Half of Working Brits Believe they were Pressured to Pursue a Career they Hate, According to a New Study

New research by international schools group ACS has revealed that half (50 percent) of working Brits were forced down a career path that wasn’t their choice, with one in four (24 percent) insisting their job makes them unhappy.

In fact, one in four (25 percent) said they felt pressured to go down a career path by parents, who had set ideas about what they wanted them to do, with 43 percent insisting they would have chosen a more creative occupation if they had been given the opportunity.

One in five (20 percent) now feel resentful about being shoehorned into a certain career, while a quarter (26 percent) are frustrated at where they have found themselves. A sixth (15 percent) just feel depressed about where they have ended up.

But it’s not just at home that the nation’s workers felt pressured, one in six (13 percent) say they were pushed by their school or university to go into a particular role, with two thirds (62 percent) admitting they were given unhelpful career advice.

One in six (17 percent) were told that dream careers like being a professional footballer were out of reach as ‘only a handful make it to the Premier League’ while 14 percent were told it was ‘impossible to be a singer’.

Other careers that supposedly were out of reach, according to career advisors, include being an actor because ‘you’ll struggle to get regular work’ (12 percent), an artist because ‘it won’t pay the bills’ (10 percent), a doctor – ‘it’s a stressful life with long hours’ (nine percent) and a pilot – ‘the training is expensive’ (nine percent).

Eight percent were told they couldn’t be an author when they expressed interest because ‘it’s hard to get published’, while seven percent were told their chances of being an astronaut ‘were one in a million’.

As a result, more than half (54 percent) say they are not currently working in their dream career, with 18 percent admitting they envy those who seem to love their job.

Three quarters (72 percent) have thought about changing their career in later life, but couldn’t because they needed to keep earning money (49 percent) and couldn’t afford to retrain (29 percent).

It’s no surprise that after feeling like they have been shoehorned into a career they didn’t want themselves, 85 percent of parents say they will encourage their children to follow their dreams rather than take a job they’re not interested in, with 57 percent saying they will be much more open about possible career choices compared to their own parents.

Two thirds (66 percent) go a step further and think that the current exam system pushes kids to pick subject choices too early, limiting future study and career options, and 62 percent of teenagers think the same.

Martin Hall, Head of School, ACS Hillingdon said: “The research shows that the nation’s workers feel like they have been short changed when it comes to their careers, and the next generation fear the current system will send them the same way.

“What’s concerning is that the same system that created these regrets is still in place. Our research shows 66% of parents believe the English exam system forces children to narrow their subject choices too early – at 14 and 16 – often before they understand what opportunities exist.

“Parents experiencing career regret shouldn’t assume the only path is the one they took. They should ask schools: Are you preparing my child to be ready for an unpredictable future, or forcing them to be ‘single subject specialists’? That’s the question that matters.”

A free copy of the ACS report “Too soon to decide: How early subject specialisation makes career paths harder to chart” is available from https://www.acs-schools.com/early-decisions-report/