Do you feel you've lost job skills?

[Night Elf]

In my former business life, I had a great job. But it was so specialized that I couldn't possibly go back to it. Plus, it was dependent on state government money that is probably not even around anymore. So that's out.

 

Before that, I was a secretary. My mom raised me to be a secretary. I was told as long as I could type, I could always get a job. I have a feeling being a secretary is more difficult these days. I don't know what software is popular in offices and my typing skills have lagged from lack of use.

 

And my last job just a few years ago was in a daycare center. I absolutely loved that job. I was made lead teacher after only 5 months. I hate to brag but I was good at that job. Toddlers rock! I could see me getting a job in daycare again, but would anyone hire me? I'm 46 years old and really can't work until next year, so let's call it 47 yrs. old. Daycares are probably used to hiring people in their 20s. Wouldn't I be considered too old? I can't use the last place as a reference because according to them, I left without notice. That's not true. I gave them a 2 week resignation. They asked me to stay on until they found a replacement. After a month, I was having a family emergency and really needed to stop working so I told them I wasn't coming in anymore. They told me I was walking out and it affected my last paycheck. So anyway, if and when I apply to another daycare, I don't want to list that place. I was there only 6 months anyway.

 

But basically I feel too old to work. Am I alone feeling like this?

[marbel]

Oh Honey, you are singing my song.

 

I haven't worked in 17 years.  I never had a true profession, such as lawyer or teacher, but I had good career-type jobs doing corporate training and policy/procedure writing.   Before that I worked in customer service in various forms for years.  (I worked for over 20 years before I finally got married and had kids - that was not by choice.)

 

But now I feel like there is nothing I can do.  I'm 58 and still have high schoolers at home who need a fair bit of attention.  I can't imagine anyone hiring me when my kids are done in 3 years and I can't imagine what I could do other than retail or low-level office work simply because I am not up to date on the latest office software.   At this point my husband and I don't anticipate a need for me to go back work but I do get a little edgy now and then thinking about it.   I was turned down by one of those work-at-home call center places and that was a bit of a blow to my ego, after all my years working in that area. 

 

I am not sure that you are too old to work in a daycare setting.  About 2 years ago a friend told me the preschool in which she works was looking for a new teacher and she wondered if I would apply.  She did not realize at the time there are few jobs I dread more than working in a preschool or daycare. Anyway I was well over 50 then; most of the women working at the school are older.  So don't count yourself out for that.

 

You could also start (so could I, for that matter) brushing up your typing/keyboarding, learning new office software, etc.  It wouldn't hurt, if you are thinking about it. 

[laughing lioness]

Most daycares have a huge turn-around rate so I would think that you would be a great catch for any daycare center - esp. a specialized one like Montessori-since you've been in the field of alternative ed as a homeschooler.

 

I just went back "to work" (I've worked, but it's been piecemeal- not professional- kwim) last year. I'm a half a decade older than you. I got real creative making my resume reflect what I could do, have done, and had the job skills for, am willing to learn. I looked at professional resumes in my field and highlighted my best area.  I got prepared for the interview and had questions for the owner, when it got to that level.

I am generally working with people (much) younger than me. And still homeschooling.  I have the job skills, but the tech skills have cooked my grits- mainly because I am having to learn to think in a new way and be brave enough to just "click around". I am getting up to speed, but basically I am working with some people who learned the office management systems we use on the computer in grad school. Um, grad school was a while ago. Plus we are constantly upgrading. It's getting easier, and I have gotten over my concern that I might blow up the computer by clicking the wrong thing.

So, yeah, I definitely get what you are saying. But, it's been a (mostly) fun (loosely defined) challenge.

 

There are some neat on-line training places, like Lynda, where you can get up to speed with office applications. Figure out what you want to do and then break it down in to the steps for getting there. 

 

You can do it. 

[AimeeM]

I was a bartender, and prior to that, a waitress at an establishment this isn't really what I would consider suitable for a married mother of three to work in :D

 

I can still pour a mean beer... but I have the feeling my BS tolerance is much lower than it used to be :p

[Jenny in Florida]

But basically I feel too old to work. Am I alone feeling like this?

 

"Too old to work?" Goodness, I hope not, since I'm a little older than you and am returning to paid work now that my son is in college.

 

Yes, I do know for sure that I've lost ground from where I was when I left my last full-time position 19 years ago. At that point, I had worked up to a supervisory position in technical writing and was doing some programming. I made about as much as my husband did back then. The world had moved on, and my programming skills are definitely out of date. However, I have known for pretty much forever that I have no interest in going back to that field, anyway.

 

About 15 months ago, I started a part-time gig tutoring online and discovered I really liked it. The money certainly isn't enough to live on, and the number of hours available per week varies with the academic season, but it's more than I would make working retail. On the strength of that and my homeschooling experience, I got a second part-time job just a couple of months ago working at a center that provides study skills tutoring and exam prep. (They would have hired me full time, but I opted to juggle the two part-time jobs for now, since it provides me more flexibility in scheduling. I want to be available to take off when necessary to visit my kids.) 

 

Between the two jobs, I work 15 - 25 hours a week and make enough to cover the expenses not paid by my son's scholarships and provide a little breathing room in our monthly budget. 

 

I'm also brushing up on my office skills by taking free computer classes at our local library and am considering getting my Microsoft Office certification. And I'm taking a bunch of free online classes (MOOCs) to get training in the field I'm really passionate about: education.  Within a couple of years, I hope to be building to a second career.

 

In your case, I would think many day care centers would be thrilled to hire a worker who is experienced and stable. I know that there is huge turnover in those kinds of jobs, and you could be very appealing as an employee who is likely to stay a while. If you don't have any credentials specific to that kind of work, you could look around and see if your local community college offers any certificate programs that you could do quickly and inexpensively that might make your resume look more professional.

 

(Edited to add: It looks like, in Florida, at least, there is a career certificate in early childhood education one can earn through the career and technical centers associated with our public schools. It takes about a year to complete and costs less than $2,000 in tuition and fees.)

 

If you want to get back into secretarial work, which is now usually called "administrative assistant," you could probably start by making sure you're proficient with the Microsoft Office Suite. As I said, my local library offers free classes in the various programs, but there are also all kinds of free training resources available online. It wouldn't be a huge investment of either time or money to get yourself some training and then take the exams, which would give you both current skills and some recent entries on your resume.

 

Essentially, no, I don't feel too old to work, not at all. I know it is likely I will never make as much as I did pre-kids, but I feel like I still have plenty to offer the world.

[LLMom]

I am 48 and haven't worked (for pay) much over the last 24 years of being a mom.  My degree is in family/child development and I have no desire to work with children.  I don't know what I can do.  I feel like no one will want to hire someone who has been out of the job market for so long.  I don't have the money to get trained in something else.  So, I feel trapped.  I know I won't be getting a job until at least next summer.  I am taking a year off from "working".

[texasmama]

OP, you would be a treasure in a day care setting.  Truly.   An experienced, older, likely more patient mama in the sea of young people is a wonderful thing.  If that is what you love and are good at, do it.  :)

 

After practicing therapy only sporadically over the course of the past almost 14 (gulp) years, I do feel "rusty".  I have forgotten some things.  New methods of practice have arisen.  I cannot speak the lingo as readily as I did when I was fresh in the field or at the height of my practice.  Other things took precedence and occupied the space in my brain that used to house some of these things.  New psychotropic meds have come into use, and I am not as familiar with them.  The DSM has gone through three revisions since my grad school days when I essentially memorized it as part of my coursework.

 

However, the skills I learned and the ability I have are still quite intact.  If I planned on opening a full time private practice, I would need to bone up on some things.  In order to do part-time therapy with populations I had years of experience with, even a decade back, I do not.  Those skills are ingrained now as a part of who I am at the core, and they will remain.

[Wheres Toto]

I returned to work last year after 8 years.  I was an Executive Secretary/Executive Assistant before that and that's what I'm doing now.  I didn't lose skills because we are a heavy computer family so I had the latest software at home (I actually have newer software at home than I do at work right now) and I still used it - I track my bills in Excel, I did Powerpoint for school/4-H and fun stuff and occasionally for Dh's work, and Word is useful for all kinds of things.  My typing speed slowed down some because of a badly broken wrist that didn't heal right but IME they rarely do speed tests unless it's for data-entry positions.

 

IME, if you can get decent at Excel and Powerpoint it will open up a ton of secretarial positions and make you stand out.  It's still unusual enough that it's in high demand.  Check out some online tutorials and play around with it.  It will pay considerably better than daycare (I worked at a daycare center briefly - place was unsafe and I actually had to call a complaint to the state when they wouldn't address it.  I make 3x what I did there.)

 

I work for a large multi-national company.  In my department - my boss and another person I support just turned 50, my supervisor is slightly older, we have a few people who are probably closer to 60, one of our admins is 64, the other one and I are both 45 (I'm actually the only one skilled at Powerpoint and Excel).   We do have a few 20-something, new graduates in entry level positions but it's definitely not the majority.

 

ETA:  IF daycare is what you think you would enjoy, I do think you would not find it hard to get a position.  Around here at least, the do like older moms.  They are seen as more stable and responsible.

[Jenny in Florida]

There are some neat on-line training places, like Lynda, where you can get up to speed with office applications. Figure out what you want to do and then break it down in to the steps for getting there. 

 

I just want to mention again, since it seems to be a resource a lot of folks don't think to check, that you should never, ever pay for things like technology training until you see what your local library offers. In addition to the free, in-person classes I mentioned in my response (including prep sessions designed to help you get ready to take the Microsoft exams), our local library offers access to Lynda.com and Treehouse (www.teamtreehouse.com - training in coding and web design) for free. 

 

Lynda.com is $25 per month / $250 per year if you pay for an individual membership. Treehouse is similarly priced for their basic membership. But as long as I log in through my library's website, either one is free. 

[Mimm]

I haven't worked since I was 17. I got engaged young, had children right away. Then I got a degree which makes me overqualified for the things that my job history qualifies me for but my total lack of job history makes me underqualified to get a job in my degree field (which is graphic design which is in very low demand in my area, so there's that as well). Part of me feels like I'll never work. Unless I pretend I don't have a degree and just get some kind of job that doesn't require one.

[Jenny in Florida]

I don't have the money to get trained in something else.  So, I feel trapped.  I know I won't be getting a job until at least next summer.  I am taking a year off from "working".

 

There are lots of ways to get training that don't have to cost a lot of -- or any -- money. Really. Once you've decided what you want to do, fire up those Google fingers and see what's available. I suspect you'll be surprised.

 

Another option is to volunteer in the field that interests you, since that often comes with training. 

[Calm37]

I was an IT Manager -- in the 80s!!! (They actually called it Data Processing Manager back then :). I will never again make a fraction of what I was making in 1988, the last year I worked.

[fairfarmhand]

I think that Daycare would absolutely hire you.

 

While 20 somethings have lots of energy and enthusiasm, they also are having babies and toddlers of their own. That makes them a bit more unreliable.

 

The best day care workers that I know are your age or older. They've been through all the child stages and just love little kids.

 

Don't sell yourself short because of your age. I really would prefer an older lady caring for my toddler. I know she would be there every day for years instead of bouncing in and out (not knocking the younger gals, but 20 somethings are often in a very transitional stage of life, marriage, college, having babies, etc.)

 

A mom that I know who was about your age needed to go back to work when her kids were older. She applied for a nanny position and is in HIGH demand. She is well paid to care for others kids in their homes. You can do this!

[Word Nerd]

I don't think you'd have trouble finding a job at a daycare. Your age and experience may give you an advantage over 20-something workers who might leave for college or something else. Daycares have a high turnover rate and you'd be more stable.

[Reefgazer]

Yes to everything.  I did realize that when I decided to be a SAHM (and later, as a homeschooler), that it would decrease my marketability. but I happily made that trade-off anyway.  But in thinking about what I will do when the last little homeschooler leaves for college in 8 years or so, I realize I'll be 60 and I worry about age discrimination.  Not that I can't find something I would love to do and be good at it, but I do believe age discrimination is real.  I think because of that, I will probably gravitate toward a business of my won in some way.

[gaillardia]

You can do it! It is hard to try to find something you feel you can do. I've been looking for almost two years after having taken continuing ed. class at college for Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, one other AND QuickBooks). I haven't worked in about 8 years.

I've had a few interviews. I signed up with a temp agency. Some hate temp agencies, some think they're great. I had to take testing that proves how much I do know in those computer apps I listed above. I didn't do as well as I had hoped, but it has been two years and I didn't stay strong in it. Nevertheless, you can do this! You are younger than I am.

Fortunately, I have an interview next week for two positions and it is looking very likely that I will be placed in one, and this isn't even from the temp agency. It is through a friend's previous work associate.

Reefgazer: I hear you. I had no idea there would be so much competition. I think there is a lot of age discrimination too. I dream of starting my own business and hiring old people, like me. haha.

So, some skills you don't lose, they are just in the background. You are not too old to work. One of my mistakes is sitting back after applying for positions. Hard to follow up when they don't want you to apply in person or make phone calls. I knew a place was hiring and went in to ask if they had any openings. I eventually got an interview. If I can get that far, to me, that is success.

 

[Lanny]

I was an IT Manager -- in the 80s!!! (They actually called it Data Processing Manager back then :). I will never again make a fraction of what I was making in 1988, the last year I worked.

 

We are in the same boat...  The very low level Software Engineering skills I had were replaced by people using different languages, but more importantly, Development Tools that make it much easier to accomplish the task and less necessary to have people who can do low level work, which is much harder, working close to the Hardware. It is much easier to do development at a mid level or higher level and thus easier to find people to staff a project.   Now that the Hardware is so inexpensive, they rarely need to work at the level I was working at.

 

In 2008, when the majority of my income ended, in combination with a very weak U.S. Dollar, I sent out my resume.  The people who saw things on my resume that they needed were few and far between.  However, one day the phone rang (DD answered) and it was a Job Shop Recruiter in the UK. We live in South America. He was looking for people to work in the Detroit, MI area, on a project related to a Cargo aircraft. He told me that I had one of the best resumes he had received... Possibly he told me that I had the best resume he'd received, but after 6 years, I'm not sure about that. I had written the resume from scratch, because I had planned  to never work again  and didn't have an old resume with all of the technical details of the projects I had worked on. Turned out the client in MI didn't receive the contract from Airbus or that Airbus decided not to go ahead with the project.

[ChristyB in TN]

You are never too old for a day care to hire you and....you aren't even old! You are just the perfect age for any job. Day cares don't really pay well, though. Maybe try and get some more classes behind you while you are working up to getting a job outside the home? If you had some training in Office and such it would help a lot. I have a business and am loving my middle age-ness. I find it easier to do business with everyone, people trust me and my opinion more, and I fear very little now. I hope your opportunities are endless! 

[sunflowerlady]

Yes, I have lost some skills. More accurately, I have not gained the more current skills.

 

At this point , I have a work at home job (Lionbridge). I have been doing this for over two years, so at least it is something more current to put on my resume if I want to look for a traditional job in a few years when my dd is finish with homeschooling.

 

I am also considering taking an online diploma program of some sort. I considered medical coding and billing, but it is difficult to get hired in that field with no experience. 

[ChristyB in TN]

 I hired the best, most fantastic, super office manager in the whole darn world a few years ago, before I could afford her, because she found ME. She was selling ads for the local paper and since I buy a lot of ads, we started seeing her once every couple of weeks. After a meeting with her, she said, "If you all are ever hiring, I would love the opportunity to work with you full time. I love the energy here." John and I were doing all the jobs at that point and we had just started the company so we really had no idea how consistent the money was going to be. Hiring her sounded dreamy but illogical. I told her all of that. The next day I found her resume on my desk. :) A week or so later my husband and I were eating dinner in the tiny office and discussing how tired we were. He said, "just hire her. Offer her $* and hour. I called her and she said that wasn't enough, that would literally cut her pay in half. So I met her in the middle and I am so grateful for her every stinking day. I believe her pay is almost back to where it was  at her last job, she can bring her 4 year old to work whenever she wants, we have a huge kitchen and cook all the time so I don't believe she's had to buy her lunch since she started here. We love her and she is our family now.

 Don't be afraid to ask for the job you want. What if you aren't qualified? All they can say is no, that's not a big deal. Sometimes they don't know they want you until you tell them. :)  

[Word Nerd]

In my experience, being tech-savvy, resourceful, and able to learn new processes and programs quickly has been a bigger advantage in my career than having lots of experience in a particular set of software applications. I think home educators can gain a lot of that quality (I'm not even sure what I would call it) in the course of homeschooling, finding and learning how to use a variety of different resources, teaching them to others, and making adjustments to meet the specific needs of the child. Sure, it's important to be familiar with Microsoft Office applications—and I do have a lot of experience using them—but if I don't know how to do a particular task in Excel or Word, I can learn how to do it on the fly. 

[Wheres Toto]

In my experience, being tech-savvy, resourceful, and able to learn new processes and programs quickly has been a bigger advantage in my career than having lots of experience in a particular set of software applications. I think home educators can gain a lot of that quality (I'm not even sure what I would call it) in the course of homeschooling, finding and learning how to use a variety of different resources, teaching them to others, and making adjustments to meet the specific needs of the child. Sure, it's important to be familiar with Microsoft Office applications—and I do have a lot of experience using them—but if I don't know how to do a particular task in Excel or Word, I can learn how to do it on the fly. 

 

I agree with this.  You just have to be familiar enough with the program to know what to ask/search, and the confidence to keep trying different things.  I'm considered extremely proficient in Office but I still occasionally have to do a search to find out/or remember how to do something.   And being comfortable with computer software in general helps with learning new programs. 

 

THAT seems to be a rare thing - the comfort to just go for it and work on figuring things out.

[Word Nerd]

I agree with this.  You just have to be familiar enough with the program to know what to ask/search, and the confidence to keep trying different things.  I'm considered extremely proficient in Office but I still occasionally have to do a search to find out/or remember how to do something.   And being comfortable with computer software in general helps with learning new programs. 

 

THAT seems to be a rare thing - the comfort to just go for it and work on figuring things out.

 

Definitely. It helps to be able to use what you've learned from using one type of program and apply it to another. When I was a marketing assistant, my boss asked if I could edit a document for him and turn it into a PowerPoint presentation. At the time, I'd never used PowerPoint before, but I told him it would be no problem. I'd used enough similar programs and sat through enough PowerPoint presentations that it was easy to put one together. I was given a different "can you do this?" project at my current job, and now I'm editing videos for our company website.

[LucyStoner]

What about opening your own in-home daycare?

 

Also, see if your state offers any funding for homemakers reentering the workforce. In my state, there is state funded tuition assistance for a number of in-demand fields for homemakers who need to go back to work after divorce, death or their kids are grown. Most community colleges will offer some early childhood ed classes.

[dirty ethel rackham]

I've been out of the regularly paid workforce for 18 years.  Before that, I was a highly-paid IT professional, but that industry is rampant with agism.  So even if I went back to school and got a bunch of certifications, my resume would be one of the first ones placed in the "circular file."  I've had a couple of small businesses, but one was a passion and not a big money-maker (childbirth educator) and the other has suffered due to the lack of energy I can give it when I need to give that to family issues and homeschooling (has a sales component and requires a ton of mental and emotional energy.)  So, it looks like minimum wage until someone figures out that I am smart enough to do that manager's job.  Dh tells me that, if allowed, he would hire me to do all sorts of things at his place of employment because he knows I would actually get the job done in half the time as the morons he is forced to hire (government politics.)  I do worry though that I don't have the stamina to work full-time again, with all of my health/auto-immune issues.  When I have a large event for my business, I need to go to introvert cave for 3 days. 

[mommymilkies]

I've been out of the healthcare field for a decade now, so yes.  Definitely.

[Liz CA]

In my former business life, I had a great job. But it was so specialized that I couldn't possibly go back to it. Plus, it was dependent on state government money that is probably not even around anymore. So that's out.

 

Before that, I was a secretary. My mom raised me to be a secretary. I was told as long as I could type, I could always get a job. I have a feeling being a secretary is more difficult these days. I don't know what software is popular in offices and my typing skills have lagged from lack of use.

 

And my last job just a few years ago was in a daycare center. I absolutely loved that job. I was made lead teacher after only 5 months. I hate to brag but I was good at that job. Toddlers rock! I could see me getting a job in daycare again, but would anyone hire me? I'm 46 years old and really can't work until next year, so let's call it 47 yrs. old. Daycares are probably used to hiring people in their 20s. Wouldn't I be considered too old? I can't use the last place as a reference because according to them, I left without notice. That's not true. I gave them a 2 week resignation. They asked me to stay on until they found a replacement. After a month, I was having a family emergency and really needed to stop working so I told them I wasn't coming in anymore. They told me I was walking out and it affected my last paycheck. So anyway, if and when I apply to another daycare, I don't want to list that place. I was there only 6 months anyway.

 

But basically I feel too old to work. Am I alone feeling like this?

 

Take 6 or 12 units of ECE at the local community college and you will be primed to work at a daycare facility. Sometimes it just takes a little updating and a class or two. You are younger than I am and I am going for my next degree. It's NEVER too late.

 

[Night Elf]

Since a few of you mentioned salary, I thought I'd respond. Salary isn't an issue. I would be working just to be with kids. I was a Montessori student but had to quit because all 3 of my kids were homeschooling and they needed me at home. Now with 2 kids practically knocking on the door of college, I cannot justify the expense for myself.

[gaillardia]

If my nest were a little more empty and I were a little younger... I was recently thinking about starting a pre-school which is altogether different from daycare. You set the hours, what is taught, etc. I know enough moms with young kids that I thought it might work until I realized I just don't have the room for it. You wouldn't even have to do full time!

[Jennay]

I was an elementary and middle school band director before my eldest was born and I decided to stay home with him. 12 years later, I have kept up some of my skills by teaching private lessons and teaching (volunteer) with a home school band program. My youngest is only in K so I have 13 years left if I homeschool her all the way through. I hope to rebuild my private studio (stopped teaching lessons when #4 was born - had too much going on) and teach more when I have less to teach at home. And I hope that my volunteering with the home school band will help to fill the gap in my resume if I ever want to teach in a school setting again.

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

I've lost all the skills. Not really, but on paper, kwim ? I'm quite unemployable. Overqualified for low skill jobs and underqualified for the jobs for which I'm skilled.

 

This is why I have another 4 years of university study stretching before me.

Similar.

[G5052]

Lost the skills, but no regrets.  I was a government program manager before kids.  The phone rang all day long, lots of meetings.  Long commutes and frequent travel.  Huge spreadsheets of numbers.  I have zero interest in going back to that, and probably couldn't tolerate the office politics at this point in life.

 

When my oldest was a baby I switched over to education because the schedule and hours are very family-friendly, plus older women are at an advantage in education.  No regrets at all.  I managed many years of little kids and working one night a week like that, and then ramped up as they got older.  Yes, it pays dirt compared to what I made before, but I love it.

 

You just have to find your niche and ask.  Most of my gigs were from networking, not cold applications.

[kitten18]

Since a few of you mentioned salary, I thought I'd respond. Salary isn't an issue. I would be working just to be with kids. I was a Montessori student but had to quit because all 3 of my kids were homeschooling and they needed me at home. Now with 2 kids practically knocking on the door of college, I cannot justify the expense for myself.

I agree with others who said you should have no problem getting a job at a daycare.

 

Do you have a local community college?

 

I taught middle school and high school and then the year before dd was born I taught preschool at a center on a CC campus.

It was a great place to work. There was a low turnover, the center was well funded (high quality toys, art supplies, etc). Our ratios were really low, besides our regular employees, there was often a couple child development students in each classroom doing practicum.

The pay was about 75% more than other daycare centers.

 

Eta - about age, I worked with a lady there that was 80 years old.

[Carrie12345]

My last long-term job (and my favorite) was developing film/printing photos.  I even got halfway decent at manual retouching.

:lol:

[Liz CA]

Since a few of you mentioned salary, I thought I'd respond. Salary isn't an issue. I would be working just to be with kids. I was a Montessori student but had to quit because all 3 of my kids were homeschooling and they needed me at home. Now with 2 kids practically knocking on the door of college, I cannot justify the expense for myself.

 

I don't know what a Montessori student is. Someone training to teach according to Montessori principles? Could you take it up again?

[Liz CA]

I agree with others who said you should have no problem getting a job at a daycare.

 

Do you have a local community college?

 

I taught middle school and high school and then the year before dd was born I taught preschool at a center on a CC campus.

It was a great place to work. There was a low turnover, the center was well funded (high quality toys, art supplies, etc). Our ratios were really low, besides our regular employees, there was often a couple child development students in each classroom doing practicum.

The pay was about 75% more than other daycare centers.

 

Eta - about age, I worked with a lady there that was 80 years old.

 

Yeah for us oldies. :hurray:

 

[SwallowTail]

I've lost all the skills. Not really, but on paper, kwim ? I'm quite unemployable. Overqualified for low skill jobs and underqualified for the jobs for which I'm skilled.

 

This is why I have another 4 years of university study stretching before me.

 

Same here.  I have not worked in a lab in almost 9 years. The instruments and software have all changed, and scientific theory/knowledge/applciation has also certainly progressed in many areas.  I still have tons of head knowledge and practical experience, so I can do what I currently do which is write chemistry/engineering articles and do some consulting, but a company would never hire me now due to my outdated skills.  And last time I checked, Pier 1 and Publix were not hiring people with graduate degrees in science and engineering.

 

In order to return to the workplace full time in my field, I will have to return to a lab at a very low level, either as a grad student to refresh my knowledge base and degree, or as a technician or even as a volunteer.  The problem of my being in my late forties when this happens is also an issue.  My field (as many others) is very age-ist in their hiring practices, perhaps especially towards women, who are currently mostly tolerated if they are young and attractive..

[kewb]

It is not so much that I have lost skills but what I used to do no longer exists as it own job. It has broken up and distributed among different jobs. I wouldn't want to go back to what I used to do anyway. It required 50+ hours a week during busy seasons.

 

I no longer want to be in charge. I would be quite content being a low level worker bee answering phones and filing.

 

I don't know what I am going to do in 4 years when my baby graduates high school.

[DawnM]

A bit.

 

I have several credentials and I think my ESL can always get me a job, but I would prefer to go back to work and go straight back to the Counseling Office.  I don't know if I will be able to do that.

 

 

[lewelma]

My old college roommate's husband decided to retrain at age 46 ..... as a doctor.  He finished his MD by 50, did a residency in geriatrics, and started practising at 55.

 

Think big!

 

Ruth in NZ

[Night Elf]

I don't know what a Montessori student is. Someone training to teach according to Montessori principles? Could you take it up again?

 

Oh yeah, there are some Montessori schools that are quite strict in the degree required. I was at a state university studying Montessori techniques and then upon graduation I would have had to take the actual exams to be certified as a Montessori teacher. I visited one school that didn't even hire assistants without Montessori degrees and another one that was run more like a daycare and had regular assistants. I wish that place wasn't so far away. I know they'd hire me.

 

I don't want to pay for any type of training for myself right now. DS will start college in August 2015 and Dd will be in August 2016. If I needed to get a job, to earn money to support the household, I could justify finishing college. However, I don't need to work. I'd work just because I want to. Although, I really do miss being in school. I loved being a college student. I kid my youngest dd that I'm going to go back to college when she starts so we can be classmates. She'd be horrified if I really did that! :)

[FaithManor]

My paid jobs have always been in music so I am okay as I've not allowed those skills to become stagnant. I could go back to performing, accompanying, etc. full time, and still make some money off providing banquet/wedding music. I have people interested in music therapy for their children and if I were inclined to be working in that field again, I could do that too. So, I feel pretty okay about that. However, I am not certain that I want to go back into it when the last one is done homeschooling. I currently am starting up an event planning business, and if that is successful, I will probably run with it. It is more flexible since music therapy is a blend of education, music, and soft medicine all in one lump and requires consistency which means time off is not easy to schedule. I want to be able to travel with dh, and go see what my kids are up to in college, visit dd and hubby in NJ. The event planning works well for flexibility because I accept only those events that do not interfere with vacation times for us. But, the key will be can I make some decent money at it? My goal is to shore up our retirement accounts after so many years out of the workforce so that dh can leave the rat race before he is physically worn out. We'll see. I may have to do a blend of both the event business and unfortunately, performing which is ridiculously time intensive and though I love my piano like an extension of my own arm, I am beyond loving the intensity of the practice schedule. I performed a concerto last year with a youth orchestra for a benefit concert and the rehearsal schedule nearly tanked our homeschooling. If I were not homeschooling, it would be doable, but leave dh and I very little time with each other, and with the Michigan economy the way it is in this area, paid gigs like that are few and far between. I can get them, but I have to travel A LOT to the west side of the state, Chicago, Columbus, Cincinnati, etc., and I have to really get myself out there competing again for these jobs. Not fun. If I have to go back into it, I'll see if I can find a rehearsal accompanist job in Detroit or Grand Rapids. But, the travel time and costs, and that fact that these jobs are not as highly paid (though I have to admit they are my favorite kind of job) means less retirement money for sure.

 

So, I'm hoping that the event planning thing takes off and makes just enough that outside of doing music for weddings and banquets, I don't have to take on any kind of difficult performing schedule.

[Tap]

I work as a pharmacy technician and I know our company hires people who are older as long as they have the right degree/credentials.  The training could cost a couple of thousand, but the pay is much higher than daycare workers (as least in our area) so the tuition would be an investment that would easily pay itself off in a year. 

[Jenny in Florida]

I don't want to pay for any type of training for myself right now.

 

It's probably not necessary to pay for training. 

 

The first thing I would do, since you mention that you have a lot of college credits, would be to make a list of any of the classes you took that relate to the kinds of jobs you might want to get. Count up the credits, and add a note to your resume that you have X amount of training/education.

 

Then you could take a look around at what kinds of free training are available in your community and online. 

 

Since you are not under a lot of pressure to make a salary right away, consider signing up to volunteer in the field you want to enter. That would give you recent, local experience and also possibly some training. (For example, I signed up recently to volunteer with two local literacy organizations, something I've been wanting to do for the last several years and have time for now that my nest is more or less empty. Both organizations require me to attend training before I begin, and one offers free ongoing training sessions every few months for as long as I volunteer. It's not the reason I chose to join either group, but it could certainly be a resume builder.)

 

When I set out a few months ago to find a local job related to education, I redesigned my resume to highlight those aspects of my education and experience. I added a highlights section at the top that has a few statements as bulleted points summarizing/synthesizing the most important information, which allowed me to fold in my homeschooling and volunteering experience. (For example, my first bullet point says that I have more than 25 years of experience in training and education, which includes my pre-kids paid work in technical writing and my time homeschooling and my volunteer work teaching Sunday school and homeschool classes.) 

 

Since I have some recent part-time tutoring experience, I put that near the top of the page right under the highlights in a traditional chronological resume entry format. Under that, though, everything else is in a functional format, with no dates. I have my experience grouped into categories and summarized so that the experience and qualifications I want noticed are highlighted.

 

And I just don't mention any training, education or experience that doesn't fit the vibe I'm trying to evoke. So, none of my retail jobs are on that version of my resume, and the non-technical/training editorial jobs and shown only briefly at the bottom of the page.

 

I've also added a section for "Continuing Education and Additional Training," where I am listing things like the free library classes and assorted MOOCs I've finished that related directly to education.

 

After I redesigned the resume, adding the highlights section and setting off the relevant recent experience at the top of the page, I had three interview queries within a week and was hired at the tutoring center within 10 days. I didn't spend one penny on additional training. I just thought creatively and how to brush up my skills and freshen and focus my resume.

[plansrme]

Is it any comfort that the rest of the world seems to have gotten stupider since you've been out of the job market?  Seriously;  young people these days and all that--it is a cliche, sure, but there is some (a lot of, in my experience) truth to it.