Retraining – are you too old?

In the current job climate with job losses being talked about more and more and the unemployment rate ( here in the UK anyway) rising the time has come for many employees to think about what they could do next should they find themselves out of work.

But… I regularly hear people say that they have no idea what they would do instead.

I would agree that in times of stress and worry it is hard to see the wood from the trees and indentify what skills you have and how you can apply them in another role – but we all owe it to ourselves to be doing that all the time. Just because front page news every day right now does not mean it is not happening every day in businesses at other times.

So the next “barrier” comment I hear is – “What else can I do at my age..” and that upsets me more than anything. What has age got to do with it? Surely the barrier here is mindset? I appear to inhabit a world where lots of people have made career changes – forced or unforced – in their late 40s/ early 50s and are thriving. Are they special ? Well they are if you think that being creative with their skills, talents and networks makes them so. It is important to remember though that  along with any change comes a period of being unsettled and maybe trying things out that don’t quite work.

Let me illustrate my point with a story to make you smile. Last night I talked to  a group of about 30 ladies about jewellery making . I make jewellery as a hobby and find it both relaxing and satisfying. I don’t want to do it to make money though as I think that would take away the pleasure.  I demonstrated the very simple technique of “crimping”  which involves trapping a bead on a wire by pressing a tiny ( and I mean tiny) metal crimp with some pliers either side of it. Fiddly yes. Effective – definitely.  I then worked with small groups  to let anyone who wanted to have a go. One lady, Pat, was enthusiastic and made a really good job of her crimping despite telling me that she could hardly see.  She encouraged her friends to have a go too.  At the end of the evening  Pat was also proud to tell me that she is 93 years old. Now there’s an example  of someone who does not think of age as a barrier!