New Year is usually the time for change but could it already be too late? According to new research it is too late to change career by the time you reach 41.
A study found that most Brits want to be on their chosen career path by their mid-30s and there is no going back after turning 41.
The survey of 2,000 workers found people are most susceptible to feeling ‘trapped’ in their line of work at the age of 36.
Suzie Webb, AAT’s Director of Education at the Association of Accounting Technicians which carried out the study, said many people have plenty of time to change direction.
“This research shows that many people incorrectly believe that they have to stick with their career despite being a reasonably young age,” she said.
When probed further as to why they had doubts about retraining, 59 per cent of respondents said they feel they are trapped in their current career path or line of work, with the biggest reason for this being the feeling they can’t progress any further and are bored in their current role.
This led to 31 per cent saying they think about changing career around once or twice a month.
The fear of change may be what is holding people back. When asked to describe their current employment, workers were nearly twice as likely to use the word ‘convenient’ than they were to use words like ‘success’ or ‘fulfilling’.
Three in ten said they are stuck because they don’t know what else they could do, while nearly a quarter worry they wouldn’t be any good at anything else.
Well over a fifth said that it’s simply too risky for them to think about any other job.
One in seven said they committed to their career after having kids, while over a fifth confessed they felt too old to learn anything new.
In addition, one in six admitted they were hesitant to get re-qualified in a new area, because they were scared of being labelled ‘a mature student’ in classes.
Suzie Webb says: “Retraining is much less of a big step than people might imagine. There are so many options available – part time, evenings and via distance learning that offer you the chance to study around other priorities in life.
“Plus, people are working for considerably much longer than in the past – so it makes sense that our views towards retraining should also follow this pattern. Lifelong learning is the key to success.”
Frost disagrees however, it is never too late to make a change. Read about people who became successful later in life here.