5 Tips for Changing Your Career Path in Your 40s
In some previous times, people were able to find employment immediately after getting out of school and they would spend their entire careers in the same workplace. In that world, passing the age of 40 meant you should start preparing for retirement rather than thinking about a new career path.
These days the situation couldn’t be more different and even though we have lost that welcome career certainty of the previous decades, the modern business world is also much more flexible allowing you to completely reinvent yourself and start over even after you turn 40.
Let us take a look at a couple of tips that should help you along the way.
Consider a new job in the same industry
One of the main reasons why people start thinking about making drastic career changes often comes in the form of a low salary or some kind of dissatisfaction with the current position. If you are facing similar problems stop for a moment to think would it be more prudent if you simply sought out new occupancy in the same business sector rather than starting over in a completely new industry? Taking a personal journal and spending some time examining the reasons for change should give you the right answers.
Assess your skills, knowledge, and interests
To do that, you will need to thoroughly examine your career up to this point and review all previous job roles, side activities, participation in projects, and volunteer work. All these small bits of the past may cast a light on some important character traits, skills, and fields of interest you have until now, kept dormant but can still play a critical role in your future job position. Of course, aside from these hidden traits, you should always take into account your soft skills, previous experience, and the things you hold dear.
Upgrade your skills
Once you have discovered a general direction where you should push your career, it is time to upgrade your skillset and make this shift smoother. If you are, for instance, discovered that you are outgoing, fun, and know how to get under people’s skin, you should definitely consider starting out as a realtor. But, in order to get a shot at this market, you will first need to enroll in a certified real estate traineeship and get a formal license. The sooner you start your education, the higher the chances for a new job will be.
Try setting up a couple of job shadowing
By shadowing, we mean following a professional working in the industry you are interested in to work and experiencing your future position firsthand. This neat trick can be valuable for a myriad of different reasons but we will point out the two most important mentions. First, you will have an opportunity to assess if the job you have chosen is really for you. Second, you will be able to identify eventual knowledge and skill gaps that may have escaped you while you were reading the job description and fill them in.
Pick up the experience
When you finally start applying for the new position, your future employers will not be interested in your age as much as your previous experience. That is something you can’t get unless you actually roll up the sleeves and get your hands dirty. So, while you are undergoing training for the formal license, see if you can get some form of an internship, apply for volunteer work, or even take a couple of freelancing gigs. Even the smallest bits of experience in the industry is far better than coming in completely fresh.
We hope these few tips will help you make your future career transition much smoother and easily find a new job even after you pass the age of 40. In that regard, the business world can be quite generous since your future employers will be much more interested in your personal and professional qualities than your age. The suggestions we gave you above should help you to nudge both these factors to your advantage.
