Loving Your Life's Stages: Four Career Ideas for Later in Life

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in life is that you are always in a position to reinvent yourself. Especially when it comes to your work life. Yes, I know that the older you get, the scarier it can be to change. Yet, having an unfulfilled career as you get older can be hard to bear. But should you sacrifice doing something that makes you happy simply because society deems older women dispensable in the workforce?

In fact, this couldn’t be further from the truth, and denying yourself the chance to lead a life with career satisfaction should never be avoided. Instead, it should be grabbed with two hands.

If this seems a bit too familiar and you find yourself looking for a new career as you approach midlife – and beyond, there’s no time like the present to make a change. Really give some thought about what you want to do, what you are passionate about, and where your strengths lie. Then you can identify the best new career for you.

Here’s four industries to consider if you’re seeking something different in your work life.

Healthcare

There are a myriad of job roles that fall under the healthcare umbrella, but this profession is guaranteed to have the perfect job role for you. In many cases, you will need to undergo a period of training in higher education, either in person or online. Once you have identified the best job role for you, you can look into the qualifications required to retrain this sector.

Nurse
Doctor
Healthcare assistant
Dental assistant
Dentist
Midwife
Speech Therapist
Therapist

For some of these job roles, you can learn on the job and work your way up to your desired position and career. In many cases, you can study subjects such as a speech pathology degree while getting on-the-job training in either a paid or volunteer role in a similar area to enhance your learning.

Cosmetology

If you have a passion and flair for beauty and hair, cosmetology training could give you a new career to do something you already excel at and love to do. Cosmetology is classed as the care of skin, hair, and nails, meaning you have a few different options for what training you want to undertake. Choose to be a qualified nail technician, make-up artist, or hairstylist and train in offering various skin treatments and therapies. Or why not do it all to really enhance your future career options.

Business Management

Fancy running your own business or helping others to maximize theirs? Training in business management allows you to learn more about the various parts of running or maintaining a successful business and gives you an advantage when you decide to branch out on your own.

If being your own boss is something you want to pursue, then training in business management is a great way to get a foot in the door and give you the tools to start a successful business from scratch.

Chef

Chances are, as you get older, you have experienced it a few times in the kitchen. If you have skills in the kitchen and love to experiment with different recipes and foods, then why not consider retraining as a chef? Gain experience working out way up in a restaurant or commercial kitchen. Or look to enroll in a cookery course that can teach you the tricks and tips of the trade. This is also a great choice if you want to create a boutique business as a personal chef. Or even just make better meals at home.

No matter how old you are, remember you always have the opportunity to choose a new path.

Starting a new career can sound challenging. But it’s also exciting. Particularly at an age where you feel settled in your life. Because no matter how great things may be, a lack of fulfillment or burnout can affect not just your career, but your home life too. So taking that risk may be worth the efforts for overall happiness.