A midlife career change can be a scary concept, however ultimately challenging and rewarding. Reasons you’re thinking about a career change could include:
Job loss – there may be a reduction in the work force or a restructuring.
Industry changes – these could include the introduction of technologies such as AI, the elimination of products/ services or social changes.
Work-life balance – wishing to have a better quality of life and spend more time with family.
Dissatisfaction – a lack of interest in the job you do.
Fitness – in industries such as construction, you need to be physically fit, this can impact on your body, it may become increasingly difficult to continue in such a physical role.
A career change later in life can be both risky and exciting, which is why the key is proper planning and preparation. Don’t let the fear of failure get in your way.
This checklist will help you to consider the important factors when looking at the practicalities of a career change.
Self-assessment and reflection
This is an opportunity to make a career change for the right reason, so you need to have a deep think and reflect on what you want from your next career. Here are questions you need to ask, think about, and answer:
- What are your interests, values, and skills?
- What truly motivates you?
- Are you giving up the right job for the wrong reasons?
- What inspires you?
- What are your long-term goals?
- How would a potential career change assist in achieving these goals?
- What do you want to achieve?
- What lifestyle do you desire?
- Are you giving up the right job for the wrong reasons?
Take this opportunity to really be certain of what you want to gain from your new career, talk to family and friends to gain an alternative perspective.
This is the time when you ask yourself why you want a career change, it’s a big life change and can have a great impact or your financial security, mental health and personal relationships.
Make sure you’re changing careers for the right reason and identify if you’re current job is really worth giving up, often when we work in a job for long enough we want to change because we are bored or have little job satisfaction – sometimes these may not be the right reasons.
Research your potential career
Now you’ve got an idea of what it is you want to achieve through your new career, be it more money, time freedom, a more satisfying job, you now need to research careers which will satisfy those needs.
This is when you need to do some research, this is a very important life change, it needs to be done right. You need to go into it with the best information available and your eyes wide open:
- Explore different career options and industries.
- Identify individuals who work in the industry you want to work in and ask their advice, look at forums and blogs written by people in the industry.
- Use online resources to gain as much information as possible.
Ask questions:
- Is there a shortage of workers? or a surplus?
- Is the industry growing?
- What companies thrive in the industry?
- Are salaries and working conditions suitable?
- Are people within the industry happy or stressed?
These are the sorts of questions you need to ask, be aware of confirmation bias. This is when you try to identify information that matches your preferences, for example you may want to work in a certain field and you only identify positive information.
You need to have a balanced view of your new career, it could be the last before retirement.
Skills, qualifications and ability
You’ve asked yourself what it is you want from a new job, and you’ve researched it thoroughly, you now need to see if you have what it takes to do the job.
Skills and qualifications:
A great way to assess this is to review your CV, having identified your skills and qualifications, compare these to the job requirements.
If you’re lacking in any of these consider taking courses, which can be online or attended at an educational setting.
It may take a couple of years to gain the skills and qualifications required to enter this new profession, so dedication, focus and the right motivation is essential.
Transferable skills:
It may not be immediately obvious to you that the skills you have gained are transferable from one industry to another, but you need to be imaginative, question what you have done in your career and be positive about yourself and have confidence in your abilities.
We have a tendency to be very poor self-promotors and downgrade our own skills and abilities. You likely have skills and abilities that you can leverage from one career to another.
Sell yourself
Curriculum Vitae
It’s time to update your CV if you haven’t written one for a while write a new one, there are many resources available to help you write a new CV.
Over the last two decades the layout and content have changed slightly so if you do have a CV make sure to update it.
The CV needs to be tailored to the new job that you want, you may have to amend it for each job role that you go for.
Online presence
We now have a presence online, unavoidable if you’re on Facebook, LinkedIn or any of the other Social Media Apps.
So it’s time to update these to reflect your new potential role, you want to ensure that you sell yourself. It’s not unusual for businesses to review peoples public persona before interviews, so make sure it’s professional and relevant to the career you aspire.
LinkedIn and other similar social sites are great ways to interact and connect with people in the industry which interests you. Make connections, these connections may lead to job opportunities. But at a minimum they will provide you with learning and networking.
Job related experience
The skills and qualifications you require have been identified, now it’s time to gain the experience that you require to enter the new industry.
Part-time or freelance
This could entail part-time or freelance work to gain experience.
Volunteer
Voluntary roles may be available which will help improve your credibility and provide you with the skills you need.
Personal projects
You can take on projects which directly relate to the role that you want. These would look great on your CV and give you the required experience.
Gaining job related experience can be time consuming, stressful and expensive. You may put more stress on yourself because you’re not only working in your full-time job but also spending time working part-time, volunteering or working on side projects.
There may be expenses involved because you have to sacrifice overtime or take time off work. If you have the opportunity to quit your day job and build up your skills, qualifications and experience it would be great. But most people aren’t in a position to do this because of financial and family responsibilities.
Prepare for interviews
If you’ve been in the same career for along time you may not have done an interview for a long time, you need to be prepared. Most traditional interviews were in-person, nowadays they can include virtual interviews, so make sure you have a good knowledge of what these are.
Read the job description – this will give you a hint at the sorts of questions they’ll ask and the type of work-related examples they’ll want.
Research your potential employer – understand the things that make the business tick, this can include: what they produce, advertising campaigns, recent blogs, new products or news worthy content.
Calm yourself – you’ll be understandably nervous, take time before the interview to calm your nerves, use breathing techniques, meditation or mindfulness. The internet is abundant with helpful ways to calm your nerves, here are some useful tips to calm those nerves.
Practice interviews – make an effort to predict the type of questions they’ll ask, have a look at their website for ideas, or simply research popular interview questions. Practice your answers using a structured way such as the STAR interview method.
Ask someone challenge you through asking questions, and practice your listening skills, this is often overlooked.
Preparation is key, it will be clear to the interviewers if you haven’t prepared properly, for more interview tips and tricks click here. Be prepare to have a positive and believable reason for wanting to change careers.
Don’t give up on a career change
If this is what you really want, you need to persevere, you will have built up resilience over the years that will get you to where you want to be.
You have your ultimate goal in mind, you need to celebrate the milestones on the way, for example rewriting your CV, completing courses, these are things that should be celebrated. If you find your motivation waning, there are resources available to help you through the hard times and achieve your goals.
In conclusion…
Changing careers later in life is intimidating, challenging and potentially risky. To mitigate this risk this checklist and other resources like job sites such as Indeed are available, which will help you make the best decisions with the information available.
But with a clear focus on what you want to achieve and resilience the journey will lead to personal fulfilment and professional growth.
However, there’s no shame in returning to your previous career or job if you find that you just cannot manage to adapt to a new role, or it simply isn’t for you, embrace mistakes they’re a great learning tool.
With self-reflection, careful planning, a willingness to learn and being adaptable you will give yourself the best chance to succeed, if you want it hard enough and its right for you, you’ll achieve your goals. Good luck.