Am I unattractive to employers?

[StillSmiling92]

I'm almost 28 years old. Average GCSE's, terrible A levels, good Access to Higher Education (level 3) qualification and university drop out.

I have a 4 year old who starts school in September and I've mostly been a SAHM living off my partner. I've also been cleaning part time for 1 year now and worked in retail prior to that.

So, being a mother and a university drop out I know that employers would likely throw my application in the bin (childcare and lack of expertise). Not for retail roles, but for professional roles such as accountancy or software development for example.

What can I do to improve my circumstances when I'm not eligible for any training or funding?

Please help

If you are interested in Accountancy, I would advise (speaking from experience)

1. Get in touch with your local college or chamber of commerce and ask about starting an AAT course
2. This is an apprenticeship, and the college will have a bank of accountants looking to be matched with apprentices, who will either receive funding to place you or will pay for you to complete your apprenticeship
3. Your age/ fact you are a mum are of NO barrier to this career route, in fact it could be a positive as you will have many life skills (e.g commitment, organisation, budgeting etc) that a younger person may not have had the life experience in
4. Just enquiring will do no harm!

Good luck!

Statistics and data are a massive thing at the moment

I would absolutely consider this. I think I should probably brush up on basic maths first before going in to A level maths. I would probably have to find some money to fund that as well.

If the op has 2 A levels, this will be a hindrance. The OU might be ok but it takes a long time. I assume the loans cover this.

I do think 2 A levels and dropping out of university make you look unattractive. an apprenticeship might be worth looking at but they are competitive. They are not easy to get and the degree level ones are sought after. I do think volunteering, going into something that interests you at a low level is the way forward. You do need to show you can complete something. I think employers might see you as a risk at the moment. You need to prove otherwise.

Another software developer here. I don't interview because I work from home a lot and am on a shorter day in the office. But I'm a line manager. Why do you want to do software development? Almost everyone in my department is a university graduate. There are a couple of apprentice. However, once you have an established track record, no one will care about you haven't got a degree. Most of the work is possible to be remote, and even if it's office based, like I am, there is huge flexibilty to WFH. If your commute isn't too long, you can feasibily do pick up and drop off and work full time. You can ask at interview stage how flexible their hours are. It's a given many are, so you don't want to waste each others time if the company is totally inflexible with complete office only policy.

But what will you be applying as? If you are applying for experienced position, you need to be able to show experience in your chosen specialisation. There is no way anyone will hire me for a front end or python dev job. Even being a senior, you need to pass a code test. Usually both before the interview and also during the interview. They don't want to waste time on people who can't actually do the job.

If you aren't going to apply as an experienced developer. Have you looked at apprenticeships? You'll be able to earn while you learn and pick up real life experience.

You say they throw your application in the bin as soon as they see your a mum?

Errmmm... where on earth does it ask if you're a parent on a CV?

You're making excuses.

You want a good/well paid job with none of the training.

Your writing is fine.

I'd go away for a week then start a new thread based on this:

"enjoyed the stats and research aspect, I got 80% into that module. It's not really maths, but i liked working with data which I really liked."

call it something like "jobs working with numbers - non-degree routes in?"

You may be eligible for an advanced learner loan if you want to do a course below uni level. www.gov.uk/advanced-learner-loan

I would suggest getting some careers advice before you take any further steps. You could start with nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/ ?

I see someone suggesting stats and data and I would agree too. Data science is a big thing now. If you have very strong mathematics skill, it should be where you look. DH is a data scientist. He needs to code but there is a lot less emphasis on software engineering. They code in Python and is what a lot of the demand for Python devs are.

Stats isn’t really maths - it is.

My daughter tried to get an apprenticeship when she was 22. She could have got one in theory but employers favour younger people (under 19s) as they don't have to pay them as much.

Have a look at Futurelearn.com. They have a number of free courses in book-keeping and accountancy - that will give you an idea of what you can expect. I think you can also buy an optional certificate when you’ve completed a course - which may be useful when looking for a job. In the meantime, look for positions in finance offices/departments. Once you’re in, many will then sponsor you toward professional qualifications.
I was in my 30’s before I started my accountancy qualifications (but I did already work in a finance department).

See what your local college offers, maybe short course or something fairly basic to start. Use that to build up to skills and knowledge you need. Every journey starts somewhere.

hi there, haven't read the replies, but I always tell people looking to learn and get promoted to go for a receptionist role in a nice company. You will be at entry-level and learning how to go on about everything. My career started this way and I ended up getting promoted within the same company all the way up to the CEO Executive Assistant. It may be that you start at a dental office, vet surgery etc. but just get that first admin job and allow yourself to grow until you are where you want to be.

Good luck.

ps: you are not old AT ALL.

@stillsmiling92, stop right there.
I haven't read the full thread just your posts.

The post where you said you like working with data reads like it has been written by a different person. Someone vibrant and alive.

You are on to something there. Forget being an accountant for now. It is all month end, quarter end, year end, tax year end. CIMA is hard.
You can do accounts without qualifications. It won't be well paid, but you could work your way up.

What I think you should do is look at the skills you have already and that can be transferred. You have an artistic nature, you are interested in data. Marketing might be something to consider.

I would get a copy of What color is your parachute? (other books might be available but that's a well known one) and go through every exercise until you have a good idea of what you want to do, what you would like to do, and at the transferrable skills you have.

It will give you suggestions that you might have already thought of and some you won't.

Once you find some possible career ideas, try to speak to people in those careers. Ask on here. Ask local business groups. Look on line.

You are still young, but even if you were 48, I'd still give the same advice.

If you don’t have A-level maths, I would definitely start with that for accounting or software engineering! Would show you can study (which you would need for AAT or similar) and start your mind in the right kind of direction.

How would they know you're a mother? You don't put that on your CV!

If you haven't got the right qualifications to get into accountancy or software then of course you're not going to get where you want.

You need to focus on what career you do want, what qualifications it needs, how to get them, how to get into the industry and then go for it.

where on earth does it ask if you're a parent on a CV?

Gap on CV to explain I've been raising a family.

And no, I'm not looking for the money. I want a job that where I can progress. Where I can move in to other related fields if I choose to leave/get made redundant. Most of all, I want to be a good role model for my daughter. I grew up on benefits and I don't want her to think that's an option.

This is a very, very tricky time to be looking for a job, as others have mentioned, as no one really knows what the post COVID-19 world is going to look like, but if you'd really be keen on accountancy, say, you might be surprised at the fact that some companies do take on 'A' level apprentices, at much older ages than they used to. Have a look at www.pwc.co.uk/careers/school-jobs.html#/ just as an example, and also maybe www.findapprenticeships.co.uk/adult-apprenticeships/

My sister doesn't have a degree but she's done very well after going on to what was then the equivalent of a Youth Training Scheme, with accounting training and AAT qualifications; her company sent her on lots more training courses. If she'd wanted to she could have gone on to do more still, with a view to becoming a partner, but certainly for now she decided against it.

So please don't give up; and rather than "university drop out", how about using "educated to undergraduate level" or something along those lines? Your local college may well have degree courses that are affiliated with/awarded by your local university, so it might be worth looking into that as well.

There are also a few international universities (genuine ones, not the "buy your PhD here for $200 ones) which offer modular distance learning options which you then build up to a degree - I think there is at least one in the US and a few in Europe, mainly Scandinavia (some of the Scandinavian ones have very good funding, some even offer tuition for free at present while we're still in Europe, as it were, though you may need to attend a summer school every couple of years that you do need to pay for). And I don't know about your part of the country, but I've seen a cybersecurity training course aimed at women (funded) advertised a couple of times where I am (West Country, not far from Bristol) that I'm eyeing up with interest for the next time it gets advertised. (I think it's been advertised 3 times in total now over the last 2 years but I could be wrong on that.)

Good luck, whatever you decide - you've got years ahead of you yet and so much to give!

Try joining a office temp agency, and getting a feel for jobs you can do and that appeal - even though you will have to accept unskilled work, it would expose you to an office environment, and gain you valuable experience and insight.

If you were applying to work for me, I would not be bothered about childcare - the vast majority of my team are the mothers of dependent children - but I would be bothered about your lack of work experience. I would be far more likely to consider your application if you could demonstrate a recent work history of any sort.

You need to think about what is in demand, as well as what you want to do. You are clearly able to express yourself well - that is a surprisingly rare skill. Would you consider becoming a PA? A good one is hard to find, salaries can be excellent (with experience) and you don't need a particular qualification. I can recruit a finance clerk or similar far more easily than a decent PA - would kill for the latter in fact! The hours can often be flexible too.

I don't think anything you have said would put the right employer off, but it would have to be for the right role. As others have said, there are an awful lot of (expensive) exams to become a chartered accountant. How about bookkeeping? I run a small company and good, reliable bookkeepers are very hard to come by! Every bookkeeper we have had has trained later in life (much later than 28!) and have fitted their training and work around their childcare commitments.

I'm not a bookkeeper myself so I don't know much about the qualification process. You do still have to pay for exams but I think you can study alone and the exams are cheaper than accountancy (see this link: £65 a pop. www.bookkeepers.org.uk/Study--Qualifications/Fees)

This website also has some good info: nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/bookkeeper

Best of luck x

Why not try out some online courses for fun on coursera.org? Just to see what interests you.

I too dropped out of university. 15 years later I decided to do an Open University degree course. I transferred some of my credits from my previous study and this has knocked off 2 years of study, so now instead of doing 6 years with OU, I'm doing 4 years. I also was able to get a student loan.

You're getting some great advice from other PP's!

Oh and my GCSE and A levels grades were not great, but I still managed to get a few temp jobs with investment banks. Interviewers never asked about my dropped university course.

If you like data try coursera
Lots and lots of uni data science courses on there for very reasonable prices

edex is another with uni courses in different subjects

There's freecodecamp

dataquest

You can try them out from home for not much money to see if you are interested.

Hi OP, there's CIPD data and accountancy level 3 courses available on the site I posted if you'd like to have a browse - I just mentioned HR as that's probably what I'll do. I've looked at a couple of the different courses available and I think one or two of them sound right up your street.