How To Change Career In Your 30s

Dear Careers Clique

Along with many other people, I have found myself at a crossroads. I am a 35 year old single mother and I was recently made redundant from my role as a retail manager. I had worked in retail for the last 12 years and although it can be challenging , I enjoyed it. I have started looking for a new job in retail but I have not had much luck with any interviews. To be honest, I’m wondering whether I should use this as an opportunity to retrain but I don’t know where to start. Is it even possible to change career in your 30s?

Thanks

Confused.

Dear Confused

I’m sorry to hear that you lost your retail management role. As you are only too aware, the pandemic has had a profound effect on retail in 2020. The pandemic has accelerated some of the changes that were underway as a result of the boom in internet shopping.

It is great that you are seeing this as an opportunity to take a fresh look at your career and retrain. Although losing your job is a terrible blow, this gives you an opportunity to really explore your options and make a change.

The first thing to do would be to complete a careers self assessment. Completing an assessment like this can help you work out what your values are, skills and personality type. Let’s take a look at what a Career Change Self Assessment entails.

Explore Your Skills

First you should think about your skills. This will also include any transferable skills you have. These are skills you have that could be used within your new chose career path. Do you have any web design skills? Perhaps you help manage your local footbal team? Or have done some charity work? These are all skills that can be used

Qualifications

What kind of qualifications do you have? This includes any academic or vocational courses you may have completed. You can even include any courses you have taken as part of your current role. Analysing this will help ascertain whether you have any skills gaps and need to retrain. It could even highlight other career paths you may not have thought about.

Career Ideas

Now think about careers you maybe interested in pursuing. Is there something you have always wanted to do? Or perhaps you have heard a friend or family talk about their job and you have been curious about it? Make a list of your ideas.

Career Research

Once you have your list of career ideas, you should start to research them. Start by speaking to some of your contacts. You may have family or friends that work in your chosen industry. Speak to them about what it’s like to work in that industry, salary expectations and prospects.

Look out for events specific to your industry. Although in person events are out of the question at the moment, there are many online events still available. Be sure to register for the Careers Clique Newsletter to be kept up to date on career events.

You should now have all the information you need to make a decision on your new career. Be sure to download the Careers Clique Career Change Guide and register for the Retrain To Win event for more tips on how to change career.

Good luck!