How Old is Too Old for a Career Change?

Is it too late to enter a new industry?

Every day we wake up, get out of bed, brush our teeth (hopefully), take a shower, and go to work. That’s our routine, day in and day out.

Each day has a little bit of the same, and that’s great, if you enjoy whatever that “same” is. But what if you wake up and realize you want to do something different? Maybe you’re an administrative assistant and wish to move into sales, or you’ve worked in warehouses all your life and would like to try something in an office building.

The only problem? You’re over a certain age, and it can seem dauting to dive into the job search again, especially a whole new industry.

However, with a few exceptions (medicine, law, ballet, basically anything that requires years of specialized training), you can do anything. Here’s how to get started.

  1. Match Your Experience to Your Dream Job

The first thing to do is figure out how the experience and skills you learned in your old job apply to the position you want. Do that by finding a typical job description of your dream job. Then, make a list of all your past accomplishments. Finally, match those accomplishments to the job requirements. You don’t need to meet every single requirement perfectly, but you should have some idea of how to talk about your experience in relation to the job as a whole.

It’s important to note that you are not starting over from scratch here. You’ve been working for a long time, and that experience is valuable.

  1. Network

The hardest part about entering a new industry this late in the game is that you won’t be the perfect on-paper job candidate online hiring managers are looking for. So, you’ll have to be crafty about how you approach the job search.

Focus on networking events, whether professional networking organizations or charity activities. Get out there and meet people you want to work with some day.

LinkedIn and social media are your friends. Remember, you aren’t the perfect robot candidate. You want to find managers more likely to consider you and how your unique experience could work for the job. So seek out managers with colorful profiles, not by-the-numbers statisticians. Just be sure to be professional and polite!

  1. Keep the Faith

This isn’t going to be easy. After all, entering a new industry at any age is difficult. But it’s not impossible. People all over the world change their careers every day. Why shouldn’t you be one of them?

Have you changed your career direction later in life? How did it turn out? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

 

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