Never Too Old to Learn: Is It Too Late to Change Your Career When You’ve Hit Your 50s?
Picture this: you are at crossroads in your fifties with the desire to transition your career. The reasons for wanting a change could be numerous: perhaps you are not happy in your current career or perhaps it is becoming irrelevant. Maybe you discovered that what you chose in your mid-twenties does not work well for you anymore, or maybe your enthusiasm has declined and you want to try something new. Here’s the good news; as long as you make use of the right technique or approaches, it’s never too late to learn something new.
Figure out Your Motivation
A change in career often takes place because you are no longer satisfied with what you are doing. When that happens, you need to take a long look at the aspects that really motivate you. Is it flexible working hours? Is it meaningful work? Career prospects? Or Money? After ascertaining what your motivation drivers are, you can now carry the enthusiasm into the new occupation. More often than not, employers are not interested in why you can do, but rather why you do it.
Having passion for your new career should enable you to work harder and make your career change a possibility. Learn the requisite skills and take the various online courses to help build your resume.
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Use Your Advantages
Having worked for more than two decades, there is a high chance you have accrued two assets which the young “reinventors” have not yet acquired: money and connections. These two assets are your greatest advantage when it comes to switching careers in your fifties. When you are transitioning from an area where you had made your name, there is a possibility your contacts have excellent relationships with best performers in the industry. In any given place, successful professionals usually know each other through charity events and clubs. Find out through casual conversation and LinkedIn who your close friends know so you can find out whether they are in a position to introduce you to them.
Use Your Stability
When you’re young, you often don’t have the money necessary to properly invest in lucrative opportunities. But when you’re older, you may have a little money behind you that you can invest and make grow. You could set up your own business. You could look into taking on a franchise, such as a mosquito franchise. You could even consider heading back into higher education to retrain and requalify for a completely new employed role. Your stability can really work to your advantage when it comes to starting something new!
Look for Opportunities Where Inexperience Thrives
In most cases, people fear to look for high-level opportunities when they lack the experience required. Although they are generally right, there are some exceptions to such cases. More often than not, if an organization is in trouble, they are usually receptive to hiring in an unconventional way. Although it is risky, outsiders without the required experience are sometimes hired to the leadership position in companies that are struggling to remain afloat. A research by Professor Gautam Mukunda of the Harvard Business School shows that these individuals are inexplicably likely to become the best leaders who map out effective strategies which resurrect troubled companies.
Wrap Up
At fifty, you may feel like a change in career is not possible and the employers may be reluctant to appoint anyone who lacks experience in the high-level jobs. Interestingly enough, the research from Harvard Business School claims the opposite. It’s never too late to change your career when you have hit your fifties.