It's never too late to switch career. I should know – I'm a 37-year-old journalism intern

With more time on the clock than ever, reconsidering a career choice that may have been made in your early twenties is not an unwise move

I have an abundance of life experience and transferable skills, as well as a drive I didn't have in my 20s (Shutterstock/Tortoon)

I’ve always been a late developer, so it’s no great surprise that I find myself undertaking work experience as a journalist at the grand old age of 37.

After many years working in the criminal justice and voluntary sectors, I realised that what I’d always wanted to do – write – was becoming a distant pipe dream. Being a firm believer that ridicule is nothing to be scared of, I therefore put on my big-girl boots and jumped into the newsroom at The Independent. Prior to this I’d cut my teeth at contemporary feminist publication The F-Word, becoming its editor in July 2017. This was all in addition to holding down a full-time job – proof of my passion for the work.

I’m far from alone, as more women in their mid to late thirties change careers or reconsider how, when and where they choose to work. The job for life that baby boomers enjoyed is all but obsolete and we’re retiring later, with a state pension that would see me destitute before I even get close to old age.

With more time on the clock than ever, reconsidering a career choice that may have been made in your early twenties is not an unwise move. A 2017 survey by the human resource firm Robert Half revealed that unhappiness at work more than doubled for 35 to 54-year-olds, compared with 18 to 34-year-olds, with 35 being cited as the age at which people’s workplace ennui starts to set in.

With 40 looming, many people begin to take stock of their lives. And by the start of their fifth decade, a large proportion of the population have children, a charge that can impact life prospects, both in and out of the workplace. We know that the bulk of childcare continues to fall upon women and that the challenges to finding secure, well-paid and flexible employment are numerous.

The desire for status that can often characterise youth may also have waned as time marches on and many older people want to do something more meaningful with their time. This is the idea behind Now Teach, a teacher-training programme for “experienced career changers looking to reapply their skills to the classroom”. The scheme was set up by ex-Financial Times journalist Lucy Kellaway who decided that she wanted to do something “useful” following the death of her parents. Now Teach confirmed to me that since its launch in 2016, 2,000 people have got in touch about the programme and 296 people have gone on to apply – 74 per cent of applicants being over the age of 40.

In my experience, being older certainly has its benefits. I have a greater understanding and acceptance of myself, as well as a drive and confidence I never could have anticipated 10 years ago. (In many competitive industries, such as the media, networking can be a crucial way to secure work.) Life experience is also useful in establishing what you don’t like. Starting with a process of elimination is a wonderful way to gain clarity.

Nora Ephron famously stated that “everything is copy” and, from a writer’s perspective, experience counts for a lot. And I have it in abundance.

During my career at the probation service and later at a charity, I was working with victims of sexual and violent crime and domestic violence, as well as LGBTQ+ people – arguably, some of the most vulnerable members of society. I developed many transferable skills, such as sensitivity, the ability to empathise and actively listen. Being confronted with trauma on a daily basis required resilience and patience, qualities that have served me well in all aspects of life. Listening to detailed testimonies of abuse also gave me an acute sense of perspective on the privileges I have, such as a warm, safe home with people I could trust.

At The Independent, working with so many driven, younger people amazes me. I spent my twenties in a hedonistic blur of partying and overindulgence. Even if I had wanted to focus on a career at this stage of my life, I wouldn’t have known where to start. I spent the first 20 years of my life living on a council estate and had no traditional experience of formal education. There were no lawyers or teachers or journalists in my world, and I forged ahead with very little guidance. The idea that you can’t be what you can’t see rang very true for me. I had a degree of grit, but I lacked the confidence required to enter what I perceived to be an elitist world.

Of course, cold, hard cash is often a stumbling block for women who decide to make the career switch – and there is a whole other article to be written about the ethics and realistic nature of unpaid internships – but do the maths and figure out what’s achievable. The short-term pain of a reduced income may lead to longer-term gain.

It’s never too late to make a change. Life and work experience are invaluable and any employer who fails to recognise this simply isn’t worth your time. Reject the tired, rigid narratives that dictate the life markers you should or could achieve and do it your way. Take it from this late bloomer: it’ll be the best decision you ever make.