It’s Never too Late for a Career Change

Inspiration for the Career Change

Changing your career path can be scary. I know! Whenever I consider the prospect, my heart would pound and my head would throb at all the hurdles I would have to cross successfully.

But with the right strategy, you can make a change of career at any age! 40, 50, 60 or even later. Colonel Harland David Sanders (1890–1980), most famous for founding Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), opened his first restaurant franchise in 1952, at the spry age of 62. Since that time, the company—now a subsidiary of the corporation which also owns Pizza Hut and Taco Bell—has grown to over 24,000 franchise outlets worldwide. The face of Colonel Sanders is perhaps one of the most famous images internationally. KFC can be found in Botswana, Egypt, Senegal, Bangladesh, China, Oman, Nepal, Argentina, Qatar, Bolivia, Albania, Finland, Spain, Turkey, New Zealand and more —a total of 146 countries and territories.

Colonel Sanders had taken a side talent and interest—cooking—and turned it into what has become an international business known by billions of people.

Another inspiring career changer is the famous chef Julia Child who was famous for French cuisine among Americans and worked as a copywriter, typist and secret agent during World War II way before starting her cooking career in her 40s.

Changing Your Career Path

Your strategy for changing career paths needs detailed planning and hard work on your part. Naturally, you have worked hard for your former employers. And now, you have a new business with a client of one—you! This is when you need to let out all the stops and work harder than you’ve ever done before. You don’t have a forever deadline. Best to finish this project before it becomes more urgent than it already is. And if you thrill to the challenge, pesky overwhelm won’t be able to touch you.

In order to change your career path, you need to have a solid understanding of your skills, what careers are available and how your current skills and interests might lend themselves to migrating to a new vocation.

For some, a midlife career change can be particularly troubling because let’s face it, you’re used to the existing routines.

You’ll have to have just enough humility to know that all your attachments and beliefs are not “YOU.” It’s hard to let go if you identify with a job, a career, or a way of doing things. Letting go, mentally, can prove essential to your success. I know someone who cultivated, early on, the attitude of a perpetual student—constantly learning—fascinated with dozens of topics. For instance, while he began his art career in Hollywood, California, he also studied electronic engineering and climate science. Yes, many people would think: what an oddball combination! But later, when the time seemed right, switching careers to computers and software development seemed less of a challenge than it might otherwise have been. And when he received a one-year opportunity to teach at a 4-year college, he was well-trained and motivated to take advantage of that lucky break.

8 Key Steps for Switching Careers

1. Keep a journal. Have your journal and a pen (or use your phone) with you at all times. Ideas about your new career can come to you when you least expect them—even in the middle of the night.

2. Create a list of your current skills. A skill audit or inventory will allow you to assess your options more accurately. Sometimes existing skills can translate into those of a new career with a little effort and minimal additional training.

3. Build a list of your interests. Sometimes some of your interests won’t be on the skill inventory but could lead to some attractive career possibilities.

4. Make a list of jobs or fields in which you have an interest.

5. List all of the education and training you have had. Include seminars, conferences, workshops and the like.

6. Now, assess your skills against the careers that interest you, and identify any skills gaps or education/training opportunities.

7. Create a list of friends and associates who have already changed their own careers. Not only can they help you overcome some of the pitfalls, but they can act as moral support during your own transition. Plus, they may have ideas or connections that you can use.

8. Make a comprehensive Action Plan with all of the steps you plan to take and be sure to give yourself a reward for achieving any of the major milestones on your Action Plan.

Career Change is Nothing New

When automobiles were first mass-produced by Henry Ford, horse-drawn buggies became increasingly rare. The craftsmen who made buggy whips were no longer needed. What could they do? Perhaps their skills with leather could be used on automobile upholstery. Some learning would have been required, but their skills overlapped those of that new career possibility. Keep this idea in mind as you explore your own choices.

A paraphrase of a quote attributed to Ford goes something like this: “The man who thinks he can and the man who thinks he can’t are both right.” The lesson to be learned here is that your future is whatever you decide it to be, if not in exact details, at least in the overall tone and character. And being a “can do” person makes life far more fun.

How to Change Careers With No Experience

Some may wonder how to change careers with no experience in the new path they’ve chosen. As a software engineer, I found that some of the brightest and most successful fellow engineers were self-taught. Even with average intelligence, you can gain skill through repetition and creative application—short projects of your own creation based on your own interests.

You can also use one or more of the following to expand your knowledge and skills. The more the better.

• Online courses: there are countless courses both free and paid.

• Seminars and conferences.

• Networking is key! You can do this online on platforms such as LinkedIn and you could also attend networking events.

• Join relevant Facebook and LinkedIn Groups

• Audio books. This can help when you’re stuck in traffic, learning instead of remaining frustrated with traffic.

• Watch YouTube videos. Some are better than others, but the amount of teaching talent to be found online is nothing short of astounding.

• Attend Webinars: there are many industry-specific and educational webinars.

• Volunteer either on-site or online! You can find volunteering opportunities on job listing websites such as LinkedIn and Indeed. There also are skills-based online volunteering platforms such as Catchafire and United Nations. Volunteers.

• If needed, build your portfolio from scratch!

Advice for All Career Changes

Don’t expect to make your former salary right upfront. You can ask, but don’t be surprised if you don’t get it. Yet, if you do get it, be prepared to earn it as quickly as possible. Let humility guide you to the reality that getting top dollar at the start of your new career is indeed rare. Be committed to keeping that rare gift. Most people who switch careers start just above the bottom and work their way up.

Responsibility for your own future gives you incredible freedom. Go for it!