Found my ideal job in London, but at nearly 57 years old is it worth trying

[Stressedout65]

I have just found a vacancy in London that would be ideal for me. I could easily do the role and I've previously had a similar role in the same industry. It's remote working with one day a month in the office required. I'm Midlands based but love London so it would be ideal. My issues are:

1. I used to be AAT qualified,(passed in 1986!) but i let the qualification lapse a few years ago as I changed industries and roles. I've still got my membership certificate to prove I was once qualified. The advert states a degree is required, which I do not have.
2. I've let myself go over the years, weight wise and am now obese at 19 stone. I'm working on it as I do not want to spend retirement being ill & immobile.

I therefore do not have the confidence to try & get a London based job, even though I know I can do it. I feel I would perhaps be looked down on by the younger/same age even, city slicker types for being obese. Where I work now I don't feel looked down upon for being obese, but I have felt this in a previous role quite a lot and it's dented my confidence quite a lot work wise. At the moment I'm employed in a basic accounts/admin role paying only £20k. I was semi retired & temping until covid struck and my husband was furloughed. The remote London job is about £30k and I know I can do it. I love London too, so the occasional trip would suit me down to the ground. I have considered just staying as I am as we're OK for money, house paid etc. However, I think it's an unfair burden on my husband to keep being the main breadwinner, doing 10 hour shifts again as he's so busy. He's worked hard all his life so I could be a sahm until the children were teenagers, its my turn to help out now. I also would like to help them & their families out if this current cost of living crisis gets too much for them. I just don't know if I can take another 10 years until I reach retirement age of the relentless slog into an office doing the same basic routine job. Wfh, with the occasional day in an London would be so much better for me. Just after I started my current job my dad died from covid & then I was very ill in hospital with it too. I still get depressed over my dad 15 months on. I feel like I need a fresh start away from a workplace I associate with death, depression and covid.

1. So as it's a candidate's market at the moment do I take a risk and try to better myself job wise, risking the fact I could well be looked down upon again?
2. Is it worth going for a job where it states you need a degree when you don't have one.
3. Is it worth trying to get my AAt qualification again at almost 57 years old.
4. Should I wait until I've got a qualification again & have lost weight, by which time the candidates market might have died down

5 Or just drift into retirement, feeling totally bored, unmotivated & unexcited for the next 10 years. Accept the inevitable that it's too late for me work wise now. Sorry for the long post, I just needed to get all my thoughts down & thank you if you read it until the end

Apply. Do the male thing of mentioning all the things that are relevant to the role and not mentioning any skills or qualifications you lack.

Focus on them, not you, in your application. (i.e. don't say you'd love the chance to visit London once a month, but that you'd be happy to come to head office as required.)

If they say no, you are in the same situation as if you never applied. But if you don't apply they can;t say yes. Go for it.

And it sounds like you are feeling ready for change, for making more of your life. So do update your ATt qualification anyway. And do start healthy eating and exercise, but don;t wait until these are sorted before you make other changes. They will all feed into and energise each other as part of the journey.
FWIW, I am your age and don't feel remotely old. I occasionally get an 'Oh shit!' moment when I realise I'm closer to sixty than forty but I just start a new PT job in London next week, and can't wait.

I forgot to say i offered to come in for the day to basically show them my skills at the interview . This worked as i was given the job that day.

Definitely apply. I tend to always think oh I haven't got what they've specified whereas my husband isn't concerned at all about that if he wants a job and thinks he can do it, he just goes for it and has got several jobs over the years where he didn't have what was listed as required. He did have e.g. experience and part qualification and obviously a load of self confidence.

What have you got to loose? Go for it and if it doesn't work out you can still work on those qualifications and keep looking. I started a new job in retail 5 years ago age 56 having worked in completely different areas previously, although I have not got the physical stamina of my younger colleagues I do have the advantage of more life experience. Some interviewers may see this as an advantage.

I was thinking the same as gingerhills. Do it all anyway, how many men apply for jobs they are not qualified for without worrying. Update your qualifications and start a new active regime.

I've just passed the 60 mark and wfh has seen my weigh steadily increase and my body become less flexible, its a struggle I did not expect so I understand where your coming from health wise. However at work I am continually looking for new projects and challenges and I love it. I am definitely more dynamic than many of my younger colleagues. I could retire but I'm just not ready yet.

My degree was a long time ago, the experience I have gathered since is worth so much more.

Apply!!! And look for similar others to apply for too! You have loads to offer - you will be an asset.

Wishing you the best.

Though I do agree with others that some job applications are binned if the essential criteria is not met., If so then think of it as the catalyst to change and to practicing your application skills for all these new roles you're going to find

There's absolutely no reason not to apply. If you don't get it, you might get feedback which might help you prepare for another similar role. Do it!

Nothing to lose

But I doubt you’ll be successful, I’m sorry but not because of your age but because of all the reasons you yourself listed

Do you think there are no obese people working in London??

There are some good return to work schemes for people ( mostly women ) who have been out of the workplace a while - maybe not relevant to you @Stressedout65 OP but may be useful to others on this thread. They come with a degree of retraining/resetting your skills.

I disagree completely that it is a candidates market at the moment. It is absolutely an employers market with many jobs still attracting hundreds of applications.

TBH I have no idea where this idea has come from that it’s a candidates market because that simply isn’t true. In fact one of the reasons why employers increase the essential criteria to the extent that applicants “must have a degree” is because they are otherwise inundated with applications.

Your weight is irrelevant here, nobody is going to care how much you weigh. But your lack of a degree and AAT qualification is. And if you are already lacking self confidence applying for a job that you have no chance of being shortlisted for is only going to make that worse.

What I would do is perhaps renew your AAT registration and then look for suitable roles. Not applying for this job doesn’t mean having to drift into retirement, it just means that you know deep down you still want more, so go and get it.

You need to apply for the job and several other similar jobs asap

Contact AAT about bringing membership up to date.

@boomshakalacka

You can always apply for any job- no harm there. However, you don't have the basic qualifications that the job has asked for so you're unlikely to get an interview in this case.

This. They will have hundreds of applications. The initial cull will be people who don't have the paper qualifications they have asked for, can't spell, sent it after the deadline. There has to be a,way to cut the number down and that is the easiest starting point. You can apply but it is unlikely you will get anywhere. If you are unhappy about your weight you can do something about that regardless of the job you do

For this particular job you will be filtered out.

The job requirements state a degree so the initial sift will check that and any that don't will be rejected.

The other factors like age etc won't automatically get you sifted out but not meeting the minimum requirement will.

So no point applying for this particular job.

But lots of opportunity and scope to apply for other jobs

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I'm not sure they will get that many applicants, the pay is quite low for a London accounts role, and we are struggling to recruit good candidates to many of our vacancies. You may be sifted out early due to lack of degree, but you may not (sensible employers will look at equivalent experience).

Age? If you have the right skills and experience, I don't think it's the barrier that it used to be, in most organisations.

You’ve got to be in it to win it, girl!

Good luck - you may surprise yourself and get the job. If not, use it as a chance to brush up on your CV, get an interview outfit together and look for other opportunities.

Let us know how you get on.

Chuck in an application, what have you got to lose?

I was where you are with weight. Went for a new job, realised 18m of lockdown I’d gone from top end of normal weight to obese. Managed to find some black elasticated trousers in the back if my wardrobe, carried my cardi in front of me to cover the straining shirt buttons.

Got the job. Got on with losing the weight the day after interview and had lost 2st by starting.

The only thing I will say is when I was applying for jobs as a middle aged woman in London you do tend to lose out amongst all the bright young graduates. Give it a go still!

You've got nothing to lose by giving it a go. A man would apply if he didn't meet all the criteria...

If you don't get this one, there's nothing to stop you looking for a similar job in London. There are loads of accounting jobs on the market at the moment. People keep resigning at the moment - many stayed put during lockdown but have now reached peak frustration and the Great Resignation is in full force. The market is very buoyant.

I have to say, I think a degree for an AAT job is ridiculous (a large number of people with AAT didn't go to university) and it's also a bit ageist, given whilst it's common for most young people these days to have a degree, if you qualified back in the 80s, I'd expect a degree to be less common.

As someone who works in the field and who hires in the field, I'd look past the degree requirement (and also shout at whoever put the job spec together). I wouldn't be massively happy about you not having a current AAT membership, particularly as you changed roles rather than retiring, so you actively decided to stop being an accounting technician, but this would be massively mitigated by your current job, which proves you do still know some stuff.

Age and weight are not issues. What is a concern is whether someone who has retired still knows how to do accounting - I've seen many examples of people who have just forgotten.

What did you do to get your current job? Presumably you did some kind of CPD to get back in the game? I think I'd want to see your cover letter/CV/interview stress that you've already been reskilling by attending various (not necessarily paid for) webinars. I'd want to see evidence of that kind of proactive attitude. If I believed it, I'd get the company to pay to reinstate your AAT membership.

As you don't have a current membership, you're effectively QBE. It's unlikely I'd accept QBE from a younger person given in today's marketplace it suggests they weren't good enough, but I would accept it from an older person given the qualification landscape was different many years ago, and I've worked with some brilliant unqualified older people.

Although I don't care how old someone is (it makes no bones to me whether I'm managing a school leaver or someone who could be my parent), I do look at age when it comes to formal qualifications and my expectations do differ there. My expectations are the same when it comes to practical experience and ability to do the job, but I know it was more normal to not get qualified many years ago, and an adjustment does have to be made for that.

If you're not happy in your current role, look for another. It might be this job, it might be another. But don't let your age, weight or AAT membership status hold you back.

I live elsewhere in the UK but work at a 'London, based job and go into the office twice a month. Started last year.

Loads of London organisations have realised they can now recruit from anywhere in the country. Massively opening up the market.

Go for it.

Apply! Apply! Apply!
You might get an interview ..or not. No harm in giving it a go!
Throw your hat into the ring! You’ll regret if forever if you don’t!
And you’re not dead yet.. many great years ahead. Don’t waste them!

I would go for it but for many companies a degree is a basic prerequisite. If you’re right for the role otherwise, they might overlook this but please don’t say you have one if you don’t.

I’m a similar age to you and for my current role, I had to sent a copy of my degree certificate as part of the onboarding process.

Interviews, get some practise in!! Go for it!

Go for it. I'd take experience over a degree any day. You sound as if you'd be an asset to them.
Put yourself first and don't hold back.
Re your discomfort about your weight, why not look at something like the blast plan. It's run by someone who's a similar age and been on the same journey. It's helped me get fitter and stronger, and to lose weight. I'm the same age as you. Good luck!

Just go for it and see what happens. Good luck!
I live in London and although work locally in a suburb I’d def go back into town 2 days a week if the right job presented itself (I’m 50). In fact I fully intend to start looking in Jan as I see my current job as a stepping stone to better things.