Some thoughts on midlife career change and women

Happy 8th March, International Women’s Day! As a women-owned business at YourRecruit Group, we’re marking the day by talking to three amazing women, who work in entirely different fields and pursue diverse goals. Regardless of all the differences, Saboohi Famili, Teresa Leyman and Gill Thorpe, all share a prominent value; drive to succeed!

With increasingly distant retirement age, midlife women (and men) in the UK have one to two decades of working life in front of them. This fact on its own wouldn’t be necessarily a challenge if it wasn’t for the fact that many women seek career change in their midlife. Deciding what to do after the age of 40 or older can be fun, fearful or both. Whatever your approach, it needs plenty of research, advice, talks with friends and above all courage for change. Following this line of thought, we conversed with these three self-made women.

 

Saboohi Famili

Saboohi Famili is the current principal of Epping Forest College, with a sparkling portfolio of success in various FE and HE organisations including Guernsey College of Further Education and the University of West London.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Don’t force success. It will come to you if you keep an open mind…“

 

1 – Do you think it’s possible for women to reinvent themselves at their midlife?

Yes! We do it daily!

2 – What’s one career mistake, which you wish you could go back and correct?

Not letting go when I knew it was time to do so. Accepting defeat does not come easily to me and as much as I know this is a strong influence in how I lead my life sometimes one has to accept defeat and move on positively forward.

3 – Can you name a female character, which has influenced you?

Maya Angelou for her grit, positivity and resolve.

4 – If you had one word of career advice to women in their midlife, what would that be?

Be you! Don’t force success. It will come to you if you keep an open mind, act with integrity and trust in yourself. So be you!

 

Teresa Leyman

Teresa Leyman presently is the Head of Strategic Project Office at Unibet, with more than 20 years experience in leading complex IT programmes and teams on a global scale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

” If you are in a career, relationship, life that you are not happy about, you always have a choice to stay, to change, to do something about it or to accept it.“

 

1 – Do you think it’s possible for midlife women to reinvent themselves?

Absolutely, we all have that choice no matter our sex or age throughout our whole life. I guess the challenge is not only envisioning what that reinvention is and choosing to do it but committing to do it and then actually doing it! I guess, that can seem quite daunting and create a barrier for change. Plus, typically, people don’t like change, or specifically don’t like you to change so this can sometimes get in the way of the reinvention due to fear of losing people around you or relationships changing. I guess another way to think about things though is to start small and go step by step, to make little additions every day and actually do things that make you happy. Be with people who care about thriving. Before you know it, these small things have created and got you to the place you want to be; a place that is truly authentic and with those relationships and people that are meant to be with you.

 

2 – What’s one career mistake, which you wish you could go back and correct?

I don’t have a specific mistake but I do have a mistake that I have made repeatable times during my career – not speaking my truth but instead choosing to hold my tongue. Of course, sometimes this is appropriate, but it has taken me a while to get to grips with speaking up in a good way. I was brought up in a time when children were seen and not heard and this really stuck with me.  So, I would say this is very much an ongoing learning for me and something I expect to continually experiment with going through my life in terms of how to share my views and speak my mind in a way that is authentic, gets the job done and ideally galvanises and inspires people in a great way.

 

4 – Can you name a female character, which has influenced you?

My mum and my nan. Both of these women were hard working, compassionate and, for their time, as independent-minded as they could be. They taught me from a very young age to believe in myself and my ability to make my own way in the world and to never be dependant on a man, or anyone else for that matter. They truly believed in me and my ability to do anything I set out to do.  My nan, notoriously and very unorthodox for her time, used to make myself and my teenage girlfriends giggle by sharing her wisdom and cheekily saying – now you girls are in an age where you don’t need to get married,  so go out and get your own careers, your own money, your own apartments, don’t get married if you must have a man then live with them and kick them out if they don’t suit you. Now you might raise an eyebrow at this but my nan could see times were changing and what this meant for us in terms of choice and freedom.  I didn’t explicitly take on my nan’s advice! I have been happily married to a wonderful man for over 25 yrs with children but this insight instilled in me the desire to be self-reliant and to make choices in order to provide for myself and my family which has guided me throughout my life and meant if push comes to shove I am not beholden to anyone but myself. I also love the book from Stephen Covey called the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  Covey talks about the importance in any relationship is the ability of becoming interdependent. His example is one of independent musicians each on their own can make music, but together interdependently they create an orchestra.

 

4 – If you had one word of career advice to women in their midlife, what would that be?

Know that everything you do is your choice, you are ultimately responsible, whether you feel it or not. Ultimately, what you do is because you chose to do it. If you are in a career, relationship, life that you are not happy about, you always have a choice to stay, to change, to do something about it or to accept it. It’s always about choice. I would add to this as I shared at the start – belief and self-reliance. I think once you really start to embrace these then I think you will always have ultimate freedom to choose the life you want.

 

Gill Thorpe

Gill Thorpe is the founder and managing director of The Sourcing Team, an Ethical Global Sourcing company. Gill also is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply. Working with major global brands, Gill’s primary focus is all about ethical sourcing and fair process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“All you can do is learn and get better, so you don’t make the same mistake again.“

 

1 – Do you think it’s possible for women to reinvent themselves at their midlife?

Absolutely! We have to keep reinventing ourselves throughout life, over and over again; preparing for different life stages.

2 – What’s one career mistake, which you wish you could go back and correct it?

Nothing that I would go back and correct – it’s done! All you can do is learn and get better, so you don’t make the same mistake again – life is about learning through experience.

2 – Can you name a female character, which has influenced you?

Bette Davis – in Now Voyager – you need the right people around you to help you grow and blossom! Learning to be Bold and stand up for yourself – favourite movie for that reason!

4 – If you had one word of career advice to women at their midlife, what would that be?

In one word, Believe-in-you!

 

Hope you enjoyed reading this post. Here is some more career advice.

Author: Nushin Nahidpour