Challenges to Starting Over

Switching careers has become a common modern experience, but it's almost never easy to do. This is especially true for professionals who've decided to make a major midlife change by plunging into a new field or going back to school to learn a wholly new skill set. Starting over isn't impossible, though, and with a bit of advance planning you can overcome its challenges.

Your skills may be obsolete.

Outdated skills are a major problem for professionals making the change into a new career. Even if your transition is just a return to something you did earlier in your career, the industry may have substantially changed and left behind the skills you were comfortable with years or decades ago. This challenge is at its most acute in fast-moving industries, such as tech, and in relatively new fields, such as social media marketing.

If you plan to switch back to a field with specialized expertise, and what you know is outdated or no longer relevant, you usually have no choice but to go back to school and either refresh rusty skills or acquire new knowledge of your industry. On the job, it's never a bad idea to find a mentor. Even if it's an informal collaboration with a more experience colleague, it's a good idea to keep someone around who can answer questions on the spot and help ease the rough transition into your new job.

The adjustment may be difficult for you.

Beyond the technical hurdles you face in changing careers, a big adjustment in the middle of your working life can be difficult for personal reasons. Most people who are far enough along in life to start a second career have started families, taken on debt and settled into a regular routine. Changing careers can drastically change the things you took for granted, such as a regular schedule or a living wage, and introduce an unpleasant element of uncertainty to your life.

To ease the transition, plan your leap well in advance. Talk to friends and family members about your plans, and enlist their support. Arrange flexible childcare in case your schedule becomes unpredictable in your new entry-level job. Set aside as much money as you can to cushion the likely drop in pay that comes with losing seniority and starting over somewhere new. Above all, ask for encouragement and moral support to get through the rough early period and keep your spirits up until you've found your footing in your new dream career.

Stepping away from what's familiar and into the unknown is one of the scariest decisions you can make in life. Changing careers mid-stream means giving up certainty, steady pay and the schedule to which you've grown accustomed. With some preparation, a bit of education and a great deal of support from loved ones, you can succeed in changing careers, whatever your age.

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