Career switch: what could help?

Airline easyJet has launched a ‘returnship’ initiative to encourage more over 50s to become cabin crew, following research that showed nearly three quarters of them (74%) agreed it was the perfect age to change careers.
With 71% of over 50s believing their age would stop them being accepted for the job, the airline wants to tackle myths about the career and encourage more older people to apply.

Returner programmes, which had been on the rise pre-pandemic, have, like everything suffered from fluctuating fortunes since as the jobs market has done somersaults. Yet a lot of labour shortages remain. There is particular concern about older people dropping out of the workforce – and finding it hard to get back in – too. So easyjet’s initiative is to be welcomed. But there are also a lot of younger people who need not only returner programmes, but support to switch careers. Sometimes this is out of necessity – for example,  due to the march of technology [which will only continue] – and sometimes it is out of choice. They want a change of direction.

That can be for a number of factors, but children is a big one. For instance, needing a job that doesn’t require a lot of travel, that is possible in flexible hours, whether reduced, term time or whatever or just one that doesn’t require endless overtime.

There is a lot of talk about transferable skills, but applying for a job in a different sector and selling those transferable skills is difficult. That’s where career switch programmes like Now Teach are invaluable. Now Teach helps people who have had experience of other sectors become teachers.

I was speaking to a teacher last week who had transferred over from a career in engineering. She had tried the Government websites and found them difficult. There was too much to read and digest and, having three children and being a single mum she was time poor. She was also lacking in confidence that she could make the switch.

That’s where Now Teach came in. It provided practical advice and support, but also, crucially, emotional support. It made her feel she was not alone and that her experience – of work and life – was valued. Too often people tell us in surveys that they don’t feel their life experience is valued by employers. She is now starting a permanent job in September and it sounds like she will make a brilliant teacher. I felt inspired just talking to her.

It would be great if there were more innovative ways to support career change outside of individual or group coaching initiatives, which may be too expensive for many. Now Teach had its government funding taken away earlier this year. It has since attracted funding from philanthropists, but it is hard being reliant on the goodwill of others and career change is a social good. The labour shortages are continuing, particularly in sectors that require good people skills which parenting can help to hone. There is much to be done as our workforce ages and different ways to think about how to tackle the problems are very welcome.

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