Being over 50 and starting a new career

For some people, reaching 50 and finding new opportunities can be difficult, however, they have developed useful skills over the years and can begin to use these in positive ways to achieve their new goals.

There can come a time when individuals, through no fault of their own, find themselves out of a job, whether that be through redundancy, finding themselves in an ill-suited job or on the wrong career path.

It's easy to look at the negatives and not the positives. Negatives include fear of ageism, or a lack of experience if changing career. Yet, the positives can be of greater benefit to us, if only they can be realised.

Experience comes in doing the job, which will be of great benefit to us as we have developed an impressive skillset over the years. New ideas can be created through those skills that one didn't realise were there.

Sometimes it's easy to sit back and wallow in self pity and think "why didn't I...?" But, it’s important to realise your potential and put it to good use by helping others and helping oneself.

It's about getting to work straight away, as time is not a luxury, and being imaginative and entrepreneurial in your approach.

This does take time and you will have to deal with rejection yet, you will be able to say "I did that!" upon achieving success.

For those who are 50 something and embarking on a new direction, developing a product and putting it out into the open market, whether that be writing, a gadget or finding solutions in day to day living. This is rewarding and puts years of experience to good use, possibly helping others by making their lives a little bit easier too.

Having been employed and then using those experiences to help others to find solutions creates self-confidence. This encouragement to others is a positive way to use your ideas and skills that have developed over the years.

VERCIDA works with over one hundred clients who are committed to creating an inclusive work environment. If you are an employer and interested in working with VERCIDA to promote your diversity and inclusion initiatives and attract the best candidates, please call 02037405973 or email [email protected] for more information.

We are also officially recommended by Disability Confident as a step on achieving Employer status, please click here for more information.