Trend: Changing Careers at 50s

In Australia, the average age of natural menopause is 51 years, according to Dr Sarah McKay author of “The Women's Brain Book”, physical, hormonal, brain functions and lifestyle changes can be radical. Some women develop symptoms so severe that they completely change their daily life, while others experience moderate symptoms, including reports of women who begin to experience a renewal in their desire for life, and the confidence to be themselves, without worrying about other people's opinions or reactions.

These are the women who end up telling themselves that they want to seek a new lifestyle and a career change, become an entrepreneur, or start painting. Some even become YouTube or Instagram Influencers in gardening, decoration, or in their career expertise.

In my Coaching and Mentoring practice, I have served several women over 50 with the same aspirations. Fascinating women, who finally want to be who they always wanted to be, and others who simply cannot stop working out of financial, or even emotional need.

There are 5 main factors that have led to this trend

Hormonal Changes

Hormonal changes affect our brain and change our motivation. Where naturally, the woman begins to shift her focus from thinking of a career as personal and financial satisfaction, to seek to serve the community or a life purpose.

The Empty Nest

Concern about age can be exacerbated by the desire to leave a legacy in your life story. This is very common in women who are experiencing the “empty nest” syndrome when caring for children is no longer one of their main activities. These women can very likely devote part of their time to volunteer work, charities, writing a book, or starting a business where they can finally accomplish goals and dreams, which they were longing to do for a long time.

Stressful Career

Women who have had a very stressful career, seek activities that are pleasurable and not necessarily with the same level of remuneration. One of my clients is a lawyer who has been working in the area of corporate litigation for 30 years, and decided that she didn't want to be a lawyer at all! We work together to get to know her transferable skills and opportunities which could bring new motivation. With this discovery, she decided to open a restaurant and is very happy with the new activity.

Need for Quality Time

There is also a need for some women over their 50s to slow down to have more time for themselves and their partners, grandchildren, and friends. A career change would allow them to have an activity they love, but also have time for a coffee with a friend or relax over a glass of wine (or two!). In that case, they tend to move to jobs where they can finish the day without having to be concerned with work-related issues.

Scarce Financial Resources

Divorce is one of the relevant factors too, along with widowhood, illness of a partner, or scarce financial resources. They find themselves in a position of having to work, but they face very big obstacles, such as ageism, which is still very big in our country. In this case, they end up having to re-access their skills as well and often choose to become an entrepreneur providing services that do not involve large investments, or to find a job that would pay their bills…

"It's never too late to make a change and be who you want to be"

I always tell my clients that "it's never too late to make a change and be who you want to be". Working on self-knowledge is one of the most important factors for this to happen because we can find within us an endless source of creativity, and skills learnt throughout our lives, which can be explored and made available to work in our favour.

The key factor here is to really want to step out of the comfort zone and work on yourself, plan, study the possibilities, find a Mentor, and make decisions that may involve emotional or financial risks.

The best thing about it, for me, is to see the result and the satisfaction of when the change occurs, seeing these women finding themselves reinvigorated, happier, more alive and fulfilled!

Life passes so fast. Why not make it work better for you and leave your mark? #careerchange #lifestyle #emptynest #entrepreneur #purpose #legacy #mentoring #coaching #transferableskills #monicasweeneycoaching

Monica Rodrigues Sweeney is a Master Coach and Mentor, Accredited Consultant of Behavioral Analysis EDISC and FinxS , with Master certification in NLP and Conscious Hypnosis, member of the AANLP Australian Association of NLP, the American Board of Hypnosis, and the Australian & New Zealand Mental Health Association, with over 30 years of Corporate and Entrepreneurship experience. She owns a Coaching and Mentoring practice in Sydney, former Vice-President and is currently Director of the ABCC Australia Brazil Chamber of Commerce in NSW, Australia.