Career Change at 50 - 50 is the New 30!

It wasn't so long ago that employment stability was the hallmark of an emotional maturity and reliability. After all, our parents and their parents were of the mindset that if you did a good job, then that was you set up for life. Those days are well and truly gone now and today's culture lends itself to doing a good job, but only short-term.

New skills are quickly learned then taken elsewhere and the average time spent by the younger workforce is 2-3 years in any one job. Most people expect to change jobs several times in their working lives, and some may even change their career.

We are healthier today and are more productive longer so we have time to gain experience in several types of work, not just one. The marketplace changes so rapidly that many careers today are unrecognisable from their forms even 5 years ago, and some have even disappeared altogether!

Some people are being forced into transition for many reasons, not least of all by the world recession that well over one year later is still looming over the world.

So, is it too late to change your career at 50?

Speaking as someone who did and has never looked back, I say most definitely not. I feel more productive now than at any other time in my life. I have many work and life experiences under my belt and have accomplished most of the things I wanted to. For many years however, I knew I wanted to do something different with my professional life. I knew I no longer wanted to work 'for' anyone, I wanted more control over my life and I most definitely did not want to commute to work every day. So, I chose to work from home within online marketing and have never looked back. My one regret is that I did not find this wonderful business opportunity years ago.

What is the best career change for someone at 50?

Make a list of the elements of your current work that give you satisfaction? Is it the people you work with? The tasks you perform? They way you feel about yourself when you achieved a goal? The geographical location of your job? The nature of the industry? How your work benefits your customers? By doing this, you will draw up a list of what your motivators and strengths are and will reach a conclusion of the type of career you want versus what you most definitely do not want. Once you have done this exercise, then a free career self assessment tool can be found at http://www.careerpath.com/

What career change opportunities are available for someone over 50?

If you are looking to work in a home based opportunity, then the fact that you are 50 or over is most definitely a major plus. You will undoubtedly have all the relevant transferrable skills to make a success of running your own business. As a graduate from the University of Life, your skills set will consist of people skills, adaptability, flexibility, results orientated, can do attitude, strong work ethic, motivation, determination and a sound knowledge and vision of what you want to achieve. With a positive mindset anything is possible and if you believe in yourself, you know you are worth it then what is there in the world to stop you achieving your dream?

If you want to continue in a JOB then you may find that some employers are ageist despite their best efforts not to be. Many still fail to see the value in a more experienced employee, preferring to opt for someone younger who in fitting with the culture, will probably move on after a year or two. Some employers on the other hand actively embrace the more experienced person, realise their value and the commitment and loyalty they will bring.

Career change at 50 - how fulfilled do you feel?

Remember your earlier dreams and think back to those careers you dreamed about when you were younger. You probably had some big, idealistic ideas for your future as a child, and you might have abandoned them prematurely in favour of more seemingly practical choices.

Perhaps the time to realise those dreams is now. Refresh your memory of what those early dreams were and how they made you feel about yourself when you imagined doing your dream work. Now you are equipped with more world knowledge and a more adult intellect, how many different real careers can you list that would realise or resurrect those feelings?

Living my dream now

I never thought for one minute that I would be working in an online business. I am living the life I always wanted, I am able to make lots of money online and all this despite having a very little knowledge of IT. The business I joined is a Turnkey business so it had everything all there that I needed to get up and running and into profit quickly. I have no end of video and audio tutorials and had the luxury of a mentor, a real person to help me get up and running. I am fortunate enough now to be a mentor of others and spend a lot of time helping my team during the initial stages. This combines 2 of my main strengths, one is helping others succeed and two is learning something new each and every day. My motto throughout life is 'a day wasted is a day I haven't learned something'.