<p>Now that I have sent D1 off to college, with much help from CC, I have 5 years until D2 goes. One of the interesting things I heard at orientation was that people will have anywhere from 5 to 6 careers in a lifetime. Actually, some speakers had started out in the medical field and were doing something totally different. I made me start thinking about my future. With all the current fanatical corporate downsizing and outsourcing plus the fact that I am getting older, I have been worrying about layoffs and being able to get another job. I am 47 years old, female. I see this as my window of opportunity to figure something else out.</p>
<p>I currently work in the insurance field as fire and catastrophe underwriter at an international level. I fell upon this job unexpectedly. Previous to this, I work in Treasury for a large international consumer goods company and prior to that in Corporate Finance at an International bank. When I got laid off in 2001, I was already a little bit tired of the corporate world with the constant restructuring and explored teaching but required obtaining a Masters in Education. I have a BS in Business Administration. Then, a headhunter persuaded me to go to an interview at my current company. The job itself was to help the Head of Underwriting establish a new department in the U.S and help establish reporting systems, guidelines, etc. I found the job interesting and did this for 4 years. Then, I became bored as there were no new projects, so they offered me the current position, a promotion. </p>
<p>The current work itself is interesting. I have learned so much but can sometimes become routine. It is a male dominated industry. Often dealing with clients with international attitudes toward women. It does not help that I am in the older category. They often like to work with women under 30 or other males that they can go have beers with and talk “business”. Part of the job involves travel to different countries, a lot of dinners, cocktails, parties, etc. I find this part of the job can be exhausting. I am not a people person. While I do enjoy these type of things with friends. It is hard to do with people I would not be friendly with on a personal basis. Out of curiosity, I interviewed with a smaller company to do only U.S. business but it did not provide a good alternative. I also interviewed at an University, but I felt they found me a little too “corporate”. I wore a business suit and they were very laid back in jeans and sweaters. I assured them this is what I was looking for but I don’t think they believed me. At the end, they called me and told me that although they liked me, they picked someone with experience in the field.</p>
<p>I have done a little research and talked to some people who have gone to the medical field. It seems there is less age discrimination there and they seem happier about the work that they do. I am considering this but have no idea what I would want to do. I briefly thought about speech therapy or radiology but again would involve extensive schooling. What kind of jobs would make good use of my experience/skills?</p>
<p>I am good at the following general skills: organizing, planning, analyzing, researching, reporting, helping people feel at ease.</p>
<p>Specific skills: All current MS software- > excel, word, etc. I learn everything very quickly.
Biliingual: Spanish/English. Because of my international experience, I have learned the idiosycrencies of many different cultures. European and Latin American.</p>
<p>Because we don’t qualify for financial aid, we are paying full boat for the D1s education. So our funds will be tight for the next 4 years and then D2 will go. So, any training involved would require small monetary commitment. </p>
<p>I would love to hear any career change suggestions for someone like me. If you have successfully done this, it would help me to know where to start.</p>
<p>Sorry for the long post but thank you for any input you can provide.</p>
Seriously, I don’t think that is too old to consider a change.</p>