Here are some great jobs for women in their 40s and 50s
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Reinventing yourself in your 40s and 50s can be one of the most exciting things you’ll do in your life.
When you’re in your 40s and 50s, you have loads of life experience that can be valuable to any employer. The trick is finding a place to work that will allow you to bring that experience to bear and apply it to your job.
Whether you’ve raised a family, shifted across country, or spent some time in a different career and are now looking for a change, you’re in luck. There are plenty of awesome jobs for women in their 40s and 50s.
As the economy changes and progression becomes ever more rapid, many employers are growing to recognize the huge value of experience in the workplace. Whatever your life experiences, you can bring a new angle to discussions and provide a different, nuanced take on situations that young people are simply unable to do.
Health Administrative Worker
Working in health can be incredibly rewarding, and also very challenging. You’ll be in a high-paced environment with the health of patients (and the sanity of doctors) at stake. As a health administrative worker, you’ll need to be on your toes and prepared to respond to unforeseen circumstances at all times.
Your duties might include patient scheduling, handling an influx of patients at the same time, juggling the schedules of various medical professionals and coordinating with other departments of a hospital or varying healthcare institutions.
Your ability to stay calm in tense situations and quickly react to changing circumstances using the tools at your disposal will greatly help you in this role. Get started by studying a Certificate III in Health Administration.
Practice Manager
A practice manager plays a critical role in the ongoing operations of medical practices both large and small. Whether you end up working in a small general practice, in a hospital or a large medical centre, working as a practice manager bears huge responsibility.
Practice managers need to be good leaders. They manage budgets, financial forecasting, hiring and onboarding, and sometimes scheduling for both patients and medical professionals. Some practice managers will be tasked with leading large teams of other administrative and clerical staff.
Working as a practice manager is an excellent job for women in their 40s and 50s – it requires patience, experience with stress and pressure, leadership abilities and a thick skin. To get started, earn a Diploma of Practice Management.
Teacher Aide
Teacher aides are a critical resource in many classrooms. Their role varies from providing additional support to children who struggle with particular areas of knowledge, to assisting the teacher with classroom preparation and education developmentally disabled children.
The best teacher aides (also known as teacher assistants and learning assistants) are patient and experienced with the many aspects of dealing with children. If you’ve raised a family yourself, or had some experience with children, you’ll find it relatively easy to adapt to a career as a teacher aide.
Get started with a Certificate IV in Education Support.
Accounting Support Officer
If you’ve got a good head for numbers, and some experience balancing books or handling budgets, then you’ll find working as an accounting support officer a relatively easy gig. With a bit of experience behind the scenes in business, or managing the finances for a family, you’ll have the right level of skills and knowledge to tackle this job head on.
Accounting support officers prepare high-level budgets, develop financial reports, handle a range of accounts and ledgers and perform a range of activities necessary to keep a business running. If it sounds right for you, check out a Certificate IV in Accounting.
Human Resources Manager
Human resources is a huge field. From interview preparation to handing someone their induction documentation, there are a wide array of roles available in the human resources sector.
If you’ve got a flair for management and the ability to relate with people, while also abiding by strict guidelines and policies, then life as a human resources manager might be right up your alley.
Human resources managers must walk the fine line between helping employees achieve their goals and desires, while also protecting the organisation as a whole from any issues. It can be a difficult balancing act, but if you’ve got what it takes, it can be a great career.
Begin your journey with a Diploma of Human Resources Management.
Executive Assistant
Life as an executive assistant isn’t always as glamorous as it seems in the movies, but it can definitely have its moments. At a high level, executive assistants require huge experience in industry, a strong backbone and great organization skills – which makes it the perfect job for women in their 40s and 50s.
Executive assistants manage scheduling paperwork, and relationships for executive-level employees in major organisations. Working as an executive assistant can open doors to whole new opportunities simply through the relationships you’ll form with other people and organisations.
Get your skills up to date with a Certificate IV in Business.
Office Manager
If you’ve seen Mad Men, then you know of Joan – and the immense power an office manager can wield. The office manager is at the centre of any medium to large organization. With knowledge of everything that happens inside the office, and the final say a wide range of decisions, working as an office manager can definitely be an enjoyable experience.
With plenty of life experience, and a few different roles under your belt, you can walk into a role as an office manager at a large organization and start making improvements – all you need is the qualification, and you can earn it by studying a Certificate IV in Business Administration.
Start your journey today.
Don’t delay your future any longer. There is no such thing as the “right time”. Prepare yourself for a great career by earning the right qualifications and taking steps to get yourself out there.
Start networking and get your family and friends behind you. You don’t have to step perfectly into a new career – there will be roadblocks and things will go wrong. However, as long as you keep pushing forward, you’ll get there in the end.
