No career prospects and a failure at age 32

[ladylalatub]

My mother keeps going on about how I have nothing to show for my life at my age and she had 2 masters degrees by the time she was my age. I dropped out of Oxbridge over a decade ago, due to being out of my depth, social isolation and ongoing mental illness. Since then, I have worked customer service and retail jobs. However, due to a relapse of my mental health I stopped working at the end of last year. In 2021, I did AAT Level 2 and got a Distinction but have not managed to start AAT Level 3. While I was working, I struggled to find the time to study and find enough money for the exams as I attempted to do AAT Level 3 with an online training provider. I would feel so tired after work. I have applied for school leaver programmes and apprenticeships to finish AAT while also gaining experience and getting paid, but have had no luck. I have no experience with Excel.

My real passion is literature and theatre. I applied for credit transfer with the Open University and got 120 credits due to my previous university studies. I started a Level 2 English Literature module with the Open University in October, but due to travelling for some family bereavements I was unable to send my passport to Student Finance England in time and got deregistered from the module. I would love to get a degree in English Literature, but worry that I would not have any real career options afterwards.

I feel stuck.

I know someone twice your age with the same pattern of one step forward, two steps back. Completely brilliant person with a roster of august institutions and impressive positions on their CV - but a lifetime of failures, withdrawals, self sabotage, misfortune, fatalism and lack of confidence has left them in a situation it’s difficult to recover from now they’re close to retirement with no savings or pension.

Fortunately you still have time to turn things around. I hope you’ll find some helpful advice here - but truthfully I suspect you need far better mental health support than you have been receiving.

Bump …

You have more than 30 years of working life ahead of you so it's definitely not too late! Have you contacted the OU about registering on the next presentation of the literature module? If that's your passion then pursue it. Okay it's not a vocational degree but it's still worth doing for personal and career development.

If you are keen to complete your finance studies do take a look at the finance roles available in Government, where you would find a supportive community, and typically be given a day a week to study (rather than trying to squeeze this in after work). There are lots of roles across the country. Some will be advertised as apprenticeships, but other direct entry roles will also allow you to continue to study and gain your qualifications. www.financecareers.civilservice.gov.uk

Career changers are really welcomed!

I would look at jobs/careers first and work backwards in terms of what qualifications you might need.