Re-starting my career at 48
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Anonymous
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If you spent your entire adult life in dead end jobs and have only basic excel skills to show for can you realistically re-start your career at 48? Or is the ship gone for good?
I am currently and admin assistant and I hate it. It's getting harder and harder to feel motivated to go to work. I simply don't want to work in a job where I have to constantly interact with people. I want to re-start my career and I want a back office type of job? With my.excel skills I think data analyst could be a good transition. I don't have an IT degree though. My bachelor's degree obtained 26 years ago was in history. I make $106,000 currently. Am I dreaming? Should I just stay where I am.until.retirement. I want to be optimistic but it seems to me that a lot of people on this board really believe ageism is real (they have probably been victim of it to be fair perhaps) and it gives me pause because I wonder if I should put in the effort just for companies to find too old to be an analyst at 48. |
Anonymous
| I would just stay in your current job if stable |
Anonymous
| 106 for an admin assistant, who doesn't take work home seems pretty good. I wouldn't restart a new field, where you are competing with 25 year olds, and lower on the payscale. |
Anonymous
| $106k for an admin assistant is good! Unless you can find a job that pays more I would stay- have you looked to move within your company? |
Anonymous
| The sky is the limit OP. I think your salary works in your favor. Making only $106k at 48? We have analyst 2 years post graduation making $120k. This is to your benefit because you are cheap to hire and someone will give you a chance. Learn PowerBI, basic stats and hire someone to help you with resume and job interview. Good luck. |
Anonymous
OP here. Admin assistant is my job title but I don't honestly know if I have traditional functions. On a day to day basis most of the tasks assigned to me are pulling customer and financial data from a database in Excel format and generate charts and other excel tables to be used by others. I also help during meetings by passing around various documents. Sometimes when there are discrepancy in data, I am tasked with finding out what the issues are. |
Anonymous
| Have you looked into becoming an Executive Assistant? You could make more and usually the work is more interesting as you are working directly with decision-makers. It seems like a natural progression and I think maturity will work in your favor. |
Anonymous
I think OP is burned from dealing with people lol. I don't blame him. We have an executive assistant and boy do I feel sorry for her. For a million dollar I wouldn't do her job. |
Anonymous
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There is something fundamentally wrong with the American economy. OP is 48 so 17 years away from retirement. If people think that he should be where he is and not take any risks then this troubling.
Then the question becomes at what age should people stop making career move? This is crazy if folks are already regarded as rotten 15 years before retirement. |
Anonymous
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I am an actuary. When I attended a seminar for one of my exam there was a candidate there that was 58 years old taking his 5th exam. He told me he got an entry level job at 52. Prior to.befoming an actuary he was a Math teacher.
OP obviously will have to overcome significant challenges, but there are people in life who always find a way. All I can say OP is good luck. And since you are currently employed you have nothing to lose. It's sooo much easier and relaxing when you are looking for another job without any time pressure because your current job is safe. Look up coursera. Coursera offers some basic free certificates in data analysis. Just follow a program, update your resume and send them. If you are lucky someone will call you. At that time it's up to you to convince them. Don't listen to the naysayers who scream ageism Everytime they open their mouth. |
Anonymous
I’ll see your ageism and raise you hire to fire Data science is dead right now. Ai is doing most “data analysis”. Op should not go technical with a background in history and excel. I would recommend a project manager role in govt, you can probably reach $180k and won’t be fired when you turn 52. |
Anonymous
It’s capitalism. Older workers are more expensive both in salary expectations, unwillingness to work longer unpaid hours, and eventual health costs and absentee risks. Same reason business loves illegal immigrants — if they didn’t hire them en masse, there wouldn’t be any problem at the border. |
Anonymous
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Your salary is really good! I wouldn't worry about not having the "right" degree. If you like your company and have good relationships there, I would ask someone what you should do to move up and/or be considered for a higher-level position.
Coursera is also a good idea. I wouldn't OVER-invest in education, but a little upgrade could be good. |
Anonymous
| Are you sure you're not just burned out by the particular people you work with? You make good money and that's definitely not a dead end job, but why not just apply for other positions in the same general sphere? |
Anonymous
I would first advocate for a title change. Something like business analyst or financial analyst would probably help a future jump. |