Looking for a new career - any Ideas please?

Bounce · 6 Aug 2017 at 17:25

Hi All,

I'm 27 I have respectable GCSE's, and two A levels in IT.

I have administration experience and more recently Sales experience, but I feel like I'm stuck in a rut in my current sales role as I don't enjoy it at all.

Ever since leaving college I haven't had an idea of what I wanted to do for a living. Id like some suggestions on what career path to go down. I have been considering enrolling on an evening course at College in particularity AAT Level 2 in order to gain some formal qualifications.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what career path I should take?

malachi · 6 Aug 2017 at 18:05

What are your hobbies? Would you consider IT or anything engineering based?

TNGL · 7 Aug 2017 at 00:28

Software sales?

blairw · 8 Aug 2017 at 10:00

Software / hardware pre sales, choose your vendor, get up to speed and try get in with a partner of some description.

MM-Seat · 9 Aug 2017 at 11:04

AAT is a great starting qualification to start studying if finance/general business interest you.

I also find that those that have studied AAT are much more competent at the fundamentals of accounting rather than someone like me who went straight to studying one of the chartered qualifications.

Housey · 10 Aug 2017 at 13:31

CAPS_LOCK said:
Hi All,

I'm 27 I have respectable GCSE's, and two A levels in IT.

I have administration experience and more recently Sales experience, but I feel like I'm stuck in a rut in my current sales role as I don't enjoy it at all.

Ever since leaving college I haven't had an idea of what I wanted to do for a living. Id like some suggestions on what career path to go down. I have been considering enrolling on an evening course at College in particularity AAT Level 2 in order to gain some formal qualifications.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what career path I should take?

What aspects of your current sales role do you enjoy and which elements don't you enjoy?

What does success look like to you? Is it money, is it an office close to home with fixed hours, is it getting out of the office to meet new people, is it the ability to have a good social with colleagues, what is it?

dowie · 10 Aug 2017 at 13:45

As above, you need to try figure out what you enjoy. Perhaps if you're going down the accountancy path then some of your sales experience can help there with client facing roles eventually. Most important thing though is to find something you enjoy, if you enjoy the area you work in you're simply going to be more motivated and are much more likely to succeed leading to you less likely to end up feeling as you are currently.

Ayahuasca · 10 Aug 2017 at 15:02

Never met a happy accountant, always see it scoring low on job satiscation and always in the top 10 of those "Unhappiest Jobs" articles, but I guess if you enjoy accuracy and numbers it might pay off.

TNGL · 10 Aug 2017 at 17:53

Ayahuasca said:
Never met a happy accountant, always see it scoring low on job satiscation and always in the top 10 of those "Unhappiest Jobs" articles, but I guess if you enjoy accuracy and numbers it might pay off.

My uncle managed to become a partner at a large accountancy firm after around 12 years, he seems very happy. Perhaps it's at the entry level where things aren't as interesting and probably entail more of the less interesting dog work?

neodude · 18 Aug 2017 at 14:18

Considered Air Traffic Control? It's served me well after deciding on a change of career at the age of 32

nas · 23 Aug 2017 at 08:16

Facilities / Property Management, train to become a surveyor, huge potential.

snips86x · 23 Aug 2017 at 08:24

neodude said:
Considered Air Traffic Control? It's served me well after deciding on a change of career at the age of 32

Wow, that's some change! How're you finding it? Is it quite a high pressure job?

GinG · 23 Aug 2017 at 10:07

Police? As per my other post in another thread...currently in a sales Job and have been for the last 10 years or so. Like you getting bored of it and wanted an actual career.

Its proved to be quite a long process for my force (I think it will be approximately 2 years from when I first applied to me starting early next year) but may be different for forces closer to you.

I can't remember if you need 2 or 3 A levels but it may be worth checking out?

Decent pay (7 years of being a PC pays you £37k+) and a good pension.

neodude · 23 Aug 2017 at 13:38

snips86x said:
Wow, that's some change! How're you finding it? Is it quite a high pressure job?

Training was the hardest thing I've ever done but now that I've been doing the job for a few years it's fine. Different people respond to pressure in different ways, what one person finds stressful another will not. For me personally I get a great deal of satisfaction from my job and at the end of a shift I forget about it. Loads of time off too

malachi · 23 Aug 2017 at 23:18

If you want to joint the Police Force, get in there now before they raise the barrier for entry which is an degree.

Muz333 · 28 Aug 2017 at 04:46

I myself finished a PhD in Microbiology last year only to realise working up to 100 hours a week for crap money and no job security wasn't going to work out as a career plan. I then noticed a job available as a Railway signaller near me, applied for it and got it.
It's a huge change from anything I ever thought I'd see myself doing but I'm really loving the job so far. It also pays about £20k more than a postdoctoral position would have gotten me staying in science and has the long term security I was looking for.

So if you notice any jobs for Network Rail appear, or a driver for a train operating company, I'd honestly give it some really good consideration.