Anyone else worry they will be stuck in a dead end job?

I'm glad people can relate. other people in my family are quite successful in their careers and it worries me that I'll have wasted my time, as I could still end up in a job that only requires GCSEs. I try and reassure myself though by saying there's more to life than career!

Considering that even getting a dead end job is hard at the moment (seriously 6 months unemployment...).

You have to remember we are in a recession so walking into a career you love is extremely difficult. I am sending application after application for cleaning jobs to grad schemes and everything in between.

I can really sympathise with that I was unemployed for a few months and it's horrible. What's your background - are you studying?

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to share one of my worries and see if anyone could relate
I'm studying for a psychology degree at the moment, part time with the Open University and also work at a bakery for 3 days a week. I have a few ideas of things I could potentially want to do after my degree career-wise but I'm really not decided on one career path. I really worry because most people that get into either postgrad courses or good graduate jobs seem to have been sure what they wanted to do for ages, and have loads of voluntary or work experience in a similar sector to have got in.
I really worry that I will be stuck working in bakeries for the rest of my life. I would love it if my part time job was a career I could fall back on if my degree didn't work out or if I had an idea of a graduate job I wanted to do so I could do something about getting experience. But its just not how it is and careers are such a big worry for me.

Can anyone else relate?

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to share one of my worries and see if anyone could relate
I'm studying for a psychology degree at the moment, part time with the Open University and also work at a bakery for 3 days a week. I have a few ideas of things I could potentially want to do after my degree career-wise but I'm really not decided on one career path. I really worry because most people that get into either postgrad courses or good graduate jobs seem to have been sure what they wanted to do for ages, and have loads of voluntary or work experience in a similar sector to have got in.
I really worry that I will be stuck working in bakeries for the rest of my life. I would love it if my part time job was a career I could fall back on if my degree didn't work out or if I had an idea of a graduate job I wanted to do so I could do something about getting experience. But its just not how it is and careers are such a big worry for me.

Can anyone else relate?

Finished an MSc back in October. Had a temporary research assistant job (only a month due to them having limited funding) and been stuck unemployed since.

Good range of experience in admin and retail still having zero luck on the job hunt.

I can definitely relate, but I worry more about never getting out of working several part-time jobs. At this point any full-time position would be grand...

I really worry because most people that get into either postgrad courses or good graduate jobs seem to have been sure what they wanted to do for ages

I think you are under a slight misconception in that plenty of people seem to be stuck on the idea of a certain career or perhaps some idyllic notion of a generic 'graduate job' but plenty go to uni, get the job and then the reality of it hits them and it is different to what they thought it would be and they realise that they are in a dead end job (albeit maybe with an extra couple of quid and a fancy title).

Just stop worrying and see what happens. Most people either don't have very clear cut views about what they are going to do or end up changing paths anyway.

Don't base your whole life and happiness on career and work anyway - it is just one aspect of life needed to pay the bills. You can always concentrate on other aspects too like hobbies, friends, family etc.

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to share one of my worries and see if anyone could relate
I'm studying for a psychology degree at the moment, part time with the Open University and also work at a bakery for 3 days a week. I have a few ideas of things I could potentially want to do after my degree career-wise but I'm really not decided on one career path. I really worry because most people that get into either postgrad courses or good graduate jobs seem to have been sure what they wanted to do for ages, and have loads of voluntary or work experience in a similar sector to have got in.
I really worry that I will be stuck working in bakeries for the rest of my life. I would love it if my part time job was a career I could fall back on if my degree didn't work out or if I had an idea of a graduate job I wanted to do so I could do something about getting experience. But its just not how it is and careers are such a big worry for me.

Can anyone else relate?

Yes and no. I'm worried about being stuck in a job I don't like (law), giving up after a few years and doing something that was a complete waste of my degree, which I also don't enjoy.

So I've decided to do something about it and look into medicine, because that's what I really want to do but haven't given myself the chance. I'm going to keep up with the legal work experience to see whether I can find my niche there, but if I can't, then I want to have an alternative.

How comes you didn't apply for medicine then?

Law seems to complete opposite, are you sure you want to switch fields?

As a 16 year old choosing her A-levels, it was always between law and medicine and for whatever reason, I plumped for law. So I chose humanities and arts based A-levels (with the exception of Maths). When I was halfway through my A-levels I realised that law wasn't so appealing but I applied for it anyway because I assumed medicine wasn't an option.

It was a daft decision but I was young and naïve and expected myself to be the perfect candidate who wouldn't ever change her mind, would go to university, love it and achieve a string of firsts. In reality, although law is still interesting, I don't have enthusiasm for it anymore and I often find myself distracted by reading up on science and medicine.

I'm going to do lots of voluntary work/work experience in both law and medicine to be absolutely sure, and I'm still going to finish my law degree and can always go back to law in the future. But yes, I think it will be the right decision.

(Excuse the long post - it partly served to rationalise everything for myself as well!)

That's good, I was gonna suggest the same thing. Just finish the law degree and take it on from there. Stopping halfway during your degree now, may turn out to be a suicidal move.


What A-levels did you end up doing?

I'm pretty sure it's Chem and Bio that are compulsory for Medicine Even then, shouldn't the third subject be a science related one?