Five Tips for a Midlife Career Change to a Higher Paying Career

If you're eyeing a midlife career change to a high-paying career then prepare for a challenge. To help you here are five tips from WSJ's Career Journal to position yourself for a corporate job when you're competing against applicants with more relevant work experience.

1. Prepare to take a step back.

To achieve your financial goals, you may have to start lower down on the ladder and work your way up. The good news is you'll likely rise more quickly than your younger counterparts because you have more life experience.

[One person who followed this advice and started out lower than he had been in his previous career] says accepting a low-level job was tough on his wallet and his ego, noting that his co-workers were several years younger. He says his wife provided emotional and financial support that helped him cope. "If it weren't for her, it would have been a lot more difficult," he says.

2. Show how your skills are a good fit.

"At first, an employer might not see a job's relevance to you," says Alexandra Levit, founder and president of Inspiration @Work, a corporate and university training business in Chicago. [Be prepared] to prove that your skills are applicable to the new career.

3. Focus your resume on your talents.

Start with a summary of your top skills, then listing them separately in bullet points. Include a description of your key accomplishments in each area.

"Hiring managers typically spend about 30 seconds going over a resume, so you want to communicate in a glance what your major contribution is going to be," she says.

Add your work and educational credentials at the end -- including those unrelated to the jobs you want -- to avoid raising any red flags, she says.

4. Look the part.

Dress up for the interview, even if the company's culture is business casual, says Kathy Downs, division director in Orlando, Fla., for Robert Half International Inc., a staffing firm based in Menlo Park, Calif. Make sure your clothes fit and are in fashion, she says. Otherwise, interviewers "may get the impression that you haven't planned things out very well or you don't have a wardrobe that's appropriate for the position," she says.

5. Be ready to discuss your career change.

Recruiters will likely ask what motivated you to switch careers and seek proof that you're truly committed, says Ms. Herring. "It's really important to think things through in advance," she says, because you'll want to exude confidence.

Answer honestly, but make sure your reason expresses how you can add value to an employer, Ms. Herring advises. If your goal is to earn more money, you might say you're seeking financial stability, she says. This will suggest you're looking to settle down in a long-term role.

"Every company wants to believe you're coming on board to help it achieve its objectives," adds Ms. Levit. "You have to tell them what they want to hear."

The above tips are excerpts from a WSJ story. Follow link for full story (may require registration or fee). We'd like to add a two more:

a. Do your homework.

Before stepping into a new career, you should know as much as insiders. You should know and use the lingo, have read the trade magazines, and be able to discuss the business as those with industry experience. It takes time to develop this knowledge but hopefully you've spent the last year (or more) researching and preparing for the career change. If not, that's okay. Ignore what your teachers told you, cramming is better than the alternative of not being prepared.

b. Know key people in your new field.

By now, you should have used your networking skills to have met (at least casually) key players in your new field. While you don't want to be a name dropper you should be able to have their names come up naturally during the interviews which will make you appear less of an outsider.

Good luck.

This post is part of LifeTwo's Midlife Career Change FAQ covering all aspects of changing careers in middle age.