Masters degree/career

[WorzelBrumidge]

Hi all,

not sure where to post this, but higher education is relevant.

So basically I feel a bit stuck. I’m 31 with a degree in a humanities subject and I graduated 7 years ago from a RG uni with a 2:2. Since I left uni life pretty much went south: depression, anxiety and a recent ADHD diagnosis.To this day I’ve still not found a graduate job and for the last three years I’ve found myself working nights at a company I hate in an industry I have no interest in, but I’m stuck.

I guess the biggest issue is I still have no idea what I want to do as a career. I tried teaching and had a breakdown and never went back into it. I didn’t dislike teaching so much, but I absolutely cannot tolerate the behaviour of teenagers these days. I thought we were bad in school, but today it’s chaos.

I’d love to go back to uni and obtain a masters either in history, IR, but I’m too worried I’ll just end up in the same position one year later. I’ve also considered the idea of town planning and that does seem really interesting to me, but then I’d be sad I can’t do a masters in a subject I love. I’ve seen so many people do humanities degrees and end up in good jobs but I genuinely have no idea how they even found those jobs or even made it apply to them with no experience.

The longer this goes on the worse my mental health gets. I’m from a working class background and it’s really upsetting to basically be in the same situation I was as a teenager, only now I have less time to plan for my future because I work constant nights because I need the money to pay rent. I just feel like a massive failure and tbh the last few years I’ve avoided so many people because I can’t take the embarrassment when they bring up that I went to uni and then I have to explain I’m doing a job I could have done the moment I left school.

Has anyone got any experience in this? Any advice would be appreciated. (Let me know if there’s a better sub to post this on, I’m new).

Thank you

You should only do a Masters degree if it is going to help you get a job or develop your career. You could always move into town planning, if that’s possible, and do a Masters in History with the OU while you are working.

Totally this. A masters won’t make you any more employable for a generic graduate job.

It will however make you a year older and a lot poorer.

Do town planning. It’s objectively interesting and there’s a clear career path.

There’s plenty of chances to learn history or IR on the side.

I’m sorry but unless the masters is for a specific job / profession it really won’t help your job prospects at the moment - it will just kick the can down the road and cost you a lot of money. Unfortunately the job market for graduates is currently really tough and lots of graduates are experiencing the same as you but can’t even get a non graduate job. You would be better trying to understand the job you would really like to do and research that and its entry requirements. If history for you is a nice to do - study part time with the OU while you are working. Sorry as I’m sure this isn’t what you want to hear but as someone who has been hiring into professional roles a masters won’t automatically open doors for you.

@WorzelBrumidge - to answer your other question, yes, there is a Mature Study and Retraining board, here:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/mature_students

Why not browse a few threads and see if other people’s experience might help you?

There is a huge shortage of Town Planners - sounds like a fantastic idea - I'd go for it. And I think you can do it via an apprenticeship. it will open up lots of doors.

When I was in my late 20s I trained as a Chartered Surveyor via a post grad diploma while working as an assistant surveyor - took 3.5 years but I was paid the whole way through.

I did a msc in transport planning a looong time ago! Was offered a bursary to pay for degree and a job at an engineering company after uni. I didnt like transport planning, i moved briefly to urban planning but then got an opportunity in non-technical project management which i loved. I worked in the private sector, all companies are international so it would be useful to have another language (which i do). I tried to aplply to public sector jobs but maybe i was too working class for them, i never got any jobs….
then i had kids and changed carreer. But i did enjoy working in engineering cies as a non engineer
good luck with it - feel free to ask me questions

Did you not use your careers service or attend careers fairs at university? Or talk to anyone ever about applying for jobs? You have to make your own luck I’m afraid. However Planning is the obvious answer. Neither do you have to stick with it! Lots of sideways moves available to planning consultancies and private sector. Just get trained - a local authority might even take you on now! Start looking at vacancies and talk to your local planning authority.

Definitely do a vocational masters which will qualify you for a job - town planning, if that is possible, or one of the real estate/surveying ones would be great options. Alternatively, there are lots of healthcare careers which you can do via a 2 year accelerated masters - eg radiography, OT etc - but you'd need to be sure you're interested. It's not too late for you, but I think you need some specific professional qualifications. I assume you're not at all interested in accountancy/finance (I did that after a humanities degree)?

Law? My profession. Half of lawyers do a degree other than law first. It is a very interesting career too.

Thanks for all your answer, they’ve really been helpful.

I forgot to mention my interest in social/public policy as a career which doesn’t necessarily require a masters, but I’ve read it can be a great help, and I really would like to learn more about it through a masters. My main issue I guess is I don’t know where I see myself in 10 years and I’m terrified of making the wrong decision.

i know I can get into the civil service and work my way up, but I’ve had my eye on vacancies for quite a while now and, truth be told, there haven’t been many at all that I could apply for.

I think I’ve decided that although I like history, I’d like to keep it as an interest on the side.

some more thinking to do

Unfortunately not. I had planned to in my second year onwards however there ended up being quite a few deaths in my family and in third year my mental health went to s__t. One of my biggest regrets, if I can call it that since I was clearly not in control, was not making better use of the career service but I guess that’s life.

I’ve ruled healthcare out mostly, it’s not for me. Having said that, occupational therapy seems interesting and it is something in the back of my mind.

im bit very good with maths. I can use a calculator and I use AI to solve more complex maths problems 😂

You need to contact recruitment agencies. There are graduate jobs out there.