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

I think you need to focus on something more realistic for your first step as most finance and accounting roles require at least part qualified accountants even for junior roles. I would suggest if finance is your thing then you try for temp admin roles (team admin assistant for example, or team PA) in banks / finance companies. you will need to know your way around common computer software such as Outlook / Excel / Word / SharePoint but the agency can usually help you with some of that. Try Reed as they tend to be good.

Best thing is to start temping through a large agency. Get experience in different companies and get a good reputation with the agency then when a permanent role becomes available you'll be someone they know they can trust and put forward.

I worked in HR and recruitment for 20 years and I couldn't count the number of people who took this route and are now in careers

Regarding qualifications, it's never a bad idea to further your education but even after going through all that many places won't hire you without experience and it'll just be another few years on your CV where you haven't been in paid employment

@boylovesmeerkats
I had to chuckle at the dog walker, etc. too.
I had one suggest dental hygiene and be happy with 15k a year.

I'm not one for listening so I went out and got a BS and MS in CS with 2 DC and a mostly single mum.

It was very difficult but it paid off well. I've never had to live in near poverty or depend on a spouse.

OP is only 28. She has plenty of time to study or do whatever it takes to get a big job.

If you only have average GCSEs and poor a-levels, you almost need to start again at the beginning to target something quite academic like finance or accounting. For even an entry level or training role, you will be competing against mainly graduates with good degrees & high grades throughout, and maybe a few school leavers with good grades.

It's a reasonably well paid profession so a) it attracts people with good qualifications and b) it pays well because it's quite demanding academically, not everyone can manage it.

You absolutely can do it, if it's what you really want, but expect to have to put in a of of hard work to get some good academic qualifications (I would start clear of "equivalent" qualifications that may be poorly regarded), and it will take years probably to get going.

I’ve read about half the thread. If you like data I would recommend you look into a short course in software development/front end web development
/coding. You can do access courses in about 16 weeks and apply for entry level roles. We recently hired someone who did this as a career change. Companies are desperate for data/developers etc, there are more jobs than people and virtually no women, which puts you even more in demand as people are desperate to hire female developers (to fix their gender pay gaps). There are various funding pots to help you retrain and earning potential is fab.

If I had my time again, this is what I would do.

Well said @Caplin.

Data analysis is also something to consider.

IT can offer WFH, flexible working Salaries are quite good. A lot of companies will offer free courses, once you're there.There are plenty of careers within IT. They need more women for diversity.

UX is so important and it is not something that geeky types tend to do well. Don't be scared of terms and jargon,just look up careers in IT.

Temping can be a great way of getting a foot in the door, and it helps to know what you want to do.

@Caplin any link to any of that funding?

you should do the AAT. if it were me i'd get myself going on it, use that to get a job, prove myself indispensable once foot in and then find a way to get them to pay for the rest of it.

@Asimovsfutureishere2020, funding depends where you live. Gov funding is spread out via local authorities, community initiatives, certain employers with back to work schemes for women and local training providers.

I’m in Scotland, Codeclan is a good start here. There are so many, but this is also a decent site (not all relevant) www.wisecampaign.org.uk/wise-network/funding/

@ Allington much appreciated

Allington??? @Caplan

I second snowy bean. Dont do call center I think it is a waste of your career years. If you are set on software dev, learn from YouTube, sooo many good resources there. Then create your own project, a website, an app, and showcase that to recruiters like us. I'm much more impressed with ppl who self learn than ppl who go to uni. Met enough uni grads in computer science who are completely useless. And met many self learn who are wonderful and driven. Good luck, OP.

I work for a large public sector organisation. We run apprenticeships for people of all ages, in business fields, as well as technical. PM me if you’d like a link.

Qualified accountant here, just want to reiterate that please don't think you are on the back foot because of your age and family! I was lucky enough to be able to go straight from uni to training and qualified at 24, however I trained alongside people of all ages, I think the oldest being 35. There were plenty of people older than that in the exam hall who trained with other firms when I sat the PQs!

I am a career coach for the new starts at my firm who are just starting their exams, one of them being in their 40s with teenage children.

Whether you choose accountancy as the route for you I would recommend starting with getting some A-levels and see where you want to go after that. It'll be a good starting point and base for whatever you want to do or apply for.

You are only 28 please don't write off the rest of your life!

You need to decide where your interest lies, work out a salary you would like and how long it might take to get there, then see if there is career progression.

After that it’s a case of getting your foot in the door somewhere and making an impression. If you are ambitious, reliable and hard working you’re likely to move up. You just have to find yourself in the right place to make that happen, even if you have to start at the bottom initially.

Another accountant here. I agree with everyone who said it’s never too late and you’re never too old, and getting a foot in the door is absolutely doable. I also have seen people of all ages in exam halls!

My own route was ACCA (mature student entry route, which I believe didn’t require any qualifications at all other than being 25 I think, but I did it in 2006, so things may have changed).

I worked in admin and studied in the evenings. Had to pay for my own exams though and chances are you want to attend tuition courses (Check BPP or Kaplan) which can be quite expensive.

You could try and find a firm to pay for the courses and train you on the job (as you will need professional experience in addition to sitting exams to fully qualify). In that case, AAT would be a better entry route. It’s quite basic and as far as I know doesn’t require any previous qualifications.

However, as nice as it sounds to have an employer to pay for your studies (and give you time off to study), they sometimes don’t permit resits (we have one guy at our firm who lost his job at one of the big firms because he failed an exam) or limit the number of resits you can do - so actually not being on a training contract - whilst more expensive - can take a lot of stress away.

The firm I work for runs training programs every year, but for the ACA program they require either previous AAT or a university degree (minimum second class), so the AAT route is probably better.

Whichever route you chose, you’re probably looking at quite a low salary for the first few years (while you are studying), but it goes up quite quickly, so it’s definitely worth it.

@DailyMailcanfuckthefuckoff. I did what you're doing but the other way around. I kind of fell into L&D from quality assurance working in the food industry. Got my NVQ assessor / verifier quals and did CIPD level 3 in L&D I then started delivering management training in ER so did my CIPD level 7 in HR management (when DD was 2 so it is doable). Now specialise in ER and love it. If you want any tips / help drop me a line

You aren’t very old. Start doing small things now that will make a big impact by the time you are 33. (Still young by the way.)

You can go for an apprenticeship, and I would recommend that you do. You will earn while you learn and build your confidence. Also if you get a good apprenticeship qualification you can explain to employers that you are more of a “practical learner” and look see how well you did!

Set modest short term goals and high long term goals. You have 40 years of professional life ahead of you. Anything is possible. Play the long game.

*I've looked at a few appreticeships, but they're aimed at younger people.

Not sure I could even do an apprenticeship with my age.*

Big companies pay a lot of money in the form of something called an apprenticeship levy to the Government. The only way to get the money back is to take on apprentices - of any age. There’s no rule which says it has to be a young person. So most big employers are desperate to find good candidates for apprenticeships. The trouble they have with younger apprentices is that 16-19 year olds are generally very immature - they don’t know what they want yet and some of them don’t even know how to get out of bed in the morning. The drop out rate is huge. Which is not what companies investing thousands of pounds and lots of time in training want. They invest a lot of money in marketing these schemes at young people but don’t be deceived by that - they are not reserved for younger people.

As a more mature person, if you can position yourself as someone:
a) who knows what they want to do and is really motivated to learn
b) has basic life skills and is reliable
c) has the raw potential intelligence to learn a new profession or craft
Then you are very well placed to get selected and do well.

It depends what industry you go into but if you do an apprenticeship in financial services the pay isn’t bad at all and has huge potential to increase.

As others have said though, you need to do your research and pick an industry which genuinely interests you otherwise there’s no point.

As above complete the AAT qualification , I completed this in 2018. I was a single mum to 3 very young children, it was hard at times studying til late after work and once the children were finally in bed but Im glad I did it, it is a good course and really does give you some good knowledge of accounting. I went to college 1 day a week and used the advanced learner loan to fund the courses and exams. I am now doing CIMA my children are a bit older now, my eldest 10 and youngest 4 so it is much easier to study now. Salary was quite low while studying AAT but did go up very quickly once completed and CIMA started. I met some great people at college, we are still all friends now. Give it a go!

Probably been said as not read everything here, but I would aim to get an office role as a trainee bookkeeper or such which would be a foot in the door. Progress from there as even small firms will train staff on the job with professional qualifications.

I am a finance director in a multi-academy trust and recently struggled to recruit someone to work as a finance assistant - this kind of role would suit you as it is term time and school hours with the opportunity to do AAT. Take a look for admin roles in local schools, you might be surprised.

You're so young OP! I get how you feel totally but I am mid 40s!

Have a serious think about what you want to do and then retrain. You can do it but you might not find as easy as you used to -or at least at first.

With your access course quaks I think you'd be eligible to apply for higher apprenticeship...

An acquaintance started out with poor A levels... Went onto a higher course with MOD - he was funded through AAT, and now is being funded for charters hip...

www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/jobs.cgi?jcode=1668137