Ideas on how to navigate career change

[Cherryblossom200]

Hello!

I’m almost 50, worked all my life in predominantly project management type positions.

I’m a full time single mum, have a mortgage and work hard to provide a lovely life for my DD who is 10.

I was made redundant from a remote role last year, it paid a good salary over £40k, the payout was pretty good and I’ve saved a lot of it. I started a new job in January which was hybrid and it was a total sh*tshow, manager losing the plot with stress, department being bought out by another company, archaic systems not fit for purpose the list goes on. I found the role was really stressful and affecting my mental health. So I left about 3 weeks ago. I need to be on top form for my DD, and this was impacting our life.

I don’t regret my decision, my health comes first and I’m lucky to have some money saved away for these situations.

I feel I’m at a cross roads in my life. If I’m going to be honest I don’t particularly like working for other people and the constraints of working to a schedule that’s dictated to me. I’d prefer to do my own thing. I’m very driven and believed that I’m capable of a lot more.

My DD has adhd and having the time off whilst still looking for a new role has been wonderful.

I’ve been thinking for a long time of having my own business, but it scares me! Plus I do t have a partner with another income to fall back on. But I also feel I’m at the time in my life where I want to make a change. What I’m doing isn’t working any longer.

I went to see a life coach who had been recommended to me and she was very good. Initially I thought life coaches are a bit wacky! I’ve seen a few counsellors before and they have just listened without provided many viable answers/direction.

One thing the life coach mentioned was how well I’ve navigated bringing up a neurodivergent child on my own and suggested that I perhaps become a life coach myself. My initial reaction was 🤣…but when I think about it I think I’d been a really good coach for people and would be happy to retrain.

I can’t become a qualified psychologist or counsellor because I need to work fairly quickly.

This was only an idea. I want to work flexibly doing my own thing. Any ideas?!? What has worked for you? x

Hi @Cherryblossom200

Place-marking as I'm in a similar(ish) position in that I'm nearly 50 and thinking about a career change.

My background in media/arts and I have been freelancing for the past decade - unfortunately my industry has been in a pretty bad place in recent years and I'm struggling to earn what I need to! So considering other options and would be interested to hear how others made the change...

One thing I will say about life coaching - I know quite a few women a similar age to us who often come from big career backgrounds themselves (think finance/law/civil service) and have quit to become life/executive coaches...I'm sure it's great if you have time to build up a group of clients - but one thing these women all have in common - super-high earning husbands 😅

Bluntly, none of them are earning much, if at all, yet. Life-coaching does currently seem to be the current 'retrain to be a psychotherapist/yoga teacher/interior designer' option, so I'd think carefully about this route...

Look forward to hearing from others about career changes in midlife!

Yeah I was thinking that too, everyone wants to be a life coach 🤣 And I don’t have a super reach husband to fall back on!

But the idea of working for a mediocre company, with all the corporate rubbish and boring job just makes me want to 😭😫🤣

I’m almost certain I have adhd myself, I can do ‘normal jobs’ but a lot do the time they bore me. I tend to see things differently and can dynamic in the right environment. Going it alone doesn’t scare me - I must be mad.

Just bumping as I'm in a similar boat

Is there anything else you enjoy doing that you could try and explore earning money from even if it’s just a small amount to start with? One of my friends is such a good baker and now has a hut on her lane with bakes in that she restocks daily and she is doing really well with it, another retrained very quickly in nail and beauty treatments and does mainly manicures from a salon she has in her home it’s a lovely space she’s created and over a few months she is now pretty busy

I love health, wellness, beauty, exercise all that! There are lots of nail salons near where I live, and they are popular! I’m always asked about my dress sense, people love my clothes - but I’m not a stylist and not trained in one! I think I’d be good at stuff and then talk myself out of it 🤣 x

It does look like every 50 year old woman who is at home/leave their job/is made redundant becomes a life coach or an interior designer. I am not sure how much they make or if there is enough work but you really should pursue qualifications, get certifications, do training which means not working for at least a couple of years to be able to start doing it properly.

My friend has done really well with the biab nails, so much so I’ve thought about doing it myself (I live in a different area I’m not going to steal her customers 😆) she does 3 long days but she is always at home it works for her x

Biab nails?! No idea what that is! I’m not really a nail person myself 🤣 But I’ll take a look! Thank you 🙏

The life coach thing does seem very popular right now. The life coach I saw didn’t have any qualifications, she’s just highly rated and being it successfully for 20 years.

Hi OP are you me,
i am in v similar position career wise, including the signed off for me tal
health. Nearly 48 and not sure what to do with my life…

It’s so tricky trying to think of a new direction at our age, my closest friend retrained as a nurse in our thirties and she loves her career now I feel at 48 can I give enough time up to train in something that would take years but I’m completely over corporate life

I’m over corporate life too! It’s stressful and just doesn’t fit in with my life anymore. I want to dedicate more time to my DD and work flexibly to what works for me. Not someone else’s business. Despite my age I’m still very driven, if not more so now than I was when I was younger!

It just seems so difficult to change direction without either paying to study again or starting right at the bottom of the ladder.

Has anyone thought about apprenticeships? Or are they all aimed at younger people?

I wish there was a website that offered direction on this/companies that might actively be looking for midlife women with transferable skills! I know the ‘Noon’ website attempts to address this, but whenever I search on their jobs board it always seems to throw up very menial roles…

It is so hard isn’t it, I can’t take 3-4 years unpaid to retrain, I’m a lawyer but my specialist area is very niche I can’t just switch to another career, I’ve looked at maybe a teacher training course and trying to get into a primary school, the wages would be much lower but the holidays would mean a massive lifestyle improvement for me, other than that or something from home I am completely stuck. I am interested in beauty I’ve thought about training part time and having a home salon but there are so many salons near me it would be risky, I just hate my job so much now I can’t imagine doing almost another 20 years of this

I can understand that. While it’s not coaching, I trained as a psychotherapist a good while ago now and have a decent private practice working from home.

What I would say is that it takes a lot of work to build a client base, you need to be very flexible at least initially because people want to see you out of working hours. There’s a fair amount of non-client facing work - record keeping, CPD, accounting etc that takes time that needs to be counted for in your client rates. Setting fees is also a bit of a balance making sure you’re covering your costs and making enough to live on while not pricing yourself out of the market.

Working from home also needs consideration. You’ll have clients coming to your house, and some will make assumptions about you based on what they see. You’ll need a space that is set up for work - my home office doesn’t have any personal photographs, family organiser etc. It’s not impersonal but it doesn’t have anything private visible. Also think about what your daughter will be doing if she’s home and you’re seeing clients, my kids know they need to be quiet and in another part of the house, can’t interrupt me, answer the door etc. It’s not insurmountable but it’s not just as easy as having a comfortable space and cracking on with it.

Do invest in decent training, you need some understanding of what you’re doing, why it works and you need an ethical framework.

I’ve found the best balance for me is to have a part time job that covers my basic bills and doesn’t vary and my practice income pays for everything else and savings. That way I’m not stressed if a client decides to end therapy and I can accept clients or not depending on whether I’m right for them without worrying about my income.

Can I join in??

No idea what to do with my life. Scared about the future at this rate as unemployment is high where I live and competing when I'm 50 is something I am getting my head around. I feel like I should be using what I have rather than starting with something completely new and spending time/money for a few years only to still be competing - but with young, fresh graduates instead.

I am feeling constantly frustrated as I know I can do a great job, but not being given the chance at this age. Also, would love to work on something I have interest in and control over.

So far though, not come up with any ideas that I think are worthwhile. Also not married to a rich husband, so it can't be a lifestyle type business if I were to start something on my own.

What's missing in the world that we can fill with all our skills and wisdom?

I think it a a mind set thing as well. I’m not too scared about not finding a job (maybe I should be) at my age because I bring a wealth of knowledge! I found two jobs just before Christmas. But I did find those roles through reaching out to companies once I’d applied for the roles and introducing myself.

I think I won’t bother with the coach thing 🤣 There are too many people out there competing for the same thing, I doubt there is much money to be made in it realistically.

But I may enquire into doing a course in something beauty related because I think you can earn a lot if you pick the right thing.

X

Have you thought about taking contracts in your current field? Rather than being a full time employee? Pays well, you could choose 9 month contracts and time out with your DD.

Very much a case of effort/reward. No retraining needed. Check BAE systems or similar.

I could of written this myself. I work in a management role and finding that I'm hating it more and more. Been in my current industry now for over 20 years and it's getting worse. I am 41 and would love to do something that I actually want to do. I've asked to drop to 4 days from September, so fingers crossed I can use my day off to really research and volunteer in different roles.

I have thought about doing contracting which appeals, but I think in the current market everyone is applying for those roles too!

Today I’ve been chatting to various beauty schools as I’d definitely consider re-training and setting up my own independent beauty business. I’m into wellness/health and beauty so this might be a good move. I’m just trying to find out the reality of it. I need advice from beauticians, I want to know if they genuinely enjoy their job! 🤣

Please keep us posted! Lots of options with beauty courses, I saw champneys spa advertising courses a while ago and local colleges here do a lot of part time courses in beauty and wellbeing, good luck!

Thanks! It’s only an idea at the moment 😊 Still up for seeing if there are any other ideas out there!

btw loving this group and the fact there are so many of us thinking the same way! Like a little mid-life support group 🤣

I changed careers last year and found that looking into occupations in the healthcare field opened up more options than I expected—even ones that don’t need a medical degree. I used ExploreMedicalCareers website to figure out which roles matched my personality and skills, which helped narrow things down. Some of the suggestions were things I’d never even considered but made total sense once I looked into them properly.

I found it helpful to look at roles where my existing skills gave me a leg up, then add one solid qualification to pivot. Trade careers can be a good shout because you can train in stages while still working; I liked reading guides that spell out the steps, especially ones that stress the importance of adhering to state and local regulations. It made the whole path feel clearer and less risky.

Can I join? Also nearly 50 and very low paid, struggling to get past interviews for next step up jobs. Happy to retrain but it needs to be something that leads somewhere definite. Would think about freelance but not sure what! Am in third sector/ sports but don't love sports, just sort of ended up here. More interested in education/ training dev etc with disabilities focus.