To think It’s to late for a decent career.

[Meralia]

Hi all,

Just after some advice really, or maybe experiences others have had.

I’m 37 years old, with a 17 and 14 year old. I also have a child who is 15 months old.

I’ve worked about on and off over the years in retail and healthcare. But for the last 4 years I’ve been at home (for various reasons). I started a health related degree in the past but decided it wasn’t for me so left with a certhe as an exit award.

I’d really like to embark on a new career, but I’m finding it really tough. I think now I’m to old to retrain in anything, and my break in employment has meant that it would be difficult to obtain relevant up to date references from previous colleagues/managers.

The Legal field is something that has always interested me, but I think I’m to old to now to go down that road.

I am thinking about studying with the ou as my daughter goes to nursery for 2 days a week, in a science related course, but again, I’ll be over 40 when and if I complete it.

Has anyone had a change of career in their late 30s?

Not too late. I’m 41, single mother to three and about to start my third year of a Midwifery degree. With respect to the others on the course; I’m the oldest on mine by a few years - there’s a group around early 30s and the rest are early 20s and school leavers. Tbh I get on better with the younger ones; I’m not going to lie and say it’s easy, I do feel a bit separate, but I am totally accepted, I have nights out with them and they see me as a bit of a mother figure I think. They certainly don’t take the piss.

If you think you can make it work and you want to retrain, go for it - don’t let age stop you.

I'm mid 30s and did a science degree 2 years ago. There was a woman who was 54 on my course. Walking around uni campus there was always a mix of all ages so your definitely not too old to retrain. I've just got a job after 12 years out of the workplace. It's a really good job in terms of training and progression even though the pay is a bit low. I'm only a few weeks into my new job and I'm so glad I did it even though I thought it was too late and I had been out of the workplace too long. It can be done and will be worth it op.

How do you feel about conveyancing? Very easy to train as a conveyancer and it's legal in nature.

It’s not too late but for the love of god don’t do law!

I really feel like this, I have a job part time in a school, which I've been at for 20 years. It's seen me through three houses, and two babies 6 years apart in age. Something has always got in the way of me leaving. Now I'm not sure what to do or whether I'm too old to do it! It was never supposed to be the thing I did forever as lovely as everyone is. If only there was a 30 + careers service.

You're definitely not too old but I think you're a little too unfocused so far. You mention both the law and science, science being a very broad field in itself. I would suggest that rather than jumping into the OU course you take the time to work out a concrete direction including possible careers afterwards.