Career adviser for an experienced professional looking for a career change

Andrew_Ryan_89

Sorry for the lengthy title.

I have a sales/professional service background. When I left university I was in my first job for 3 years and left for an increase in salary and to diverse my skill set. Second job was again in sales and was there for two years before being suddenly told our whole department was being made redundant. This coincided with me buying a property, I literally exchanged the days before the announcement, so I scrambled for anything and took up the position I am in now.

Current job I am very happy with the salary, more than my expectations. What was also a bonus was that I have working from home status. However, working from home is not as great as I thought it to be and it greatly exacerbated my depression. For internal reasons work was very frustrating most of the times and I was not enjoying my role despite the salary. On top of this and as mentioned before, I was/am battling through my worst period of depression and spent a large amount of my time procrastinating and thinking about suicide.

Last week my boss sat me down and frankly told me my role wasn't working. Nothing too personal, despite my problems I have performed better than the two people before me (both never lasted 10 months) the role is just not working. Currently I have no idea what is happening but need to find a job ASAP, especially with a mortgage to pay and a baby on the way.

I am 28 and have a salary of £50k. Thing is, I have had enough of sales. I was such a hard worker when I was younger to get to where I am now and I've burnt myself out. No job is easy but it would be nice to have a job where there are no sales targets constantly hanging above you. I love talking to businesses and working within the professional space, it's just now I don't want to go back into sales but don't know what direction I can go in.

I want to know if there is somewhere I can go to get a bit of career advice? I am well experienced and do have a diversified skill set which I believe makes me suitable for a number of role. Would be nice to speak to someone who can give me a bit of help.

Leo2020

Universitys will often provide career advice to ex- students.

Rebooting your career may mean a large pay cut , certainly to start with in most cases, you will need to consider how a bigger cut you can afford to take.

Andrew_Ryan_89

Leo2020 wrote: »

Universitys will often provide career advice to ex- students.

Rebooting your career may mean a large pay cut , certainly to start with in most cases, you will need to consider how a bigger cut you can afford to take.

True, I am prepared to take a massive cut. I am someone who lives quite below my means. I got my house (and lived in it for some time) based on a salary of £30k but will be hoping to start on something like £40k.

coffeehound

You could look into seeing a professional career consultant. I saw one when I was your age. The company did the aptitude tests in a class environment and then everyone got an interview with the consultant based on the results throughout the remainder of the day. A week or so later a bound report arrived in the post. It was very, very helpful and opened my eyes to possibilities I had no previous knowledge of across a diverse range of fields. It was a few hundred £ in the '90s; not sure what they'd charge these days.

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agrinnall

Andrew_Ryan_89 wrote: »

True, I am prepared to take a massive cut. I am someone who lives quite below my means. I got my house (and lived in it for some time) based on a salary of £30k but will be hoping to start on something like £40k.

What do you have to offer an employer that would convice them that you are worth £40K? All your work experience seems to have been in sales, and that's the one thing you don't want to do, so in effect you will be competing with other graduates with no relevant experience. Unless you live in London I think you'll be fortunate to find anything that pays as much as £30K, and potentially you'll be looking at quite a lot less.

Andrew_Ryan_89

I am in London and though I am in sales, I have enough experience that it's not just brain dead window selling and cold calling. I can read financial accounts, develop relationships, do strategic business development and so on. I have helped so many people with their CVs and getting jobs and could see myself easily doing a job where I help university students with job applications and finding opportunities.

Most reception jobs in London start of on £30 so I'm relatively confident that I can get a starting salary from £36k+.

It's times like this I wish I could take a year out to reflect on my life. The trials and tribulations of being successful. More money more problems.

gettingready

Andrew_Ryan_89 wrote: »

Most reception jobs in London start of on £30

No they do not.

But that aside I actually know where you are coming from.

I was on 46k in 2010 but got to hate the company I was working for so left that and started contracting on much better money. But with contracting it is what it is sometimes 6 months working and sometimes not sometimes local and sometimes commuting for hours or living away from home on Mon-Fri basis. In the process I realised I really do not want to do what I used to do any more.

I am much older than you but hanging career for something unrelated to what I was doing for 20 years means I am now looking at jobs that pay 25k and having problems even at that level - due to lack of direct experience.

Transferable skills are one thing, direct experience in a specific role another - at least as long as starting salary is concerned.

And yes, I am in London too.

All the best anyway - and if you are on LinkedIn , try asking there as a lot of recruiters are happy to offer advice.

Fireflyaway

Could you find a job in the same field but non sales? I'm just thinking if you sell IT for example you must have some knowledge or liking of it? Therefore could consider IT support. Or if you sell medicines would you be interested in something scientific. Would require training but at least you have some grounding.
I'm with you that health and happiness is more important than money. Especially with a baby coming you want to enjoy every moment and create happy memories for your child. Having an unhappy parent is not a good thing.
At 28 you could always retrain completely. There are part time degrees and professional courses you could do alongside work. Hey the government probably won't pay you a pension till you are 80 so plenty of time to retrain and enjoy work again!

Nicki

I'm another one who wouldn't describe you, based on what you've posted as "an experienced professional". Sorry. Nor do I relate to your claim that receptionists in London start off on £30k. I live and work in central London for a large company quoted on the stock exchange and that doesn't sound right to me.

My 17 year old son can read financial accounts. Strategic business development in sales isn't necessarily transferable to non-sales related roles, and 5 years employment history (even if it were in the professional field you wanted to stay in) would be described in most professional fields as mid-junior. "Experienced" to me suggests something more senior.

Someone has suggested a university careers adviser or a career coach, and both may be useful to you, though its not usually a good idea to make a long term life changing decision whilst suffering from acute mental ill health or in the immediate aftermath, so I think you would need to choose someone who can support you through this with due care and attention to your mental health needs.

robatwork

Andrew_Ryan_89 wrote: »

I have helped so many people with their CVs and getting jobs and could see myself easily doing a job where I help university students with job applications and finding opportunities.

Here's an idea. Given the above, why not set yourself up as a recruitment consultant? In effect it's a sales job as it only pays on commission, but it can be money for old rope and pretty well rewarded.

You can choose to work from home and meet clients at their houses or just by phone, or hire some serviced offices and get the human contact you crave.

Then you just sit on Monster, Reed et al and match job ads to CVs. I'm sure there's more to it but from personal knowledge, not much.

Guest101

Andrew_Ryan_89 wrote: »

True, I am prepared to take a massive cut. I am someone who lives quite below my means. I got my house (and lived in it for some time) based on a salary of £30k but will be hoping to start on something like £40k.

Really?.......


Let us know how you get on...