Changing career as an older worker: how to make it work

Why consider a new career at this stage of life?

The reasons for a late career change are many: physical wear from a job, a loss of meaning, redundancy, the closure of a sector or simply a wish for something different. Some look for a less exhausting job, others for work closer to their values, others again for an occupation they can keep up until retirement.

This wish is not a sign of instability: one working life can contain several careers. The project should, however, be viewed realistically. Retraining takes time, sometimes uses up savings and offers no guarantee of a job. The whole point of preparing is to reduce uncertainty before leaving a familiar situation.

Starting from your transferable skills

Changing career does not mean starting from scratch. Many skills move from one sector to another: organising, negotiating, training, writing, managing a budget, supervising, reassuring a customer, following safety standards. The useful exercise is to list your past tasks and then group them by know-how rather than by job title.

• What I do without effort and what other people ask me for.
• What I enjoyed in my previous jobs, and what weighed on me.
• The tools, licences or certificates I already hold.
• The constraints I now refuse: hours, travel, lifting.

This groundwork gives you a basis for choosing a direction that fits your past and for presenting your application in a coherent way.

Investigating the real job before deciding

A job description gives a general picture, rarely the truth of a working day. To form a precise idea, it is a good plan to meet people who do the job you have in mind: tradespeople, company employees, trainers. Useful questions concern hours, tiredness, usual pay in your region, the chances of being hired and the place of people over fifty in teams.

It is also wise to look at local vacancies to gauge real demand. A job that sounds appealing but recruits little in your area means either moving or giving up. This research, carried out over a few weeks, costs little and spares you from choosing the wrong course.

Testing through a supervised work placement

In France, a work-immersion period lets you observe a job inside a company for a limited time under a formal agreement. It is open to certain categories of people, notably jobseekers and, on terms to be checked, employees. It is neither an employment contract nor a promise of a job, and in principle the host company does not pay for it.

A placement of this kind answers practical questions: does the pace suit me, are the movements compatible with my body, do I like the team atmosphere? The conditions for a valid agreement and the permitted length depend on the person’s status and must be confirmed with the body that signs it. In other countries, work-trial schemes follow their own rules, so look for the local equivalent.

Getting support to build your route

Career guidance in France is a free and confidential service open to several categories of working people, including employees, the self-employed and jobseekers. An adviser helps clarify the project, spot relevant courses and build an action plan. The adviser does not decide for you and does not replace the bodies that provide funding.

Other contacts may play a part: the public employment service for a jobseeker, the employer or staff representatives for an employee who wants to train, a professional association in the target sector. The more precise the project, the more effective the discussions. It is a good idea to prepare a few written questions before each appointment.

Choosing a reliable course and checking the funding

Several checks are needed before you enrol. Is the diploma or certificate recognised in the sector? What are the entry requirements, length, timetable and cost? What proportion of trainees find work afterwards, and on what kind of contract? You should be able to get this information without sales pressure.

• In France, the personal training account can fund all or part of a course, depending on the rights you have built up.
• The professional transition project allows some private-sector employees to follow a long course while keeping an income, subject to conditions and the agreement of the competent body.
• Regional funding or that of the public employment service is aimed at jobseekers, under programmes that vary.

Each source of funding has its own conditions: confirm them in writing before you enrol.

Thinking about alternatives to a complete change

A radical change is not always necessary. It is sometimes more realistic to move to a neighbouring post in the same sector, to specialise, to become a mentor or trainer, or to have your experience formally recognised through a validation process. In France this lets you obtain a diploma or certificate by demonstrating what you can already do, without going back through an entire course.

Another choice is to combine: keep part of your current job and prepare the new trade gradually, for example through evening classes. This gentle transition limits the financial risk, even though it demands organisation and energy.

A sample twelve-month route

By way of illustration, a fifty-five-year-old administrative manager wants to become a teaching assistant in a school. For two months she interviews practitioners and looks at vacancies in her region. She then does a placement of a few days and consults a career adviser to check the qualification required. She finds out how to fund it, enrols in a short course, then looks for a suitable contract while continuing a part-time assignment.

This scenario is fictional and its timings are indicative: every route depends on the profession, the funding obtained and the local market.