No degree but too much experience

[BoredandLost]

I am job hunting after being made redundant 2 months ago. I have applied for around 100 jobs so far, but not getting short listed for anything.

I have 30+ years experience, and really good experience. Outside of 2 periods of 7 months maternity leave I haven't been out of full time work since I was 16.

I have really excellent skills - but no degree. So any job with a decent salary I am being immediately rejected for not having a degree. So I start applying for much lower jobs, well below my skill level, and am being told I have too much experience for those jobs. I'm not applying for anything high flying, but mid range, £30k salary area, but every single job in that zone has requires a degree on the minimum criteria.

I am really lost and no idea what to do. I got 2 months redundancy which has kept me going till now, but that is running out, and I hate not working.

Another problem is that I have a strong desire to work from home due to some physical issues I have. It's not impossible, but WFH makes my life a lot better and my condition more manageable. I'm also 50. Though they obviously don't get to see my DOB on most applications, my job history makes my age quite obvious.

But like I say, not even getting a sniff of anything. I've had my CV checked - I even paid for a service, and apparently my CV is excellent. I write new covering letters / applications depending on the job, ensuring I highlight how I meet the person spec. I even tweak my CV depending on the role. (My area is customer engagement / data. But have also been applying for admin roles as I have good admin experience on my CV)

Any ideas on what to do stuck in this grey area? Either not qualified or too qualified for everything. All suggestions would be really appreciated.

I'm sorry OP. There's a serious problem with age discrimination (something I'd like to see whoever's next in government address).

I don't know if this is good advice and hopefully someone else will know better than me, but would it be possible to remove some of your earlier jobs from your CV? That might make your age less obvious.

Could you approach recruiters directly? Maybe you are being blocked by an automatic filter but speaking to a real person could help.

I work in tech and don’t think they look at degrees past junior level.

This is something I'm thinking about - but the qualifications I do have come from that period and wouldn't make any sense with my later jobs - I did an apprenticeship, but on paper, very unconnected with what I do now!

I am thinking I might need to speak to a recruitment agency. The jobs I'm applying for are on recruitment type website (eg LinkedIn, CharityJobs, Civil Service Jobs, NHS jobs). I've never had this problem before, and never used an agency or similar before..