Changing Careers, to what ?

[pktruckdriver]

Ok a change of career is in order at 46 yrs old, and 400lbs, oh my, looks bad when you se it in print, but don't we need a new fat guy for TV and Movies, John Candy is gone, Farely Gone, how bout me, I am still here, but...


Now for reality, changing careers at mid-life, no college degree, just hard work and no real business savy to speak of, just what you learn thru-out the years, where does one look for a new career.


Dream job, open a Bait Shop in South Florida, sell a few boats, baits and such, become the master at networking and make things grow from there, anything to do with boats and fishing, you become the guy, could it be done, why not, but then the part about capital, the start-up money needed and finding a place, licenses and such, doable, yes, but not for cheap, taking over and existing shop and upgrading, now that would be better, but let's say this won't work, what then?


What is the hot new careers out there now, careers that fat old 46yr olds can start and fit in, are there any out there??? I think there would be some , but what.

My feelings are that at my age, starting my own business is the only real thing to do, for one thing I will be guaranteed to get a job/hired, which is imporatant, maybe a small delivery service, local mini-van type of stuff, but then I would need a nice size metropolis to do this, or buy a new lincoln towncar and provide car service, it seems that bioth those woulod require me to sign on with an existing service, as they would have the customer base for me to draw from, as staring out new would be too expensive to do, advertising and finding customers may be too much for me to accomplish, maybe, not positive, but lets say it will be hard for me to do.


I have so many ideas for Grants and if I only knew how to write real, and I do mean real Grant Proposals, as there are so many Bullshyt Grant Companies , that all they do is rip you off, never once getting you anything, and making one get soured on the ordeal, but the goverment and other agencies do give out billions on grants, and I have dozens of ideas that would possibly get me grant money too, but without the true working knowledge of how to write them and who to excatly send it too, and what exactly to have in your proposal, it is hard to get them, but they do give the money out for the craziest things, I think we can all agree to that, no????


Well if you were to chnage careers at 46yrs old, what would it be, Politician, I look the part, "The Fat Cat", maybe that's a headstart, probally not.


Just thinking outloud here, thanks for reading and responding.

Patrick

[46zilzal]

Review your skills. If there are some that are viable in today's market, promote yourself. If not, go back to school and get some which could be.

Simple as that.

I changed careers at 59

[pktruckdriver]

46 You make sound so easy, is it thou.

Reviewing my skills does not give me to many options, which really scares me a bit, that is why I asked on here, to see what other may say.

I did look at my skills, and may be able to list them here, but many may laugh at them, but honestly there are not that outstanding.

People skils
Navigating Skills
Driving skills
Minor Computing skills
Freight Brokering skills
Route planning(navigating)
Fishing Skills,/ these are excellent
Speak and read English,/ a negative now-a days
6 finger typist
Writing Skills /sometimes I do get carried away and next thing you know
I wrote 3 pages of stuff, just ranting away
Knowledge of the USA,/ been there do that, traveled back forth 100's of
times, many different rotues
DESIRE, but what does this one do for you?
Determination/ same thing with this one, what does it do for you?


Those are just a few things people could laugh at, what more could I put up there, a few more things but , you get the point , there is not anything that sticks out, no law degree, not much of anyhting, been my own boss for years, and my success is very little, while other went under, and yet others thrive, I just barely make it, not really saving anything, spending it as it comes in, not going hungry, but not saving either, why I do not know , probally because I am not a smart as I thought, did not do what was neccessaary to amke money in this business, maybe having new trucks, and higher paying loads, dedicated freight, instead of dealing with cut-throat Brokers, who steal blindly form you, the reasons are pelntiful, but bottomline is that I am barely making it and need to chnage, could I turn it around with this career, yes I suppose so, but my current siutation make me think I need a break form this truck, for many reasons, my health being the Main reason, but maybe getting back into later would be okay, but health issue may take me out of trucking soon if I do not deal with them ,Health Issues), now, so I will try, and so far I am failing, sad as it sounds I am failing any attempots to get my health in order, the weight loss attempts have all failed so far, a change of scenery is absolutely necceassary, unless I had someone travel with me all the time making sure I stuck to a regiment, but that will not happen, as I have no better halve, and can afford to pay for a 24hr fitness guru to travel with me, come on.

See Idi it again, ended up writing a book here, a honest one, but dang I do get carried away so qquickly when it hits home like this did.

Break time
Patrick


PS: We need a Spell-Checker, to make people like me look better, how bout it Bossman?

[Tom]

Patrick, when I hire people, I do not look at those skills. I will teach whatever I need them to do, as long they have basic intelligence. What I look for, and what turns an interview into a job is character.

Dedication, loyalty, hard working, honesty, determination to get the job done, that's what I look for and that's what I sell. When I lost my job of 33 years in my fifties, I had four interviews and got two jobs out of them (after a hundred or so resumes). Sell yourself, your work ethic. Of course, within reason - I never applied to be a brain surgeon or rocket scientist!:cool:

Line up some references who will talk about you and your proven performance in other activities. Keep your resume short and focused. One page is best. I always scan them very quickly and look for key things that grab my interest. Looking at your list, you have skills that are transferable.
Stress your successes.

When you have 50 to look at, you weed them out pretty fast.

[pktruckdriver]

Patrick, when I hire people, I do not look at those skills. I will teach whatever I need them to do, as long they have basic intelligence. What I look for, and what turns an interview into a job is character.

Dedication, loyalty, hard working, honesty, determination to get the job done, that's what I look for and that's what I sell. When I lost my job of 33 years in my fifties, I had four interviews and got two jobs out of them (after a hundred or so resumes). Sell yourself, your work ethic. Of course, within reason - I never applied to be a brain surgeon or rocket scientist!:cool:

Line up some references who will talk about you and your proven performance in other activities. Keep your resume short and focused. One page is best. I always scan them very quickly and look for key things that grab my interest. Looking at your list, you have skills that are transferable.
Stress your successes.

When you have 50 to look at, you weed them out pretty fast.


Point well taken Tom, except today 50 resumes may be 500.

Thanks

[46zilzal]

Point well taken Tom, except today 50 resumes may be 500.

Thanks
By actual count, I sent out over 350 and it took hunting at a Canadian Federal Government site (all of our racing is under the auspices of a federal agency the CPMA Canadian Parimutuel Agency) to find my job as a cameraman, photo finish photographer.

You have to really look.

The one that really cracked me up was in a program I helped to start in regards to teaching newly diagnosed diabetics good health habits. I applied to be the educator but was not qualified because I wasn't a NURSE!! What a crock of crap that was.

[Warren Henry]

Go somewhere where there is a high percentage of retirees - especially in smallish towns. There are lots of older folks who need things done - like drive them to doctor's appointments in the nearest large town, yard work, odd jobs, etc. If you are friendly, don't mind working, trustworthy, etc, I think you could stay busy for about as many hours as you wanted. You wouldn't get rich, but you could make a decent living.

[PaceAdvantage]

PS: We need a Spell-Checker, to make people like me look better, how bout it Bossman?The spell checker I use is part of the Google toolbar...works well with PaceAdvantage.com

[michiken]

I have a bachelors degree in engineering and also can't find a decent job. I have been laid off since Sept 08 and here in Detroit there is little hope of finding a career, new or otherwise. (My recent Memphis debacle excepted).

I search for jobs everyday and must have sent out over 300 resumes. Like you, I am sure there is age discrimination when they see I have over 25 years experience. I am 47.

The biggest thing that pisses me off is recruiters! Why the hell should they be making $ off of my skills? All they do is head hunt and pass on a resume. They get a reward fee because companies are too lazy to post their own job oppenings.

The second thing that pisses me off is the way these recruiters lead you on about job opportunities. I have had several yank my chain for two weeks only to be told that I have too much experience, etc. etc. It is demoralizing to hear some 20 year old punk kid who has never used CAD software to tell you that I have the wrong experience because I know 'Solidworks' and not 'Catia' or 'they are looking for someone with less management experience'. It's all a cloud of BS!

The third thing that pisses me off is the amount of phony job postings online. The amount of spam and junk snail mail I receive can attest to the fact that companies are just harvesting personal information and turning it over to advertisers. Job websites like monster and careerbuilder do absolutely nothing when I report the phishing and other scam emails I get.

The final thing that pisses me off is the 'techincal service' companies that have sprung up because nobody wants to hire engineers anymore. They want you to relocate on your dime to work a contract with no per diem or other travel related expenses. They bait you with 'this is a 6 month contract with the possibility of direct hire'. After you read the contracts they send, they end up wanting you to pay for medical and dental from which I assume is how they make MORE money of of you ....

Patrick, when you find that golden opportunity, please share it with me.

:bang:

[jballscalls]

I feel horrible for anyone trying to find a job right now as it is tough! I had to hire someone for guest services, part time, low pay, somewhat fun job, and we got 180 resumes in 2 days.

it's a hirer's market for sure, and its funny cause there are so many "overqualified" people applying. and as an employer it's hard to hire someone for a lower end job that you know is liable to leave anytime for a better job, so sometimes the best person gets kinda screwed

[JBmadera]

Another 47+ yr old being forced into a "new" career after 25 yrs in finance/hi tech, it looks like I'll be lucky to get a job as a greeter at costco (not that there is anything wrong with that, I'm sure I could be friendly if I had to....:) ).

The triple whammy of course is getting laid off, 401k/investments down about 50% and I don't even want to know how much LESS my house is now worth here in central CA.

Folks say it's never too late to start over but I sure as heck never wanted to find out if it's true.

best of luck Gents!

jb

[BUD]

If you are ok at this game I would say that means you can pay attention to detail. Today Security is crucial. If you can notice a change of leads etc---You can do that job----There are different levels--

SOB--If you came into me--A truck driver with how many years? I would think you have what it takes to notice mostly anything---

Now Location is going to go hand in hand with pay---- If you live close to a casino---And want a security job there is extreme chance to go higher---Then again if you live close to a Casino--there are many jobs there..

PA My Google spell check don't work here? I'm Tech challenged-

[PaceAdvantage]

In order to use the google spell check, you have to install their browser toolbar...did you do that and it still doesn't work?

[pktruckdriver]

I feel for all the Loan and Finance people laid off or thrown out, all those with stock options, that are worthless now, yet on Wall Street jobs must be thinning out as Firm after Firm, goes under or is swallowed up, no?

Helping me to stay employed is determination, and stupidity, yep I stupidly doing trips for no money, Why, because I must move from one are to another hoping and praying for that one trip that will pay me $$$.

With 2300 left on the truck note, the thing is about to fall apart, I got fined by DOT twice in the last 2 weeks for thing needing replacement, but no money to do so yet, yet I am scrapping bottom, and continuing, and constantly looking for that better Company, but really believe that it does not exist, but some really are making money , they must be, they have 2500 monthly truck payments, then 1200 monthly insurance payments, plus maintenace and fuel, and fuel is about 2,000.00 a week, and tolls in you run the NorthEast about another 750 a week, yeah 750 a week in tolls, cars a whole lot less.

So surviving and squeaking by, is something I am grateful for, but then again, I would sure love to learn how to master this horse investment game instead, which is not likely to happen anytime soon, we'll see thou, as I am trying to learn it, but as with anything it takes time.


My retirement is to play the Horses as my retirement income, becuase I have no saved retirement money, but I can and will do it, because I can and I must, right, those are 2 good reasons to do it, right? So I will do it...


Selling my truck for a bankroll to start with, well that will not happen as no one is buying truck now, not with the freight shortage we have going on, nope, would you, I wouldn't , except I had mine before we tanked, nice forsight on my part, oh well, the question is now , what can one do to move onto a new career, like me, but with so many well qualified people out there, how can I compete with them, I don't think I can, so I figured to ask for help, but that too is not working , as there is nothing to do, is there? IT jobs, they are out there, somewhat, Government jobs are even being sliced thin now, The Corporate world is in turmoil, so where do you look for that special job or opportunity, fRANCHISE'S r US, no of course not, how bout a topless barbershop, now there's a thought, oops, where'd that come from, time for a haircut, no really what small new venture is worth the risk today, Real Estate, Restuarants, Bars and ????, I can not think of too many up and coming jobs or businessess, though I could google them, but would they really be worth the incvestment, and pay-off accordingly, who knows.

You use to open a Red Lobster and make a pretty good living from that, now I see them going under, sad, maybe IT remains the main thing we all have in common , the new technology, and of course HEALTH INDUSTRIES, but then what???


Let me know, thanks Bossman, I will look into google toolbar thingy, not sure how it would work, but we could try it, others would appreciate it , for sure.


patrick

[Saratoga_Mike]

The spell checker I use is part of the Google toolbar...works well with PaceAdvantage.com

And all along I thought this guy never makes a mistake! Good tip for those of us who are less than Internet/tech savvy.

[dutchboy]

Resume, cover letters, and job applications with spelling errors are the first ones thrown.

PS: We need a Spell-Checker, to make people like me look better, how bout it Bossman?

[pktruckdriver]

Resume, cover letters, and job applications with spelling errors are the first ones thrown.

Since when did truckers need to spell?


Most signs had numbers on them, and thenn the other one had Stop on it.



Am I right?

Patrick

[sandpit]

Well, I hate to join the party, but I just got laid off this week. Sixteen years of working in the horseracing industry, and I think I have had enough. I have been privy to see how major players in this industry operate, and it is no wonder that the sport is on the same path as the Titanic. The only thing that makes me sad about leaving the game is that I have met some great people that will be lifelong friends, but few, if any, are the sport's power brokers. I am fortunate that my skills with computers and writing can transfer to other fields, but I wonder if all lines of business are so dysfunctional?

[PaceAdvantage]

Sorry to hear this sandpit. Who was your employer, if you don't mind me asking...

[Tom]

Sandpit, sorry to hear. Hope you find something soon.

[pktruckdriver]

Yeah let me say good luck to all out there getting laid -off, or let go, or think they ,ay be in the near future.


Isn't there something we can do, besides collect unemployment, which I can not, but I still have my job barely, but for those from the board here, could we not form some group and find something that would be a success, llike sandpit, he has talent with computers, other with finance, other with sales experience, and so forth and so on, it seems that a little brain knocking, and we could come up with something.


Yes with all the people all over the country this may be harder than most things to , but impossible no. How bout a true Employment agency, maybe one sponsored by the governments grant money, saomething to re-build careers for over 40 people, maybe start a research firm to look into what we can look to do for the future, what job markets may be like, IT for example, then what about real estate too, finding and helping those in trouble to save what they have, if possible, again government money could be used as start-up ,NO??

It beats sitting around and doing nothing, sending resumes , well that is okay, but you kinow what I mean, what do we have to lose to get creative and find something that needs to be done and do it, find our niche as they say, we could do it, man/woman too of course,

This is just ramblings of a mad man, but it has some realness to it too, Ideas any one....

Patrick

[pktruckdriver]

Yeah let me say good luck to all out there getting laid -off, or let go, or think they ,ay be in the near future.


Isn't there something we can do, besides collect unemployment, which I can not, but I still have my job barely, but for those from the board here, could we not form some group and find something that would be a success, llike sandpit, he has talent with computers, other with finance, other with sales experience, and so forth and so on, it seems that a little brain knocking, and we could come up with something.


Yes with all the people all over the country this may be harder than most things to , but impossible no. How bout a true Employment agency, maybe one sponsored by the governments grant money, saomething to re-build careers for over 40 people, maybe start a research firm to look into what we can look to do for the future, what job markets may be like, IT for example, then what about real estate too, finding and helping those in trouble to save what they have, if possible, again government money could be used as start-up ,NO??

It beats sitting around and doing nothing, sending resumes , well that is okay, but you kinow what I mean, what do we have to lose to get creative and find something that needs to be done and do it, find our niche as they say, we could do it, man/woman too of course,

This is just ramblings of a mad man, but it has some realness to it too, Ideas any one....

Patrick




I figured I would at least get one or two responses here, but then again, ...



I was wondering if we got together to find some business to start after being let go or laid off, or like me the revenue just kinda dries up. What would we come up with, curiousity got the best of me here???


Patrick