85 Mid Life Career Change Tips by Nisa Chitakasem

85 Mid-life Career Change Tips

When we reach the mid point in our lives, it can feel like a watershed. Many of us may feel stuck or frustrated in our current careers or maybe we haven’t even decided what we want to be when we grow up yet! We tell ourselves that if we were younger, we would be changing careers. But why not change careers in mid-life? It may seem impossible, given employers’ attitudes towards older workers and the commitments we find ourselves with in this stage of life— but many successful mid-life career changers have proven that it is actually very possible indeed. Some of those inspirational figures with successful experience of mid-life career change in fact work with Position Ignition as Career Guides. Our Guides give our clients insights that can only be gained through real life experience—and a lot of the time this involves career changes at a variety of life stages. This eBook focuses specifically on mid-life career change and is packed full of tips from our Career Guides on: • • • • • • •

Pinpointing what it is you want from the latter part of your working life Overcoming the fear of a mid-life career switch Fitting a career shift around your current circumstances, constraints and criteria Planning your career change Getting up to date and up to speed in the job market Marketing your wisdom and experience to get the career you want Successfully adapting to a new career and new role.

What Do You Want? Before you even begin the career change process, you should get clear on what you want from your working life. You have plenty of time to do this, even if it feels like you’re at that stage in life where time is running out. Instead of rushing things along, follow these tips in order to gain the clarity you’ll need to get to where you need to be. 1. Make sure that you want to change careers in the first place. If your main reason for considering a change is that you feel you’re working in the wrong place, have you talked about that to your employer? Many of us are scared of doing this, thinking it’ll mean that we will get fired or be seen in a negative light at work. With good employers, this has never been true and it’s certainly not the case now, as the lifting of the Default Retirement Age has given the best employer organisations a new vision of how to get value from their older workers. Instead of dismissing you because you’re approaching the former ‘magic number of 65’, your boss is more likely to think about the long game and find you work within the organisation that suits you better. 2. Apart from talking to your boss, there are several ways to find out about new career openings within your current organisation. Go to company presentations, as these will give you the chance to meet new people and help you understand what’s going on in terms of potential areas of new business development. 3. Even if you want a new career, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to leave your current company in order to get it. Open your mind to the possibility of the new career of choice being available right in the same building in which you’re currently based. Opportunities to find new jobs and careers within your organisation are more common than you might think.

Your boss, if she’s a good one, will know your strengths and passions better than almost anyone else in your work life and if you talk to her about it, she may have some ideas of where within the business you can shift to. 4. If you definitely want a change of both career and organisation, target a career that is aligned with your qualities, skills, background and experiences. Not only will you be happier in such a career and able to excel in it, employers are more likely to give an older candidate a chance if they can prove through who they are that they are just as capable of doing the same job as a younger worker, if not more so. 5. If you’re not clear on what your strengths and preferences are, take the time to work them out. It’ll be worth sitting and reflecting on what you enjoy doing, what you’re good at doing and what you’ve done a lot of. Think about these things not only in terms of your current job, but in the context of all your previous roles too. Treat it as a brainstorm and make notes on what you come up with. 6. Also look at what you did outside of work. What skills did you gain from all of what you have done so far? What were you good at? What did you enjoy? How do these relate to what you are looking to do now? 7. Do not dismiss any strength or hobby as irrelevant, no matter how obscure or irrelevant it seems. For example, you may be interested in Malaysian history but you want to be a banker. Look deeply for points of relevance between the two. Take this example - Malaysia is a pioneer of Islamic banking, which is growing as a sector in Britain. A conventional British bank may be interested in your understanding of Malaysian heritage if it’s looking to launch sharia-compliant financial products.

8. If you find this kind of self-reflection challenging, consider working alongside a good Career Guide to explore who you are. At Position Ignition, our Guides use your life story to help you construct a detailed picture of your values and beliefs. We use a range of technical tools and processes to establish your passion and excellence. You’ll also have discussions with your Guide about a wide range of subjects and your life experiences. This will help you to become more aware of the type of career you’re suited to.

Overcoming the Fear Barrier Think of that inner voice (that tells us we can’t do something) as a gremlin. Your internal gremlins might be stopping you from getting what you want career wise. Although we may make the excuse that no one wants to employ us in a new career area at our age, it may be that we’re actually too afraid to test the water. Here are some tips for dipping your toe in… 9. Acknowledge your inner fear instead of ignoring it. This is the first step to dealing with it. There’s no shame in admitting that we’re scared, however old and ‘battle-worn’ we are.

10. The older we get, the more achievements we have under our belt. Even someone who feels they’ve achieved nothing in their life is able to write a long list of achievements if they think about it honestly enough. Going through the different stages of your life-starting from childhood-make a list of everything you’ve achieved at school/work, with your friends, as a member of your family, in relation to parenthood, in your relationships and whilst pursuing your hobbies or charity work. Look at this list whenever you need reminding that you need not be scared of change-your achievements show you are more than capable of succeeding on this new adventure. 11. If you’re afraid of going into this adventure without knowing what’s best for yourself, all you need to do is to think about it. By the time you are in your mid-life, you have accumulated a mass of invaluable data about yourself as a professional. By looking back over your work life, you can discover what works for you. With this knowledge, you need not be scared of making mistakes in your career change. 12. Even if you make mistakes, or don’t do something in the job application process that you should have, it’s not the end of the world. Learn from mistakes and remember that you’re still evolving as a human, never mind as a job seeker, whatever your age. If you’re frightened of moving forward, you’ll never move forward! 13. Doing something that others have successfully done makes the prospect less scary. For inspiration from people who’ve been there and done that in terms of career change, have a look at some of the client stories on our website. A lot of them involve mid-life career changes.

14. Perhaps you’re scared of what others will think of you if you change careers ‘at your age’. Do what’s right for you instead of being put off by what you imagine people’s opinions to be. It’s unlikely that anyone will think a mid-life career change is strange, given the increasing fluidity of today’s labour market. 15. Finally, don’t be scared of doing something totally different. Just because you’ve worked in the private sector for 30 years, for example, doesn’t mean you can’t shift to the public sector. You can teach old dog new tricks. Don’t be boxed in by where you think the boundaries are. Your age is not a boundary but a benefit as you have the experience and maturity you need to make and cope with major changes in your life.

Fitting a Career Change around Your Life In mid-life, the prospect of fitting a career change around other aspects of your life is more frightening than it was when you were younger. You have dependants and responsibilities, and a growing panic, or despair that if you take the leap and leave your current work, you’ll end up in limbo and unable to meet commitments such as mortgages and to provide for your children. This is no reason for staying in a career you hate, however. If you’re passionate and determined enough about the career you want to change to, you’ll find a way to accommodate the process into your present life. 16. Make a list of your preferences and constraints, as these will influence the type of career you opt for and how you go about getting it. For instance, you may prefer to work near your elderly parents if you like to check up on them regularly. You may be constrained to working certain hours because of the timing of your children’s school runs. Once you understand what you need to consider when getting a new career, you begin to make plans to make it all work out. 17. Looking for a new career in itself is a full-time job. Even if you’re not currently employed, you’ll still need to fit the job search around your family and other responsibilities. Get organised by making a list of long-term job search goals, a list of shorter-term goals and, finally, a list of daily tasks related to your job search. This will help you stay on course during the career change and will give you an idea of what you’ll need to do every day. 18. Once you know what you’re doing each day, you can prioritise. Put more time into the things that will give you the most benefit. Make a timetable, including both career change tasks and other tasks and appointments.

19. If you do have a current job, don’t overstretch yourself. Career change or no career change, you shouldn’t be burning yourself out at work anyway. Balance your current work with your job search by being realistic and not by trying to be a superhero. 20. Get into the habit of keeping your emails organised. Not only do you have to keep on top of work and personal emails, you now have replies to your job applications to contend with. Deal with anything urgent immediately and create folders for important emails you’ll need to come back to. Your email provider will probably allow you to tag messages with colour coded flags so you won’t forget to follow them up. Finally, delete anything you don’t need to keep your inbox as clutter free as possible. 21. Are you most alert in the morning or the afternoon? Decide when you do your best work and then plan your day around this. A career change is life-changing so you’ll want to be managing the most important aspects of it when you’re most alert.

Knowing Your Key Challenges When you are in mid-career, it is vital that you understand the parameters that you are working within. These will probably include: 22. Family: How much manoeuvrability do you have in terms of your professional working life when it comes to considering your spouse and any children you have? Children’s education is a common reason why people do not, or cannot, make mid-career shifts, particularly when the youngsters are hitting key points in their educational journey, such as GCSEs or A-levels. Increasingly, as households need a second income earner within the families, the spouse’s economic working is a key consideration, even more so if the life partner has taken time off from their professional work - perhaps to raise the children when they’re young. 23. Financial situation: An analysis of your financial situation will help you understand just what scope for flexibility you may have as you think through the challenges of a mid-career change. What are the minimum earnings that your household needs? This is a different question to how much you or you and your partner earns. This is about setting a minimum level of earning your household requires, because that might change your view of what’s possible in terms of your career. Your financial situation may also dictate your choices about where you want to live; both in terms of location and type of dwelling. 24. Time: This journey is important – so give yourself the time to work it all out. You will need a significant amount of thought, consideration, time and investment in order to make this change smoothly and to make it the right career change. There are many key stages and turning points to consider so take the time to do it.

25. Flexibility: How much scope and how much flexibility do you actually have? For example, how many opportunities do you have to alter your professional working life within the organisation you currently work for? Are you in danger of walking away from it to explore where the grass is greener without checking home base first? If you’re good at what you do, you may find your current employer far more flexible then maybe you had even realised. You may wish to adjust your working life from full-time to part-time as an initial step to changing your professional contribution in the economy and the longer term. For example, moving from five days working a week to three days may be the best way to make time for training, obtaining qualifications or embarking upon a second career that you plan to build up in parallel with your first. 26. Clarity about what you want to do now: Often the biggest challenge is translating your experience and capability into an effective mid-career change. It’s not a skill that we are able to practice since the provision of the skill through our schools and universities, and indeed in our professional careers, tends to be underdeveloped. Neither is it something that is easy to do for oneself. However you pursue this challenge, it is absolutely paramount that you do get clear, as one of the biggest mid-career issues is the frustration from an individual in their current state and an inability to understand how to break out and do things differently.

Planning Your New Career To ensure you choose the right career for you, it's important to do some planning. Choosing a career can't be done overnight, it takes time to think things through and work out the best options for you. 27. Be prepared to be patient. A career change can take any amount of time, be it 6 weeks or 3 years, so be sure you’re in this for the long haul before you commit anymore time to changing careers. If you skip the planning stage just because you’re in a rush, it’ll take longer to find the right career because you haven’t done the groundwork. 28. . A career change can be a tough and tiresome task. Be efficient in terms of where you target your energy and effort in order to get the outcome you want without completely burning out. We’re not as young as we were when we were looking for our first job, so we must learn to manage our lower energy levels shrewdly. 29. By now you should have a clearer idea about who you are and what you want. To identify a career that’s right for you, write down all the possible careers that align with your strengths, preferences and constraints. If you’re unsure of which careers align with you in this way, talk it through with a Position Ignition Career Guide, who will help you come up with career ideas once they’ve spent time getting to know you by discussing your life with you. 30. You can also get a quick idea about some potential fields that may be suited to you by doing a few online career personality tests. These psychometric tests won’t give you a definitive answer on your ideal career, but they may give you a few ideas you may not have thought of yet. Don’t rely on these for an answer but instead, use them to fuel new thoughts, suggestions and alternative ideas.

31. Research different careers by reading about them-take a look online, take relevant books out from your local library, or read up about career ideas through newspapers and magazines. 32. Get experimenting. The best way to find out what a particular type of work or role is really like is to try it out. You can do this through voluntary work, work shadowing or offering to do pro bono work for people you know. There may also be an opportunity for learning via secondments as well depending on your role and organisation. 33. Go to conferences and seminars within the career fields you're interested in. These can be really valuable as a source of learning, understanding, and exploration and also as a way to engage with new, potentially very helpful people. 34. If you want to get a regular feel for your target area of work, join a club or group that will allow you to participate in relevant activities. E.g. The Executive Network (TEN) or Women in Technology are both organisations for specific people with specific interests. Seek out groups that are most relevant and helpful to you. 35. Once you’ve identified which career you’re going to target, research different organisations that offer roles relevant to that career. Employers have wildly varied approaches to managing older employees so research each company’s policy and attitude towards mature workers to help you find a good fit.

Negotiating today’s Job Market If you don’t want to be seen as an ‘old fogey’, don’t act like one in the job market. Get up to speed with today’s job search culture, as well as technology, services and other tools you can use as weapons in your career-switching arsenal. 36. Build upon your technological knowledge. Technology is such a big part of work and recruitment now that it’s worth investing the time in learning I.T. skills, including social media and video technology. 37. One social media site that you should make particular effort to get to grips with is LinkedIn, as this is a social networking site specifically targeted towards professionals. As well as providing job listings, LinkedIn is also populated by employer organisations, recruitment professionals and recruiting managers. By mingling on LinkedIn, you never know where it could lead. Check out our eBook called “100 Ways to Use LinkedIn Effectively in Your Job Search” for more help on this. 38. Use what you know once you know it. If, for instance, you’ve learnt how to make your own video and can upload it to YouTube, consider making a video to announce the fact that you’re looking for work. On the Position Ignition career blog is an example of an experienced professional who did just this, (Peter the great job searcher video blog) 39. It’s not just I.T skills you may want to learn. You’re never too old to learn new skills and you may need to learn specific skills to break into the career of your choice. This might include anything from bookkeeping to public speaking. Contact your local further education college to see what courses they have on offer.

40. You may be able to train up in new skills on the job. Ask any potential new employers if they offer in-house training opportunities. This shows that you’re willing to learn, in spite of all the experience you already have. More growth, development and learning means continual added value to the organisation. 41. Alternatively, if you want one-to-one support in acquiring competencies, speak to us at Position Ignition. Our guides help clients build their confidence in areas such as presentations, negotiation and public speaking. 42. Don’t get so caught up in social networking-and offline networking-that you forget about your existing contacts. The best way to find out about the current labour market is to ask people who you already know are in the know. You might be surprised by which of your close contacts can give you some interesting inside information on your chosen career area. 43. That’s not to say that meeting new people doesn’t have its merits. By making connections with people in the world you want to get into, you’re giving yourself scope for discovering how the sector or industry works, where your target role fits into it and which organisations are the most relevant currently. As well as using LinkedIn and other social media, attend business networking events within the industry you want to tap into. 44. Networking, however, can be easier said than done—especially face-to-face networking. You’ve had time to grow comfortable in your current life and it may have been decades since you’ve gone out and made new work connections. Before you start a new phase of networking be clear on what you're going to tell people. Plan beforehand what you would say if you had two or three minutes to tell someone what you want to do. Check out our Networking eBook to be at the top of this game. 45. Finding new connections isn’t about turning up to an event and handing out as many business cards as possible. Take the time to talk to each person you meet. Really listen to what they have to say and if you find them interesting,

believe they could be beneficial for you, or even that you could be beneficial to them-give them your business card and be sure to get theirs. 46. Once back at home, don’t count on the fact that new connections will follow you up. Also don’t fall into the trap of thinking that because someone doesn’t follow you up means they don’t want to hear from you. If you’ve clicked with someone and they gave you their business card, they will want to hear from you, even if they’re too disorganised or shy to contact you first 47. If you’re currently employed and don’t have time to attend a college in person, consider doing an online courses. With most of these, you can choose which times you do your studying and can work through the curriculum at your own pace, within reason. 48. Use current language as well as learning current skills. Ensure CVs use the latest jargon and drop anything that has lost currency. In some industries the lingo moves on quickly so it’s pointless to use old terminology which is long gone. Research the technical terms relevant to your target career if you don’t know much about it yet. 49. Don’t think all the hard work is done after you’ve edited your CV to make sure it’s relevant: Always, always proofread and spellcheck it before sending it off, paying particular attention to technical ‘jargon’ words that aren’t easy to spell.

50. Telephone potential leads first so as not to send a CV ‘cold’. 51. Make your job applications about quality, not quantity. Being in the same role or company for several decades makes it easy for us to lose touch with effective job application strategies. Remember that frenetic activity does not equate to career openings. We can be tempted to spray our CVs around but this is not the most productive method. 52. Although it may be tempting to use recruitment agencies or headhunters if you already have a senior career and don’t have much job seeking time, you can’t rely on them to magic up a job for you. Your CV is just one of hundreds to them. Given they have so many fellow candidates to choose from you cannot depend on this as your only route to finding a new career. See our eBook called “How to Get the Job You Want” to understand the most effective process and strategies for this. 53. Only about 30% of jobs are actually advertised so research other ‘ways in’ to potential employers. Receptionists are only a phone call away and they’re usually very willing to provide information and help, including about upcoming vacancies.

Use What You’ve Got Instead of seeing you as ‘past it’ or ‘over the hill’, appreciate that you’ve accumulated a lot of wisdom and experience over the years that many employers would be foolish not to value. Here’s how to convince potential bosses that your age will add value to their organisation, not hinder it. 54. It may have been a while since you had to go to a job interview but remember that you want to do yourself justice by presenting yourself as the mature, responsible and experienced worker you are. Don’t make schoolboy errors such as turning up late or leaving your Blackberry on. 55. Be specific about what you’re offering. Yes, you can bring the wisdom of your years to a new career, but your potential new employer will also want to know what you’re offering in terms of your talents, qualities and background. In job interviews, back up claims of what you can do with examples of times you’ve used your skills set or dealt with a situation using your specific qualities. 56. Don’t be shy in promoting what you’re best at. In an interview, even if none of the panel’s questions allow you to talk about the thing you are best at or most passionate about; you can still bring it up when the interviewers ask if you have any questions. Reply, “Can I take this opportunity to talk about my skill in taking the stage for a presentation/my ability to make people feel good about themselves/my passion for animal rights/etc?”. Check out our

Interview eBooks for complete confidence in your interviews. 57. Make it clear that you are able to transfer your skills to a new career. When networking, on your applications and in your interviews, stress that you understand what skills you would need to transfer to which aspects of the new type of work. Give examples of times when you’ve transferred a skill from one part of your life to another. For instance, you may have transferred the ability to multi-task as a young office junior to parenthood. 58. Get Passionate - Without real passion for a role – it will be difficult to get. Even if you do get it – you will find it difficult to maintain and grow within and beyond it. What you want here is the right role. This means something that you are truly passionate about. It might take a bit of experimenting to find what ‘floats your boat’ – but it will be worth it when you have found it. 59. Get clear about your boundaries. Being clear about what works and what doesn’t work for you in order to be happy can be groundbreaking. It sounds simple but so many of us do not actually take the time to work it out. In each different work situation – we may have different boundaries. By being clear about what they are and then communicating this clearly to others and staying true to what is important – will make a huge difference. This impacts work and your personal settings. 60. Use the relationships you already have to your advantage. This is important from all aspects. If you learn to manage your relationships effectively you will be able to control the process and transition. You will be able to manage your exit smoothly from your current or old role. Understanding where your old boss is coming from and the impact you have on him/her – and how you interact could really influence how you leave a job. How you get your next job and keep it may also rely heavily on your ability to manage relationships well.

Keeping Up the Momentum As you move through your career change it’s easy to lose momentum, so look at the following suggestions as ways to keep the motivation and energy going. 61. Act smart - It is so important that we don’t exhaust ourselves in the career change transition. Why? There are two reasons, at least. One is - whenever you meet anybody who is influential to your career change, and particularly when you are being interviewed and assessed, you need to be on your best form. When you start your new job, it’s a time of excitement and acceleration, and also stress. Again, you need to be rested and you need to be on your best form. Acting smart is about good habits and taking care of yourself. 62. Don’t be distracted - It’s so easy to pick up newspapers, to login to online recruitment boards and to get driven along by the seduction of a job that looks just right for us. The thing is, there’ll be hundreds of other people who think it’s just right for them too. If you haven’t followed steps 1 and 2 above, the propensity for you to waste time by being distracted in this way is high. When some people call the recruitment game for a candidate a lottery, it’s because the candidate puts themselves in a position where they’re not in control. When you’re distracted, you lose control. 63. Set a routine -The most effective way of keeping yourself motivated during a career change is to have a clear routine for each day. Whilst some of this will be around the mechanics of your job search—i.e. researching organisations and background reading around the sector your planning to be interviewed by--your routine should also involve other things that keep you fit for the changing process, such as exercising (it could be gentle exercise such as yoga or

walking), eating well—and drinking less! Whatever routinely you establish for yourself needs to be as well thought through and balanced as if you were preparing for a marathon. 64. Keep your connections up to speed - It’s highly probable that as you make your career change, you’ll be connecting to some key people in your network. These people are not only important to you in the process of making a shift; they are also important sources of energy and motivation for you. By keeping them in the loop and letting them know what it is you’re doing and where you are in the process, you also give them the opportunity to view how things are in the market and to also keep tabs on you throughout a potentially challenging time. 65. Think about the reasons why you’re making this career change and the benefits that will come from it. Sometimes it’s easy to lose focus and to forget the reason why we’re doing this as things become tough. Create a list outlining why you’re doing this and what you are trying to achieve. 66. Think back to the other times in your life when you’re achieved something massive. Remember the energy it gave you and how it boosted your confidence, acting as a launch pad for other achievements and milestones in your life. Don’t underestimate what a huge

achievement changing careers also is. Yes, it’s a challenging process, which is why we find it hard, but once you’ve successfully moved to your new career, think of how much more satisfying it’ll be because of the obstacles you’ve had to overcome. Keep this feeling of achievement in your line of sight. 67. A new life is exciting. Remember this. Leaving your old world for a completely new one can be scary, but it’ll also be exciting. In your new career, you’ll be learning new skills, doing a different type of work, meeting new people, working in a new environment and even travelling to work via a different route. Enjoying the newness of it all will revitalise you and leave you with an energy that endures long after the initial novelty has worn off. This is what you have to look forward to.

Adapting to Your New Life Starting all over again is a challenge but it can also be very exciting. The key to launching your new career successfully is to be fully prepared and to keep an open mind. 68. Don’t leave your current job on bad terms. Give proper notice and don’t get angry or insult your boss on the last day. You never know when you might need something from this employer again, even if you believe yourself to be nearing the end of your working life. 69. It may sound obvious, but be sure you have all the material things you’ll need for your new career. 70. You may have reached the top in your previous career, but you might need to start nearer the bottom in a brand new career area. See this as a positive-a chance to build a second career by learning new things every day and getting excited about work again. 71. Starting at a more junior level than you’ve grown accustomed to may also involve taking a pay cut. Again, don’t let this put you off. If you really, really want this particular career, you’ll adapt to cutting your cloth to suit temporarily, until you start moving up the ranks. 72. It’s one thing to talk about transferring skills in the job interview, but when you actually have the job; it’s a whole other ball game to use those transferable skills in a real world situation. Prepare yourself to do so by making a list of your transferable skills and looking at where they fit in in terms of your new career. 73. It’s always a pain to orientate yourself to a new organisational universe when you’re starting a new job, let alone a new career. It is important not to feel overwhelmed by the challenge but to take the time to read all the relevant

introductory material, company guidelines and policies. Giving yourself a foundation like this will make things easier in the long run. 74. Don’t feel like because you’re older you’re expected to already know all the answers. When your new boss says ‘feel free to ask questions’, they really do mean that. Even if they don’t say this, ask questions anyway. Ask if you don’t know how to do something, if you want to check how a procedure works, or if you want to know where something is. Don’t be shy about asking questions to do with other departments or business areas. All you’re doing is immersing yourself in the new company’s culture. 75. Build a few key relationships with people who you feel you can trust. Even if that’s only one person at the moment, they can help you find your feet and get acquainted with what’s what. 76. Don’t take everything at face value. There are a lot of hidden networks within many organisations. Identify the real players and influencers within the organisation by building upon your key relationships day-by-day and asking the right people the right questions. Don’t feel restricted to interacting with people within your own age range. Younger workers can often be the most clued up, as line managers and supervisors are increasingly young these days. 77. Subtle ways of getting clued into what’s really going on include listening to what’s happening around you and following email trails.

78. However good your reputation was at your old place, it counts for nothing. People won’t assume you’re wise because you’re older, you have to show your wisdom. Remember that your performance is being judged constantly. Even if you’re new, you’re still being paid to do a job. Show something tangible that correlates with your time in the office. 79. If you’re unclear as to what’s expected of you in terms of performance, it’s important to get clear. Be sure your perception of the expectations and aspirations surrounding you are aligned with line bosses, peers, and subordinates. 80. The only way to do this is to communicate! Open up discussions right from the start. Get clear on shared understanding of aims, potential obstacles and timeframes. 81. This doesn’t mean you should just go in there on the first day and ask what’s expected of you without any prior inkling of what the answer might be. Before your first day, write down as much as you can about what your understanding of objectives, expectations, and possible barriers is. 82. Once you’re well underway in your new role, don’t forget to get feedback from bosses and peers. This will give you an idea of what you’re doing right and what you can improve on. 83. Stretch yourself! When embarking on a new career, it may be tempting not to challenge yourself. “I’m new to this; I shouldn’t push myself too hard-I’m retiring in a few years anyway”. Whilst this is true, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t push yourself at all. Professional Development can start-or continue-from Day 1 of a new career! 84. Even though you’ve been careful to choose a new career that’s enjoyable and suited to you-be sure not to overwork: you can’t escape the fact that you’re older than when you started your first career, so you won’t have the same energy levels as you did then. Be realistic about what you can and can’t do.

85. Finally, give yourself a big pat on the back-youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done it and proven that mid-life career change is not only possible but can be done successfully. Celebrate this. Pamper yourself at the weekend or buy a new novel to read on the commute to and from your new job. Every milestone is worth marking and a career change is no exception.

More Position Ignition eBooks (Visit our website to download: www.positionignition.com) o 100 Essential Career Change Tips o Make Your Career Change Happen: 96 Tips to a New Career o 135 Networking Career Tips o 125 LinkedIn Job Search Tips o 125 Twitter Job Search Tips o How to Get the Job You Want o How to Ace the Interview o Up Your Game, Up Your Pay! (85 Tips in Salary Negotiation) o Moving into Retirement in the 21st Century

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