You studied for years, you have your degree and now you’re not sure you want to work in the field it points to. That feeling is more common than you might think.But, according to careers experts and graduates, it is far less of a problem than it seems. A degree is much less a career prescription than it is a foundation for thinking, and the softer skills you have built – communication, research, creativity and problem solving – will stand you well in almost any role.Marie McManamon is an independent careers consultant and qualified guidance counsellor with more than 30 years of experience in industry and education.“Graduates think they are wasting their degree if they don’t use it directly,” she says. “But a primary degree is an education. So much of what it gives you is about critical thinking and learning how to think, and those core skills are transferable.”McManamon says graduates who find themselves questioning their path should not suffer in silence. “They may be burnt out, they may have been pushed into the wrong thing, or they may simply find, as they get older and more mature, that it isn’t for them. Talk to someone, whether it’s the college careers office, a tutor, a lecturer or anyone you trust.”She also points to the practical options available to graduates considering a change of direction. Postgraduate conversion courses are widely available, and many entry-level graduate recruitment programmes are open to applicants from any discipline. For those who want to retrain more formally, Qualifax (qualifax.ie) holds details of the full range of conversion courses currently on offer.She notes, too, that the broader environment is making career decisions harder. AI is contracting early careers roles globally, particularly in data processing, while soaring rents are making it increasingly difficult for graduates to base themselves in Dublin or other cities.[ How do you find a job and career that makes you happy?Opens in new window ]“You can’t put that on top of people and tell them to just go after the highest-earning sector,” she says. “You have to go after what you want and make that your primary decision. I have clients who are vets and became civil servants. If someone studying engineering decides not to become an engineer, it can feel like a shock to the system, but they are still eligible for the same graduate recruitment opportunities as anyone else.”Francesco Cirigliano: 'Having supportive and empathetic people around me made a huge difference' Francesco Cirigliano: Hairdresser to HRSometimes, changing career can feel tricky without a degree behind you, even if that degree isn’t connected to your future plans. Francesco Cirigliano’s path into HR took a route that, not long ago, he wasn’t sure was even open to him. Originally from Italy, he had been thinking about going back to education for years, but the system back home made it feel almost impossible.“In Italy, because I didn’t have the equivalent of the Irish Leaving Certificate, I would have had to go back to school for three years before even applying to college,” he says. “That always turned me off.”In Ireland, however, Cirigliano found more accessible entry routes for mature students. When he decided he wanted to move from hairdressing into HR, he was told by many people that without a bachelor’s degree, it couldn’t be done. He had never studied at college level before, and the idea of committing to a full-time degree while working full-time wasn’t realistic.But then a short course from Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), which runs at National College of Ireland (NCI), came to his attention. CIPD courses are highly recognised in the job market, available in a hybrid format and structured in a way that allowed him to keep working while he studied. He was drawn in by the possibility that the diploma could later open a path to a full bachelor’s degree.“The biggest challenge was getting used to student life, like managing assignments, readings and balancing it all with full-time work and family,” he says. “It was frustrating at times, working on assignments during beautiful sunny days, or when I couldn’t focus the way I wanted after a full day of work. But having supportive and empathetic people around me made a huge difference.”[ The dos and don’ts of starting a new job: 15 expert tips for graduatesOpens in new window ]As a mature student, Francesco approached college differently to how a school-leaver might. “Often the person chooses to start college and has the maturity to see how this will positively impact their life,” he says. “When you’re younger, it can be harder to see that.”He is now part of the HR team at the Ombudsman for Children’s Office, and is about to begin a part-time bachelor’s degree in human resource management at NCI. The experience of the CIPD course – and the genuine interest his lecturers showed in seeing students succeed – gave him the confidence to keep going.His advice to anyone hesitating? “To anyone who is unsure about going back to study because of fear, or because they feel ‘too old’: just do it. It won’t always be easy, but you will find support along the way.”Nifemi Ogunbuyi: Biochemistry and molecular biology to financial accountantNifemi Ogunbiyi graduated from UCD with a degree in biochemistry and molecular biology in 2021. She is now a qualified financial accountant, having trained with PwC.Growing up, she always had one foot in science and one in numbers. But by third year of university, even with excellent grades and an academic-excellence award behind her, she was doubting her direction. In hindsight, the uncertainty had been there from the start – three days before her CAO deadline, she had switched her first choice from commerce to biochemistry.At a careers fair, she met a nursing graduate who had become a financial adviser, who told her she didn’t need to work in the field she had studied. “That was the first time that idea became a reality to me,” she says.She secured a summer internship at PwC, performed well, and was later offered a graduate position. The firm paid for her professional accounting exams while she trained, and she qualified after three and a half years. Of roughly 200 summer interns at PwC that year, only a small handful were not from business or accounting backgrounds.“Whenever someone asked what I studied, and I said biochemistry, you’d see the confused faces,” she says. “Even the people inside a profession don’t always know how flexible it can be for outsiders. You don’t have to study accounting to become an accountant. A lot of people are still surprised by that.”Biochemistry, she says, gave her more than people expect. The discipline of scientific research built what auditors call “professional scepticism” – the habit of not taking numbers at face value, of always digging deeper and asking: why?“In science, you consistently have to research, question, test. That mindset has identified issues for me in accounting that I might otherwise have missed.”Her advice to any graduate wrestling with the same uncertainty? “Life is about making your most educated guess. Find concrete evidence that what you’re considering is possible. Reach out to people already doing it, ask how they got there. And remember: the fear of regret is a bigger fear than the fear of getting it wrong.”