We meet new potential candidates who come to us with specific concerns as they pursue new interests. Often, they are women 40 years and older, with extensive career experiences, that are suddenly faced with making a change. There are challenges to taking the next step. Today, we’re highlighting five challenges that might resonate with you during a career change.
The Blindside
Maybe you thought you had found your dream role with an exceptional company. You were planning to grow and retire there. However, something happened. There was a company acquisition, new leadership, or departmental downsize. You were caught off guard and certainly weren’t prepared to lose your job. Perhaps it’s been years since you’ve even thought about looking for work or visited an online job board. Now, you’re looking at your resume from ten years ago and wondering if you should add to it or revamp it all together. Further, you’re shocked and feel unappreciated. The thought of having to start over can be overwhelming.
You Found Your Calling
Some women find they’ve spent a lifetime climbing a ladder they hadn’t intended to climb. It’s common for some to lose focus and get caught up in performing the job. Sometimes, there comes a point in life when individuals re-evaluate their paths that leads to a career change. If you’ve found yourself on such a journey, you realize it can be challenging and scary to consider taking the leap into something new. Maybe you’re abandoning your industry or core skills entirely. For example, you’ve been in a National Sales Management role for the last 20 years, but want to leave sales completely and transition into a more HR role or corporate training role. You might realize that your current employer doesn’t present opportunities for growth in your current position, and you’re ready for more C-Level considerations. Either way, you’re recognizing your talents and have found your calling. However, you’re not sure how to move forward in realizing that calling.
Translatable Skills
In evaluating your talents and various career experience, you know you can bring value to a new role, new company, or even a new industry. But, as you browse the opportunities, you’re not sure how to convey your talents to the hiring managers in a relatable way. For example, if you’re looking to transition into a product-based company, but have service-related experience, they may bypass you for consideration. You feel pressured into trying to fit your ’round’ talents into a ‘square’ space during a career change.
Overqualified
If you hear one more time that your resume looks great, but you’re probably overqualified for the role, you might just scream. How can they not consider you for being “too good” at something? You don’t want to simplify your achievements on your resume, and you definitely don’t want to appear desperate. It’s challenging enough to identify the opportunity that excites you. It can be even more frustrating to be told you’re too strong, too expensive, or too good for it.
Keeping Up
As you’ve made valiant efforts to connect with companies for new opportunities, you can’t help but wonder if you’re keeping up with the fresh, competitive talent coming into the pool every day. You are confident in your skill level, education, and experience. However, you’re starting to lose faith because these companies are more interested in bringing in the inexperienced. How do you maintain your confidence when you’re not sure how well you measure up competitively?
Learn More About a Career Change
Women over 40, who are considering a career change, don’t be discouraged. We’re here to help. We can help you overcome the obstacles of where to start, identify your translatable experience, and put you in front of companies that will celebrate your talents. Contact us today and let us be your guide to finding your best fit, forever dream career.
Some interesting challenges highlighted here. I agree women over 40 definitely shouldn’t be discouraged. Whatever the circumstance, career transition is always possible.