28 y/o stuck in boring job - Career switch? What to do next?

[notsurehwhatimdoingwithmylife]

Looking for some good advice from fellow mumsnetters re career switching..

For context - I am 28 years old, single, feeling a bit lost with my life and not sure where to go next.

Career wise - I am in a bit of a ‘golden handcuff’ situation with work. I have worked for a large bank since I was 16 and earn a semi decent salary (40k) with share bonuses and have a high amount of money sitting in sharesave schemes which are due to come out over the next couple of years. No degree or any further education except high school qualifications. However… I am SO bored with my job. It’s an analytical work from home job and it totally does not suit my personality at all. I have a busy enough a social life/ hobbies to keep me afloat outside of this but to have to do this everyday is making me demented.

I love connecting with people and the best times I can think of in work is working in call centre jobs (not the work itself) but the range of people I would meet everyday and have such a good laugh and banter with. I know that colleagues are just that, however I’ve made some really great friendships with my colleagues over the years and really value human interaction daily.

What I really want is a bit of a career shift. I don’t know what, but trusty ChatGPT has suggested account manager/ customer success manager roles would be a good fit for me..

I feel like I have almost created this career for myself that I don’t really like however it’s decent enough paid to keep me afloat and enjoy life outside of work but the monotony of the work is actually draining the soul out of me. Most days I feel like I could just close my laptop and never open it again.

I know the obvious answer is to look for other jobs, but to be honest the amount of different career paths I feel like I could take is totally overwhelming and I don’t really know where to start because all I’ve ever really known is jobs in banking. Never had any experience outside of this.

I don’t really know where to begin - but I’ve created a list of things I want and don’t want…

Wants

• Human interaction
• Feeling like I’m actually making a difference not just sitting behind the scenes
• positive outcomes
• colleauges that are fun to be around
• structure in my day to day
• decent salary with high earning potential
• good work life balance
• hybrid work ( I don’t want to be fully remote)

Dont want

• Boring work (to me I suppose this is subjective)
• customer service
• overly Serious/boring environments
• heavy targets/ pressures

My interests - I am quite a creative person, i really like fashion, interior design, socialising with friends, beauty, health and fitness.

So I guess what I’m really saying, has anyone made a career switches from something they have spent a long time in that they didn’t like anymore? How did you approach it? I feel like if I don’t make a move at some point in the future I will just waste my life working in this job. I want to make something of myself…

I don’t really know what I want to do career wise, but some suggestions would be great.. I am scared I just waste my life being miserable in a job.

Also any advice, stories, experience and anything else in between would be so appreciated ❤️

The job market is absolutely dire at the moment. I retrained in my 40s (from librarian to academic) but not such a huge change. That was back in the 1980s and 90s when I went right through batchelors, masters and doctoral degrees. It would simply not be possible today. Even then I had to comp;ete ruthlessly for academic jobs because I was older and more expensive.

As a side hustle I began selling antiques online (early 2000s) which is something Ive always been interested in. So my advice would be to keep the boring job (at least for the present) and get a rewarding and fulfulling side hustle. It could be that in time you are able to build it up into a lifestyle business and work for yourself. Then you gradually cut down the bank work to part time.

Maybe look at tech sales in a company like Softcat? Targets for sure but not in a cold calling way.

You’ve invested time with this employer so it’s worth first establishing whether there’s something more suitable for you with them - and it sounds like a lot of your issues with the current role would be solved by being in the office daily. Large organisations have a lot of different opportunities within them

Definitely start with the ‘credit’ you have earned from a long career with one institution. In your position I would be disappointed if the bank could not offer me either:

• Funding and time to study for a degree. Or

• A sabbatical (of a few months) in which to travel / learn a new skill / whatever.

I suspect if you’re bored a period of learning and study to challenge you might be just what you need. And it sounds as if you can afford to do this, too (professionally and financially).

Could you try doing what you do from an office environment instead of working from home? I know from experience that WFH doesn't suit me and I started hating what I do because of it. Once I was mainly office based I found I felt a lot better in myself and about the work.