Where to go for careers guidance in your 40s?

Soldato
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For some strange reason people think that 40+ should know everything which isn't always helpful. There is the mentorship route - however that's quite often based on senior friendships (political or simply friends).

You can get a professional coach, however they don't/won't really tell you what you want.. but may guide you to self discover what you want. You probably want an executive coach to really focus you to manage and work upwards.

I've had a coach as part of a redundancy package, it was useful at a basic level. If you have something like Penna Sunrise, then it is better (think small classes) but doesn't focus on driving you forward to be honest.
 
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Thanks.

Essentially I didn't have a career plan as such, just worked hard in a variety of roles since leaving school and managed to make progress and gain promotions, however, one of these promotions has been a sideways move and now left me in a team and department that has a niche functionality and a dwindling lifespan (half the team are approaching retirement age, I don't want to spend the next 20+ years carrying it on!). Since the latest move - some 10 years ago - all other talk and opportunity has dried up and I feel very much forgotten about in the larger Company culture; which has led me to thinking that perhaps I should really actually have a thought about what I want to do, rather than just fitting into numerous new roles and picking up skills without certified training to go with it.

So, I was thinking about taking stock about what I am good at, and what I'd rather not be doing, and then actually trying to plan my next move rather than throwing in the towel at the next opportunity as I become steadily more demoralised. It doesn't necessarily even need to be 'up' it could just be a more useful function that transfers well across a variety of firms. Internally at my Company we don't offer such a service, which is a shame as it would be a great way to capture those that want to re-skill and are known hard workers - I'd expect a pay hit, that's not an issue (or it's one that I can cope with if I have a goal to work towards), it is just a case of I feel like I am floundering a bit and struggling to assert my dissatisfaction without a direction to push for.

I just didn't want to leap on-to a training course and career path then find out that it was not the right fit for me.
 
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Haha! Yes, that thought does cross my mind most days - "what if this is just because I'm getting on a bit..." - but honestly, no, it's more that I feel a need for a change, and I don't see any with the current way my career path is going. I've slept on it, put it to one side until after periods of leave, waited out busy periods...
 
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I've used Sarah Berry and her team before. Very good.

 
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If you can find a good recruitment consultant they can give you an idea of roles that might be a good a fit and what jobs are in demand.

The problem is most will just see you a round peg and try and find another round peg hole to put you in

Also have you spoke to your boss about career paths simply taking a list of things you want to do less and things you want start doing or do more of should lead to a good open discussion to see what you can do at the current company. If the company values you they may create a role for you
 
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Associate
OP
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Posts
254
Location
In the wetlands...
I've used Sarah Berry and her team before. Very good.


Thanks - certainly looks interesting and I'm willing to pay for quality guidance.

If you can find a good recruitment consultant they can give you an idea of roles that might be a good a fit and what jobs are in demand.

The problem is most will just see you a round peg and try and find another round peg hole to put you in

Also have you spoke to your boss about career paths simply taking a list of things you want to do less and things you want start doing or do more of should lead to a good open discussion to see what you can do at the current company. If the company values you they may create a role for you

Yes, I think recruitment consultants tend to match like-for-like, they may have an idea of the areas they are seeing a rise in searches in a given sector/location, but I don't think they'd be so good at suggesting a next step without me having an obvious direction.

I've spoken with my boss a few times around future directions, etc and it was our last conversation at the end of last year that led to me thinking about getting external advice, my line manager is clearly eyeing his retirement and less concerned about anything beyond the next two years - and his line manager has recently left, so very few senior people to speak with and my peers are a mixture of those that are set in their ways (20+ years), those about to retire, and those that have an actual career plan and know the next steps they need to take (which aren't steps that interest me).
 
Soldato
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I need this too (sorry to jump on your thread OP), I don't know how to decide what I want to do. I do accept that working is just a means to an end in some ways (to pay the bills), so not necessarily looking for a "passion" based role.

Are there any tools that you can use to identify potential jobs?

There's not opportunity for me to speak to my boss in my current role because it's a small team with a flat structure. I want to change careers anyway.
 
Soldato
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20 Dec 2004
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I need this too (sorry to jump on your thread OP), I don't know how to decide what I want to do. I do accept that working is just a means to an end in some ways (to pay the bills), so not necessarily looking for a "passion" based role.

Are there any tools that you can use to identify potential jobs?

There's not opportunity for me to speak to my boss in my current role because it's a small team with a flat structure. I want to change careers anyway.
Write down some keyword from your current job/experiences, and stick them into a job search engine. Use a bit of common sense to think about what transferable skills you have? What interests you have?

As I get older I lean more and more towards stopping working full time and spending more time not working, but I'm in a relatively well-paid profession and have no dependents, so I have a lot of freedom to do so.
 
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