I have lost my senior role job and have no sense of direction at 47…

[NotOneMoreLunge]

Just over a month out of nowhere I was called into a meeting for a no prejudice conversation. Some rationale was provided but ultimately my new boss wanted me out. Settlement agreement will cover roughly 6-9 months of living. I have applied to over 100 jobs, but my main issue is that despite earning well, I am not an expert in anything. I would be grateful for some perspective on what to do next…

15 years ago I got a level 7 qualification in Marketing and worked a marketing manager in SME, and ended up having some sales responsibilities managing distributors. Then, I moved into a large corporate to set up inside sales team. 5 years into it, my manager left and I was offered his role as country sales manager. Truthfully, it’s a tech business in which I was never truly interested, managed 22 people, and it was survival mode as the business has been in constant restructure.

My problem now is what jobs do I apply for. I have not done marketing for a long time, things have changed and the salaries seem lower than before. Sales manager roles at my level require industry expertise / technical qualifications / contacts - I do not have either. So, on one hand, I feel like I have bullshitted my way for the last 9 years, and I am on paper overqualified for individual contributor role, I have literally got rejected after stage 2 interview for coming across too senior and not hands on enough.

I am having a bit of identity crisis and not enough confidence to even apply for admin positions.

Were you offered any career counselling advice? They can be a bit hit and miss but might help?

I wonder whether a marketing role within the voluntary sector could be a good next step? We quite often have people joining from corporates later in their career.

Channel account manager for a technology vendor

Are you still negotiating your settlement or is that done now? If still open could you negotiate careers counselling as part of the package? Failing that, probably worth looking at this option to help plan a path forward.

Head of a telemarketing team? You don’t necessarily need to know the industry that well and report to senior managers. Mainly keeping on top of sales stats and encouraging your team to hit targets etc..

Civil service jobs might be worth exploring

Settlement is done, no career advice service offered.

@Bubblebathbefore8 I would be interested in this but again have not done for 9 years and back then everything was done so simply. Now it’s all tariffs, export regulations, out of EU laws, all digital catalogue, I feel so out of touch. Of course, can pick it up quickly but would anyone give me a chance?

Actually, I might ask on MN what I need to know, so thank you @Bubblebathbefore8

@WhyAmISoGoodAtThis That is a logical idea but this was the job I enjoyed the least. I know I will probably “enjoy” it more than doing a real days work like my DD did when she was temping as a care worker. But as a long term option, it’s not for me. Thank you for taking a moment to reply to me, it’s nice to be given ideas - helps to get clarity at least by eliminating some.

I have an appointment at Job Centre, maybe they can help.

Ask chat GPT. Not kidding. Tell it exactly what you told us and ask it to provide you realistic career advice.

Have a chat with some recruitment consultants - good ones might suggest some temporary roles to try.

Job centre just interested in min wage jobs. Sorry to hear you're going through this. Happened to me last year I'm 54

I’d start by writing down a list of all of the direct competitors of old job and look at sales/marketing etc roles with them.

Then a list of all companies of a similar size working in the same sector as old job, for example all of the suppliers, business customers, partners etc.

If there is an industry body or a charity in the sector look at them too.

Also get your CV professionally done. I think there’s a company called Top CV, there will be others. Present your skills in the best way possible, to get you interviews.

Ageism is rife in the workplace. If you are over 50, it is going to be a very tough slog finding another job. Sorry, but that's the reality of it. I'm 59 btw. I was made redundant during Covid at 54 - it took ages to get back to where I was. Be prepared to do anything.

Sorry to hear that OP. I’m in my 50s and was made redundant last year from a fairly senior position. I’ve posted this on other threads, but if helpful here’s what I did:

Did a lot of networking on LinkedIn (it felt a bit weird at first but it does help), connect with people in sectors you are interested in, like and comment on posts that are relevant, set your profile so that recruiters can see you’re open to work.

Revisited my CV and only showed the last 10 years’ experience (no one cares past that anyway) and took the dates off my degrees, so no one could tell my age and, by the time they invite you for interview, they like you enough for it not to be a factor.

Got touch with agencies for both contracting and perm work.

Finally, rather than thinking that you don’t have niche skills, think about where you can apply your broad skills - programme management etc.

I did get a job and wishing you success as you look for one too. 😊

Claude did a really detailed plan for my eldest DS - just graduated- with lots of ideas about how to use LinkedIn. I think it’s a good place to start.

Sounds counter intuitive but go for more senior or high power jobs. If you aim down, there will be hundreds of people who are more suitable than you. For the more senior jobs there is a smaller pool of suitable candidates.

Hope you find something. AI Gemini is very good for careers advice. I’m 54 and wanting out of my current role so I have used AI for a lot of ideas and direction.

This is the answer OP. Be confident. I’m the same age as you just about - you are not old and have many working years left ahead. Spend some of the money on a bit of a make over for you - investing in myself has been the best thing I have done as has helped my confidence. I agree with ChatGPT. Put in all you experience and ask it to help plan your step up. It will help you organise your thoughts.

Job centre will be no use, they have very little idea what to do with situations like yours.
As per PP you need to get yourself on the books of as many recruiters as possible, set your green banner as ‘open to work’ on LinkedIn and talk to as many people as possible, that will help you crystallise what your next step could/should be.
Don’t dismiss the idea of consulting/contracting either, if you’ve got a bit of a cushion it can be a low commitment way of testing out what you want to do.
Settlement is shit but it’s not the end, I promise. Good luck!

It is really difficult because you come to the point where your skills and experience are either too niche, just by virtue of having been in the workplace for a long time, or you have done lots of different things and become too generalist.

Then there’s the age and seniority factor. I had been in a director role (finished in my late forties) and would get fantastic interview feedback from panel chairs* when applying for mid level positions, but it was clear that the CEO (often a few years younger) just wouldn’t feel comfortable with me being on the team. The senior roles never appeared (it corresponded with a contraction in my sector) and in the end I decided to accept that it just wasn’t going to happen. Obviously I am summarising here as there are several other key factors behind that decision, but it was the right way to go.

I know that is not what you want to hear but what would happen if you didn’t get another job?

I have gone down the direction of self employment and perhaps wish that I had embraced this sooner.

*Guess who I will be approaching for work when my new enterprise gets off the ground…

Seriously OP CoPilot is your friend here. I had what is euphemistically referred to as a career pivot 12 months ago. I am a nationally recognised expert in a very niche science area which I had worked in for nearly 30 years. Due to loss of funding the job I loved came to an end and I was at an absolute loss as to how on earth I was going to find another job as my sector has shrunk to almost nothing. Write yourself a huge cv of everything you’ve ever done as a brain dump. Stick it in AI along with a role you are interested in and ask if you are a good fit. I was amazed how what I considered niche work could be translated into seriously transferable skills. The AI helped me get over the very negative thoughts I was having about being on the scrap heap (I’m in my early 50s). It got me my current job which I never would have imagined I could do - it’s not perfect but it’s the same senior level/pay. Good luck

This. It’s been really useful for me to work out my next career steps. Give it your strengths, challenges and what you absolutely wouldn’t want to do and it’ll give ideas based on that. I added in that I’m peri and probably adhd and it gave suggestions based on that also.

good luck!