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.

The OP is just looking for some commiseration. I can't blame her when everyone else is out to put success or failure on the shoulders of individuals with no empathy for the systematic factors that drive it.

A salary drop may seem obvious to you, but you'd be surprised at how many training providers outright lie .Telling candidates that their 'transferable skills' will put them ahead of their fresh-faced, newly graduated competitors. Or that the industry is great for flexibility because well there's such a shortage and they want to keep people!

Especially if people are in a peer group where they don't know others in these 'professional' jobs that are so often pushed. They believe this.

The messaging shouldn't be positive. Or negative. But realistic. Unlike the 'do X, get Y' formula that seems to be everywhere. I tell people 'if you do X, given Y, the probability of getting Z is whatever %'. Of course not in such a clinical way, but you get the idea.

Many things are possible, but success or failure is still a probability rather than definite. Unless you're on, say an employer funded training course of which there are much less nowadays. Paying for your own retraining just makes you a candidate among others.

Op like you I have given up! And no matter what people say I think after searching for 5 years I am not sure I will ever be employed again. It is very very disheartening. You are not alone @123stay

@123stay I just wanted you to know I found this thread really interesting and helpful, as I'm being marketed to by some very charming and enthusiastic salespeople at the moment and they are saying very optimistic things about my future.
Quarrelmerchant's post reminded my of my bitter old aunts, who are full of wildly unrealistic advice about careers and who utter the phrase "suck it up" whenever they can. They're in their late seventies and not normally given to teenager slang from the 2000s, so it makes them seem desperately nasty.

I'm stuck in some sporadic temp work at the moment, but I can't see myself finding a permanent job any time soon. I'm thinking of trying again next week as people do tend to move jobs in January, but that's for my usual job. I won't be trying for the career change ever again.

If you're looking at courses, you should insist on getting some accurate, up-to-date figures about the employment rate for graduates of that course, and especially for mature students it needs to be people in relevant employment. A lot of universities publish figures about how many of their students are in work or further study, but what they don't tell you is that often, the ones in "work" are in the same jobs as they did before, or at least in low paid/non-graduate work. If they gave figures about how many of the mature students had actually managed to get a graduate job or career change, the figures would be far, far lower.

I feel upset every year when universities advertise everywhere in July and August, and even at the moment I've seen a few for courses starting in January, telling you that study can change your life. I want to tell anyone who'll listen that it's just not true for most people.

I agree with you 100% OP.

I agree with you about university and mature students, butI will just say that study can change your life in other ways even if it doesn't lead to a new career.

Studying science has opened a whole new world of interest for me, and I am constantly amazed by both what I am learning and what I am achieving. The maths I can now do is fantastic, for example I recently calculated the gravitational potential energy of Jupiter! I sometimes feel like Sheldon Cooper! 😁

I went down the route of getting a degree, then volunteering for experience before getting low level paid employment with the aim of moving up, but by the time I had done all this my degree was no longer recent or relevant (obsolete technology) the charity I volunteered with had gone and most of my previous places of employment were no longer in existence so no way to prove my skills and experience and no useful contacts or references. I've repeated the process 3 times now. I've just got my third qualification, and looking again at volunteering but at this point my passion and ambition is dead and I'm just going through the motions hoping for a miracle. 25 years of trying and I'm still stuck in an shit admin job that I could have done leaving school at 15 with no life skills or qualifications.

Yes of course, I got things out of my degree, including learning lots of interesting things. But that’s not why I did it.

How fucking rude.

I'm off this thread.

You need some counselling or something OP.

Someone else just thanked me for my comment. You’re taking offence when none was given.

@SausageRollsWithMustard I honestly don't know what offended you so much. Honestly most of us don't have the luxury of spending thousands of pounds because the degree subject simply interests us.

What a weird reaction....

@Halloweenrainbow

Oh no, what career were you trying to break into? Hugs

I'm in my 30's and I could have told you that - usually you need to be in law in your 20's

But her law college didn't try to warn her of that.

@123stay

Which I agree is disgraceful, but 5 minutes on Google and she'd have known

Some careers are known as 'suitable for career changers' like adult nursing or teaching secondary school, while others are pretty much closed by your early 30's

I think people usually have a good grasp as to which job/career belongs to which category

I am so so glad I found this thread. Thank you

Transferable skills is absolutely bollocks. And it’s no different for those targeting the middle or senior type roles as unless you have worked in the exact industry, people aren’t interested even if you’ve done all the things in the personal specification.

I made the jump and left my 100K job because the stress and hours in the sector were horrific and I refuse to work for a failing system with no money but expected to deliver the world. (public sector) I was told the same nonsense ….. oh you’ll be snapped up. You have all the skills and experience, it won’t matter that you will be looking in different sectors. Utter bollocks. I can’t get past the application phase for jobs that are on half the salary with job descriptions and personal specs where I match every single criteria. Finally gave up and used friends to get me through the door to headhunter types(which I hate and cringe as that’s not how I want to use my friends) and they have been really honest. Yes you could do these jobs standing in your head but no you will not be given the chance. Despite what the press would have you believe, Brexit only means that there is a shortage of low paid worker. There is no shortage at all of qualified middle range and higher professionals. Jobs in the 40-80K range have hundreds of applicants so the applications aren’t even read by humans ….just a machine that throws out anyone who hasn’t got the right qualification gained at the right time and has the exact experience in the exact same job.

So I’m now unemployed and spend my days hiding at home as I’m too embarrassed to see friends who now don’t know what to say. I shall run out of savings soon and then I’m fucked

@givenup123 I’m so sorry you’ve been through that 😩 what a waste of talent, it’s effed up beyond belief

that sounds harsh! What sector are you looking to transfer into?

Good advice also @CoalTit beware that some universities/institutions offer jobs to their own trainees to boost the numbers. Some universities offer unpaid 'research' internships, coding bootcamps offer 'instructor' jobs (so these people just train other inexperienced people).

To nobody's surprise these jobs last just long enough to push the students into the 'relevant job after 6 months' stats.

It's also a good idea to look up people with the quals on LinkedIn. See if you can look up relevant employers and find relevant people as well.

@BeckyBloomwood3

Into the charity sector would be my ideal as the sector I’m from has to work under charity law so I’m very familiar with financial and governance rules but I’ve applied for role in every sector at varying levels.

Well the aim was to then move into human rights law which would have fitted with my charity experience.

But by the time I trained and qualified I had been out of the charity sector for too long and no-body cared.

Again- this thread is about how retraining is sold as increasing your options- when it does not seem to do that at all in many cases.

I'm retraining in a completely different profession due to becoming a lone parent. I wish I hadn't bothered. It's been horribly stressful, the most broke I've ever been and its been so exhausting I've really aged.

If i knew then what I know now I wouldn't have chosen this path.

Ah, I see.
You never know how an employer will perceive you, even if you can do the job they find ways to 'not' employ people. Too experienced, too little experience, sometimes even both at the same time!

As unmeritocratic as it sounds those who did it successfully used their contacts. But they won't tell anybody else that...