Career advice for a degreeless 40 year old.

[BrieAndChilli]

Currently on furlough and worrying I will not have a job to go back to (events industry) so thinking about getting a new job.
Always had lower skilled part time jobs since having kids (customer service, waitressing, accounts assistant, admin assistant) dropped out of uni due to family problems and having to work 2 jobs. Lots of jobs I see that I know I can do and have done in an informal sense in other jobs all require a degree.
I’d love to be an event manager but that industry is not a good bet at the moment, was thinking project management but keep getting stuck on the degree thing. Can’t really afford to do a degree or open university and do need to be earning.

Just looking for ideas on a career I can start in now and work my way up really.

What about an apprenticeship or degree apprenticeship? Some are open to all ages and if you go for the degree apprenticeship the pay can be pretty good.

www.findapprenticeship.service.gov.uk/apprenticeships?ApprenticeshipLevel=All&Category=SSAT1.AHR&Hash=0&Latitude=51.51713&Longitude=-0.10619&Location=London%20%28City%20of%20London%2C%20Greater%20London%29&LocationType=NonNational&PageNumber=1&ResultsPerPage=5&SearchAction=Search&SearchField=All&SearchMode=Category&SortType=Relevancy&WithinDistance=5&DisabilityConfidentOnly=False

Second the idea of looking at apprenticeships, most are open to people of all ages now so long as they don't already have the qualifications in the relevant area, if you can't find a degree level one take a look at some of the lower level ones, I know it may seem a bit odd to take a level 3/NVQ type qualification when you are probably perfectly capable of doing the job but the foot in the door of a company/experience in the industry is what makes it worth doing IMO - in my company we often take on our level 3 apprentices after they complete their 2 years into roles we would probably otherwise have recruited a graduate for, because the on-the-job-experience is so valuable, and they often do very well afterwards, sometimes going on to do a degree or further professional qualifications part-time to allow them to progress further. We have people from all walks of life doing them too, not just your typical 18 year old school leaver...

If you are interested in project management I'd look at project assistant or project administrator jobs (if you can't find a project management apprenticeship) - these shouldn't need a degree as essentially it's admin work but again the foot in the door might allow you to progress if you are patient and hard-working, if you can shadow the PMs, maybe take on a little junior PM work, perhaps even persuade the company to part-fund you to take PRINCE2 or similar, that would really help your CV?

I am the same as you. No degree but a lot of jobs and experience under my belt. I'm now a project manager. I went back to work after a break to have kids on a temp contract at a lower level (senior admin type role) and got a promotion to PM quite soon after.

I got lucky and have a great boss but I would recommend a large employer generally - they have (had?) apprenticeship levy money to spend on staff development - I could do an apprenticeship in my current role whilst staying on my good salary. This is a better route than applying for apprenticeships directly - the money paid is far lower if you apply for a designated apprenticeship role.