Renewing Your Career at Mid-Life

Caution: You must be over 40 years of age to understand this article.

Does this sound like you?

You're now about halfway through your career. You have a good job with a respectable income, nice benefits, and comfortable surroundings. You're well regarded for what you do and your future is relatively secure. But deep down, you're feeling less than satisfied with what you're doing. That passion you once had for your career is fading … for some unknown reason.

When you think back to the early part of your career, you wonder how you got off track. You remember those dreams you used to have in your early 20s. You know, those idealistic plans you had to change the world, to make a difference in people's lives, to bring real meaning and purpose into your work. You remember actually making a promise to yourself to never 'sell your soul' to your employer, as your parents might have.

When you further examine the last twenty or twenty-five years, you wonder how that time could have gone by so quickly. It seems like a blur when you look back. When you dig deeper, you begin to realize how much of your time and attention was focused on career advancement, building those marketable skills needed to further your career opportunities.

Financial return was front-and-centre for you. Personally, you accumulated an array of material possessions - some out of necessity and some out of pride - like houses, cars and boats. But now that money has for some reason become less of a motivator for you, you think of all the financial obligations that accompanied those possessions, like mortgages, loans and tuition for your kids. You shake your head in disbelief when you admit the jobs you took (or stayed in) because of the money. You understand now that wealth and happiness do not always equate.

Perhaps you woke up suddenly one morning and said, "I can't do this anymore. My work is too boring." Or, perhaps it was a more gradual, growing sense of restlessness brought on by long hours of feeling under-appreciated, that reached a pinnacle, like a pot of water finally hitting the boiling point.

Or, maybe you're not able to pinpoint the source of your discontent. All you know is that you're bored, exhausted and restless. You find that you are spending all your time thinking about what you're going to do with the second half of your career. Doing another twenty years of the same thing feels like a prison sentence.

As you raise this issue with your other mid-career friends, you're comforted by the fact that you are not the only mid-career person who has hit the same crossroad. Many of them are experiencing identical feelings and raising the same questions. As you ponder things further, you gradually come to the realization that the first half of your career has been guided and influenced by the expectations of others. You've ended up doing what others expected of you - not what you really wanted to do.

But the very thought of a career change at mid-life frightens you. You have the safety and security of your current job. It's familiar and comfortable. While you know logically that a change would be good and could lead to exciting personal growth, it's still scary. You find yourself rationalizing that things aren't so bad. After all, you're in a better place than most people. You wonder if you should just 'suck it up' and stay where you are.

What should you do?

This is not a simple question to answer. It will require careful research, discussion, reflection and discovery. It will take some time to figure out what you should do. Here are five exercises you can complete to guide you down that path:

1. Learn more about yourself by taking various psychological and aptitude tests. Up to this point in your life, a busy schedule with family and work has probably prevented you from taking a deeper look at yourself. These tests will help you identify your skills, strengths, weaknesses, preferences, and interests and could suggest career possibilities you might not have thought were possible before.

2. Develop a list of the top ten most important things you need in a job in order to be fulfilled. Here's a quick way to approach this exercise. Rate each of the following items using this scale: (3) Very important to me (2) Somewhat important to me (1) Not important at all.

Once you've completed the individual scoring, decide on which ten are most important to you and actually rank them.

3. Prepare a list of your transferable skills - the various technical and personal skills that you could readily apply in another job. All too often, I see people limiting themselves to what they've done before. They have great difficulty picturing themselves doing anything other than what they've been doing. On the flip side, I've seen many people make successful transitions into very different jobs by identifying and marketing their transferable skills. I've seen accountants become bankers, senior managers in industry become executive directors in not-for-profit, sales reps become fundraisers, and lawyers become teachers.

4. Create a list of jobs you would love to do, assuming money was not an obstacle. I admit, this activity might seem impractical at first. The thought of giving up the financial security of your job is frightening. But it will help you to isolate characteristics of a job that ignite your passion.

5. Finally, seek advice from experts in the field you are considering, those who are actually working in those jobs. Contrary to what you might think, you will find that people are willing to share their thoughts and opinions on your career options. Their advice could be invaluable.

Gerald Walsh, CMA, is the President and Founder of Gerald Walsh Associates Inc., an executive search, career transition and executive coaching firm.

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