A Career Change After Age 50? You Bet!

Do you dream of changing your career? Starting a business? Realizing your creative vision? Making an impact? 

You’re not alone…

In fact, the 2022 Women in the Workplace report (Lean In and McKinsey) reveals that women are leaving their jobs at the highest rate in history and, at Camp Reinvention™,  we’re not surprised. 

Between the wake-up call of the pandemic and a growing culture of balanced-over-busy, women 50 and over are rethinking what matters most and are eager to start living lives in renewed alignment with values like:

• Flexibility, freedom, and greater time affluence
• Making a meaningful contribution
• Enjoying deeper connection
• Leaning into one’s passions and talents 
• Greater self-care…
• Doing life their way!

And it’s not too late…

That is not to say that change is easy; it never is. And the older we get the harder it can feel. But it is possible. That is why the starting point in any career shift is to create a mindset of possibility. What you believe is possible (or not possible) will create your experience.

We’d like to introduce you to the 3 core beliefs we have at Camp Reinvention, the beliefs that will allow you to shift from where you are to where it is you want to go. 

#1 – Creating positive change IS possible

#2 – Your past does NOT have to dictate your future

#3 – It’s never ever too late to pursue a dream

We start with these beliefs because the beliefs you have create the lens you see through and are ultimately running under the radar of everything you think, feel and do in your life. 

And here’s the thing… even if you don’t truly believe these beliefs YET, we want you to try them on for size. When you do, you’ll start gathering evidence, hearing all sorts of stories of amazing women that are securing their dream jobs, starting businesses, making an impact and realizing really cool creative endeavors well into their 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond. The more evidence you gather the stronger your belief becomes, and this new empowering belief system will ultimately guide the thoughts you think and the actions you take. It’s a total game-changer! 

Additionally, here are 5 practices to get you started on your career reinvention:

#1 – Create your Compass Point to navigate your choices
Ask yourself the question “How do I want to FEEL about myself and about my life on my very last day?” The answer to this question is what we, at Camp Reinvention, call your Compass Point.

Once you have landed on it we challenge you to use it as a filter by asking yourself questions like:

• “What can I do in this moment that will bring me closer to my Compass Point?”
• “Does this choice (big or small) bring me closer to or further from my Compass Point?”

When you commit to this practice you will make choices that consistently move you toward the life you most want to experience. Simple and life-changing. And it’s a practice.

#2 – Lean into your wisdom rather than your experience
We learn by experience. Your experience tells you that if you put your hand on a hot stove, you’ll get burned. Your life, however, is much more complex than that. In fact, in most of your experiences, one small shift could have created an entirely different outcome. 

When we rely on past experience to make decisions about the present, we’re taking what is and squeezing into the box of what was. 

Here’s a better approach: Take that same experience and infuse it with your Compass Point. Now you see new possibilities and can realize completely new outcomes. 

This is wisdom.

#3 –  Get out of your box AND own your worth
We have a tendency to identify ourselves with our job titles and when we refer to ourselves as a “marketing director,” “project manager,” “administrative assistant,” “stay-at-home mom”… or whatever our most recent resume item says, we have succeeded in putting ourselves in a box.

It’s bad enough that others do this to us; we also do it to ourselves. 

If you want to make a change you need to view yourself outside the box of your job description. All the strengths and (hard and soft) skills you have developed in all the paid and non-paid roles you have played are yours to keep. Your mission is to promote how these beautiful skills and strengths translate to the different role and/or industry you now want to play in. You have so much more to bring to the table than you think you do. 

And P.S. — Whatever you’ve achieved (or haven’t) has no bearing on your actual worth. Your value is intrinsic. Period.

#4 – Start before you’re ready
Have you been sitting on your great idea or exciting project for weeks, months, or even years? If yes, chances are you’re waiting to be bulletproof and to have it all figured out. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work. 

Clarity comes from action so you need to start before you’re ready.

You need to get in action — or, hop on the bike and start pedaling. Once you’re moving you can steer and with each new block you ride you see new things, learn new things and then you can decide where to steer next. 

One small action a day adds up and gives you the clarity you need to take the next informed action tomorrow. This is how you can gain momentum and begin trusting the process, and yourself. And when you do, another beautiful thing happens: You go from being the person that “wants” to do this cool thing to being the person that IS. 

#5 – Surround yourself with people that will elevate and support you
We truly believe you are no more than 2 or 3 people away from every opportunity you want to create for yourself. Don’t solely rely on online job boards and the modern, very non-human approach to job-seeking. Reach out, join, be curious, be helpful, and surround yourself with an amazing group of like-minded women that are on a similar journey and eager to support you every step of the way. 

Change is so much easier (and more fun!) when you do it together. 

Dana Hilmer and Wendy Perrotti are master-level coaches and the Co-Creators of Camp Reinvention™ , a global program and community that has helped thousands of women pivot to create a second half of life they are wildly excited about.