5 Lessons From People Over 50 Who Returned to Work

Are you having trouble getting back into the workforce after a long absence?

For people over 50, this can happen for a variety of reasons. Maybe you had to take time off to care for a sick family member. Or you had to move on from a physically demanding role. Or maybe you retired, but now, you need some extra money to pay your bills.

If you’re feeling stuck in your job search, take heart. Finding a job or starting a brand-new career later in life is possible. There’s also paid on-the-job training programs and free job search coaching support to help you begin this next chapter. We’ll cover that later on.

In the meantime, we can learn a lot from the people over 50 who are finding work or kicking off new careers. At this stage of the game, these people know that a little creativity goes a long way toward a successful job search.

Here are five lessons from those who have returned to work or changed careers to inspire your job hunt.

Lesson #1: Explore New Paths

Instead of trying to find the same kind of job they’ve held in the past, successful jobseekers take the opportunity to reinvent themselves.

One study found that 83 percent of people over 47 who decided to make a career change were successful. Best of all? Most people saw their income remain steady or increase.

You can follow their lead by figuring out your transferable skills — your abilities or expertise you can use at a different kind of job. Just because you’ve always worked in customer service, for example, doesn’t mean you’re stuck there. You’ve proven yourself to be dependable, adaptable, and able to solve problems — three skills you can easily transfer to roles in healthcare or IT support.

Lesson #2 Put Past Experience to Work

Most workers over 50 have decades of work experience. Use this to make more informed decisions about what you want from a job. Even if you entered the workforce later in life or took time off to raise kids, you still have a wealth of knowledge to draw upon as you choose a career. Now is your chance to do something you’ve always wanted to do. Ask yourself:

What interests me?
What energizes me?
What do I enjoy doing?

Regardless of where you’ve worked in the past, you can use that experience to answer these questions and form a game plan for what’s next. Think about how your former workplace operated. Could you see yourself behind the scenes, handling the bookkeeping or hiring instead of operating the cash register?

Lesson #3: Go for In-Demand Jobs

Yes, the job market has changed since you first entered it. That means the jobs have changed, too. Did you know there are jobs out there that didn’t even exist a few years ago?

Changing your search to target roles in industries where they need people can turn your job search around. Here are some jobs that are currently in demand:

Accountant
Computer User Support Specialist
Home Health Aide or Personal Care Aide
Medical Assistant
Teacher

Lesson #4: Learn New Job Skills

People are living — and working — longer these days. Successful job seekers don’t let a lack of certain job skills hold them back. You may be surprised to learn how many people train for new jobs or go back to school to pursue a different path.

There are lots of online training programs and local resources that can make you more marketable to employers. Sites like jobskillshare.org or OnlineCourses.com have courses you can take to develop your work skills. And if you need to brush up on your technical skills, check out the how-to videos from our free program called Digital Skills Ready.

Lesson #5: Find Trusted Support

As you chart a new course, it can help tremendously to have experts skilled in career reinvention by your side.

When Loretta Benson left work for several years to care for her mother, she returned to a different kind of job market. After hearing about the AARP Foundation Senior Community Service and Employment Program (SCSEP), a workplace training program for adults over 55, she discovered a way back into the workforce.

Loretta already had basic computer skills, but SCSEP helped her expand her capabilities into new areas. “I got to assist with job fairs and teach a couple of courses,” she says. “I had no idea that I was able to teach anybody anything!” Her computer skills advanced substantially, and her varied responsibilities helped her gain customer service experience as well.

More than anything, though, Loretta gained confidence. “I was still pretty trodden down at that time,” she says, but she found her footing thanks to “the confidence that my director had in me … what she knew I was capable of doing and how she brought it out.”

For more than 60 years, AARP Foundation has been helping workers over 50 get the support and confidence they need to re-enter the workforce. We can help you, too.