is it possible to have a good job and not have formal qualifications?

globalds

someone else mentioned on here :

Air traffic controller doesn't require any qualifications ..But you need to have the right stuff.

pinpin

I guess it's a lot harder nowadays.
My dad owns owns a house worth well over £1 million and left school without GCSE's, but the route he took wouldn't really be possible anymore.

I'm soon to be unemployed. Been working minimum wage warehouse work for the last 7 years or so.
Nobody will look at me for anything other than picking/packing work.
I've been to see 4 agencies now and it's all the same story.
People want someone with a degree and I've never been clever enough to think about university.

My only 'hope' now is to maybe learn some sort of trade?
No idea what, though. Most are way too complicated (electrician etc)
Or maybe take some sort of course which will be suitable for more of an office role? (again, don't know what, though)

Then there's being your own boss, but I guess you need a good idea and some start up money.

The world is a tough place for those of us not blessed with a big brain or a lot of luck! lol

pleasedelete

globalds wrote: »

someone else mentioned on here :

Air traffic controller doesn't require any qualifications ..But you need to have the right stuff.

Except it says


It is a requirement, however, that candidates have at least five GCSEs (or equivalent) at grade C or above, including English and Maths.

mustang121

Qualifications are only a snap-shot of a persons ability at a given time. I would be annoyed if someone judged me on my average GCSEs.




If you are willing to start from the bottom and make your way up the ladder. Most decent companies will normally invest and pay for employees to obtain formal qualifications in their field.

dave4545454

fitnessguy1 wrote: »

hi everyone,

i am very confused at the moment because i have a sh*tty, low paid job (honestly) and i fear i won't get anything better without formal qualifications. in school i had a lot happening in my life and i didn't do so well. since i have left school i have worked in various jobs, but all of them were/are dead end. i think the problem is not knowing what i want to do. people tell me i am an intelligent guy but i just don't see it myself. i failed school and i'm just not good at education.

Of course it's possible to have a good job with no qualifications.


It's ALL about who you know, not what you know. If you have the right connections you can be earning 200k+ a year without a single qualification.

fitnessguy1

dave4545454 wrote: »

Of course it's possible to have a good job with no qualifications.


It's ALL about who you know, not what you know. If you have the right connections you can be earning 200k+ a year without a single qualification.

is this true though? surely you still have to have the qualifications?

fitnessguy1

i find that many of the successful people without qualifications usually started their businesses when they were young. i like cooking and fitness so was thinking about personal training or being a chef, but lots of people are trying to become pt's these days. i want a job that pays enough for me to move out tbh and a job i enjoy doing. i think these dead end jobs are making me less intelligent as i don't have to think to work in these jobs.

i am 28 now and i do worry about getting old and not having any qualifications to get a better paid job. i really don't want to be 30 and still working dead end jobs. it is tough because i just don't feel confident with academic work. no one really seems to help. i go to careers advisors and forums but there is no helpful info for low salary people like myself it seems. it really is quite hard when you have no qualifications and no experience in anything other than dead end work.

i agree that most employers seem to want an employee with a degree or good education and/or vast experience. working in dead end jobs is not my ambition for life.

kwmlondon

I'd say it's much harder to get a decent job with no training. Most jobs require you to have some skills to be able to do them, decent ones much more so. If you're lucky then you can learn on the job, but why would an employer take on someone on the off-chance they'll be able to do the job after training?

Training doesn't have to mean going to university, if you want to be a chef you'll need certificates in food hygiene. Even driving a minicab means you need a driving license and you'll have had to be trained to do that so expand your ideas of what training actually means.

There are plenty of adult education opportunities where you can learn to use a computer, how to manage accounts, customer service etc and having some kind of qualification is a really good way of showing a potential employer that you have the skills they need to do the job, or at least the potential to learn.

Good luck.

fitnessguy1

i want to go on a music production course and have my own music production set up at home. this is something i would like to pursue also. this will obviously be more of a hobby, but eventually i would like to put my music out there and see how far i can go with it.

i think a university degree would be too much. i really don't know what i would study anyway.

ben_m_g

Personally I don't think lack of grades stops you from getting "good" jobs, it just depends on how much you want it and how hard you are going to work for it.

I work in an industry that expects a degree as a minimum qualification, I don't have one and I am a leader and an expert in my field.

I put this down to the amount of home study and taking the crappy jobs no one wants to do, if you can get in at the bottom of a big company there is always a chance to work your way up, you just have to prove you are useful and keen to work.

Once you have a title, it is easier to move sideways at that company or others, again rinse repeat.