Dear Anna,

I would like to know how I can relaunch myself as a creative in my 40s. A career in illustration has always been something I wanted to do, and Covid-19 has given me the opportunity to pursue this – I’ve retrained online through Falmouth Flex (and it’s been amazing, btw). But how does this translate in a Covid crisis? What can I tell an employer or have as my USP?

Anon

Dear Anon,

In my experience, your 40s are the best decade – though I always caveat that with “so far”, given that’s how far I’ve come myself! I think I feel this because, if you’re lucky, you’ve racked up enough life experience to know what you really want, and so have the right combination of energy and attitude to risk that enables you to make big changes. So it’s great to hear that you’ve embraced this by retraining online and are now looking to live your dream in illustration.

To the question of how this translates, I’d say this is entirely up to you. If there’s one silver lining to the huge upheaval and uncertainty the coronavirus pandemic has created, it’s that everything has had to be reconsidered, reshaped, reinvented. Workplaces that were previously obsessed with presenteeism now understand that working from home can not only work well, it can also deliver amazing results for the right people. Meetings that might have excluded people due to location or a disability, for example, are now way more accessible as everyone has had to get their heads around video conferencing.

In my most optimistic moments, I like to think the notion of ‘new normal’ means there’s actually no such thing as ‘normal’ any more. Because normative behaviours and culture are, by their very nature, exclusionary. They force people to assimilate rather than provide space for difference – difference that can be hugely beneficial to any business, particularly creative ones. In this context, you get to start with what ‘you want’ rather than what a ‘company wants’, and have a chance to work out how you fit into a particular job-shaped hole.

The generation we belong to can still cling quite firmly to the idea of longevity in a particular career to be the main signifier of skill and success

So what is your USP? Well, the fact that you’ve retrained is a brilliant start. It shows a dedication and focus on something that might be (rightly or wrongly) considered to be lacking in someone just starting out in a career. You’re doing this with real purpose and passion from the outset. You’re also someone who has gained huge experience on whatever paths your journey took you up to this point. I’d assume that includes having had to develop resilience, empathy, adaptability and all manner of other invaluable skills along the way – whatever the specifics of your previous career may have been. You’re also highly resourceful if you’ve found the time and, frankly, the inclination to use the global crisis to retrain and do something positive instead of just completing Netflix and eating crisps (which is also fine, by the way, and certainly something I’ve been doing a fair bit myself).

That’s not to say, however, that a big shift at a more mature point in life won’t still be challenging. And job hunting in a lockdown isn’t easy, not by a long stretch. The generation we belong to can still cling quite firmly to the idea of longevity in a particular career to be the main signifier of skill and success. So I’d think about weaving your story to best position yourself. I’d take your illustration training and ambition and make that the warp. 

The threads that you choose to weave in and out are up to you – we all create our own narratives (or weave our own rugs!) and your story belongs to you

You’ve come this far, so you are not likely to be changing what you want to do. Let’s then pick up the thread of your career before retraining as your weft, and weave that in and out of your goal. In doing this, you make the ‘fabric’ of you not just hold together, it also becomes more colourful and creative.

The threads that you choose to weave in and out are up to you – we all create our own narratives (or weave our own rugs!) and your story belongs to you. The key is in seeing that the whole is made up of lots of brilliant individual strands that build to make a unique and beautiful thing.

Then to the practicality of what a job change at this stage means, and setting some parameters to help you on the next leg of your journey. It’s less exciting, but think about things like what you can afford to earn if you’re ‘starting out’ again. Does your situation mean a salaried job is necessary, or could you afford to survive on intermittent freelance work? With that set, how can you best build and showcase your portfolio? What sort of ways can you get your wonderful narrative out into the world?

In this last stage, I always ask for help – get friends and trusted colleagues to give you feedback, or share knowledge and contacts. And, above all, remember that while this might feel daunting, the best and most rewarding experiences often take us out of our comfort zone.

Anna

Anna Higgs is head of entertainment at Facebook. If you have a question for her, send it via CR’s social channels, or email [email protected]; Top image: Shutterstock