A job change after 50 years, is it possible?

Am I still needed? Can I still learn? Am I in a position to keep up with the younger competition? Whoever is going through the last third of your career And even if you want to reorient yourself to work, you often cannot avoid raising these concerns.

At the same time, it is not uncommon for professionally active people over 50 to think about a change of occupation. “The coronavirus pandemic intensified what happens around 50 anyway″ Says Sabine Votteler, a job reorientation consultant in Munich, Germany. “That people reflect on how their life has passed until now.”

Votteler considers this to be an absolutely normal developmental process, in which people in the “so-called middle of their life” begin to look more introspectively.

Christiane Karsch, employment consultant and owner of CK Coaching Cologne, explains this phenomenon, noting that many over 50, “After long years of hard work,” they became more demanding.

“A job should bring in more than just money. Should give fulfillment and meaning to the years remaining until retirement”, Says the specialist.

At the same time, he points out that the world of work has become more volatile: curricula are increasingly characterized by change, which facilitates a change on your own.

Encourage the first step: turn your gaze inward

Either way, it is a challenge. “For such a big career change, I have to give up a bit of my old identity, the role I had in life until now,” says Votteler.

Christiane Karsch, meanwhile, points out that whoever intends to make this change of course in the last third of his working life, should turn his gaze to himself.

What needs do I still have? What is important to me? What do I have to offer? What dreams do I want to fulfill? These questions can help you prepare for the “trip to the new labor territory”.

It is only later that you try to become familiar with the job market and the existing possibilities, taking into account the knowledge you have acquired about yourself. In this way, it is much easier to assess “which work really suits you and which ones you have to discard.”

Don’t linger ruminating thoughts

Sabine Votteler also recommends an introspective look first. And just as important is putting yourself to the test, he says. “Things must become more concrete than the thoughts that are running through your head.”

For example, you can establish contact with people who are currently working in that position Or maybe they are working in a position that arouses interest.

“Expand the network and meet with people who can tell you how things can work to better get (a job),” suggests Votteler. Only in this way, he adds, can it be assessed whether the ideas held about a trade or occupation are confirmed in reality.

The counselor recommends setting concrete steps for the next reorientation process whenever possible. And it is not just about “next week I will write some applications.” Otherwise: “Next week I will write to five companies”. Or: “next week I will call Mr. X from company Y”.

Know your own strengths

To undertake this potential reorientation, it is important to carry out an inventory of your own talents, strengths and experiences.

Here, applicants over 50 often have more to offer than they might at first think, says Anna Bordzol, director of the Hamburg headquarters of training provider GFN.

For example, he details, some companies frequently look for specialized workers in the Projects management. But in many cases, these people in the job search verify only through a first assessment that what they have been doing for years is precisely project management, although without calling it that way.

In addition to professional experience, it is often the social skills those that distinguish a person after 50 years. “For example, dealing with people,” says Bordzol.

“Those who are over 50, of course, have already experienced many situations in which interpersonal skills are required, for example also in conflict management,” he points out. And younger people, he notes, often still have to understand.

At the same time, older professionals can also be good trainers, who have already passed on their knowledge to others for years. And those who at this age are looking for a new position, usually select a company in which they can stay for a long time.

For the employer, this means the possibility of better planning. Younger employees are often not afraid to change jobs or face moving to advance their career.

Compensate for potential deficits

“On the other side of the coin,” says Anna Bordzol, technical skills often represent a stressor for applicants over 50 years of age.

However, these can be compensated for and it usually takes just a little more learning time to be able to handle the new programs.

But sometimes it is the people themselves who become an obstacle on their way to job reorientation. “Modifying thought patterns and establishing the paradigm shift in the head, opening up to new challenges, is something that is not easy for everyone,” says Bordzol.

According to Votteler, you have to remove your blinders for a career reorientation: “Instead of thinking in terms of options and probabilities, you have to ask yourself the question: What is really possible?

Precisely who worked for many years in the same position is often extremely marked by circumstances and slows down too easily.

“I am actually too old, I am actually too expensive, nobody takes me: it is important to recognize such limitations in thinking, to be able to question them and observe them neutrally,” adds the expert.

And it also states that it is important show willingness to learn throughout life. “Some have just gotten slower, but even in your 50s you can still learn and have fun with it,” says Votteler.

Make your own motivation clear

And that should also appear in the application, he stresses. Before, says Bordzol, there was a standard application form that was later adapted to different jobs. “Today, personnel managers no longer want to see that.”

Today individuality and creativity are much more important. Many resumes beyond the age of 50 are not so perfect, for example because people have already changed sectors a couple of times or have not changed employers in their entire lives.

So, says the expert, “it will be necessary to make it clear to the employer why despite this or perhaps even precisely because of it one is optimally adapted for the position”. (I)