How should middle-aged and elderly people change careers? As times change, more and more middle-aged and elderly people choose to start a "second career" in the workplace, regaining their passion for work and creating more possibilities for their careers.
Turn cancer crisis into opportunity and reinvent your career
Yu Poh Leng's career change story is full of twists and turns. She was once the Southeast Asia regional director of a well-known public relations company with more than 30 years of experience. However, at the age of 53, due to changes in company management, she decided to resign to work on short-term projects. , while pursuing personal interests.
Unexpectedly, at this moment, she encountered a sudden test of fate-she suffered from breast cancer.
She put all her work on hold to focus on fighting cancer; she did not give up exercising at the same time. She was introduced to water aerobics by chance and continued to rehabilitate until she recovered.
After that, she changed from a workaholic working day and night to become an aquatic fitness instructor, putting health first. Although her income has shrunk, she feels happier because this is the first time in her life that she has found the meaning of life in her work.
According to the "Times of India" report, nursing staff, teachers, real estate agents, school staff, financial consultants and psychological counselors are the most suitable occupations for middle-aged and elderly people to change careers.
These careers generally offer stability and typically rely less on physical strength and more on experience, communication skills and emotional IQ. These are valuable advantages that many middle-aged and older job seekers have.
Take Yu Poh Leng as an example. After working in public relations for a long time, she chose to change her career to become an aquatic fitness instructor. This was an extension of her interests and the needs of her health condition.
Successful career change, rediscovering the "flow" of life
British "Financial Times" reporter Camilla Cavendish, author of the book "Extra Time: 10 Lessons for Living Longer and Better", has interviewed many people who have changed careers in midlife. People who are lucky enough to find their career in life often look younger than their biological age.
She believes that this state of happiness is the "Flow State" proposed by Hungarian-American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, which is when you are completely focused on doing something. When something happens, everything around you seems to no longer matter, and this kind of flow is not something that only artists can experience.
Some people switch jobs after middle age and have a new look that makes them look younger. Cavendish gave the example of his journalist friend, Ana Baillie, who has worked as a lawyer for a blue chip company in the UK for 23 years and is now preparing to become a midwifery nurse.
Because Anna realized that she may have only lived half of her life, she decided to change careers and use different parts of her brain to work.
At the age of 50, he switched careers to start a new business and unexpectedly started a new career as an entrepreneurial consultant.
Christina Lim from Singapore is a 55-year-old marketing professional who has worked in the advertising and marketing industry for 30 years; however, she was curious about the world of technology entrepreneurship, which prompted her to start a business at the age of 50 Make a bold career change - join a start-up technology company.
Such a change may be extremely risky in the eyes of ordinary people, but for Christina, it is the challenge she dreams of.
The pace of new companies is extremely fast. After working hard for a year, Christina took some time off at the age of 51, hoping to use her time to travel and write. At this time, the SMU Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship approached her and hoped to invite her to serve as a volunteer mentor to mentor students who wanted to start their own businesses.
She never thought that she would be invited to be a lecturer, and because of this experience, she unexpectedly became the marketing director of a new technology company, assisting the company in its IPO strategy.
But during the transition period, Christina had to pay attention to whether her income was stable every month. She said frankly: "You have to pay attention to your living expenses and reduce unnecessary expenses." By the time she was in her 50s, she had enough financial resources to cope with the pain of changing jobs and was ready to start.
She believes that as long as you keep an open attitude during the learning journey, when opportunities suddenly arise, you can seize them in time.
As time goes by, Christina gradually develops a career as an entrepreneurial consultant. Now, as a consultant, she helps new start-ups plan their market strategies, business transformation, and performance growth. She has even become an angel investor, an entrepreneurial lecturer, and a writer.
When changing jobs at middle or senior age, life experience is the best advantage
Cavendish also found that many companies value "adaptability" in their human resources, but the real advantage of middle-aged and older employees in their 40s and 50s lies in "personal experience."
The wisdom of middle-aged and elderly job seekers usually comes from setbacks and challenges. They have more life experience and life wisdom; compared with smooth sailing, painful lessons often bring more frustration. Precisely because they deal with crises and pain more often, they have developed problem-solving abilities over a long period of time. This is their biggest advantage compared with young job seekers.
Just like in the movie "The Intern", Robert De Niro is not used to the new generation of email work messages, and he doesn't know how to use social software, but he can quickly get along with his colleagues in the company. Even when dealing with emergencies, his response is faster than that of his younger colleagues, and he knows the priorities.
Compared with the boss's assistant who has too many things to handle, he is a veteran and can quickly find out from the data reports which areas of the company have a low return on advertising investment and which areas have potential sales momentum.
The career change story of Yu Poh Leng and Christina illustrates that career change for middle-aged and elderly people is not only a process of changing work roles, but also a process of pursuing physical and mental satisfaction. The most important thing is that age should not be an obstacle; life experience and passion are the greatest capital for exploring new fields.
