Early 40s. Nearly 20 years civil service in project roles and last decade in digital/data. It’s not gone how I’d hoped and I’ve sort of done things in reverse i.e ten years in London in modern govt dept with tonnes of opportunity then moved back ‘home’ to jobs where my experience hasn’t been used/useful. I do good work and bright but find promotion hard at interview stage and tbh there’s few jobs that appeal. I’m not outgoing and the idea of management isn’t for me which rules me out of plenty of civil service roles. I’m good at excel, data, web content and learning the powerplatform. I just don’t know if my heart is in the civil service especially being the same grade for so long. I do my job standing on my head and my manager is part of the furniture and wants both an easy life and all of the power which is why they’ve got rid of the grades above me. He’s no drive other than to save his arse. That’s not my problem but it doesn’t help especially when other teams have a better grade mix and promotions based on skills. I think he just wants to show his importance to his superiors which is fair enough.
I think the time in the sector, my role being easy to do and manager indifference has made me wonder more than ever ‘what next?’
I love working on my own, I’m not good in loud offices but have no idea what’s suitable. I’d retrain, study for the right career. I feel my brain turning to mush. In my weaker moments I think of teaching but that’d drive me nuts I think.
Hope any of this makes sense and thanks for any help.