I’ve started working with a couple of people in their mid 50s recently. Both were unhappy at work for different reasons - one would probably have stayed feeling miserable at work, but the slump in the building industry has led to them being made redundant, although with only minimal redundancy payments. The other person has realised that this could be their last chance for a happy career - with 10-15 years left to retirement.

When I work with people in mid life and beyond I’m careful to let them know that alongside helping them to understand who they are, their strengths, natural talents, and a better understanding of what will be a great job for them, there is always the danger that they may become even more dissatisfied.

That’s because we can work together, either through my Gold Career Programme, one of the alternatives or via one to one sessions and identify the perfect career in theory, but will it work in practice - it could mean several years of training, or having to take a substantial drop in salary.

It doesn’t have to be so, so we take a realistic approach, thinking about what is important - salary, working environment, stress and pressure, levels of satisfaction and more.

Today I worked with Roger - whilst some of the jobs we identified could have resulted in a high level of retraining there were other areas that connected better with past experience, or he had sufficient experience to be come a credible candidate.

It’s always worth taking the time to consider the future and for some people they decide to stay put, a couple of years ago I worked with a Manufacturing Director who, after working with me decided to stay in his job - yes, it wasn’t making him happy but he was earning a substantial salary, with an indexed linked pension and he put into place a way of working shorter hours and creating a better social life, thus improving his quality of life.

If you are 50+ and think it’s too late, why not get in touch to see what might work for you?

It must be that time of year but i’ve bene having quite a few enquiries from new mums and expectant mums.

Having a child can be the impetus we need to make a change of career as there are already changes in life style.

What I suggest to be expectant clients is that although tthey have a long time on maternity leave to consider their career future, once the baby is born the amount of spare time they have will be limited.

I’ve just started working with a couple of pregnant ladies, one with their baby due in november, the other in December - they will both be following the Gold Career Programme. 

Where they both want to get to is to have reached the career exploration phase for when they go on maternity leave, this means they can then take a more leisurely approach to explore further.

Potential clients will often ask me how long it will take to make a career programme.  It all depends. some people already know what they want to do and can receive all the help they need in a one hour session.

When people take a programme, for example The Gold Career Programme, the time they spend can vary. Partly it’s down to how urgent a client wants to sort out their career direction. I’ve worked with a couple of clients who completed all the assessments, exercises and discussions in just under a week (I was seeing them every day), spent a couple of weeks on research and had applied and gained their perfect job in just a few weeks.

Other people will go at a much slower pace. They want to take their time and to reflect on different exercises. Just yesterday I spoke with a client who signed up 6 weeks ago and was only up to session 2. For her its more important that she enjoys the journey and she can take time to reflect. On average people take about 4 weeks to go thorugh The Gold Programme, a month to go through the research phase and they then start on job search.

When Colin came to see me he was feeling worried and confused.  At 53 he was a successful manufacturing manager in an engineering company, but changes in the US parent company meant his job was made redundant.  His company had paid for him to have outplacement with me, but at our first meeting he was unsure how I could help. 

In our early sessions I found out more about him, to see if he wanted to broaden the sort of jobs he sought.  He was clear that he wanted a similar job.  We started on preparation, using the MBTI Step 2 to understand who he was, being clear on strengths and creating a plan to address weaker areas. We then set about creating an effective CV.   

Like many of my clients Colin wanted to rush into applying for jobs but we needed to get ready first. Creating a CV is not a quick job; I needed to really understand what he had done in different jobs so that we included good examples of his achievements. We then created a couple of covering letters ready to be adapted for specific applications.  Part of job search coaching is to share different approaches and help people to target both the advertised and non advertised media – looking for jobs in the print and online media and writing to companies direct. 

It’s also to keep people motivated and supported – job search is tough, there’s quite a bit of rejection. I regularly answered short questions and emails about how he was feeling and keeping him focused on getting applications out and making contact.  Colin has now had the job offer and has accepted. It was great to hear he will move on to a job with more money and a great environment for him.  

Colin told me how very pleased he was with the work we have done together and how he has appreciated my support. The work I do is immensely satisfying and I’m delighted he’s got a great new job.  I’ve given him some notes to help him with the transition and I’ll see him in a few weeks on so we can review how he is doing.  I get great career satisfaction from helping other people to find career satisfaction and get a job they love and it’s fantastic when clients achieve success!

Lucy came to see me as she was disillusioned with her job and determined to do something else, but what?  She had gone to recruitment agencies but found that she needed to tell them what she was looking for and whilst she said anything, that didn’t help them – it was too broad, she needed to define the sort of work she wanted to do. 

We only had a couple of hours so we needed to move ahead swiftly. We discussed her likes and dislikes, interests and future plans. Lucy explained why she had chosen her studies and where her strengths were, with examples. This resulted in a list of 7 key elements of Lucy – strengths and talents, her personality, what clearly made Lucy, Lucy! 

It was then time to step back and look for the theme.  With her strengths in working with people and organisation a number of jobs sprung to mind including wedding planner, planner within a distribution centre, events management, office manager or recruitment consultant.   With limited relevant work experience she needed to be realistic that she wouldn’t walk into her ideal job right away, but she could easily get a job that would take her part way to where she wanted to go. For example to undertake office administration with an events company or to apply for work as a trainee recruitment consultant in a catering agency (she has a background in the catering industry). 

Lucy left, 90 minutes later with a clear strategy and a recognition that her situation was positive not hopeless!  She was not going to start applying for jobs right away, but to find out more about her short list of jobs using initially the Internet and then meeting with people to see if the reality of working as e.g. an events organiser matched up to what she had found out.  When she then applied for jobs she would be very clear why she was applying and this would really help in persuading a company to choose her. 

Could a session like this help you?  If so please get in touch.  

Denise Taylor

Chartered Occupational Psychologist

www.amazingpeople.co.uk  

I’m prompted to write this after receiving an email from one of my clients. He was dissatisfied in his work, and had contacted me to help him get the job he wanted.  What drives him most of all is a job that will use his skills, give him room to learn and thus to earn more money. As we discussed his options, one was to seek internal promotion.  

It wasn’t a major promotion but would be to the next level and would help to achieve his objectives of room to learn and using his skills. We discussed how to perform well at interview and he got through the first stage. However he didn’t get the job offer, indeed no one was offered a job.He asked for feedback and was told that he didn’t have enough experience for the job, so it sounded like they wanted someone who could hit the ground running.

What I think he needs to do is to arrange a meeting with the HR department to talk about his future. He needs to prepare carefully so he can demonstrate how he matched up to the key requirements of the job and to seek advice on how he can get some development to enable him to stand a better chance of being successful next time.

By staying calm, and listening, and demonstrating his commitment to the organisation he is likely to be seen as someone mature and the organisation may well seek to develop him.Of course, they may also be uninterested, in which case you treat this as a signal to move on to a new company.

One of my clients gained his MBA as a mature student and came to see me as he is disappointed not to be getting short listed for jobs. His wife came as well, and she was quite agitated. Her husband had given up his £45,000 a year job, they had moved to a smaller house and now he wasn’t even getting short listed for jobs on a par with what he had earned when he left.

I think he had unrealistic expectations from his degree and as my dad would say – I think he’s been sold a pup!  An MBA from a prestigious university like London Business School, Warwick Business School, Insead will always be worth it. Not just for the qualification but for the network you develop with your fellow students.

However his degree was not from one of these first division business schools and wasn’t recognised by the Association of MBAs putting him into the 3^rd division.

I felt deeply saddened for him, and wish he had discussed this with me in advance of making such a major career decision. Careers guidance is about helping people to make an objective choice and seeing a full picture, including the negative impact of a choice.

For many of us, studying for an MBA is best done part time, not only is this cheaper, but it is less risky and we can also put what we learn into practice through our work. Always have a look at the Open University Business School – their degree is accredited by the Association of MBAs, has a great reputation and is well respected by employers.

If you are thinking of setting up your own business, you probably don’t need an MBA and would be better getting more direct assistance in setting up a business.

If you are thinking about leaving a well paid job to take on further study, do seek out careers advice first.

Are you interested in events management? This can be in a wide range of areas - corporate hospitality, sporting events, conferences, trade fairs, festivals, weddings and more. It’s not a 9-5 job; particularly leading up to an event and the people who are successful in this type of work are people who will put in the necessary time.

As an events manager you will take over a project once the sales team have confirmed the booking. You need to have good project management and organisational skills and also the ability to get on well with the client. You need to communicate well, and be able to multi task. Attention to detail is also important, as is the ability to quickly solve problems when things go wrong.  

If you are thinking of this as a career after university, use the time now to pick up relevant experience.  For example helping to organise a college ball, but work as a bartender or waiting at table also provides useful customer service skills.

You can learn more here: http://preview.tinyurl.com/2nxs5g