Can You Do A Career Pivot Over 35?

I wanted desperately for one of the “three” to be “transferable skills.” In some cases, I think that’s true — but for “transferable skills” between Job A and Job B to actually work, the manager at Job B needs to be able to see that in a hiring process. A lot of managers run the biggest hair-on-fire hiring processes imaginable, outsourcing various parts to 11 different entities so that no one ever gets a full picture of the human being trying to work at Job B. So, it’s possible, but not likely.

The ways you can career pivot after 35 seem to be:

1. You know someone in Industry B who will give you a chance.
2. You are already affluent or respected in some way, so Industry B will accept that.
3. You go back to school or get a certification of some kind.

I am sure that specific situations have an Option 4 and 5, but these seem to be the Big Three.

I’m currently somewhat in (1). I had not worked in the service industry for years, but I convinced a few places to give me a shot at bartending when I sighed deeply about where white-collar work seems to be headed.

I’ve also dabbled in (3). I went to a grad program in 2012 at University of Minnesota with hopes of (a) leaving New York City and (b) maybe becoming a consultant. I achieved Goal A, but never Goal B — and I’m still paying off what was generally not a good life or academic or career decision. In 2022, I got a Google IT Certification, which was interesting to get — but I cannot say I’ve ever used any of it professionally.

I used “35” in the headline of the post because it seems like ageism begins around there, hysterically.

Most people — not the people we write articles about, no, but most people — will probably need to work until 70 or later in the current environment, and we are essentially starting ageism halfway to that mark. That’s not healthy.

When I first wrote this: I am 42. I turn 43 in three weeks. The last time I had a “full-time” white-collar job was in early August, and that job wasn’t even “full-time” in the sense that my manager regularly would question the hours I submitted on invoice. Since then, I’ve picked up a few bartending shifts per week, if that. I’d consider myself broadly unemployable at this moment in time.

Now: I did one or two "pivots," although they weren't that drastic, and the latter one did cause a pay cut.

So then the question becomes: which pivot do I use? I’m out on 2 — I’m not respected that much or affluent. So it’s 1 or 3 again. Which door do I choose to try and make my ends meet?

We shall see!

Do you guys see any other potential pivot moves for a person?