Mid-life: Going from a job to a career

People start their adult lives in many ways. Many women are like me. We had careers, got sidetracked by having families and are now back in the work force.

The company I worked for before I had children was almost on the cutting edge. It had just gotten a telex machine. The possibility of good job in an office didn't seem very likely twenty years later!

We do what we have to do. So, instead of careers, we get jobs. Women return to the workforce in droves in low-paying positions. We work the night shift, doing the same jobs our high school students are doing after school. And not for that much more money. I wound up at a convenience store, at a supermarket and now at a laundromat. The laundromat, I could consider a career if I wanted to. I've been promoted twice. I manage the store now. But that is all the opportunity I am going to have there.

So, it is time for another job quest. This time, how about a real career. The hard things about looking for a career now are: building resumes and cover letters that show what you can really do, figuring out what you really want to do with the rest of your life (and this time around that is exactly what we mean), and finding hiring managers who don't write us off because we don't look like we'll fit in with their novices.

The resume is particularly difficult. I won't fudge on my skills on a resume. What if I get an interview and they give me a test? But how do I make working at a laundromat sound like a marketing skill?

I have found the answer to this in the objective line. This is where my resume changes to be job specific. One of my objectives may be: to continue using my customer service skills, in a new environment. Another would highlight the fact that I am a manager, and so on.

I have started writing cover letters which are responses to why I would like the position, as described in the ad, maybe something personal in my volunteer experience which I enjoyed.

This has been successful in getting me to the interview.

Interviews....I'm still working on the right ways to handle them.....it's been a long time. It will take a little more until I get that quite right