Multiple matching

Multiple matching

Starting Over Mid-Career

Five people describe changing career in their forties and fifties

You are going to read an article in which five people describe changing career in middle age. For questions 1-10, choose from the people (A-E). The people may be chosen more than once.

A - Gareth Mullins: from bank manager to primary school teacher For twenty-two years I managed bank branches, and by the end most of my job consisted of closing them. When I told colleagues I was retraining to teach seven-year-olds, they assumed I was having some kind of crisis. In fact, the two jobs have more in common than you might think. At the bank I spent a lot of time with customers who were frightened about money, and learning to stay calm while someone else panics has been invaluable at parents’ evenings. The children themselves are another matter; no training course prepares you for a class of thirty on a windy afternoon. I’d be lying if I said I never lie awake wondering whether I’ve made a terrible mistake, usually on a Sunday night with a pile of marking. But by Monday lunchtime the feeling has generally passed. B - Priyanka Desai: from corporate lawyer to furniture maker My parents came to Britain with very little and worked extremely hard so that I could become a lawyer. So when I announced, at forty-four, that I was giving it up to make tables and chairs, my mother didn’t speak to me for a month, and my father kept leaving the number of a careers adviser on my answerphone. I understood their reaction, even if it hurt. What they didn’t know was that I hadn’t decided on a whim. I’d been going to woodworking classes two evenings a week for almost four years, and I’d sold several pieces to friends before I handed in my notice. These days my father has one of my chairs in his study, and he tells visitors he always knew I’d end up doing something with my hands. C - Halvard Nyström: from airline pilot to nurse I flew passenger jets for twenty-six years and loved it, so people are often puzzled about why I stopped. The honest answer is that my father spent three months in hospital after a stroke, and I spent hours by his bed watching the nurses at work. What they were doing seemed to matter far more than getting holidaymakers to Málaga on time. Training at fifty-two was harder than I’d expected, though not for academic reasons. Most of my fellow students were the same age as my own children, and several of the tutors were younger than me too. After decades of being the person in charge, being told by a twenty-three-year-old that I’d made a bed wrongly took some getting used to. Still, I learned to laugh about it, and my beds are much tidier now. D - Rosa Delgado: from accountant to landscape gardener I’d love to tell you I planned it carefully, but the truth is that I resigned from the accountancy firm one Friday afternoon after a particularly dreadful meeting and only worked out what I was going to do afterwards. I’d always gardened, so I put a card in the newsagent’s window and waited. People assume my financial background must be a great help in running the business, but to be honest I pay someone else to do my accounts; I’ve had quite enough of spreadsheets. What nobody warned me about was the effect on my body. That first summer, my back and knees ached so much that I could hardly climb the stairs at night. What keeps me going is that at the end of each day I can stand back and see exactly what I’ve achieved: a new border, a cleared corner, a path. In thirty years of working with figures, I never once felt that. E - Kwame Asante: from journalist to bookseller I didn’t choose to leave journalism; journalism left me. The newspaper I’d worked on for nineteen years closed with three weeks’ notice, and at fifty-one there weren’t many editors queuing up to hire me. It was my wife who pointed out that I’d spent most of my free time for thirty years in second-hand bookshops, and that our town no longer had one. We used my redundancy money to rent a small shop near the station. I won’t pretend it’s been easy. I earn roughly a third of what I used to, we’ve given up holidays abroad, and there are weeks when the takings barely cover the rent. But I meet more interesting people in a week than I did in a year of reporting on council meetings, and I no longer dread Monday mornings.

A

Gareth Mullins: from bank manager to primary school teacher

For twenty-two years I managed bank branches, and by the end most of my job consisted of closing them. When I told colleagues I was retraining to teach seven-year-olds, they assumed I was having some kind of crisis. In fact, the two jobs have more in common than you might think. At the bank I spent a lot of time with customers who were frightened about money, and learning to stay calm while someone else panics has been invaluable at parents’ evenings. The children themselves are another matter; no training course prepares you for a class of thirty on a windy afternoon. I’d be lying if I said I never lie awake wondering whether I’ve made a terrible mistake, usually on a Sunday night with a pile of marking. But by Monday lunchtime the feeling has generally passed.

B

Priyanka Desai: from corporate lawyer to furniture maker

My parents came to Britain with very little and worked extremely hard so that I could become a lawyer. So when I announced, at forty-four, that I was giving it up to make tables and chairs, my mother didn’t speak to me for a month, and my father kept leaving the number of a careers adviser on my answerphone. I understood their reaction, even if it hurt. What they didn’t know was that I hadn’t decided on a whim. I’d been going to woodworking classes two evenings a week for almost four years, and I’d sold several pieces to friends before I handed in my notice. These days my father has one of my chairs in his study, and he tells visitors he always knew I’d end up doing something with my hands.

C

Halvard Nyström: from airline pilot to nurse

I flew passenger jets for twenty-six years and loved it, so people are often puzzled about why I stopped. The honest answer is that my father spent three months in hospital after a stroke, and I spent hours by his bed watching the nurses at work. What they were doing seemed to matter far more than getting holidaymakers to Málaga on time. Training at fifty-two was harder than I’d expected, though not for academic reasons. Most of my fellow students were the same age as my own children, and several of the tutors were younger than me too. After decades of being the person in charge, being told by a twenty-three-year-old that I’d made a bed wrongly took some getting used to. Still, I learned to laugh about it, and my beds are much tidier now.

D

Rosa Delgado: from accountant to landscape gardener

I’d love to tell you I planned it carefully, but the truth is that I resigned from the accountancy firm one Friday afternoon after a particularly dreadful meeting and only worked out what I was going to do afterwards. I’d always gardened, so I put a card in the newsagent’s window and waited. People assume my financial background must be a great help in running the business, but to be honest I pay someone else to do my accounts; I’ve had quite enough of spreadsheets. What nobody warned me about was the effect on my body. That first summer, my back and knees ached so much that I could hardly climb the stairs at night. What keeps me going is that at the end of each day I can stand back and see exactly what I’ve achieved: a new border, a cleared corner, a path. In thirty years of working with figures, I never once felt that.

E

Kwame Asante: from journalist to bookseller

I didn’t choose to leave journalism; journalism left me. The newspaper I’d worked on for nineteen years closed with three weeks’ notice, and at fifty-one there weren’t many editors queuing up to hire me. It was my wife who pointed out that I’d spent most of my free time for thirty years in second-hand bookshops, and that our town no longer had one. We used my redundancy money to rent a small shop near the station. I won’t pretend it’s been easy. I earn roughly a third of what I used to, we’ve given up holidays abroad, and there are weeks when the takings barely cover the rent. But I meet more interesting people in a week than I did in a year of reporting on council meetings, and I no longer dread Monday mornings.

1. Which person found it hard to accept being instructed by people much younger than themselves?

2. Which person says that experience of handling anxious people in a previous job has proved useful?

3. Which person changed career because of circumstances outside their control?

4. Which person had to deal with the disapproval of close family members?

5. Which person was unprepared for how physically demanding their new work would be?

6. Which person admits to sometimes doubting whether they made the right decision?

7. Which person was inspired by observing others at work during a difficult family situation?

8. Which person has accepted a significantly lower standard of living?

9. Which person spent several years gaining experience in their new field before leaving their old job?

10. Which person gets particular satisfaction from being able to see what they have accomplished each day?