PIVOTING CAREER IN MID-LIFE.
Why you should give it some thought....
Hello to all the 45 Not Out-ers on here
For this edition, I want to look at pivoting in mid life and later. And by pivoting, I mean changing jobs or even a total pivot in your career.
From talking to people and following this topic online, it looks to me to be very common at our stage in life. And, if this is you, or at least you’re giving some idle thought, then this is the right place to be. This issue is all about the exciting, sometimes challenging, but always rewarding world of midlife career pivots.
1: Why Pivoting at Midlife is Your Superpower
Did you know nearly one-third of people aged 45 to 54 expect to change careers before retirement?
That’s not coincidence—that’s clarity. Your life experiences, sharpened instincts, and rich networks give you an incredible edge.
2: The Science Behind the Shift
Studies show that career changes later in life often improve emotional well-being and boost mental health. People pivot not just for money but for meaning, skills alignment, and personal satisfaction. Positive transitions even correlate with better physical health, as stress reduces and motivation soars.
3: Tips From the Experts for a Seamless Career Pivot
A plethora of experts have written about career pivoting and there is a ton of content available if you just stick career pivot into Google. I spent some time researching all this and came up with the best of what I was reading online.
Do you agree?
You can rewrite Your Story: See your age as a badge of experience, not a barrier. Recruiters and HR departments are starting to lose the (often under the radar) age protocols that have been used in selecting suitable candidates. It’s not for nothing some of the biggest UK employers (such as the NHS, for instance) have a selection process where managers with available roles where they don’t have access to an applicants age, name or background. All that they are able to access during this first stage is their skills relevant to the role.
Map Your Skills: Think beyond job titles—what transferable superpowers do you own? And it doesn’t have to be job related ones. This can be the skills you developed in bringing up a family (such as time management and organisation) or maybe some outside of work organisation or event you are involved with.
Network with Intention: There is nothing more refreshing and uplifting than working with people who share your values. All too often, this is a luxury. How many times have you been at work only to have to “reign in” your true feelings about a matter or put up with someone who irritates you to death!!
Test Before You Leap: There’s no two ways about it - making such a bold change in your career at this stage in life takes a lot of guts. And potentially costly if you find you’ve made a mistake. One idea to circumnavigate this is to try and find volunteering opportunities in your chosen field. It doesn’t have to be much, and in that way you can test the water with your big toe, before you wade in with both feet (excuse the analogy, but you know what I mean!!)
5: Additional Resources to Fuel Your Pivot
Because this is such a big topic, I took a look at books and resources that are available to help you make your decision. These would seem to be the more respected (and popular) ones.
Books:
The Midlife Career Pivot by Elena Agafonova
Online Communities: There will be loads of these and I’ll leave it you to find the ones that resonate with you. It might be worth googling the following:
Midlife Career Pivot Facebook Groups
LinkedIn Communities for Career Changers
Courses: These can be great for giving you not just the skills you may need, but also some confidence to boot.
Coursera and Udemy offer tailored courses for skill updates and career transitions.
Remember, pivoting at 45+ is less about starting over and more about starting anew with everything you’ve gathered so far.
You have the sass, the skills, and the brain to craft a career that feeds your soul. So why wait? As Mel Robbins is fond of saying “Nobody will do it for you”.
If this is something that you’ve actually done and succeeded at, or are just thinking about it, then I’d love to hear all about it. Just reply to this letter and it will find me :)
A PLEA FROM ME….
As some of you may know, I’ve been producing this newsletter fortnightly for free since 2020. And I absolutely love doing it - deciding what subjects you might need to know about, researching things related to that subject and physically writing the newsletter and sending it out to you lovely lot.
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I’m delighted to announce that I’m extending the newsletter to offer more editions during the month. These editions will be more in depth and will cover subjects that will differ from the regular fortnightly editions I produce for everyone. And they will be more highly researched with inputs from experts in that subject, occasionally.
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So, that’ll be a wrap for this week from me.
I hope this resonates with some of you. If it does, let me know. And, in addition, if there’s a topic you’d like me to cover, you can also drop me a reply to this email and I can take it from there.
But, just my usual reminder to stay safe and well until next time
Una x