Dos and don’ts for a midlife career change

is it best to just stay doing what one is doing and then retire?

why do people change careers after 20 years

I am back in school at 33. I graduated with a degree in music 12 years ago.  Lived in NyC, teaching lessons, playing gigs.   Basically I got tired of living month to month, and dealing with the ups and downs of music.  I am now working on a masters in accounting degree.  I am worried that when I get out I wont be able to find a job because I will be 35.  My other fear is getting stuck in the town where I study.  I'd like to move out, maybe back to new york, but definitely a bigger city.  How does one relocate geographically upon graduation.  Any thoughts are apprciated.  

I am completing my Masters in Early Childhood Education and I am currently a teacher at a an Early Childcare Center. I feel a deep need to change my career path because I am not fulfilling my potential. My deep concern with a career change is that I have narrowed it down to three. Either Neurosurgeon, Oncologist or Psychologist. Each of which I would have to go school for a few years at minimum. I am at a crossroads right now, but I have a fear of not choosing either of the three and having a sadness because of it later.

Pharmaceutical rep for over 20 years.  Want to make a career change.  Currently downsized from pharma. position.

Great post. nice to have the basics of a roadmap ready to embark upon. I am a specialist doctor doing great and steady in my job in a premier medical institute. Pay is great with great opportunities to rise further. nothing to complain about. except, i dont want to do this anymore! I sound crazy to myself and to my folks (except my wife who listens to me!). What i really want to do is make a career in music. I mean, i have always been interested in it and have picked up bits and pieces of learning here and there (piano, guitar etc) but nothing as a chartered planned out thing. Besides, my studies and my job took away whatever little time i had to pursue my hobby. I am scared of failing, of causing hardships to my family, but i cant be happy with my present job anymore. anyway, follwoing my heart psyches me out, and the effort involved seems like a mountain to climb. I am just not happy with myself, though my heart tells me that this is what will really work to make me happy in the long term.

looking for a friendly advice, thanks

Hi, very useful post. I've just bumped into it and found it concrete and useful, very straight to the point. With your tips and some tricks I've heard during the webinars organized by http://www.blog.ivyexec.com I'm sure I'll easily go through career change. Thanks once again!

And listening to what it is urging you to do. I just decided that I'm not gonna go after an associates degree in Accounting (backpedal), I'm gonna enroll in an MBA program and set myself up for the CPA exam. This'll get me closer to my ultimate (new) career goal more quickly, and it's been a matter of internal struggle in my mind about which route would be the best. But it really comes down to how passionate you are about your chosen path...and I don't just wanna be a Clerk.

Yeah, I agree with what KC said about not asking too many people for advice, and trusting you intuition

I have stopped my career 2 years ago because it had turned toxic. I started grad school as full time student and I love it.

I am not looking for "accomplishments", "goals" or to "compartimentalize" or "prioritize" anithing: I hope I left all this garbage in the past. Just enjoying the road...

I am following my mid-life dream career change. At age 52 I am completing my Master's in General Psychology online; unfortunately this is non-clinical and I have to figure out a way to get counseling experience and if I would have to have more classes in counseling-like I can afford more student loans at my age!
I want to follow my instincts with this, but for how long? To make matters worse, my husband wants to move away from the city and back east to the country-need I say more?

At the age of 57, I too, have beenin the classroom, back in ministry, the classroom and then back in ministry as Director of formation. I love to teach, got burned out with all of the pressures of getting children ready for state testing! I still love to teach and have some opportunity to teach adults, but not always. So while I am truly grateful to have a job, I want to broaden my teaching with my music and research on scripture... all towards adult formation. So, yes, I am looking for that dream job because I'm not ready to retire even though that is many years away!

I am 53, and in my thirties I did the "back-to-school" and second career thing, and earned a Master's of Divinity in order to become a pastor. After 19 years, I am in the position of looking to start over yet again for family reasons. I want to be a pastor. I can't imagine anything else my skills would direct me to. I have no confidence about any other kind of work for my future. Yet, I can no longer yearn for what was. I must get to work. How do I even begin?

I went back to school for my undergrad when I was in my late 40's. I graduated with a degree in Legal Studies and Psychology. I am now in grad school at 57 taking a dual masters degree in Criminal Justice and Masters of Business Administration. I have thought about law school but I really want to go to work for Homeland Security in Immigration and Customs. I have applied with them but so far no luck but I will keep trying.

I'm not considering a career change, b/c that implies I have a career. Except for a couple church ministries, life has been a string of jobs, layoffs, firings, reorgs, and quits. At 58, it's time to get a career. Been through seminary and some tech schools which have prepared me for extra-curricular activities, as it were, but no career. I'm a steady free-lance writer (emphasis on "free"), adult Bible teacher, etc., but now I think it's time to make a living from what I've learned and done. If this is a mid-life crisis, then I have 58 years to go! If you want to read a book that gets into the head of us who are pursuing a dream job, try Quitter by Jon Acuff. He's been there, done that. Don't quit your day job, but don't quit pursuing the dream, either!

Well, I know where my passion lies....teaching. However, at the age of 55 with an MBA, 2 college and 1 middle school students I can't afford the pay cut.

I coach youth sports, have been a scout leader, I'm on the local school board, and am married to a teacher....guess I should have followed my passion at the age of 18 and become a teacher. Back then teachers didn't make enough to support a family. So, I choose the Business world.

So what, Now what?

Just got "downsized on Monday" many decisions to be made. Unfortunately I don't see the ecomomy improving. So wake up take a shower and go to work everyday looking for a job.

What an utterly useless and uninformative article. Three questions? What? Did the economy force them to save on hard drive space too? I wish people luckl who are seeking to do what the title of this article suggest. They're going to need it.

Access is power. Did you make that phrase up there Kristin? That Dilbert-ism goes right up there with "let's synergize our core principles to achieve a new paradigm"

In other words, a useless nonsensical statement that only makes you look smart to the unwashed masses. More intelligent people see right through this swill for what it is; blathering by a liberal arts major.

Wow, is this article ever timely. Just about two weeks ago I was faced with a 70% pay cut, going from $90,000.00 down to $36,000.00, doing exactly the same thing with all the same requirements, and the same required sale goals. ( Failure to meet these goals will result in unemployment.) I have worked in the same field for 36 years and like other have been laid off because of downsizing,and some poor business decisions made by the owner, so my longest stretch is 7 years with one company. I am about to turn 56 and am now contemplating starting my own business. I have been doing this new venture part time for at least 8 years. The nervy part is going from a job with a monthly check too the unknown. The one thing I will say there is a certain amount for freedom knowing I can't be laid off because of someones irresponsible choices.

At 35 I went back to school and received my BS in Food Science from K-State in 1996 and then went on to receive my MS in Grain science also from Kansas State University. The one thing I would tell anyone changing is sometimes you must at the bottom regardless of your previous experience. Most employers do not give you credit for your life time of experience because they do not know how to compare it to recent grads, but regardless do what your heart tells you. At the end you will be happier. I know I am even though I am behind my peer group because I did not go into my field directly out of high school.

well I'm in my mid 20s, but it doesn't matter what you really do. If you don't know anyone in the industry, or you're not on the Dean's list, chances are, you will not get a good paying job :/

I have a Bachelors in finance, and have yet to get a job that deals with the subject. I got stuck as an office manager for 3 years now, and things are sure looking bright with 15 million unemployeed workers. this economy blows!

I am a 53 year old single mom of a teenager.I have been working as a sales rep in the telecommunications field for the last 7 years (since my divorce). Three years ago I went back to school (online) to obtain a Master's in Psychology which I will receive in two weeks!! I am looking for employment in that field but it is very difficult to make the switch from Telecom. It is an uphill battle to be sure.

I am trying to decide whether I sure go on for a PhD or do volunteer work in my spare time (lol) to get some experience in the field. I am certain about making the change...just uncertain as to how.

Congrats on your perserverance. I too am in the fab 50 club and went back for my masters in marriage family counseling at 51. It has been a long process, but I graduate in November. By the time I am able to take my state exams for licensing, I will probably be about 55. I am cool with that because through this process, I have learned so much about myself and feel great about beginning a new career in this stage of life, especially a career that I feel can really make a difference in someone elses life. Because of the economy and the many people that are educated now, it probably will be difficult to find work initially (I hear that about my career choice) but where there is a desire, the universe will make a way for it. Stay on your path and don't allow negative words and circumstances to knock you off course.

Wow. Lots of great ideas here. I am both impressed yet depressed on other levels. I am 46 years old and was laid off from a retail management position a year ago. Everyone is stating that going back to school is where its at,yet some people do and still don't find jobs. I have a son who is 16, and will be going to college soon, so any resources I have will go to him, not me. I have never collected unemployement in my life, and now here I am a year later with it about to run out, and still no job. Very disheartening when you are willing a nd able to work, yet can't. I trust God has a plan for me.

See comment number 79!

What about us old geasures thats 60 ish and don't want to just lie down and die . To start over,college etc would be impractical. I started a business 37 years ago and frankly I'm burned out. Something in medicine since my business is somewhat related would be great but how do I get there? I don't want to push patients around or do the laundry; my passion since college has been surgery. Surgical techs sometimes require extensive training etc. I don't need to make a lot of money I just want a change doing something I can get more personal satisfaction from.Any suggestions?

I went back to school to finish my MBA degree. I got one more test and a thesis to complete. I started the program online and should be finishing up in a year if I went back to school. I hesitate to finish my education because I currently work for an unemployment office, where I process unemployment claims. With the economy the way it is, I don't feel my degree would change anything. I have seen more people on unemployment struggling to pay their school loans. Why add another school loan, when you are in you mid life? I would rather same the money and create a "bucket list". I just hiked "angles landing" and encourage every one that is healthy to do so. You cannot take material things with you when you die. So why not create memories while you still can remember things!

My transformation came when I realized that at the age of 51, I didn't have any plan for retirement. Nothing. And with all the debt I had acquired from various life issues, I decided I needed to do something dramatic.
The answer came in the form of a postion that inspired me. I was working as a secretary for the local Radiation Regulatory Agency issuing tech licenses to xray techs and started thinking about what that job would be like.

Flexible work hours, opportunity for a "snowbird" lifestyle, and pretty good pay. After enrolling in the community college for the prerequisites I discovered that working as a Health Unit Coordinator while I'm on the 2 year waiting list for the Rad Tech program would enable me to leave my current job and enter the hospital environment more readily. I also discovered that I could spend one more year after obtaining my license and be a Radiation Therapist for an even better pay scale.
I've been so bored and frustrated with secretarial work. It's like a light came on and I see a really promising, more rewarding future ahead. The nurturer in me finally gets to come out to play. What a great decision!

I recently completed a movie "Garage Dwellers" that deals with this subject. I'm also trying to make a midlife career change from IT to movie making. Still working at it and don't plan to give up ever. I've been trying to make this change for over 10 years now and there doesn't seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel, but in my heart I know it's going to happen. The recession and life's problems tried to keep us all down. But if we don't give up we'll eventually make it. Dreams don't have an expiration date; they take as long as it takes to accomplish them.

I chose to change careers in 2008, after being a cosmetologist for 25+ years. I was hurting my body more than could be fixed. I went back to school and got a certificate in PC specialist. I have been searching for work for 2 1/2 years. I can not get a job anywhere because I do not have experience. Have been to employment agencies and nothing. What can I do???

I'm 40 and currently working a fulltime job. I want to go back and get my PhD and teach at the college level. Any advice on how to do this since you have to quit working and work for the college living on the money they pay between $20K to $30K?

Online is not an option since most universities do not hire professors who receive their PhD online.

Thank you.

Mid-life career change is nowhere NEAR as "easy" as these people claim it is. For too many Americans, like myself, we were dumped, from jobs, when, as middle-age came on, we began having health concerns, just as our OWn parents did, before us. Thanks to modern labor, employers are, now, allowed to FIRE middle-aged workers, without facing prosecution. How? When a middle-aged person receives a doctors restriction note, the employer simply places the worker into a job, which directly VIOLATES the restriction. When the worker is un-able to perform the job, the employer FIRES the worker. To "cover" themselves, the employer makes a point of never telling the worker that, for the restriction to be legally binding, that the employer must SIGN, and DATE, atleast TWO copies, of the restriction note. One copy, for employee records, and one, for company files. So long as workers do NOT know about this law (in states such as Illinois), employers can violate workers health restrictions, then DENY any knowleedge that such restrictions ever existed. THIS is the nature of the modern work-force.

As for changing jobs, in Illinois, atleast, the state does NOT allow change of career. If one has been a janitor, for 20 years, this is the ONLY field which Illinois will consider placing the un-employed in. Re-training, is ONLY for TEENS, in Illinois. There is NO re-training money, for middle-aged people, in Illinois.

I do state that the facts, presented here, are true, and correct, with a full knowledge of the penalty for Perjury.

Werlcome to life, in Illinois.

I went back to school at 47 after finding myself unemployed. Although I already had a PhD, I entered a Master's program in the field of Medical Physics. Now, instead of making extremely boring and practically meaningless measurements on silicon wafers, I am part of a team that helps people fight cancer (I am also a cancer survivor). My wife has now returned to school full time to advance from a LPN to an RN.