Hi Folks
Most of my working life has been involved in doing admin/finance work.
I am in my mid 50s now and thinking of making a change.
Where do you think I should start in choosing a different career?
Should I take a skills test or talk to a careers advisor or something else.
Any advice greatly appreciated.
I think, only the person themselves knows what level of upheaval at this time of life they are prepared for.
If your serious about a job change then think about working for yourself instead. There are many jobs one can do being self employed that need no skills. Alternatively play to your strengths and use your knowledge.
From personal experience that is what I did with my wife and the best move we ever made. Can you turn your hobby? into a business venture for example, or run it alongside your present job may be a better option.
The downside is it can take up to 7 years to get established as a business, so maybe you have left it a bit late in life.
This is something I have thought about myself. To be honest, if I had my working life all over again, I would have seriously ‘taken the plunge’ and pursue my own career instead of the job I had. Unfortunately, as bad as my job was (which got worse over time), it paid well and came with a lot of other perks, which I could not afford to lose, the worst being my mortgage. I was very aware of the risks to my lifestyle if my own plans had failed and if it all went wrong, as it would be very difficult or impossible to reclaim my old job back. That said, I’m speaking of my own circumstances and not necessarily applicable to anyone else.
If I had gone my own way, who knows what may have been. However, I retired two years ago and have begun to start my own business (at least part time) and I’m finally doing what I wanted to do all them years ago without any of the risks I had in the past. I’m just waiting for the chances to do full time and hopefully derive an income from it - with a little luck.
Hi Folks
Many thanks for your responses.
Ideally my passion lies in teaching. I don’t want to teach in a classroom since I won’t be able to control the kids.
I want to tutor online but having great difficulty in attracting students.
I did this 5 years ago, after 30 years in my previous career, I decided to get out, mainly because the company I worked for were taken over and I didn’t particularly want to work for the new one, I managed to stick it for 4 years but I’d had enough, now I work in a care home as a maintenance person, it’s nice and steady and I am more or less left alone, I’m just winding down to retirement, if you can do something else then go for it…
Hi Mr Geek.
My field was electrical engineering - I’m retired now. Part of this was teaching groups of mature students in the electrical field, usually around ten or a dozen. I can’t remotely imagine doing that on line.
Hi geek84,
In a very similar spot as you. You mentioned teaching. Microsoft copilot came back with the suggestions below. You might have already started several paths.
I’m currently in semi related fields to you, had one time thought about teaching, and now wondering about fields that are complimentary to admin/accounting, examples: loan officier, real estate, admin assistant). I totally follow the thought of going virtual.
At one time I had tried craigslist for ESL positions from other countries, but you’ll have to research those and it would depend on like others have mentioned, the risk and financial latitude you have currently.
Regarding teaching, copilot recomendations: (I use it a lot to see what thoughts I’ve missed, hope it helps)
Please keep us updated. it gives me hope to hear of others mid 50s searching for better avenues. The above was a straight copy and paste, so I am unsure of the links I’m seeing…which are usually part of copilot returns.
