WTF Should I Work As? Rethinking My Whole Life

[MakeThatMakeSense]

Please help, I'm really struggling work-wise.

Background:
I'm late 30s
No degree (uni drop out)
A levels: all A's in maths/physics/biology/french.
No kids, don't particularly want any.
No pets.
No partner.
Live alone.
Paid off my mortgage & my car.
Not much in savings

Have previously succeeded with exceptional performance in sales roles- telesales/cold calling. Extremely hard worker- will put the hours in. Have felt "addicted" to this type of role before especially competing with colleagues and earning commission.

Left telesales roles as felt morally conflicted. Never lied to a client but felt I was manipulating people and gaining trust, just to use it for my own advantage to earn, when really I was selling for companies that I didn't think were very moral themselves.

Decided in early 2020s to go into sales but a regulated industry. To avoid that moral conflict. Figured I'd become a mortgage broker. Paid for all my qualifications, passed all my exams dead easy. Got job. Quit job after 1 yr to go self employed.

I put so much work into setting everything up.

Fast forward to now- feeling so lonely working alone, as well as living alone. I rent an office which is lovely but feels so... Empty.

Clients are soooo needy, sometimes I just feel like telling them to get a grip (first time buyers having nervous breakdown over whether their offer on a house will be accepted. People with bad credit stressing about their many unnecessary klarna etc defaults).

Feels like I've got to be part time mortgage broker part time counsellor. Ironically I do some volunteering work which requires a lot of patience but on the topic of buying a house I just think.. god, haven't you got someone else to put this on to? Or... Well, why did you let your finances get in such a mess if you wanted to buy a house? It's tedious reassuring them.

The topic of mortgages bores me. Socially when people hear I'm a mortgage broker and want to talk to me about X, Y, Z government polices blah blah blah, meanwhile I'm like please GOD I do not wanna talk about this.

Then comes the admin. God the admin is SO TEDIOUS. I can hardly bring myself to do it, I'm that bored.

The only time I feel alive is when I manage to steal a client from some other broker, especially when they are cheaper than me, or free. That gives me a slight thrill.

Other brokers add me on LinkedIn and I just ignore them thinking... Why would I want to connect with you??

The money can add up over several case combined but I am completely missing that "buzz" of persuading someone to say yes to me like I got in telesales. That's what I thrive off.

I looovvvvve pitching.
The good thing about being a broker is that I have become very comfortable with face-to-face pitching.

I get no buzz in my work at all right now. I'm genuinely bored to tears.

Considering walking away from my mortgage career. I have a lease on my office until end of May 2027.

Any ideas?

I have seen some of my clients earning megabucks in recruitment. And I believe that is salesy?

I am older now than when I worked in telesales. I think I'm less naive and realise that everyone is just trying to get by in life, as was I. Perhaps I shouldn't have been so morally torn.

Also Worked many years in property industry but don't think I fancy being an estate agent.

Any thoughts appreciated.

I feel a bit deflated at the moment!

Before you even mentioned that you're considering recruitment, I was going to suggest going into recruitment! Your post screams RECRUITMENT

Do you live close enough to London that you could be an executive assistant in banking? You sound similar to a very close friend of mine who moved into being an EA and absolutely loved it. She has moved up and up the corporate ladder behind her wildest dreams and meets fascinating people. The money is crazily good and she has moved up and up. You sound very intelligent and motivated and you get richly rewarded working with very smart people!

Hi OP, you would be brilliant in property sales - really high end or commercial. It is very involved sx you have to know exactly what the client wants. My best friend is very senior in a huge international property company in London - she’s not in the sales end but the sales people earn in the millions! You don’t need a degree and your mortgage background would be an asset.

High end or fleet car sales - but I don’t think I there would be enough variety. I think the best option is property sales.

Recruitment is not as fun as property and you have no connection to build on. Try and network into property from your mortgage business.

Charity fundraiser? Focusing on either corporate, high net worth individuals or trusts and foundations specifically.
Loads of roles as it's a tough job in this economy but it's very similar skill set, persuasive, story telling, building rapport and relationships. And may sit better with you ethically.

Can someone tell me what a typical day in recruitment looks like?

Are you given a list of applicants that you call through? And then match up to the employers, pitching each to the other? Is admin just emails and calls or appointments?

Am j gonna be timed on the phones and between calls or will I have time to properly be strategic with my leads? Rather than bam bam bam. When starting in mortgages I worked somewhere on the phones and even my loo break was timed. That was dreadful.

How does the commission generally work?

Is there any face to face ?

Yes I think most jobs do get tedious. This might be a bit out there but have you ever thought about being a paramedic? I doubt that gets boring.

Really..... Interesting. No, I'm in the north west. I've never moved away. Sometimes I think j should. But I do live in a nice house here. If I went to London god knows what my living situation would be like. Hmm. Could consider it though

I couldn't sit in an enclosed space all day with 1 other person I don't think. I like operating alone

It's not an enclosed space but you would already know if it sounds right I'm sure. Best wishes

You asked me a question re my finance suggestion. What I mean is that most recruiters specialise in a sector. Different sectors are more buoyant at any given moment in time but finance or tech recruiting could be worth looking at for you. Tend to be higher salaries and therefore higher fees.

Your question above re typical day is why I said do your research and ask these questions of any firm you interview with. Some are much more relationship focused and strategic and allow you to build independently and with autonomy. Others are much more managed on hitting key kpis of amount of calls, BD etc. Perhaps talk to a good Rec2rec (recruiter of recruiters!) and explain what you’ve done, your style and that you’d like to get in to the industry and see what they recommend. They normally know firms very intimately. But I reckon you’d suit a small more personal recruiter than a big firm from what you’ve said?

Hmm. I'm actually starting to wonder about property, after all. I was a property investor myself in the past before selling up (that's when j paid my own mortgage off).

I'm wondering about it actually. How much pitching is involved, though? Sometimes I think with property, the unit is what it is. Certainly when I was looking to buy, nothing any agent said to me would sway me for or against a property. The property itself would do the talking. But that was just basic 2-up-2-downs...

I've seen a property investment sales job come up near me. And its not selling off plan. Hmm.

Thank you. Sorry didn't mean to sound dismissive. I do v.muxb appreciate the suggestion

Yes I think definitely small to medium companies suit me better than being just a number

Is the commission typically a percentage of the salary?

Sorry also to add a bit further - some firms you will work 360 so sourcing all your own candidates and doing all of your own BD. Other firms you will work 180 and they can have candidate sourcing or BD teams / people and you just do part of it. I worked better being 360 and enjoyed developing close candidate and business relationships and seeing it through all stages (control freak lol) but others enjoy the speed of 180 which can mean quicker turnaround but you share your fee.
Generally you will have a number of jobs in your pipeline that you’re trying to balance all stages of - so your day will be a mix of managing some BD (new leads, reaching out to previous placements, developing relationships etc), candidate sourcing for earlier stage roles, writing advertising copy, you could be doing candidate or client calls and briefing on roles or managing offers. AI is utilised in quite a lot of companies now for some of the admin side but generally just as a tool and you are still actively managing the rest.

Bid writer for commercial tenders, this came up in a thread about career options I started.

Yes it is. But every company has a different commission set up of how that works back to you so that’s a really important part to dig in to. Some have a minimum threshold but higher percentage, others may have no threshold but lower percentage to you. Many will have a tiered system over a month or a quarter.

Hmm. Lots to think about and research
Thank you all so so much xxx

Do you have an innate talent?

I work in charity fundraising and the reason there are so many vacancies is because the salaries are absolutely dreadful. Asking for finance, influencing, sales, copywriting and pitching skills, oversight of 7 and 8 figure annual budgets, relationship management of HNW individuals and paying £40k pa and no benefits is laughable. I work in this area because I am at a very different life stage and circumstance to the OP.

I am now thinking about trying some of the roles suggested here.

You read this post and thought she’d do well in a caring role? She sounds the exact opposite of what is required. Competitive, self-interested, dislikes people and thinks anyone who makes decisions she disagrees with is stupid. Oh yeah she’d be great at telling a smoker they have lung cancer or helping a diabetic lose weight 😂

What about a lender BDM? You’d use your mortgage knowledge and pitching skills. Lots of autonomy and decent salary.

What about a property acquisition agent? You could possibly run that alongside your mortgage brokerage? My friend has used one recently to find a house for him and negotiate the purchase.

Or joining somewhere like Harkalm to work on corporate acquisitions?

If I were you I would try to capitalise on your property industry knowledge but find a role that has a competitive edge.

Could you hire someone to do the admin?

That would give you some company, it doesn't need to be full time or permanent.

I would be wary of recruitment in the current job market. Perhaps think about staying where you are until your lease runs out and reevaluate how the job market is at that point. There have been a lot of recruiters made redundant because of low hiring in the last three years or so.

If you do pursue it, think carefully about which industry suits you and which will pay best. It’s commission based and you will earn more in higher salary businesses such as financial services.