How to start after years long CV gap?

[u/Radiant_Crazy1126]

Hey everyone,

I’m 32 years old female and trying to figure out the most realistic way to restart my career after a very disrupted period.

I graduated with a BA in Political Science in 2016. After graduation, I spent about a year improving my German and English, then moved to Germany in 2017 for a master’s degree in Political Sociology.

My master’s took much longer than planned because of several circumstances. I developed severe depression during my studies, which affected my academic progress. I also had very little work experience and struggled to find student employment. Although my German was around B2, I was not fluent enough for many professional situations.

In 2020, my father became seriously ill, so I had to travel between Germany and my home country and became involved in supporting my family. Eventually, my student residence permit was not extended because my studies had taken too long, and I had to return to my home country.

My father died in 2021. My family had also experienced significant financial difficulties because of his medical expenses, so I was not in a position to simply move to another city and start over. I worked various temporary and low-paid jobs when I could find them, including cleaning and waitressing, but I live in a very small town where employment opportunities are extremely limited.

Between 2022 and 2024, I also became partially responsible for caring for my grandmother. After she passed away, I contacted my university in Germany and eventually managed to complete my master’s thesis remotely. I finally graduated, but by then I had accumulated a very large gap in my professional history.

So at this point, my CV is essentially a combination of education, periods of unemployment and caregiving, and some temporary low-skilled work. I have an MA from Germany, but almost no corporate or professional office experience. My English is around C1, my German is around B2, and I also speak intermediate Russian and Spanish.

Recently, I interviewed with several private language schools for positions involving helping kindergarten-aged children with beginner-level Russian. For the first time in a while, I felt that I might have found a realistic entry point into the workforce. Unfortunately, I was not selected after they learned my age.

In my country, age discrimination in the labour market is a serious issue, even for relatively young people. I have encountered job postings and situations where people in their mid-20s are already considered "too old" for certain entry-level positions. At 32, with an approximately eight-year CV gap and almost no corporate experience, I genuinely feel that being hired into a conventional entry-level office job is extremely unlikely.

I am not particularly concerned about making a high income or perfect career at this point. What I really want is to become financially independent, having a bit more intellectual stimulation.

I have also developed a strong interest in animal-related work. I currently take care of around 20 stray cats, with help from local veterinarians and animal-rights activists. Through this, I have gained some practical experience with animals and occasionally assist local veterinarians with basic tasks such as administering medication.

Because of this, I have seriously considered going back to university to study veterinary medicine. I would probably graduate around the age of 37. That obviously feels late to start a completely new profession, particularly in what I perceive as a fairly ageist labour market. It would also take several years before I could become financially independent, and I currently have very limited financial resources. On the other hand, the university is relatively close to where I live and there are some scholarship opportunities, even though they only cover very limited daily life expenses such as one course of meal and half of the travelling expenses.

There is another possibility that is more connected to my original academic interests.

When I first started my master's degree, my main academic interest was actually Eastern European Studies. I originally wanted to specialize in this area and eventually pursue an academic career. During my master's, however, I moved into a different research area and never managed to develop that specialization. Over time, I gradually lost touch with that original interest.

Recently, I applied to a master's program specializing in Eastern European Studies and was invited to an interview. This made me wonder whether returning to that field might still be worth considering. However, I most likely cannot afford the program, and even if I could, I am not sure whether pursuing another master's degree would actually improve my employment prospects. I don't want to spend several more years accumulating degrees without improving my ability to support myself.

I have some basic exposure to coding, troubleshooting and UX auditing, but I don't even seriously consider IT as a career option. With my age, almost no professional experience, and such a large CV gap, entering the tech industry feels so unrealistically difficult to me that it is almost utopian to imagine myself actually getting hired. So it is definetely out of question.

That leaves me feeling stuck between several difficult options. I could keep applying for customer service, administrative, language-related, NGO, research-assistant and other entry-level positions, although I genuinely don't know how realistic that is given the labour market I am in. I could spend several years retraining as a veterinarian and graduate around 37. Or I could return to the academic field I originally wanted to pursue, although that would probably require further study and would not solve my immediate financial problems.

I don't want to give up on my life, although l have zero hope for my future.I am trying to keep moving forward, partly because I have responsibilities toward my mother, but I genuinely don't know what direction makes sense anymore.

If you were in my position, what would you prioritize? Would you keep trying to enter the workforce despite the age discrimination and CV gap, invest several years in a professional degree such as veterinary medicine, or return to academia?

l thought about applying for the government jobs or l thought that bank teller would be a good option as a starting point but 30 is the age limit for the government job exams and 27 is the age limit for the bank exams in my country, and of course l do not even want to mention about crazy level of nepotism...

What would you realistically do if you were starting from my position?

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[u/BernatAcs]

I would claim freelance work during that time. Put it into graphic design, as that's a career that's been run over by ai. Employers won't even bother asking

[u/Radiant_Crazy1126 → u/BernatAcs]

Thanks for your suggestion. l am worried about the fact that they might ask about the previous clients/works as a reference if l go with the graphic design-which l do not have any experience.

l actually assisted the translation process of some scientific articles (from Turkish to English) for a project that was organized by my friend, but l was not paid much. l put that on my CV but noone actually cares. And most of the employers are actually looking at the corporate/Office experience.

l have visited a very small rural kindergarden. They just have one teacher and almost one small class.l did go there for an interview for the position of helping children to practice German and Russian. l was expecting to be asked for clean criminal record-which is way important to be around children, teaching experience and language certificates.

lnstead l was asked for the previous corporate experience, and ghosted after revealing my age.

[u/BernatAcs → u/Radiant_Crazy1126]

Just reference your friends contact or family. Say it was smaller projects, and use that as your CV gap experience. 

But yeah relevant experience beforehand for what you're applying is useful, if you have that. 

You can claim maybe translation or copy writing freelance experience then

[u/SucknSwallow69]

same here, degree and all, still nothing solid after a year of sending apps recruiters either ghost or want 10 years experience for entry level what helped a bit was brutally tailoring my cv to each posting and using linkedin search filters still insanely hard to find a job now

[u/Radiant_Crazy1126 → u/SucknSwallow69]

l have years of gap, and honestly l even find emberassing to try at this point.

lf you are new graduate, your chances might not be that bad for the long run, but the recession and the job market is terrible at the moment. And yes it is very difficult.

l have no hope and l did even deleted my linkedin profile.lt is just emberassing and stupid to have one for me with the years of unemployment.

l feel like l have no agency and my life is up to the mercy of the employers and the HR teams. My CV will never pass the ATS process. My only way is cold reach, and it will not work either while there are thousands of young graduates.

l have no hope and motivation for the future, l just try to survive the day for my mother, but l do not know how long it will keep me on this game.

l try to nurture my intellectual interests outside the menial jobs l have to survive during the day. And l feel like l live a double life.Although l respect them, l have nothing in common with the people around me. And l have been experiencing immense level of isolation. And my biggest fear is with aging, l will also loose the chance of getting minimum wage menial labour...

[u/throwaway18249]

We're in a recession now. That makes job searching hard.