Existing restrictions
A woman who has decided to improve her career after 40 is invariably faced with the fact that employers need employees under the age of 25-35. It’s a shame, but it’s worth remembering that with the help of knowledge of her business, enthusiasm and a sparkle in her eyes, even an adult “aunt” will give young girls a head start.
Don't be afraid to submit a resume, even if the employer sets age restrictions. Use phrases, a non-standard approach to stories about yourself, your own skills. People respond willingly to a resume that can surprise.
Well-known politicians begin political activity in “middle” age, when they have experience behind them and material stability in their hands. The ability to independently sponsor one’s own desires is the main criterion for the freedom to choose the age for starting a career, as well as the area of future work.
When the base is not the best, the range of activities narrows. It’s hard to become a singer after 40 years, when you can no longer stir up interest in yourself just by your appearance. But you shouldn’t despair, if you can sing, you can take the place of a singer in a restaurant, but they won’t pay as willingly and as much as in advanced show business, but the work will correspond to the impulses of your soul.
Advantages of specialists in mental professions
Of course, masters of mental work in the social and economic spheres, who have a wealth of knowledge and experience, will easily find a place in other organizations. These are workers such as:
- doctors,
- teachers,
- candidates of sciences,
- accountants,
- financiers,
- economists,
- geeks,
- IT specialists and some other intellectual professions.
For such employees, the experience gained during their working life will only be an advantage when applying for a new position. But someone takes a different path.
Willingness to start over
People start their careers even at the age of 50, if they suddenly realized that their achievements are not pleasing and do not correspond to their dreams. Mature age is considered ideal for starting a business or private legal activity, since you have already acquired knowledge and experience, and often material opportunities for implementation.
Another positive aspect is the growing up of children.
Now neither you nor your future employer need worry that maternity time will suddenly come. The children are already adults. They do not need to be constantly present. You have in your hands the opportunity to develop unhindered and devote the time to work that you consider necessary, and not the time that you were able to allocate.
To start a career in middle age, the willingness to start over, learn, and conquer heights again is important.
If you set a goal to realize yourself in life in a new way, then in addition to the incentive to move forward, you get a lot of opportunities, because getting a new education, expanding and improving the old one is easier than in our youth.
Is it worth changing jobs after 40?
The above are symptoms that indicate the need to change jobs or professions. Having experience is welcomed by employers; at 40 years old, a woman is still quite young and healthy, and she has other arguments on her side. It is important to make a decision for yourself and act without fear, to treat everything calmly and carefully. Determine what your new job should be like, whether you should take on positions with a night schedule, and how this will affect you and your family. You also need to decide how much you want to earn and what position to get. It is also important to create a correct resume, which will help employers make their first impression of the applicant.
How to please a woman at an interview
After posting or sending your resume, the next stage of your job search begins – an interview. Here it is important to make the right impression, but “they are met by their clothes,” therefore, in addition to demonstrating knowledge and experience, it is important to dress correctly. There are several rules to consider here:
- relevance - the style of clothing for an interview must correspond to the format of the company and the dress code established in it;
- cleanliness - every thing you wear should be clean, because you will not be able to fully concentrate on the interview, knowing that, for example, a stain on your blouse can be seen;
- neatness - how a woman is dressed, how her things are folded, is also assessed by HR managers when drawing up a portrait of the applicant.
It is also important that the clothes you choose are comfortable and you do not feel discomfort, because this will also affect the results of the conversation.
Before going to an interview, you should familiarize yourself with the company’s activities, its features, and collect other information that will help you behave correctly.
Start immediately
When you realize that everything in your career has not worked out the way you wanted, it is important not to spend the lion’s share of your time on doubts that arise, but to take steps to change the situation.
For example, if you decide to start a career as a photographer, then look for training courses, read literature, and purchase equipment.
If you understand that you work in a company that does not live up to your dreams, then immediately start preparing an unusual resume, send it to all possible directions, and prepare for possible interviews. Actions generate changes in the usual course of life. If this does not happen, the risk of leaving dreams as dreams increases, simply by retiring later.
Building a career as a woman at 40
Now among successful men and women there are many people who began to build their careers for a number of reasons at a later age: from the age of 30, 40, 50, and some even when they retired.
A significant part of the middle-aged population is interested in what popular professions can be obtained in a fairly short period of time. What professional courses can you complete to be in demand on the domestic and international labor market?
What second specialty can a woman get, having already had one higher education, which suddenly became unclaimed? Is it possible for ladies to get several new, interesting and necessary professions in a short time? Yes, of course you can.
Is your career just starting at 40?
“When I was 40 years old, I wanted to change my job, I started calling advertisements for vacancies, but some companies didn’t even want to invite me,” the reader complained.
- So it remained in the old place. And now we’re talking about possible layoffs, and I’m even scared to think that I’ll be left without a job at all.” You can find quite a lot of such stories on job search forums. But an older person is most often more experienced, with an established family, adult children with whom he does not need to go on sick leave... But the bosses stubbornly rely on those who are younger. They also say that “at 40, life is just beginning”!
“DIRECTORS ARE GETTING OLDER TOGETHER WITH EMPLOYEES”
“Indeed, in Belarus employers most often look for candidates between the ages of 25 and 35,” Svetlana Korosteleva, director of the consulting company, confirms the trend. — This is especially true for vacancies for sales representatives and vacancies with knowledge of a foreign language. There are vacancies in which the age of 40 - 45 would be preferable: chief accountant, commercial or financial director and other professions that do not involve frequent trips around the city or business trips.
But in general, recruitment agencies agree that after 40-45 years old people experience difficulties in finding a new job. By the way, in Moscow, for example, the trends are already different: most newspapers increasingly specify an age of up to 55 years.
— Why are “old people” so reluctant to get hired?
— In my opinion, there are three reasons for this attitude towards applicants in adulthood. Firstly, when business began to emerge in our country in the 90s, quite young people came into it. The directors of the companies were 20-25 years old! Naturally, they tried to select personnel not much older than themselves. For example, office secretaries were then sought between the ages of 18 and 22. But now these employers have matured, they are over 40, and those they hire are “growing up” with them. The same secretaries are now being sought between the ages of 27 and 35. And this year, for example, an employer contacted us for the first time and said that the age of the candidate does not matter. This company was looking for an experienced engineer.
Secondly, people who started working in Soviet times cannot always fit their worldview into a commercial structure with its modern management, technology, and corporate culture, and the employer is afraid of this. And thirdly, many directors simply do not want to hire a person who will retire in 5-10 years.
DO PROGRAMMERS AFTER 35 START TO THINK SLOWER?
True, recruitment agencies note that sometimes an employer out of habit says that he needs a younger employee, but if the candidate is a professional in his field, then they will simply “forget” about the age limit. And the personnel officers themselves admit: sometimes you have to resort to tricks and simply not focus the attention of your superiors on the age of the candidates who are sent for interviews.
“We had such a story when a foreign company was looking for a chief accountant; the age required was up to 35 years,” Svetlana Korosteleva shares her experience. - And in the end, a 48-year-old woman came to them for an interview, but she looked about 25 years old - beautiful, slim, not a single wrinkle. The director was satisfied with her professional qualities, so she was hired. And when she came to the HR department to fill out documents, they didn’t even believe how old she was. She has been working in this company for more than 3 years.
At the same time, according to the specialist, it is impossible to directly tell a person that he was not hired precisely because of his age - this would be a violation of labor laws. But of two candidates with absolutely identical skills, they are more likely to choose the one who is 35 years old, rather than the one who is 45. But there are practically no cases where, due to age, people were hired for a lower salary than initially agreed upon.
Each profession has its own age limit. For example, employers are reluctant to hire programmers over 35 years of age. The authorities believe that at this age a person cannot think about the program for days. But young people work much faster. It turns out like in big sports: the chances of winning a medal are getting smaller and smaller every year. They will also pay attention to the age of the commercial director: for example, he needs to go to an unfamiliar country, find cheaper goods there, and negotiate with 20 companies. This kind of mobile work is not suitable for everyone.
But in such professions as chief accountant, auditor, financial manager, lawyer, advanced age, on the contrary, will be a plus. After all, by this time a person will already have accumulated a fair amount of experience.
ADVICE "KP"
What if you are unemployed at 45?
1. Look for a job in a related field where you have already established yourself as a professional.
“For each profession, you can come up with several options for career development,” assures the director of the consulting company. “For example, there was this story: a woman cosmetologist decided that she could no longer work in this field, and since childhood she dreamed of becoming a teacher. As a result, she opened her own beauty school. An accountant can take courses and become an auditor, financial analyst, or consultant. The head of a tractor production workshop can become a specialist in the sale of spare parts or open a service station. A programmer can become a teacher or consultant.
2. Don't be lazy to study.
“Nothing is impossible, but changing a job and, moreover, a field of activity is a labor-intensive process,” experts say. — If you have been an accountant all your life and then decided to become a marketer, then you need to understand that you will reach your current level in the profession (both in salary and position) in 8-10 years.
3. Convince the employer.
— If you are sure that they don’t want to hire you precisely because of your age, try to demonstrate your professional qualities once again. Ask to be given some work to do under a contract, for a trial period.
4. Review your salary requirements.
“It is possible that they may be overestimated,” says Svetlana Korosteleva. — People sometimes think like this: I get a million, and these young people get two or three, which means I can demand as much, but the salary does not depend on age, it depends on experience and professionalism.
Types of professional courses and obtaining a specialty
In cities there are many professional courses with different directions, depending on the popularity of the profession, the demand for the services of specialists in this field,
Nowadays in the business world the following specialties are needed, which can be obtained quickly thanks to professional courses:
- accountant,
- stylist,
- visagiste,
- advertising manager,
- tourism manager,
- designer,
- florist,
- fitness instructor,
- driver,
- confectioner,
- lead generation (advertising) specialist.
In addition to these special programs, there are also courses in handicrafts and arts and crafts. A woman can attend classes in knitting, cutting and sewing, decorative weaving, cosmetics making, and manicure-pedicure.
