When you reach your 50s you might be forgiven for thinking you’re somewhere in the ‘no man’s land’ of your working life. Your career-building years are all but done, retirement is still a few years off and you feel you are in a sort of limbo.
The other alternative is that during the current crisis, or during a recent restructuring, you find out that your talents are no longer required as your employer wants to ‘go in a different direction’, one which normally involves people 20-30 years younger.
Time for a fresh start?
Either way, you have little choice other than to forge a new career path. Things are a little different this time, though – your mortgage is almost, if not completely paid off and the kids have all but left home.
You have the freedom to make choices you didn’t have 30 years ago, which means your new career can be something ‘left-field’ or something you only thought was for the youngsters …
Here are 4 fresh start new careers for the over 50s:
#1 Sommelier
A sommelier is more than just a wine waiter. A sommelier is a wine expert, giving diners and hotel guests an insight into the world of wine to enhance both their eating and drinking experience. Training is ongoing with wine tours and placements around the world, but the lifestyle is one that is much sought after in the hospitality trade.
#2 Scam Hunter
This is quite a flexible title for what can be a very satisfying (and slightly dangerous) job. You are essentially positioning yourself as bait for scam artists, pickpockets, and other petty criminals in holiday locations around the world. Your age group puts you in the prime target category and if you are looking to go ‘undercover’ in some great places around the world then this might be for you.
#3 Cloud Platform professional
If all this globe-trotting or dicing with danger isn’t your thing, and you’d prefer staying, quite literally, closer to home then you might ideally be suited to the life of a cloud professional. With the majority of companies basing much of their IT on this new technology, there is a demand for people with ‘cloud’ skills.
AWS is the biggest and most widely used of these platforms and therefore has the greatest demand. This is one you might definitely think was for those in their 20s, but anyone can start with general AWS certification training before specializing in another role. Many of these positions are work from home so there’s no commute to worry about.
#4 Driving Instructor
For many over 50, this will tick a lot of boxes. The majority of driving instructors are self-employed, so you will be your own boss. You have control over how many bookings you take, so you could do this either full or part-time. You’ve probably been driving for at least the last 20 years so you are more than familiar with the principles involved.
If, in your working life so far, you’ve had some sort of mentoring or training role (not uncommon for many over 50) then enhancing those skills to teach others how to drive might be the rewarding career you never knew you wanted.
Read Also:
