How do I get a job at 55?

[Cleanbedlinen12]

How do I get a job? Everyone seems to need different things and computer programmes, Or experience. How on Earth do I get a job? I once had a great career but lost the plot after kids and illness. It seems such hard work to even start to learn all the different stuff needed.

Do you just want a job? Or do you want to get a job that will lead on to progression?
Are you still interested in the job field you worked in before?
Are there any other areas of work that appeal to you?
Volunteering is an option in some jobs, to get experience.
could you do part time study, whilst working to fund yourself, eg hospitality / retail?
or apply for entry level roles, with a view to gaining experience / professional development on the job?
I've seen local government apprenticeship roles, advertised for new graduates AND those returning to work after a career break, so I think more companies are realising women returning to work have so much to offer.

I understand your loss of confidence. If you need to update your IT skills there are often free courses put on by your local council. If you are good with people the care sector has loads of vacancies.

Volunteering is a way to get back into the structure of working and modern practices and again free training will come with it eg customer service, their IT system, safeguarding, data protection. You can work up from volunteer to paid employee.
www.charityjob.co.uk/jobs

There are always plenty of care jobs around if you don't mind doing that

What do you want to do? 55 is absolutely not too late to find a decent job.
I’d be researching an area that interest you, then maybe looking at volunteering or training courses

I’m 60 in the last 2 years I have had 3 jobs now starting the 4th on Monday! I’m not a job hopper my long term job ended because of Covid, various reasons why I just didn’t find the last three for me, fingers crossed this will be the one to take me to retirement! Don’t despair, you just need confidence!

How long have you been out of the work environment? What is your background and do you want to work in that area, or just work in anything? If you are looking for a professional job, make sure your LinkedIN is up to date and your profile is marked as "open for opportunities". Then start contacting your old network, if you still have one, and let them know that you are looking to go back to work.

On the other hand, if what you are looking for is work in Retail, Care, etc, start getting in touch with agencies that deal with such areas. Maybe start temping until you find what you enjoy.

Please, please zip over to the relatively new Mature Study and Retraining board, here:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/mature_students

The list of threads is four pages long now - and if nothing else it may update you on what’s needed for what. I can tell you that mid-50s is just about the best age in the world for a shot of retraining …

(Do you, btw, already have a postgraduate degree? You can get a student loan for them nowadays!)

I’m 40 and not afraid of a computer. (have had some presuming employers otherwise)

Left my last role for what was meant to be an opening in credit control (which I even took an online course in at home before starting scoring strongly) but after a really strange horrible atmosphere and being told make the job your own on asking for support/how the role was to be carried out as a newbie (would they really have said that to a 19-year old just starting out in a role unknown to them? with the unknown addition of turning into Girl Friday rather then becoming a solid knowledgeable professional in something, (I had not exactly came from credit control as the last position and it appeared the CC was only half the role) I told them no thanks to the job day no 2.

Fortunately a National company is opening a brand new head office in one of the nearest towns creating 80 new jobs so whilst it’s back to customer service/sales it will be nice to have the opportunity to start brand new with everyone else which I think will be better than a clicky office forced into recruiting any old body following a 10 minute video interview.

Thank you all. I’ll look at the thread. I’m ridiculously nervous at getting in touch with old colleagues, I left after a baby and time off for stress and felt such a failure for years. They are now all successful and I’m struggling and broke.

What was your previous career? (Or area of work, if you fear specificity.)

I had to look for a new job at 53 recently and seemed to find it a lot harder than the last time I looked a few years ago.

I trained as a Counsellor at 57 and I now have a role which involves lots of computer work - after not being in the workplace for 16 years (I fostered for ten years and then became a Support Worker - which didn’t involve any work on the computer). I have learnt, on the job, how to use spreadsheets, Sharepoint, Teams, etc. There is hope because, if I can do it, anyone can LOL x

I’ve always been in the arts, so nothing useful!

Well done crisps!

You took time off and now you're ready to go back to work. Nothing wrong with that at all. You'll find something and then that may lead to something more suitable if it's not quite what you're after but anything will build up your confidence.

Thanks sqeebling. Just need that first thing!

Tut!

The Arts are vital for human social and philosophical evolution. <Eyes scary deadlines>

Presumably if you were involved in a creative pursuit you could take that up again without needing permission. (Although it’s obviously precarious atm.) And if you were more in the admin, production, institutional leadership area then even ancient contacts are useful! It really might be good to email a few people, set up some phone calls …

Just got a new job at 58. Had a choice of 3 offers in the same week.The ‘great resignation’ means lots of opportunities are opening up and many jobs , whatever qualifications required, are now available.Just put relevant experience from last 10 years and didn’t put DOB on CV-age is a protected difference-they have no right to ask you that until you have a firm job offer, if they need to do certain checks like DBS.

Apply, apply and apply.

one thing I found is government type roles are all standardised format- as long as you get the key phrases in to tick the relevant boxes you’re in.

so anything civil service, nhs, police, emergency services etc. i found once I hit the magic formula and got one interview I could make minor adjustments and pretty much get an interview every time

one way in many people choose is a 999 call handler. The turnover is very high, so job ads always out. Once you’re in you can learn all the internal computer stuff, and I also found superiors very supportive on helping you into different roles and advancing your career.

Take a look at this as you would surely have relevant experience. Salaried and offers option of some WFH. Plenty of free online tutorials just to get you up to speed with Word or Google docs.
www.charityjob.co.uk/jobs/the-old-vic/participation-coordinator/829649?tsId=1

Thank you everyone. Good tip about getting up to speed with Google tutorials. And I will try civil servant. Unfortunately old vic is too far from me, but what a wonderful job that would be!
I’ll crack in this morning, thank you. I’m just getting to the depressed and useless phase so I’d better watch that!
any more tips welcome, and I’ll pop onto the other tread too.
thank you, don’t feel quite so alone and stupid!

Are you not finding it frustrating not to be a counsellor?

I’ll pop onto the other tread too.

If you mean Mature Study and Retraining it isn’t a thread, it’s an entire board (under Education) with hundreds of threads - almost all containing the overt or covert question “Am I too old to …”.

This was the the thread that prompted the creation of the new board:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/site_stuff/4327788-Is-there-a-specific-Mature-Study-Retraining-board?reply=113792058