You're looking to make a career change in your 40s or 50s. What are the best strategies for success?

First of all, how am I supposed to know - i'm 27.. Let's be real here, the age doesn't really matter. If you're 40-50 and I had a lot of employees from a different background. Everything you did so far in life can contribute to the position you're looking for. Behind all the 'hard skills' you posses, there are meta skills that can contribute to your desired career. For example, being good in Sales could be your hard skill, but behind this skill are different meta skills like: communication, persuasion, taking rejection like a pro, leading qualities, psychology. With all these hidden 'meta-skills' it's easier for you to figure out a new career and what you bring to the table

This is the same, age-unspecific and you might even have an advantage as a more experienced human in general. Learn from the top-performers, there are plenty of resources online on what a top-performer in their perspective field look like, what they do, how they dress. Depending on the field of your choice a good approach is always the so called 'Modeling of Excellence'

Well if you're a roofer who strives to become an analyst it would be nice to see in your resume, not what you can do for the roof of the office building, but for the bottom-line and insights. After all each employer that's hiring has a specific idea in mind on what the new hire should bring to the table. You should be able to somewhat fit in that pattern at first and use your experience in different fields as an add-on that sets you apart from other applicants. Due to this cross-industry knowledge, some of the biggest inventions have arrived. It can be a huge chance to combine a field with another to see extraordinary results.

Nobody wants to answer this one, hey! Why should this career be for young people, when so much of what matters in being good at strategy is the experience of having been at the coal face, making the tough decisions, holding the gravitas to communicate with executives, being able to persuade and align with others, and having the clout to lead a team. The consulting industry is full of kids out of college that have no experience of making actual strategic decisions. I took my first strategy role in my 5th job - one of those a company I founded. You should go do the same too!

Hire a professional coach if you can afford it to guide you through the transition and examine how your skills are transferable. Meet and genuinely befriend professional recruiters.