Career Path Changes As You Age (1 Viewer)

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Any of yall get into your late 30s, early 40s, or later and realize you aren't happy with your chosen career? Any of you that made a change, how did you go about it? It seems like it'd be more difficult and more scary the later in life it gets to make a change, especially if you aren't really sure what you would like to do. All you that you know is you aren't happy doing what you've been doing for years.
 
I’ve been wanting a change in employment the late couple months but I don’t even know where to start
 
Im late 40s and still not sure what i want to be when i grow up. :ezbill:



For those of y’all wanting to make a career change, there’s never been a better time than now.. there are lots of different names for the trends occurring now - “Quiet Quitting”, “Teh Great Resignation”- but it all boils down to employees wielding greater power than ever before.. ALTHOUGH as someone whose job is more ‘white collar’, im getting the impression that most of these awesome opportunities im hearing about are amongst lower wage earners.. it still seems pretty competitive for six figure and up jobs, and employers still hold most of the cards, at least from what ive seen .
 
I worked in the Travel industry from the early 90s until Sept 11, 2001.

Then I went to work in IT for Hibernia Bank. After I realized I could advance faster on the banking side I moved over, and moved up eventually becoming a Financial Planner. After we were bought out by Capital One and the recession hit in '06/07 I went back to college to finish my degree.

I was a Pre-Med double major and my degree was in Cellular and Molecular Biology and Chemistry.

My first Child was a premie, I dropped the Chem degree plans and med school aspirations so I could take 1 class and graduate while I basically lived in the NICU with my son.

I went to work in insurance for a while as a producer because I had all my licensing from when I worked in Banking. Over the next decade or so I owned some businesses and worked in sales in various aspects and did well, but I was burning out from long hours and traveling and not seeing my family. I also didn't feel very fulfilled working in sales.

So, I went to teach Biology at the High School I graduated from. Eventually I got an opportunity to run a STEM lab and LOVED it! I had time with my family, I felt fulfiled. I loved that job!

After I ran the STEM lab for a few years I got to develop a LOT of technical skills. Then I was recruited to work for a Military Contractor to help develop high end training platforms for the military.

Don't be scared of change. Be willing to WORK to learn new job skills. The current labor market is ripe for people looking to break into new careers. Do your research on what's big right now and see if you can find a good fit.
 
I think the norm is to change jobs at least if not careers now. I wanna say 20 years ago the trend became workers change jobs 8 times on average. I'd not be surprised if that number was higher.

The problem comes in once you break 50. Not many places want to hire older folks with high salary demands and experience in older obsolete systems. Obviously skill portable careers like sales won't be impacted, but in some careers it's a big issue.

IMO, the key is to make sure you are changing career for the right reason. If it's the work place that has you down but you like the field, change the work place if possible. If it's the career, better to do it earlier than later.
 
Im late 40s and still not sure what i want to be when i grow up. :ezbill:



For those of y’all wanting to make a career change, there’s never been a better time than now.. there are lots of different names for the trends occurring now - “Quiet Quitting”, “Teh Great Resignation”- but it all boils down to employees wielding greater power than ever before.. ALTHOUGH as someone whose job is more ‘white collar’, im getting the impression that most of these awesome opportunities im hearing about are amongst lower wage earners.. it still seems pretty competitive for six figure and up jobs, and employers still hold most of the cards, at least from what ive seen .
The problem there is on the employer end.

You'll see ads for an "entry level position" that requires a master's degree and years of experience and they want to low-ball you on salary.

My last interview went thud when I was asked for my salary requirements. I asked for what I'm making now and the interviewer was appalled. I explained that I'm already making that but I figured that, with their incentive structure, I would be able to improve my situation from there. They tried to get me to lower my base rate request so that my yearly earnings MIGHT be on par with what I'm already getting. I asked why I would do that and I was told that I might not be a good fit.

Like I was going to move 900 miles for the same money because it might be fun. 🙄
 
The problem there is on the employer end.

You'll see ads for an "entry level position" that requires a master's degree and years of experience and they want to low-ball you on salary.

My last interview went thud when I was asked for my salary requirements. I asked for what I'm making now and the interviewer was appalled. I explained that I'm already making that but I figured that, with their incentive structure, I would be able to improve my situation from there. They tried to get me to lower my base rate request so that my yearly earnings MIGHT be on par with what I'm already getting. I asked why I would do that and I was told that I might not be a good fit.

Like I was going to move 900 miles for the same money because it might be fun. 🙄
You failed the 'more hardcore' test.
 
You failed the 'more hardcore' test.
I'm ok with that. They can find a less qualified person who will do it for less and it won't affect me at all. I would have liked to get them on my resume but it really doesn't matter.

Employers haven't yet figured out that a really large generation is retiring and there aren't as many people available to fill those jobs because the remaining generations are much smaller.

As long as the boomers are alive, demand will be about the same, but we'll have fewer people available to meet those demands.

If they want to lure people away from other employers they'll have to do better than lying about being a "family" and buying pizza a few times per year.
 
I'm ok with that. They can find a less qualified person who will do it for less and it won't affect me at all. I would have liked to get them on my resume but it really doesn't matter.

Employers haven't yet figured out that a really large generation is retiring and there aren't as many people available to fill those jobs because the remaining generations are much smaller.

As long as the boomers are alive, demand will be about the same, but we'll have fewer people available to meet those demands.

If they want to lure people away from other employers they'll have to do better than lying about being a "family" and buying pizza a few times per year.
In my work place they recognized that issue many years ago. We are sitting about 50% retirement eligible currently.

Mgmt is pretty flexible to keep folks happy rn.
 
My main reason for wanting a change is I'm bored. It's no longer fun and don't really look forward to work anymore. I have been in the same field at one level or another for18 years or so.
 

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