Navigating Your Career Transition After 35: A Comprehensive Guide
Entering your mid-30s often comes with a wealth of experience and skills gained from a decade or more in the workforce. But it can also bring a sense of restlessness or a yearning for something more fulfilling.
If you’re contemplating a career change after 35, know that it’s not just possible – it’s a brave step towards living a life aligned with your values and aspirations!
Understanding your 'Why'
The first step in any career transition is understanding why you want to make a change.
Are you seeking:
more meaningful work?
better work-life balance?
a new challenge?
or anything else?
Reflecting on your motivations will guide your decisions and keep you anchored throughout the process.
Knowing your “Why” will keep you going through doubt and fears. It’s like your north star.
Assessing Your Skills and Passions
Take stock of your skills and passions:
What are you good at?
What do you enjoy doing?
What do you friends recognize you as naturally gifted with? You’ll find that asking this question and being willing to receive the answers is extremely insightful. And it might give you a self confidence boost because your friends love you!
Gift yourself a moment to reflect and write down:
what do you love doing on your free time ?
what you are good at?
what do your friends think you are gifted with?
if you could anything, and if you had all the money you wanted, what you would be willing to do as a job because you love it so much?
Sometimes, the skills you've honed in your current career can seamlessly transfer to another field. Other times, you might discover a hidden passion that's worth exploring professionally. Either way, evolving your career is an exploration.
Exploring New Opportunities
How do you do that? You put yourself out there, one step at a time.
For example:
Research industries and roles that align with your skills and interests
Get in contact with some people in those fields and set up informational interviews to ask them to talk about their jobs and responsibilities (be curious, you might even make new friends or future business partners!)
Attend networking events
Invest in and online courses if it may help (…)
and the key is to really do it.
All can be invaluable in gaining insights and building connections in a new field.
Creating a Strategic Plan
Transitioning careers after 35 requires a little bit of strategy if you wish to save yourself time and energy.
Here are a couple of key tips that can make a difference in a couple of months:
Set clear, achievable goals
Break down the process into manageable steps: like updating your resume, enhancing your online presence, or enrolling in a relevant course
Most importantly: stay in action, evaluation of your actions, and do not beat yourself up for any mis-achievement! It’s all a learning process, and it’s all expanding you and your possibilities anyways!
Embracing Lifelong Learning
Maybe you’ve never really thought through that before, but success requires lifelong learning, failures, and trials over and over again.
So, be open to learn, whether it’s acquiring a new skill, understanding a different industry, or adapting to new technologies.
Embrace the mindset of a lifelong learner in a fun way: be curious, willing to try (and fail), and ask people about their learnings. People have treasures to share.
Building Your Network
You know it, but do you really apply it?
Networking is crucial, and it doesn’t have to be boring. It can be a fulfilling and enriching experience, and most importantly, it can be joyful!
So, decide to connect with professionals in your desired field, reach out to people, attend industry events, and / or join relevant online communities.
Your network can provide support, advice, and potential job leads.
And if you are afraid of disturbing people, approach them with a curious mindset and an open-heart. You will be surprised at how people love to share about their own experiences.
Managing Financial Implications
Of course, transitioning career means a big question mark on your financial short term direction, and it might be a stressful situation.
To help your future self, you might want to save in advance, and if you decide to, you will have to cut down some useless expenses. Know that you can do that with an empowered - and not scarcity -mindset.
Downsizing your lifestyle temporarily, or seeking part-time work as you transition, can be done with fulfillment as long as you are connected to your “Why”. You can check the Discovering Your Career Purpose: A Journey to Meaningful Work article to get more tips on this.
Preparing for Emotional Ups and Downs
A career change can be an emotional rollercoaster. This might is less talked about, even though might be one of the hardest thing to navigate as you transition career.
There will be moments of doubts, fears, and frustration. It’s essential to stay resilient and maintain a support system of friends, family, or a coach. Sometimes friends and family have their own limitations to deal with, and they might not understand why you feel the need to evolve. In those cases, having a career transition coach can help you succeed in your successful evolution.
Taking the Leap
And then comes the moment when you can not keep pushing back: you have to decide whether you finally take the leap, or not. This is a challenging moment to go through because it’s precisely when your deepest fears and doubts are going to rise to the surface. And that’s also when you’ll feel lonely as you are the only one who can make this decision.
Trust the process and and trust yourself. Remember, changing careers is not just about earning a paycheck; it's about building a life that’s fulfilling and true to who you are.
Enjoy the self discovery!
Changing careers after 35 is a journey of self-discovery and courage. It’s about aligning your professional life with your personal aspirations and values.
With the right mindset, plan, and support, this transition can open doors to a fulfilling and enriching second act in your career.
ARE YOU WILLING TO SUCCEED IN THE NEXT 6 MONTHS?
Are you ready to move forward and evolve your career towards success, impact, and fulfillment?
Whether you know what you want to do next but you lack self confidence, and you haven’t done it ; or whether you’re already transitioning but you’re facing whole new levels of challenges and you want a coach to maximize your success, this is what this session is for.
Either way, I’m excited to meet you! Here's what to expect:
After you book, I'll send you a confirmation email with a couple of short questions about your background prior to our session + a link to process the payment.
Once you have paid, I will send you the detailed agenda for our time together.
After our video call, you'll receive a follow-up email including:
The recording of our meeting for you to keep
An actionable summary of what we discussed, highlighting the 3 next steps to move forward in building your career evolution
A journaling template for thoughts and beliefs downloads
A custom template of my self coaching system
And a roadmap of your next 3-6 months towards your new career!