Changing career/shifting downwards

[Katrinawaves]

Has anyone got any experience of how to change careers to one which has less responsibility and less seniority?

My partner is in his fifties and has recently lost his high status well paid job in the city. For a variety of reasons he does not want to look for a similar job but wants a shift downwards to a less well paid and less demanding role. Unfortunately however he’s not getting anywhere with applications for these sorts of roles - possibly because his CV is not suitable.

Is there a way to do this? Does anyone have any tried and tested tips?

[Willowkins]

I got 3 admin jobs after retiring from my high-stress job in London. How I did it was to upgrade my training (I had loads of experience in IT but no certificate); I toned down my CV (chose less intense examples) and applied for public service/charity sector as they are used to seeing how skills can transfer across. I found my current job (been there 3 years now) through networking locally. Hope this helps.

[Mintjulia]

I moved from a London-based job with a lot of international travel to a similar job but very local, with a small co (40 people) and no international travel about 5 years ago..
I took a pay cut of 20% offset by reduced stress & commuting time, lower commute costs and reduced child care. It was a good move.

Be honest with the agent about what you are trying to achieve. Look for small young companies who want your experience at a bargain price, and might have trouble recruiting the skills because they can’t offer much advancement.

[SailingAwayIntoSunrise]

I'm an internal recruiter (in Australia) and we are seeing a huge increase in applications, and particularly from senior candidates, for our roles (I work across a broad portfolio and seniority).

Hiring managers aren't considering candidates that are over qualified because it's likely for most that they're just applying because of the current climate, that they will get bored pretty quickly in the role and will start looking elsewhere once they're able to.

Tailor the CV to the role as much as possible, explain in a covering letter that after X amount of years in the City he is looking to work closer to home and utilise his skills in a company that does XYZ (add a bit about the company he's applying to here).

I would also encourage your DH to find local agencies that are filling the roles he's looking at and reach out to them. Explain his situation, and why he's right for the roles they have.

If the roles are internal then usually there's a contact number/email and he could try the same there. This doesn't work as well because as an internal recruiter we are looking after lots of roles that we just can't chat to every interested candidate about.

[slc1980]

Sorry to jump on this subject but I can't find where to start a new topic 🤔

I've worked for my current employer for 10 years, everything was great until I announced I was pregnant. Everything changed and I started to dislike working there. I dreaded going back after maternity leave and I went back in January this year and it hasn't been great. My boss (company owner) has been making suggestions for me to cut my hours down, which I've said I can't afford to do. He has also been suggesting redundancy due to a downturn in work but nothing formal has been said. Now Im on furlough and I'm pretty sure when I go back the reduced hours and/or redundancy will be discussed again. I really don't know which way to go now as I dislike working there but there's obviously going to be lack of jobs out there to replace this one with. I'm stuck deciding whether to get a new job altogether, or accept less hours and get an additional job?? Help??!!

[Mintjulia]

slc1980 You'll have to see what happens when you get back to work. He cannot select you for redundancy because you have a small baby, and he knows it.

If he wants to make redundancies, he must go through the formal process with the whole team or department. Ask for volunteers first etc.

[Katrinawaves]

Thanks everyone

@slc1980. I’m sorry you are having an uncertain time. Would you mind starting a new thread and posting a link to it here though? Your situation is completely different to ours, and I’d like to have a chance of getting some more responses relevant to my own situation as I only started my thread yesterday afternoon. If you have a separate thread then we both have more chance of getting advice relevant to our own circumstances.