Help dealing with long term career change

[Antonio1981]

I always heard one should have one years take home pay on hand.

 

As far as the interview,

I remember from communication class learning to prepare sharing the professional organizations you belong to and the roles you perform each day. "This is what I'm skilled at doing.", perhaps 3 things.

 

Over the last few years I've realized it is hard to find good people. New reqisitions stay open a long time. So it seems this is a good time to interview for a new position. Companies need good people. 50 years old should be Ok. Don't sweat that, unless you like to find things to worry about. There are tricks to interviewing which seems gamey. But you do what you gotta do. Pay attention and ask questions about program terms and initiatives they bring up.

 

I performed the same role for nearly 17 years. Last year I decided to interview for another group I knew needed people. I asked to be promoted up a level and for a specific raise which I got.

 

My old Org was flummoxed that I would leave. 17 years is long enough, probably too long, to stay in place.

 

Thanks for your insight and experience. 1 year take home pay - I should be in decent shape, whew! In talking to my millennial friends, it sounds like employers want people with multiple experiences and being with a company too long could be viewed as "not open to change" instead of "loyalty". I was raised on the old school belief of loyalty and commitment. The marketplace has certainly evolved.

[+ E.T.Bass]

Thanks for your insight and experience. 1 year take home pay - I should be in decent shape, whew! In talking to my millennial friends, it sounds like employers want people with multiple experiences and being with a company too long could be viewed as "not open to change" instead of "loyalty". I was raised on the old school belief of loyalty and commitment. The marketplace has certainly evolved.

That might be a good question to have answer to. Why did you stay at that Org so long?

I don't know if bringing up loyalty sounds good. I really don't know. Might look better compared to jumping every two years. There are resumes like that too, where the candidate had moved on several times over what seemed like a short time.

[ceej]

I went through something similar a few years ago, at age 41, after almost 20 years with a company in finance/financial services. My recommendation would be to not jump at the first thing that comes along, if you have the financial ability, if you see any red flags. I took the first offer i got. It was with a great company with a lot of employee advocates, but in retrospect, the role was not clear to me and it was a challenging commute. It took about 3 weeks to realize i made the wrong choice, and I spend just over a year there before leaving. I was miserable the whole time.

 

One of the biggest challenges I faced was leaving an organization I knew everything about, for someplace I knew nothing about. I couldn't answer a single question, which was very hard to deal with. But you have to rely on your experience...you're bringing that to the new role, so the key is to ask the right questions in the new role, and leverage overall experience, not specific company knowledge. I had to take the same approach in interviews, and it was well received.

 

I made a switch, and although I face the same challenge around knowing nothing about the day to day of the role, I found I thought more about the role/industry/company, and how my experience was a match, and it's been a better experience just 3 months in.

[+ WilliamM]

I went through something similar a few years ago, at age 41, after almost 20 years with a company in finance/financial services. My recommendation would be to not jump at the first thing that comes along, if you have the financial ability, if you see any red flags. I took the first offer i got. It was with a great company with a lot of employee advocates, but in retrospect, the role was not clear to me and it was a challenging commute. It took about 3 weeks to realize i made the wrong choice, and I spend just over a year there before leaving. I was miserable the whole time.

 

One of the biggest challenges I faced was leaving an organization I knew everything about, for someplace I knew nothing about. I couldn't answer a single question, which was very hard to deal with. But you have to rely on your experience...you're bringing that to the new role, so the key is to ask the right questions in the new role, and leverage overall experience, not specific company knowledge. I had to take the same approach in interviews, and it was well received.

 

I made a switch, and although I face the same challenge around knowing nothing about the day to day of the role, I found I thought more about the role/industry/company, and how my experience was a match, and it's been a better experience just 3 months in.

 

I am surprised you had worked for the same company for almost 20 years at a fairly young age.

[Antonio1981]

I went through something similar a few years ago, at age 41, after almost 20 years with a company in finance/financial services. My recommendation would be to not jump at the first thing that comes along, if you have the financial ability, if you see any red flags. I took the first offer i got. It was with a great company with a lot of employee advocates, but in retrospect, the role was not clear to me and it was a challenging commute. It took about 3 weeks to realize i made the wrong choice, and I spend just over a year there before leaving. I was miserable the whole time.

 

One of the biggest challenges I faced was leaving an organization I knew everything about, for someplace I knew nothing about. I couldn't answer a single question, which was very hard to deal with. But you have to rely on your experience...you're bringing that to the new role, so the key is to ask the right questions in the new role, and leverage overall experience, not specific company knowledge. I had to take the same approach in interviews, and it was well received.

 

I made a switch, and although I face the same challenge around knowing nothing about the day to day of the role, I found I thought more about the role/industry/company, and how my experience was a match, and it's been a better experience just 3 months in.

 

Congratulations on your successful job transition. Thanks for sharing your experience and tips. You're right about focusing on the experience instead of the specific company knowledge. I will have to retrain my thinking. I appreciate your response.

[Antonio1981]

I went through something similar a few years ago, at age 41, after almost 20 years with a company in finance/financial services. My recommendation would be to not jump at the first thing that comes along, if you have the financial ability, if you see any red flags. I took the first offer i got. It was with a great company with a lot of employee advocates, but in retrospect, the role was not clear to me and it was a challenging commute. It took about 3 weeks to realize i made the wrong choice, and I spend just over a year there before leaving. I was miserable the whole time.

 

One of the biggest challenges I faced was leaving an organization I knew everything about, for someplace I knew nothing about. I couldn't answer a single question, which was very hard to deal with. But you have to rely on your experience...you're bringing that to the new role, so the key is to ask the right questions in the new role, and leverage overall experience, not specific company knowledge. I had to take the same approach in interviews, and it was well received.

 

I made a switch, and although I face the same challenge around knowing nothing about the day to day of the role, I found I thought more about the role/industry/company, and how my experience was a match, and it's been a better experience just 3 months in.

 

Congratulations on your successful job transition. Thanks for sharing your experience and tips. You're right about focusing on the experience instead of the specific company knowledge. I will have to retrain my thinking. I appreciate your response.

[+ keroscenefire]

Good luck with your job search. As an aside, you might want to look at a temporary or gig-economy type of job in the interim if you need some income coming in. I went through a job transition and drove Lyft, which was helpful in keeping my afloat at the time. I still do it on the side though much less now (though I did drive this last NYE an made $400+ just that night). Also the Census is hiring a lot of temporary workers if you need something in the meantime.

 

It is true that applying for a full-time job is a full-time job. With some of these gig economy jobs, you can make a decent income just on the side when you have free time at nights and weekends.

[+ keroscenefire]

Good luck with your job search. As an aside, you might want to look at a temporary or gig-economy type of job in the interim if you need some income coming in. I went through a job transition and drove Lyft, which was helpful in keeping my afloat at the time. I still do it on the side though much less now (though I did drive this last NYE an made $400+ just that night). Also the Census is hiring a lot of temporary workers if you need something in the meantime.

 

It is true that applying for a full-time job is a full-time job. With some of these gig economy jobs, you can make a decent income just on the side when you have free time at nights and weekends.

[Antonio1981]

Good luck with your job search. As an aside, you might want to look at a temporary or gig-economy type of job in the interim if you need some income coming in. I went through a job transition and drove Lyft, which was helpful in keeping my afloat at the time. I still do it on the side though much less now (though I did drive this last NYE an made $400+ just that night). Also the Census is hiring a lot of temporary workers if you need something in the meantime.

 

It is true that applying for a full-time job is a full-time job. With some of these gig economy jobs, you can make a decent income just on the side when you have free time at nights and weekends.

 

Thanks for sharing. I definitely plan to stay busy with a part time job or volunteer work - or both.

[Antonio1981]

Good luck with your job search. As an aside, you might want to look at a temporary or gig-economy type of job in the interim if you need some income coming in. I went through a job transition and drove Lyft, which was helpful in keeping my afloat at the time. I still do it on the side though much less now (though I did drive this last NYE an made $400+ just that night). Also the Census is hiring a lot of temporary workers if you need something in the meantime.

 

It is true that applying for a full-time job is a full-time job. With some of these gig economy jobs, you can make a decent income just on the side when you have free time at nights and weekends.

 

Thanks for sharing. I definitely plan to stay busy with a part time job or volunteer work - or both.