Anyone ever changed career completely at 40+?

[hackingandhewing]

I am having a total crisis of confidence about my career - will try and keep it brief!

I left college at 18 with a secretarial certificate and no idea of what to do. I took a temp job in a Drs surgery as a secretary and after a month got offered a full time job as a receptionist. As it turned out, it was a job I loved and I stayed at the same place for 14 years. I went back to it afer having my DD 12 years ago and, since then have worked my way up. For the last year, I have been a Practice Manager. I was an assistant manager in another practice for 5 years before getting the assistant job at my current practice and getting promoted when the PM retired last December.

For the 1st 6 months life was exciting. There was a lot to learn, I was able to make some inor changes that made things significatnly better for staff. I get on well with everyone and feel I am quite well liked and respected.

The problem is, it is dawning on me that I cannot stand the hassle that goes with the job. I am not under an undue amount of pressure, no more than I expected. What I hate is all the nitty gritty. People being late, people moaning about each other, nobody taking any initiative ane expecting me to deal with every little thing.

This si how the old manager worked, she micro managed and, as hard as I have tried, there is such a culture of "that's what you get paid for" that I am finding it impossible to turn it around.

It's not only the people. I find that I am totally disillusioned with the changes going on in the NHS. I have no belief or faith in the Commissioning ideas being implemented and I just don't want to do it any more.

The problems are a) I have no idea what else I would want to do. B) DH & I are finally in a position where we are financially ok - not well off but not struggling either.

I am totally depressed that I have worked, studied and given up alot of time with my DCs to get to where I wanted to be and now I don't want it.

DH is trying to be supportive but i can tell he feels under pressure because any drop in my salary means he can't affford to drop his. Luckily he does work in an industry that is quite secure.

I just don't know what to do or what I want. I suppose I am just looking for any pearls of wisdom from anyone who has expereienced similar.

Sorry it wasn't brief!

Can't help, but I am in a similar position, so I'll lurk here to see if you get some good advice from other people.

Thanks, sorry you are feeling this way too. It's shit!

Will bump later for the evening crowd.

Bumping for the evening crowd.

My mum went to college to do an Access course aged 42, then 3 years in Uni to do Adult Nursing, now all qualified.

I wasn't yet 40, but I changed career path fairly drastically in my 30s. Certainly I found the retraining and resestablishing myself hard with all the added family and financial pressures, but equally I found that my added life experience helped me to relax about much that younger colleagues found intimidation or stressful. I found, too, that being a bit older made it easier for me to gain credibility and respect from others, too.

(As much as I'm on this board now to bemoan the management of my job, what I'm describing is in no way specific to my current area of work. It honestly could happen anywhere!)

So I would say GO FOR IT!

Another one deeply disillusioned and lurking.

oh, beryl, just seen your other thread

i'm in the process of a career change (i'm 40). i spent 16 years in the military and left as a senior officer, i'm currently working pt in a non-job whilst i complete my msc for career change .

i think it's very common tbh - how many women skip into something early, leave to have babies, and then re-evaluate their initial career choice later on?

i had never been in a job centre in my life, but made an appointment with a 'back to work' counsellor prior to this change - i wasn't hopeful, anticipating that it would be a bit of a time-waste, (and i don't think they got many people calling in who hadn't been forced to as part of their benefit package lol), but it was really very useful.

in terms of a sounding board, we just chatted through what i had done already, (both paid and voluntary), where i thought my strengths laid, where my interests laid etc

even though it was just me musing out loud, it provided the perfect sounding board. there was no hard sell, just discussion around possibilities.

so now i'm completing an msc which has taken me off in a totally new direction.

the one thing it also helped me focus on was what i didn't want to do. equally important. and also a chance to check my motivations - i very quickly realised that i could easily have made the same mistake i did in my early twenties, opting for the 'sensible' choice that bored me to death, rather than something i was actually interested in...

I am kind of doing that.

I was a clerical type worker.

I am now 41 and in my first year of a law degree. I started at 40.

So far, I'm loving it, but I'll come back in a couple of years and let you know how it turns out lol

i did wonder, beryl.

i don't regret going. there were noises about me commanding the unit and i couldn't think of anything worse... i'd say about 20% of my workload had a point to it - the rest was wasted on pointless 'do this before cop or we'll cut your budget by x' which just went round in circles. 'save a million by tea time', but in the next breath 'omg come up with ideas to spend money as fast as possible because if we don't get rid of it by noon we'll lose it.' and don't even start on the endless justifications.

i know a lot of people who are on the verge of resigning at the moment. i think the next five years in the defence industry are going to be fairly horrific... but taking the leap is a big decision when it's all you've known.

I have changed job--at around the 40 mark. Or, at least, I acquired another skill that eventually allowed me to earn some of my money elsewhere.

Thanks everyone.

I had another long chat with DH and also wiht one of my bosses who was quite upset and has agreed to meet with me fortnightly to offer support and generally see how things are.

DH & I are going to New York in May so I have decided to see how things go until then and review it after the break.

Funnily enough, this week so far (I am normally fed up by Tuesday!) has been marginally better. Quite a few long standing issues at work seem to have panned out. We have recruited someone for a maternity cover, I dealt with a lateness issue that I have been putting off and I am starting a short course this week which I have been looking forward to for months - the tutor is a sort of mentor to me so I have emailed her and we have arranged to meet up for a chat next week. Also - I turn 40 next week so I am wondering if that's making me more reflective.

Really grateful to you for sharing your experiences - hope it all works out for those of you also feeling torn.

Glad you feel more settled. Wonderful about NY!