There's deep resentment about your life as you
likely not making the right choices/decision to effectively spur
changes... or should I say constructive improvements. There is this
emotional anguish that is affecting your self worth, questioning
and planting doubts of your ability and yourself.
My take is that you don't have to accept such a fate if you don't
wish to. You just got to equip yourself with the correct mindset
and courage to work towards a positive change.
For Love:
And think not you can, direct the course of love,
For love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course
For Career:
If you dislike an environment that focus on paper qualification,
then seek for a company that at least appreciate
talents/effort/hard work/etc. 
***
IMHO, the easier of the two evil is definitely
your career because you have a choice to change job anytime to
avoid the curse of working in a company you detest. There's some
degree of control in which you can manipulate, whereas in love, you
are probably at the mercy of circumstances (Won't talk about AOS
here though).
It's true that as people grow older, they might have more
difficulty in seeking potential mates. Not exactly because of their
age, but more likely due to their lifestyle. When you are younger,
people are put into the school environment and it's easy to mingle
around with people of your age and interest. But as we leave
school, if your lifestyle doesn't allow you the opportunity to meet
ladies, interact and know them, then your 'market share' is
probably limited.
Next is about personality (and other factors). I don't know about
you, but I do know people who are almost at brink of desperation in
seeking mates, unknown to them, they actually emit that sort of
desperation aura that turns people off. You mentioned about a first
date, but was rejected a second/third one - doesn't it sound weird?
Sure, you could give her the benefit of the doubt as she may be
actually busy. But if it's a convenient excuse often heard when you
requested for a second/third date, you know she's probably just
being polite in rejection.
Chances are, that's because the comfort wasn't good enough with you
at the conclusion of the first date and thus the reluctance and
hesitation for the next one.
During the date, she has subconsciously evaluated you and you
didn't pass. What has happened? It depends on how enlightened you
are in reviewing your 'performance' for that particular date. Most
guys in similar cases never understand why and thus they repeat
history over and over again, citing poor luck in love, when in
fact, it's actually about themselves.
Dating is not just about the person - it's a lot about
yourself.
Dating is not just about the outing - it's about the strategy
involved before, during and after the date.
And most
importantly, dating is not about BGR relationship - it's about
building bonds with people.
Cheers
