Career change after 50-now may be the time to reenergize your career and work to developing an after 50 career plan. After all it’s your future.
You see a neighbor getting laid off from a job he held for over 20 years, a relative just got their hours cut, your teenage son can’t seem to find a part-time job as the openings are being gobbled up by job applicants 10-20 and sometimes 30 years older.
Your boss seems to be giving you more work and you need to get it done with fewer people and fewer resources.
Career change after 50 is not a viable option, although a few years ago in a better job market you may have moved to a different job. You do have a job but you’ve got the blues and are not happy about your current situation. What to do?
Reenergizing your career will wash away the blues. Developing and building and working on a career plan after 50 will allow you to see a brighter future. Reenergizing is building zest and purpose into your career and not being pulled down by outside elements. Manage what you can control and minimize the influence of outside factors.
Here are four central ideas to get your career back on track, reenergize your outlook and perhaps build a plan for a possible future career change:
1.Attitude and Acceptance is Everything: Staying positive in a down environment is difficult but doable. Plan to be reading motivational books or listen to them on tape in your daily compute. Reduce or eliminate your contacts with individuals who always see the glass as half empty. Make it a habit to hang out with positive and upbeat individuals.
Accept your current situation, it may not be ideal, but it is what it is. It is giving you the resources to plan ahead for a better future. Look and accept the positive aspects of your career and present job. Remind yourself of these facts everyday-it may not be the best-but it is far from the worst.
2. Develop your Career Plan Now: It’s been said that most people spend more time planning their vacation than building and planning for their future. By your future we mean your future career. Staying with your current career or a future career change, you career plan should work for either destination.
There are countless books and articles written about building a robust career plan. In summary you need to think about your future, what addition learning do I need, what books do I need to read and study over the next year-five years, what organizations should I belong to and contribute my time, are my networking skills up to speed and if not how to I learn the skills, are there technical skills I need to learn and how do I get it done, teamwork skills, project management skills, leadership abilities, and workshops and seminars to attend to build for my future.
You’ll find more things to add to your career plan, but it is something you work on every single day, keep it flexible as your learning increases and you discover new avenues to explore.
As you work your career plan and move through your written to do list your confidence will increase, you’ll be able to work more efficiently at your current job which should further increase your abilities and confidence.
3. Always Do Your Best: Are you proud of your work effort, every day? If not, now is the time to change. It’s up to you. At the end of every day if you can say you did a great job today, the positive aspects of this conclusion should give you a great deal of pleasure, and as you recognize this, the job will get easier.
Organize your job to make it more efficient. Set written job related goals, daily, weekly and monthly. Think about putting the achievement in your resume, not just one but a whole host of accomplishments. You’ll find in doing this that you will grow personally and your career will grow and expand.
Doing your best every day, looking for and resolving challenges, will lighten the load on the current career but it will give you future career options.
4. Reenergize Your Career Now Because It Is Your Future: You’ll get closer to your future by taking action. Are you going to float along with the stream ending up in some backwater going no where, or shooting along over some fatal waterfall? It’s up to you.
What do you want to happen with your career? It doesn’t have to happen overnight-good things don’t usually happen that way-but a slow and steady growth of you abilities, experience and knowledge. This daily effort will energize your current job and career and build your qualifications for that future career-when you’re ready to change careers to your dream job.
When the planned opportunity is revealed you’ll be ready to step through the door with your career bags packed.
