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Midlife career change can lead to a mid-life career or careers for seniors or careers for retirement that are dream careers. It may be the revival of a childhood dream. Childhood dreams often get abandoned, and career transition can give you a chance for job satisfaction. Satisfying careers for retirement and choosing a job later in life may give you a chance to use a different set of criteria for choosing the right job.Midlife career change can lead to a mid-life career or careers for seniors or careers for retirement that are dream careers. It may be the revival of a childhood dream. Childhood dreams often get abandoned, and career transition can give you a chance for job satisfaction. Satisfying careers for retirement and choosing a job later in life may give you a chance to use a different set of criteria for choosing the right job. Midlife career change can lead to a mid-life career or careers for seniors or careers for retirement that are dream careers. It may be the revival of a childhood dream. Childhood dreams often get abandoned, and career transition can give you a chance for job satisfaction. Satisfying careers for retirement and choosing a job later in life may give you a chance to use a different set of criteria for choosing the right job.Midlife career change can lead to a mid-life career or careers for seniors or careers for retirement that are dream careers. It may be the revival of a childhood dream. Childhood dreams often get abandoned, and career transition can give you a chance for job satisfaction. Satisfying careers for retirement and choosing a job later in life may give you a chance to use a different set of criteria for choosing the right job.

Career Choices with Passion: Working at a Job you Love

by Kristi Nielsen

Are you still waiting to figure out what it is you want to do when you grow up? Is it time for you to choose a career that merges your lifestyle with who you are? Are career or work related choices overwhelming you? Here are some strategies and ideas that may help you find the work of your dreams!

Explore your Past. Do you have an unfulfilled childhood dream? Maybe it is time to take it off the shelf, dust it off and put it into action. Childhood hobbies or interests often tell us something about who we really are at the core of our being. What were your career fantasies when you were a child or teenager? What stopped you from achieving them? Anything is possible, when you begin to believe “I can do it” and there is no better time than now.

Dig Deep. How important is it for you to feel like you have made a contribution to making this world a better place? What change do you want to see in this world—and can you be part of that change? What are the values you hold nearest and dearest to your heart? What is so important and interesting to you that you would be willing to do it for free if all financial needs were removed?

Set Priorities. Most of us have complex priorities at this stage of life. What are the most important considerations? How important is it for your work to fit your lifestyle and how important is flexible time? Do you enjoy working alone or as part of a team? Do you want to be your own boss—and are you willing to make the commitment that self-directed career management requires?

Explore Possibilities. When most baby boomers graduated from high school, there were a limited number of possible career paths – especially for women. Most women became teachers, nurses, secretaries or homemakers. Now, not only have the careers available to women expanded dramatically – but career choices in general are very diverse.

Do your research, and check out careers on the internet, through networking with others, by jotting down ideas based on what you see, read or wonder about. Visit  www.jobfutures.ca.  It provides great statistical information regarding more than 265 careers, 155 educational programs and links to 100’s of work related sites.

Try It Out. Volunteering, job shadowing, internships and apprenticeships are all meaningful ways to learn more about a type of job. Most companies are willing to arrange job shadowing information. More and more, universities are learning the value of co-op programs. When students have the opportunity to work in a field prior to graduation, they not only gain work experience that allows them to be more successful in landing a job once they are entering the labour force…but it also allows them the opportunity to switch majors if they recognize they are not going to enjoy a career in the field they originally chose.

It is a good choice to spend time in the actual environment before taking time to learn a new career, and this is even truer if you are thinking you would love to own a business. Millions of people have started coffee shops or restaurants based on assumptions they developed as customers—only to find out there is a big difference between visiting a coffee shop or restaurant and running one. Cooking for family and friends does not qualify you to run a restaurant. Talk to people in the type of business or career that interests you.
 
Consult a Career or Retirement Coach. Retirement Coaches are often an extension of Career Coaching. Many have worked with clients in career transition, at all life-stages. Ask if they can arrange career testing or career assessments for you. Assessment tools are scientifically valid and based on understanding job competencies and the personality traits people who are likely to enjoy the job would possess. Often these tools include assessments which include personal values and priorities in addition to looking at your personality type and preferred management or work-style and work-conditions.

Differentiate between Learned and Natural Competencies. Many of us have learned to fill roles through exposure or job requirements. Most of us can be taught to do almost anything—that doesn’t mean we will like what we are doing. There are good fits and bad fits when it comes to work environments. Take for instance the artist who learns to be an accountant.

Accountants must be predictable, consistent and accurate. Artists must be creative, usually spontaneous and most often prefer less structure. The artist within will always be feeling trapped and unfulfilled and the accounting role will be difficult and often frustrating, regardless of the management style of the employer. That being said, more often than not it is false or negative beliefs that we acquired throughout our careers that keep us from trying what we really want.

Opportunity opens wide when we adopt a ‘Yes, I can do that!” attitude.
Two old adages are worth looking at: “Do what you love, and the money will follow” and “an overnight success takes ten years.” It is possible to do what you love and the money will follow, however, you still need a workable business plan. You must learn to identify how to package what you love to do – any other approach is living in an illusion.

If you love to bake cookies and package them in a 50 cent plastic container with a blue plastic lid, you are likely to starve following your dream. However, package them in an appealing package and complete the plan with a good marketing plan and you will need to open a factory. If you do not want to go big and open a factory – fine; however, you still need to have a plan and the right packaging. Colonel Saunders was down on his luck after being forced to close his restaurant due to a new interstate highway cutting off the traffic flow to his restaurant.

In 1952, when he started peddling his chicken recipe, he was surviving on a $105 monthly social security check. By 1962 he had 600 franchises and sold his interests in the business for $2 million – and boomers well know the value of $2 million in 1962! The moral of the story is - all big things start small and it does take time and diligence, but perhaps not as long as you may think.

Believe, take action and make it happen! Clarify your vision, add some passion and go for it. You may not only surprise yourself—you are capable of surprising others!

Browse all Articles: Table of Contents

Boomers and the Workplace What changes will occur as baby boomers leave primary careers? Are the boomers just waiting for that day when they can hand in that resignation letter? ...more
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You don't know What you Want What are the factors job seekers should take into consideration when changing careers during mid-life ? ...more

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