I admire women who want to challenge themselves and make a career change at midlife. After a lifetime in the same profession (and 32 years with the same company), I, too, starting thinking about making a change last year, when I turned 53. I also always have wanted to finish my half-completed master’s degree. (Ultimately, given my household and financial situation, I decided I had best stay where I am. Fortunately, I happen to like what I do a lot.)
While I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, I think there are a lot of important things one needs to consider before making that leap – things that get lost in all the “Boomers will reinvent themselves” rhetoric we hear. Before you make your decision, here are five factors to look at in the cold, hard light of reality:
- Are you your only income, or your household’s primary income?
If you are, what will happen to you or your family if after all your hard work and investment in your new future, you can’t find a job? Or can only find one that pays less? - Can you financially afford school or re-training?
When I started checking it out, I found finishing my master’s would be very expensive. I have worked hard to pare my debt down to nothing more than my very small mortgage, period. Did I want to raid my 401(K) or take on a large loan at this point in my life? And what might it get me in the end, other than the satisfaction of finishing the degree? I did read somewhere that in many ways, it makes more sense financially to draw on the skills you already have, just using them in a different way, if you want to career shift at midlife. - What will you do for health insurance?
Again, this is so much more expensive today than I ever could have imagined. And I have a serious pre-exisiting condition that would drive my premiums up even more, if I could even get coverage. My husband does have coverage at his workplace, so it made me a little less nervous. But he has very little seniority at his job. - Will anyone hire you?
Sorry, but this, like I said, is a reality check. It’s a bad job market for everyone right now. And like it or not, discrimination against older workers is alive and well. Of course, it gives you a leg up to make your career leap into a profession in demand. But you might have to relocate to get a job. Could you do that? Could you afford to take a contract or part-time job? Could you afford to work in your new profession as a volunteer? Only you know the answers to those questions. - Could you support yourself in the new profession you’re interested in?
Here are some general things I have observed over the past year. Almost no one makes a full-time living writing for a website. Starting your own small business takes money and loans are hard to come by. Ditto teaching (which always was my dream): full-time jobs are hard to come by (they are laying off experienced teachers in our school district). And if you dig yourself into a financial hole in mid-life, it’s really hard to dig yourself out.
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Having said all of this, I support and admire any woman who wants to follow her dream, and will cheer her on. I just suggest you follow it with your eyes wide open.
[This advice list was first posted as part of this conversation ~ Eds.]
Excellent advice, clearly and wisely stated, Moongirl007! I’m all for people following their dreams with their eyes wide open. As a friend of mine likes to say, it’s okay to follow your passion, but does your passion have a market? Of course, if you’re in a secure financial position, this needn’t concern you. But for the rest of us, it’s vital to look at the big picture when making a significant career change mid-life.
Instead of changing course completely all at once, why not keep your day job and take continuing ed classes in the evenings and on weekends to get the info. you need? An advanced degree or certificate aren’t always required, but rather the information, skills and experience.
Thanks, Spiritseeker. Gee, this originally was a comment I made on someone else’s post. Had no idea they broke it out on its own…
I just worry that it can be too easy to get caught up in all the hoopla out there re. reinvention and second careers. Women in our generation will be much more likely that those in previous ones to be without the support of a spouse or even children later in life, between divorce and the dynamics of blended families. Yes, we should follow our hearts — but lead with our heads.
I like your idea of testing new paths through classes or even volunteer work (although I know these things don’t always lead to jobs that could support us). We can make things happen for us in new and different ways. I only encourage women to be realistic. I have many talented women friends who have suffered terribly in this economy.
Thanks. This is sound advice. I really want to start my own business. However, as I began to do my research I had to do a reality check and admit I’m not ready yet. Having a great business idea is not enough. There are a lot of factors to consider if you want to be successful. It can be done but do your homework first. This also applies to going back to school. I went back and got a MS in Management and I’m still paying that student loan today!
I have asked myself all those questions and I’m still ready to make the change. Why? I’m currently employed by a company that is quickly going under and I’ll probably have to find a new job soon anyway. Also, my commute is 2 1/2 hours EACH WAY. To save money, my company moved locations -and for that “privilege”, I got a 20% pay cut. My marriage has been slowly disintegrating over the last 10 years to the point where we rarely talk.
So, we put our house on the market at the worse possible time, and when it sells, I’m moving, alone, to another state. I’m going to get a job (I’m an accountant), and while I’m doing that I’m also going to start building my own bookkeeping business hoping to soon quit the job and have my own business that I can do from home.
Am I scared? You bet. But sometimes life takes you in a direction that makes decisions like this much easier. I know I could fail, but I feel I’m failing here already. What could be worse than the life I have now? I’m already in a financial hole, I have to be creative, and determined, to dig myself out.
Great advice at any age, thank you. I think the itch for career change that comes as we celebrate the big 50 or sometime shortly after, is symptomatic of a broader experience which is our entrance into a new stage of human development. This new stage of development has its own unique characteristics and attributes, which are available to us only with age.
This stage of life begins a journey of expansion and eventually into the mysteries of life that for most of us, until this time, we never even considered.
I can imagine that we feel some unrest as this process begins, some lack of satisfaction or just an itch to change.We are worker bees so we apply the scratch to our working life.
I recommend we begin by checking in with ourselves, investigating , exploring and discovering who the girl in us grew up to be. Renewing our self knowledge with questions like:
What do I know now that I did not know before?
What do I think and feel now that I did not think and feel before?
What do I do now that I would not have dared to do before?
When questions like these are answered and we turn to look at each stage of our life informed by our updated sense of self, we may indeed still want a career change or we may look to other outlets to begin our progress into this new stage of human maturity.
If you still wnat the career change then the list above is a very good next step for you.
Tit seems this growing up thing just keeps going for ever…how wonderful.
I did make huge changes at midlife (39) – I mortgaged my house and as a single parent, went to university 2 years to do a first degree and then one year at the Master’s level, then continued part-time, as I started my new career. Yes I am making less money than I would have had I stayed in the old job. But the joy of loving my work makes up largely. Twenty-four years later, I dread to think what would have become of me mentally had I stayed with a good paying job that I hated. My degree also allows me to continue having a private practice (I am a psychotherapist). At 64, I can work from home, get well paid for it and I still love what I do.
Consideting taking a college program in counseling at the local university . Of course i have to take that GRE. I’m 55 and looking for a new direction. Have a bachelors in education . Can’t decide if i want to do that or just go to the local community college and get into a medical field.
Wonder what job I could get as a entry level counselor. Don’t want to graduate and have no job to go to .
Such interesting responses from all of you… I am learning a lot!
Isn’t it great to live in an age where we, as midlife women, have the freedom to say: So what do I want to be now? This is something many of our mothers and grandmothers did not have the opportunity to do.
In college, I had dreamed of being a teacher and still think about that. It would require some additional school, but not a huge amount. But then some days, I think: Maybe I should be a nurse. Or an actress. Or a tour guide. It’s like Jaki said, I am reconnecting with my inner little girl, and the days when we were able to say: I am going to be a ballerina when I grow up. Or a veterinarian. Or a ballerina who also is a veterinarian. I just spent a weekend with my dear friend. Her 12-year-old daughter can’t decide if she wants to be an astrophysicist or run a hotel.
While I don’t want to regard it as an insurmountable obstacle: unfortunately, our generational timing isn’t the greatest. We are hitting a tough job market in our 50s and 60s, and in a bad economy. Dstout mentions fears about spending all that money to retrain and then having no job to go to. I think this is a realistic concern. Tennim made a leap — and as a single parent! — but she was younger and the economy better. I know many recent college graduates who can’t find work. And educational costs are so much higher than they were awhile ago.
Victoria sounds like she’s heading in a new direction, but using the skills she already has an accountant. And as she says: Sometimes, change forced upon you makes you gather your self up and charge forward. That may be me, some day soon. Things are not good here and on some days, I feel like I am hanging on by my badly manicured fingernails.
Anyway, I think you all are inspirational for looking to the future and trying to see what is there for you beyond the horizon. You go girls.
My issue I am a Travel Agent, and I started thinking the Internet was taking over. However, that’s not the case Travel Agents are still needed. I decided to become a niche agency, use the skills I already have, go a different direction. I plan to do honey moon packages. I’ve been out of the market for a while, I will refresh take courses planning honey moon’s. In theTravel market you can take courses, some are free others you pay for. The business side I will learn on my own. I owned an agency, husband became ill put on the back burner. He passed away five months ago. I am on my own with two grand daughter rising, trying to decide where to move. I have thoughts of moving to Charlottesville VA maybe continue living in Atlanta which I dislike. My son live in Charlottesville with his new wife. We had the girls since they were 4 and 5, decisions to make. I will get through this and make changes as I go.
I returned to college four years ago. I work two jobs and take two classes each semester including summer sessions. When I enrolled in my first class, I was already working two jobs so we could try to make ends meet. I work one job Mon – Fri and the second one is a retail job that I work from 6 am to 2:30 pm every Sat. and Sun. College is the only hope I have. I have paid for everything as I go without taking out any student loans.
I started in the Career Development Center with a great career counselor. I told him what I wanted to do, but I was not able to move. I followed all his recommendations–interviewed and job shadowed professionals in my field, talked with professors, etc.
I may take out a student loan for my last semester, because I plan to study abroad. I want to graduate with a BA so that will complete my language credits, it will look great on my resume and be a dream experience. My health is great, and my youngest child is almost 20.
My biggest fear is not finding a job in this terrible job market, even though I will graduate with honors.
It was a huge leap of faith to return to school, but I have to say that God had been the one to open doors and provide ways to make it work.