I want a career but where do I start?

[BlastedPimples]

I am 52 years old. I think there's life in me yet to start again and build a decent career. A new one.

So I have been to university twice. Have a BA (English literature) and an MSc (marketing). I don't want to work in either of those areas

I currently work part time for a charity which keeps me and the dcs afloat during a horrible divorce in which I'm about to find out where stbx has been spending hundreds of thousands of our family money.

I have worked on and off over the years as a TEFL teacher, marketing in a big corporation (yawn), in a design agency as an account manager and freelancing as an account manager. That's not accounts or anything to do with numbers. And working in-house for charities.

How do I even begin to find out what is feasible - I mean nobody is going to take me on as a trainee at 52 - and what is out there? I don't know what is out there and what is realistic.

It's like being back at school where the only jobs in careers sessions that were talked about were teacher, lawyer, nurse or lorry driver.

I'm worried I'm going to be failure and not get anywhere for the next twenty years of my life. Especially since we've been left high and dry financially.

I think you need to do a review of your transferable skills and then seriously think about what interests you, what you have a passion for and how it could fit with those skills.

Based on your job roles and obviously I have no idea if you were actually good at them but will assume so, you would have the following:

• ability to communicate clearly and effectively (TEFL so communicating with language barriers)
• planning, setting and achieving objectives (lesson plans to meet a goal of passing an exam)
• identifying stakeholder requirements and delivering high quality service (account management/client relationship management)
• working with internal stakeholders/other departments to meet client requirements (account management)

I have a very squiggly line in my work experience leading to CyberSecurity. I have no qualifications beyond A-level and have several times transitioned from one sector/specialism to another based on knowing what my skills and abilities are and how they can be applied to the roles i'm interested in even if I don't have direct experience.

A few other possible skills/abilities now I've had a chance to re read your OP

marketing

• creativity
• understanding of the market - being able to analyse trends/identify future trends
• work with clients to come to a collective understanding, interpret what messages they want to focus on

freelancing as an account manager.

• marketing/selling yourself to prospective clients
• business management - admin/payroll/tax
• time and priority management
• multiple clients = ability to focus on and drive forwards several projects simultaneously

Your transferable skills would fit really well with being a careers adviser in a school or university....you'd probably have to complete a training course but there are some distance learning MAs and even apprenticeships. There's a huge skills shortage and loads of jobs!

Civil service?

I don't think I'm bright enough for the civil service and its rigorous entrance tests.

check out the National careers service - https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/

It's for all age groups and employment backgrounds

Ooh this looks interesting (in a similar boat OP but older!)

'whatccolour is your parachute' is a great book for career changing.

Prospects is also an excellent place to go....the content is written by careers advisers

Prospects.ac.uk

Ooh this looks interesting (in a similar boat OP but older!)

There are a number of universities that offer an MA Career Guidance/Development and I know at least one offers its as distance learning (Huddersfield I think) and some organisations offer trainee adviser posts with the opportunity to train on the job.

If you google AGCAS or CDI you'll find more information.
I can highly recommend it as a job!

Just wanted to say we'll done. I am 55 and agree there is alot of ageism re careers, you could have another 20+ years of work ahead. There is a website called restless.co.uk which has job vacancies for older people.

There's one near me that is online. Quite tempted.

Have a look at bookkeeping/accounts/payroll.

the industry is crying out for people, most places will pay for your training plus time off for studying.

There's one near me that is online. Quite tempted.

Couple of things to check......

Is it professionally accredited?
What level is it? L6 is fine for schools but you will need L7 (post grad) to work at a university.

Feel free to PM me if you want more info on the qualification you've seen and don't want to post publicly....

@buckingmad seriously? This sector is short staffed? Isn't the advent of AI going to take care of all that?

It's a minefield. Picking through and trying to anticipate what will be obsolete in five years.

There’s lots of pastoral type roles in education if you didn’t want to teach. And a lot of these don’t require qualifications just good communication skills, working with young people and good organisation skills.

The NCS site has a quiz which is quite interesting. It might suggest something useful.

See what’s out there and what you’re drawn to. You have many years of working ahead of you.

seriously? This sector is short staffed? Isn't the advent of AI going to take care of all that?

I hope not!
Besides a lot of the role is supporting decision making. It’s a lot more nuanced.

@BlastedPimples Could you start some sort of self-employed business? For me, this would be great, especially if it's some kind of lifestyle business, ie something you really enjoy. Examples would be fun things like making arts & crafts, cake decorating etc..