@BeckyBloomwood3 what is the industry that you work in that accepts career changers?

@BlastedPimples I did level 2 and 3 at a college that only lets people with a relevant job do level 4 so I put a hold on studying until I got a relevant job, and I never did. I finished level 3 nearly six years ago now so I've long stopped looking.

@User7659 how totally frustrating and annoying. It's amazing really and makes you wonderful what is the point?

And now it makes me think I'm not even going to bother with anything now at 52 and without a career.

In England, you'd have no problem getting a job after but a huge number of people drop out during the PGCE and even more in the 5 years after training. The PGCE year is pretty brutal - the work isn't hard but takes a lot of time. There's little flexibility with placements and it is generally full time. A school's direct route might be easier in terms of flexibility.

@Bluecat7 @Changed18 @Turkeyhen Nursing is good for carer changers. Many many nurses start training in their 30s and 40s and there is always work. On my course (mental health nursing) everyone had a job by the spring before graduation; the course has a 100% employment rate. Of course that’s nursing which has its own problems but the work is there and there’s room for advancement-I was on 35k within 18 months of graduating and that’s not all that unusual.

But yes, the course is very hard. We had a lot of people drop out. You have to work full time for free. On nursing placements you’re effectively doing the job so that’s letter writing, injections, diagnoses (on one of my placements I had to give a patient a dementia diagnosis) and all. On top of that there’s essays, dissertations and lots of science. It’s not an easy route to take if you’re not fully committed.

Technology - I'm a software developer but there are many non-coding roles.
Subject of many, many threads on MN. Search 'breaking into tech', 'retraining' tech.
Also on every single 'how to career change and make the big bucks' list.