I’m over 40 and in the wrong place. What can I do?
Fri, February 12, 2010 at 21:00 
Our career guides were asked the Jobseeker Question: I’m over 40 and in the wrong place. What can I do?
Thinking about your career at 40 or over can be extremely challenging. Which career is right for you now? What can you do? Is it possible to make a career change at 40?
Here are our career guide's responses to help you through this situation..
Career Guide Question 1: What is your value in the workplace?
Career Guide Thought: There is a suggestion in the question that the jobseeker feels they are too old (over 40), over the hill, offer little value to a prospective employer.
That’s largely because our society is besotted by youth. The media are constantly celebrating energy, enthusiasm, stardom and glamour. All very attractive, but not actually that much use to a potential employer. In other societies, they value wisdom which is hard won, and only comes with age, experience and a developing understanding of life. That is of huge value to a potential employer.
If you were to draw a graph with age along one axis, and levels of energy and wisdom on the other, there’d be two lines. One dips down – that’s energy – which, of course, we lose as we age. The other, wisdom, rises. At 40, you are starting to gather useful wisdom, and the best years, in employment terms, are ahead of you.
Career Guide Question 2: What are you offering an employer?
Career Guide Thought: We each bring a unique mix of ourselves, our talents, backgrounds and experience to the workplace. Working with a Position Ignition Career Guide, we will explore together who you are in work terms. Using your life story, we’ll begin to construct a detailed picture of your values and beliefs. We’ll use a range of technical tools and processes to establish your passion and excellence. We’ll have discussions about a wide range of subjects and your life experiences. This will help you become more aware of your uniqueness, and your unique value in the workplace. And that, in turn, will boost your confidence.
Career Guide Question 3: How are you marketing yourself?
Career Guide Thought: Your Position Ignition Career Guide will help you construct a model showing what you are best at, what you are passionate about, and what your value is. The place they intersect is the sweet spot, the best of you, and we’ll help you bring that to market.
With clarity will come a sense of what direction you should go in. Once you know that, you will have more energy. And that will lead to your having more success.
Career Guide Question 4: Have you had a conversation with your employer?
If you are employed, and in the wrong place, have you talked about that to your employer? Many of those we work with are afraid of having this conversation, thinking it’ll mean they are sacked.
In our experience, this is not true and your Position Ignition Career Guide will help you plan this so it goes well. The outcome of a skilfully conducted conversation is often that your employer finds you work within the organisation that suits you better,or helps you transition to somewhere else in order to keep a positive relationship with you.
Read more careers over 40 focused blogs:
Reader Comments (4)
I think you're burying the lead here. The first question to answer is: "If you think you're in the wrong place, you need to know why you think it's the wrong place and then be able to define what the right place might be." Before you begin to market yourself or have a conversation with you employer, you need to be able to articulate this very clearly. If you can't do that, most everything else is moot.
Patrick Lefler
Principal
The Spruance Group