Help me get a job which uses my abilities and pays well!

May 13, 2009 11:22 PM

What can I do with my life that allows me to support myself and doesn't make me want to watch paint dry for something more interesting?! I'm a thirty something law graduate in the UK, with oodles of work history (mainly admin / legal related).

I graduated last year in my thirties with an LLB Law with American Law, started the LPC at the same time as starting paralegalling in Commercial Property / Conveyancing, hated both, hated the law firm I was at, was terribly paid, jacked it all in. I have failed miserably at getting a training contract, because a)I have bad A level grades, and b) I only just scraped by 2.1. I thought about other graduate programmes, but no one seems to be interested in me as a mature candidate, despite oodles of work history. I have spoken with recruiters I know, and have been told it is not the quality of my applications, which are good, it is my 'mediocre-ness'!

I'm finding myself doing the same crappy jobs I did before I ever started at university, and to add insult to injury, I'm earning less doing them than I did back then! To pay off loans etc, I need to be earning a minimum of £20k, but I'm not even close to this, and I would hope to be in a position that offers the possibility of advancement, not dead-end, like I'm doing. The jobs I'm doing didn't need me to get A levels, let alone a degree.

So what can I look into doing? I'm still interested in law, particularly copyright and technology law, but have given up on ever getting a training contract (and can't afford the LPC now anyway), but also in more creative stuff, like music, writing, the arts, etc. I love macs, but don't have a lot of computer knowledge, though I could see myself doing something computery.

Ironically Accounts was my best subject for the time I was doing the LPC, even though I was terrible at maths at school (I did scrape a C grade GCSE) and routinely fail any form of numerical psychometric testing (hence immediately rejection from any graduate programs which use that as a testing method). I can't afford to do any further studies right now so that isn't an option. I'm looking for any suggestions that I haven't yet thought of that are doable where I live (Norfolk).

If money weren't an issue I'd spend my time doing music, knitting related endeavours and writing, but none of these has ever yet made me money, so I can't see the makings of a career doing what I love unfortunately! a little help please? Anyone been where I am? What did you do?!

posted by nunoidia to work & money (4 comments total)

law librarian? good career
posted by fifilaru at 11:44 PM on May 13

I found the idea of working in private legal practice unpleasant, so I went to work for the public service (in Australia). Now I have a great job doing things much more interesting than I'd ever see in the private sector. I already had my certificate, but some of my friends got study leave to get theirs. I don't know whether Norfolk is the place for this in the UK, but is that an option?
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 3:37 AM on May 14

Sorry, can't advise on specifics what to do with law but I'd suggest that you figure out what you enjoy doing, figure out what you are naturally good at and then specifically target these jobs.

It might mean some difficult choices; unless you are very luck you will have to trade happiness off against pay, and trade current training off against required skills. Be prepared to find yourself heading in a quite unexpected direction.

I found myself in a dead end at 29 and figured out, by the above method, that I needed (unwillingly) to go back to uni. I retrained and was able to target a particular sector/job and am now very happy and making a living doing what I love. It took 5 months to figure out what I needed to do, 5 years to do it and 10 years to feel secure.

Not a quick solution! The quick answer would be something like; Records Management Legal Services, or film studio legal services. Try these?
posted by BadMiker at 5:48 AM on May 14

Thanks for the answers.

law librarian not an option at the moment, since it requires further study which I can't afford.

public service legal practice here is no more possible than any other legal practice, in fact it's less possible since those firms can't fund people to get their LPC unfortunately.

Oh BadMiker, unfortunately your answer leads to back to square one. The things I enjoy pay nothing, what I'm naturally good at is law and admin, which is exactly what I"m doing at the moment and earning not enough to support myself. And I'm not a big fan of doing someone else's admin as it turns out.

So basically, I'm screwed for the foreseeable, failing a lottery win!
posted by nunoidia at 9:45 AM on May 15