Stuck in a pattern of dead end jobs

You answered your own question - you need to study one of those - quite honestly you sound like a whiner that wants something given to them without an effort.

I wonder how everyone else got to be where they are? Maybe that tradesman went and studied NVQ and BTEC and that is why s/he is now successful at their trade.

I wonder if that worthless college student that is now your manager that you complain about feels that his or her college was not worth a penny? So all these college graduates that are now gainfully employed somehow miraculously got jobs but you were unable to.

There is the NCS that has probably given advice others that used the local council and are now gainfully employed -- and yet you are not. I cannot imagine that everyone in your country only got their positions from some sort of family.

You sound like one of my brothers - you are smarter than your bosses and managers and you do all the work and they get paid more and do nothing. He whines and whines his whole life about it and where is he now - living with my mom at over 60 sad really.

Continue blaming others and when others try to give you advice you have an excuse rather than doing something. If you want to vent fine - but you seem to have all the answers so go ahead with it then.

I think he's working but feels it's a dead end job. We don't even know what work he does.

Yeah I get that but he wants something more - I guess I used gainfully employed to be something you want vs employed.

And if you are serious here you go - with top in demand jobs in the UK, their salaries and what you need to do to get such a job.

https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/blog/most-in-demand-jobs-2019/

The thing is if you feel stuck, try to take some joy from what you do. Say you flip burgers - make each day a contest, joke with your co-workers, look smart, smile at your customers even if they are rude or unfriendly. Be your own person and don't let others affect you. Remember, you could be living in a war zone or a country with no food, water, shelter, transportation, or any governmental assistance at all. Be grateful you have a job. We don't all get everything we want so the trick is to take whatever pleasure you can from it. Lots of people do jobs that require very to no skills but they're happy. Our garbage collectors tell the best jokes ever and are fun to kibbitz with. The guy who delivers my newspaper is a sweetie. No skills required for either of those jobs. You have been given great advice here but you're a "yes, but" kind of person. That attitude will get you nowhere.

Why would I ask a plumber? They'd just say they knew someone. I have no interest in being a plumber.

Good idea @neptuneblue let's mess with my landlord's boiler and the utilities on my street as a complete beginner, extremely illegal and dangerous but to you that's bad attitude and whining. And all the online learning I've pursued means I'm stupid and actively refuse to learn. Maybe in the USA you just type your dream job into google and get magically teleported into a fairyland of jobs and careers! Unfortunately this is not the USA and watching a video on Youtube is not considered a robust education. Anyway you're here just to talk tough not help or understand at all.

These people are not sweeties or jokers. They're people with criminal records and antisocial pasts. These are the lowest of the low companies in the lowest of the low jobs. They are keeping me poor and locked in an unstable employment situation. Wanting to get out of this situation and apply myself to more meaningful challenges is not the wrong attitude, it's the right attitude. For your information I've lost my job again because of this. So remind me what there is to be grateful for if no one helps.

I don't know who your brother is but did they send hundreds of job applications last year? Then move 100km for work? Then work 80 hour weeks? Then get a pay rise for good performance? Did they pass a certificate online on the side and get halfway through another? Did they do this completely alone - literally no support and paid taxes the whole way?

Rather than calling me "whiner" and assume I'm your workshy brother, why not treat me like an individual or am I going to continue getting treated like a layabout?

Again, for a trade, you need a job to study an NVQ. In order to study the NVQ, you need a job. It's a catch-22 where you need a family member or schoolfriend to vouch for them. You literally have to be born into the situation. That is, unfortunately, how it works, like many industries. It is a fact of life sometimes, and you see it a lot when you are in the bottom end of a company.

Really??

Is this really how you're going to react? Poor sarcasm and disdain isn't getting you anywhere. If you want something, you have to WORK at it. As in, actively making a good faith effort. You have not done that. You have thrown your arms up in the air, been explicitly vague and downright antagonistic to any post that even slightly hints of you having to make more of an effort.

NO, I did NOT say mess with a landlord's boiler. I said, BUY TOOLS AND LEARN HOW TO USE THEM. How is that complicated in any way??

Exactly, what is the vocation you seek?

Well you said zero as to what you are interested in pursuing - and you mentioned various trades - and plumber was given as an example - you can simply replace plumber with whatever trade or occupation you want to pursue.

When I was younger we were encouraged to ask various professional for an informational interview - that would be one in which you meet with someone in a profession in which you are interested in pursuing. I think had 3 or 4 in my lifetime of those 3 I asked myself - and all 3 accepted --- people like to talk about themselves and how they got where they are. This ranged from a VP of technology in a athletic footwear company to a bank branch manager

We all did - and you have an excuse for each idea we all had. So instead of saying hmm maybe I should change my tactic what I am doing is not working. But instead you whine and give excuse after excuse - you were treated with great respect and with many well thought out suggestions but instead you turned each away with lame reasons.

It seems you have given up and simply want to vent about it. That is fine but call a spade a spade. You may have had some bad luck, but YOU need to provide effort - YOU need to determine what the heck you want to do - no one is going to give it to you.

I grew up in a blue collar family, my family encourage me to pursue a professional career. Other than suggesting going to college, they had no clue how to go about this. I did it, with their encouragement, on my own and I figured it out. Yeah, I had guidance - I utilized the campus resources, at times I failed as no one showed me how you should really study and approach college life - I reached out to a professor who sat me down and went through the steps I should, to prepare and study for a college class and from there I was successful in the classroom - similar things as I went through life.

I had no family or friend role model - I fell on my face a few times in my career and I am not some big hotshot professional - but I have a solid career where I work hard and am rewarded.

You said it yourself --- you are stuck so either get unstuck and out of your comfort zone or stay there. I wish you no ill will, but nothing is going to change if you keep doing what you are doing.

Venting here is not bad - it can help relieve stress and aggravation but in the end that is all it will do.



Then ask a tradesman (plumber was an example) how he got there. I am sure there are tradesman who never had a family member in a particular trade but was able to get there.

Yes, often times family members get the privilege of a job because of another family member, but that is not even close to everyone. I did not know one person when I got my first professional job and almost everyone I have hired where I work now, does not know anyone. I did interview someone once that had a family member high up in the company - he did not get the job as we needed someone with particular experience and he did not have it. Companies would fail if they hired all their incompetent family members - a company is successful when it hires the most qualified candidates so although a family member might get an advantage - a company would fail if it did as you say.

Excellent advice. Quite caring too. Let’s hope for a thoughtful reply.