Short-listed some careers (psychology, HR, etc) but what is the next step?

[HelpPleaseNow]

Have posted before, and got some good responses. Started short-listing some careers. Now stuck. What should I do next?

I have the following on my short-list:

1. Psychologist
2. Counsellor/psychotherapist
3. Academic (in psychology)
4. Human Resource professional
5. secondary school teacher (teach psychology / work as a careers advisor)
6. Art therapist
7. Librarian

I already have a psychology degree, but it's old (did it 15 years ago).

I am a SAHM to a three year old but she has started nursery, and will need to support myself financially (no grandparents around, newly single parent, though her dad helps out, so I know I can ask him for help).

I worked in HR for a bit before, and didn't love it (but I'm wondering whether it is because I worked in the finance side of it before). Maybe another field of HR would be more interesting?

My strengths are: working with people, verbal reasoning and writing skills, I am quite studious (did well in my studies). Not so good with numbers (OK-ish, but not a natural talent of mine...).

I sometimes regret not going down the route of History or Art or English Lit or music or performing arts (was very creative as a child). But I'd still be in the same position if I did another undergrad (HR or teaching). I enjoy writing and performing arts, but only as a hobby.

What do I do next with the above list?

I keep having doubts about each career choice. How does one decide?

With the psych career, I worry that it may be tough mentally / triggering, and I won't cope for some reason and get burnt out. Sometimes, it can be triggering to study mental health. But also fascinating and rewarding. I really enjoyed my undergrad and I am really good at working with people (that was the feedback I got at work). So two sides to it.

Academia doesn't seem to have as many employment prospects these days (and can be quite isolating, especially the PhD stage). And I'd miss working with people.

HR is a good option...but then I would feel sad that I am not studying Psychology any more and it was such a fascinating field.

I don't understand how Art therapy works and also it doesn't seem to have as many job opportunities. Same with librarianship.

In other words, everything has its pros and cons, and so I sit at home, paralysed with indecision - which way to go now?

Also not sure how to make it all work around my child.

Also have zero confidence after years at home. I used to be so confident and now I'm not...(years of knock-backs at work and also it just seems so daunting...what if I make the wrong choice? What if I fail? What If they reject me?).

I am that annoying combination of 'ambitious' and 'anxious' which are such a contradiction and end up with me being frustrated haha!

How do I proceed now? What's everyone's advice/experience of this kind of thing?

Thank you for getting this far...:)

Would it be helpful to come at it from a different angle, ie what are the employment prospects for each option (how much demand is there), and what would the costs/time commitments for each be in terms of training vs how much money and time can you afford?

There's another thread atm about training to be a counsellor/therapist: it is expensive and takes quite a few years, so that is worth bearing in mind.

Librarianship is under great pressure jobs wise, it's doable, but a lot of work for not very much pay. Education used to be a good option for working in a library service, but there have been swathes of cuts.

The majority of what you have listed has long training times, can you afford that if you are supporting yourself as a single parent? If so, take one of the heart decisions, you're clearly interested in the psychology/mental health area.

If it's going to be a head decision of which one is quickest route and most secure to support yourself, HR or teaching. Not sure there are many jobs for secondary psychology, but I'm sure someone with more experience will come along.

You could go down the teaching into counselling young people route. The teaching giving you a steady income whilst your DD is young, then branching out as she gets older.

I would look at it from a practical perspective, it’s a bit wishy washy just now. Do you need to retrain for specific qualifications, if yes how long will it take and how much will it cost? Do you actually have a change of getting a stable job in any of those career paths, would any offer part time hours (if that’s needed), how much will it pay?

Agree with this - plus sadly very poor career prospects offering careers guidance in schools.

I would go down the HR route tbh. You have experience there, can do a Masters in an area of HR you'd prefer.

I know a couple of people with HR backgrounds who now work with big 4 insolvency teams offering services to employees who are about to lose their jobs. That could fit quite well and decent money.

What type of librarianship are you interested in? The more lucrative routes are in the academic, health and civil service sectors (an experienced practitioner can expect to make approx £30-45k). Job titles might vary e.g. knowledge/information/evidence specialist, information officer, information scientist etc. It's worth collecting some job descriptions to get an idea of what the jobs entail. Try the NHS and civil service job websites, plus jobs.ac.uk for academic sector.

Thank you everyone so much for taking the time to comment and give your advice. It has been tremendously helpful. I am now feeling much less overwhelmed.

I've also started working with my own career coach and it has helped me to narrow down my options. I think I'm going to focus on either HR or Psychologist as two short-listed careers, and also do more research into them and how to get into those fields.

Just to add on the HR side, you could look at roles with an organisational psychology slant (more likely in large organisations).. so think about things like employee engagement, change management, organisational culture etc. I think that would appeal to your interests and background more than the finance side you were in before :) good luck!

I about getting a role in HR and complete a level 5 or 7 apprenticeship in people management. No cost to you that way.

I was thinking occupational psychology you'd need to do a Master's and then work experience if you wanted to qualify), or there's a new coaching psychology route now in the BPS (I presume your degree was BPS accredited, although I don't know whether there's any time limit), or organisational development-type roles - there are a lot of people doing these without any formal psychological experience, although the psychological aspect is really helpful and IMO will become increasingly in demand.

Becoming a clinical psychologist is a lot of training and really competitive to get into. Almost all programmes want to have seen you have an assistant psychologist role first. I think it would be quite hard as a single parent of a young child.

Art therapy is so important but it would really depend on the need in your area. You'd likely be self employed so possibly less secure income. It also depends on where you work and the demand. I work in MH and we haven't found an art therapist in over a year. Also unable to find a family therapist.

I think if it was me I would look at a part time HR job for security for now and then pursue training in art therapy or family therapy to see how it goes, gage demand. If you get enough business built up you could aim to make that the primary career eventually.

Self employment is great for flexibility when having kids so having a mix of paid employment/self employed could be really useful with a young child.

I agree with the above poster - becoming a psychologist will likely take you the best part of a decade unless you have lots of very relevant experience already. But that doesn't mean it's impossible.

There are lots of levels below 'psychologist proper' which also require a psych degree but less experience (and could be stepping stones towards becoming a psychologist) - many of them (for England and Wales anyway) are listed here: https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/psychological-therapies/roles-psychological-therapies

Good luck!

The next step is to cross off teaching. I genuinely wouldn’t recommend it as a career to anyone, not without huge changes.

I went into HR from secondary teaching. I studied for the CIPD level 3 in my last year of teaching and then applied for loads of jobs. I kept getting turned down, until finally I was turned down and called the recruiter and insisted they put me forward for the job - It took a lot of explaining the cross over skills but I got the job. Be prepared to move every couple of years. Lots of people want to get into HR, there’s lots of competition for progression, and there are a lot more basic admin roles than higher level roles. 200 people applied for our last HR officer role and that is only one level above administrator, so still very junior level.

What about Careers Adviser/Consultant?

It combines lots of the things you've listed and you could get a job working in a university if that appeals to you?
The training is relatively short (1 year full time and 2 years part time) and there are distance learning options. It's a 'psychology' based career with sociology, policy, HR and counselling thrown in too!
If you work at a university you can often get involved in research and the academic side of things.

Thank you everyone, so many great responses, experiences and suggestions. I'm going to go down the HR route, but also have the Psychologist / Careers advisor routine in the long-term as well. I think the more I work towards these two routes, the more things will become clear to me. Thank you everyone for your help!