I need help finding a path

Hi, so I graduated from uni two years ago this summer and I’m feeling pretty low about my life right now. I got a first in my history degree and felt like I left uni with a lot of positivity but that’s long gone now. In the two years since graduating I’ve been stuck in a junior paralegal job, my initial thinking was that I could try it out for 6-12 months and see if I want to do the GDL with a view of getting a training contract but I’ve hated it, constantly stressed, working long hours fairly often (unpaid) and struggling to sleep at night despite doing relatively mundane tasks.

I know I want to leave this job but still have no idea what I want to do in life and I’m nearly 25 now. I have wanted to leave for about a year now but can’t leave this until I find something else. My uni careers service offered me no real support other than “look on prospects”. To be honest, it’s maybe a bit unwise completely ruling out law but I’ve had such a miserable experience I feel I need a fresh start.

Jobs in the heritage sector seem so difficult to find and I keep applying for all sorts of graduate schemes (Banking, Acturial, Finance, Commercial) with no real idea if I even want them, I guess my thinking was that if I manage to get on one then I could work from there which I know is kind of stupid. I’ve considered publishing but there aren’t a lot of jobs there either.

Sorry for a bit of a long winded vent but was just wondering if anyone had any kind of advice. All I keep hearing about is how successful people I went to school or uni with are doing and I just feel pretty low, I feel that I have qualifications to do a good job just no idea how to get one!

25 is still very young- it's fine not to have figured out what you want to do.

I agree that civil service jobs would be worth a look (and likely secure jobs in the current environment). You could also consider looking at local government jobs too?

Have you thought about taking things in a different direction and looking at jobs like social work/teaching? Or something like HR?

Maybe consider applying for non-grad scheme jobs in sectors you are interested in? You don't have to do a grad scheme to progress your career.

I have definitely considered teaching as I do quite like figuring things out and explaining to others, I find in work even though I’m just a junior a lot of people in the department come to me to go through how to solve technology based problems. However, I have really bad social anxiety and whilst I think I would be okay in a 1-1 scenario I don’t think I could cope with the public speaking aspect or be able to control a classroom.

In terms of non-grad schemes, I have looked at a few roles which have come up in publishing/editing that sounded interesting as a way to get my foot in the door and start there but they seem pretty hard to come by. To be honest I see so many people getting jobs that I have no idea how they found. I mostly search by indeed, LinkedIn, Prospects, or by going on to websites of specific employers but not many results seem to come up.