Are you a woman over 50 years of age and are looking for some good career options that suit your financial, emotional and personal needs. Read this article to go through some good career options, and how these options can give you a satisfactory professional and personal life.
“Think not of yourself as the architect of your career but as the sculptor. Expect to have to do a lot of hard hammering and chiselling and scraping and polishing.” ~ BC Forbes
No one would understand this quote better than a person who has been through it all and now finally realizes that each and every experience of life actually makes you a much stronger and better person to carve out the best of your persona. Am I not right? I mean you are looking for some good career options at 50, remember when you were looking out for a job while in your 20s. Did you have the same mindset, the same experience and the same qualification? I guess not! I am not talking about your physical appearance, but your growth as a person overall.
I guess time and experience makes you more refined, balanced and makes you a better judge of what is right or wrong for you. So with all the hard hammering, chiseling, scraping and polishing for the past 30 odd years of your career, you are now the perfect sculptor of your career and your life. So what are some good career options that can give you the perfect and satisfying life that you were looking for? Keep reading to know all this and more.
Great Careers for Women Over 50
Going for various interviews and watching the recruiters select younger workforce can be very discouraging. They would most probably tell you that you are either over qualified or under qualified for the job. But remember one thing, never lose hope because of your age, it is just a number if you believe that you have it in you to make your own career. You might not be 20 right now, but you have the understanding and knowledge of almost 20-30 years in your field.
You know how things work and you also know how to make things work with your patience and adapting nature… which again comes with experience and time! So don’t be discouraged that you don’t have much options left, trust me you have much more rewarding options waiting in store for you. All you need to do is realize what you want to do, and give in your best to fulfill your life both professionally and personal.
1. Use Your Experience
What was your job profile in the past? If you are over 50, you have probably spent the past 20-30 years of your life in some significant field, right? So why not use your experience and look for a career option based on that! For example, if you have been into healthcare, then you can still find a lot of opportunities, even if you are over 50. The same goes for other sectors like education, government jobs, banking and so on. Mentioned below are some career options that you can consider based on your experience.
Staff Nurse
You need an associates degree along with certification. Relevant experience will give you scope to apply for administrative positions. However the median salary for a staff nurse in the United States is $59,800.
Patient Representative
Again a good option for you if you have good communication skills and a relevant experience along with a bachelor’s degree. All this can help you earn a median pay of approximately $41,800.
Tax Accountant
You need a bachelor’s degree and a relevant experience of a minimum of 2-4 years. The median pay for this job is approximately $59,500.
Pension Administrator
With a median pay of about $48,100, the job of a pension administrator is to take care of the planning and distribution of retirement plans according to the federal regulations. You would need a degree and experience in the field for this job. So if you think this is something you want to do and help others decide their retirement plans, you can consider this option.
Again, the aforementioned are just a few examples of some of the best paying jobs that are suitable for women over 50. You can do something based on your past qualification and experience accordingly.
2. Make Your Hobby and Interests Your Career
Do you fall under the category of those people who were passionate about a hobby but never actually got a chance to pursue it as a career? Well, then what are you waiting for? Just give it a serious thought and realize your passion. If you are good at cooking, painting, organizing events… or even gardening! In the words of Katharine Graham, “To love what you do and feel that it matters–how could anything be more fun?” Have a look at some of the career options that you can choose when it comes to hobby specific jobs.
Pastry Chef
If you are a woman and you are passionate about baking cakes and pastries, and you’re really good at it, then you can actually take it up as a career. Professionally, an assistant pastry chef has a median salary of about $38,374. But then if you are willing to give it your best and start on a small scale basis, you can do pretty well.
Retail Sales
If you are passionate about shopping and like to keep yourself updated about the new products in the market, then you can apply for a retail sales staff position. All you need is a high school diploma and you can earn a median pay of $25,400.
Lease Consultant
If you have interest in the property market and are good with your coordination skills, then you can help people move in and/or out of the rental apartments ensuring there is optimum occupancy. This job can get you a median salary of about $27,100, all you need is a bachelor’s degree in the relevant field.
Financial Adviser
If you have always been someone who has been good at handling finances, then this is definitely a career option that you can consider, especially if you have a bachelor’s degree in law, economics, accounting, finance or business and a license to be able to sell insurance and securities. You also need to have a certificate signifying that you are a certified planner. All this can get you a median pay of $66,800.
Your hobby can be anything from cooking to reading to writing to painting! It is not necessary to go for the aforementioned conventional jobs. If you are good at what you are doing, you will definitely do good even monetarily. Just believe in yourself and go for it.
3. Offer Your Services to Humanity
If you think you have spent enough of your life working for yourself and now you are looking for something that cannot only satisfy you monetarily but also emotionally, then mentioned below are some of the career choices that you can go for.
Nonprofit Executive
Well, here is a chance to use your management skills and experience to help a non profit organization to raise funds, arrange for sponsors and donors and oversee other relevant tasks. If you have a bachelor’s degree and a relevant experience, then you can earn a median salary of about $63,500, along with a personal satisfaction.
Religious Leader
Probably one of the best career choice if you are deeply inclined to religion and positive uplifting through spirituality. You can provide counseling in these matters, arrange seminars and events related to spiritual and religious beliefs and even conduct ceremonies. All you need to do is have a bachelor’s degree and a relevant training course and certificate along with a state sanction to conduct marriages. This job can make you earn $48,300 as median pay.
Education
If you have a bachelor’s degree, a teacher training and a state license, you can go for teaching at a school that can give you a median salary of $47,500. For a college professor, you would need a master’s degree along with some experience to fetch a median salary of about $40,200. A teaching experience along with some experience can also give you a chance to become a tutor, thereby bringing your median salary to about $25,100. You can also think of taking religious education as a career with relevant experience and bachelor’s degree, which will give you a median salary of about $51,700. Another good option in the field of education is becoming a day care center teacher, which cannot only give you the opportunity to take care of kids but also compensate you with a median salary of $26,400.
I am sure that after reading these self employment options stated above, you must have realized that there are many options for you to make a successful career at the age of 50 and above, and trust me, these were just a handful of them. Have you ever wondered how new and unconventional career options are coming into the limelight day by day, thereby giving people a chance to do something out of the box! This is because there are many people out there who are converting their interests and hobby into a career.
The aforementioned career options have been highlighted because of their popularity and paying capability, however, if you are not looking for monetary benefits and want to follow your passion, then there are a lot more opportunities waiting for you. Starting a small business of your personal interest, be it catering, flower decoration, pottery, painting, etc., can be very rewarding emotionally, even financially if you are able to market yourself properly.
If you want to do something sitting at home so that you can spend as much as time with your family, then there are various internet jobs available including data entry, freelance writing and editing. Therefore, I would advise you to sit back and relax. You have probably spent all your life working for others. So now when you are thinking of some good career options, why not do something where your heart lies! There will be two advantages, first, you will love what you do, and secondly, because you are loving what you are doing, you will give in your best to it without feeling exhausted… all this will eventually give you success, both financially and emotionally. All the best!