The Best Career Options After 55

Careers, like relationships, can play out for a number of reasons, and often when we least expect it. This reality can be particularly challenging for people 55 years and older who have known only one, maybe two occupations throughout their entire lives. When starting over in the same field is not an option, the focus then turns to applying your transferable skills to other careers that can be financially secure and emotionally satisfying.

Entrepreneurial
If you've had a life-long dream to open a flower shop, operate a doggy day care, or sell fish tacos from a sandy beach shack, this may be just the right opportunity to realize that desire. According to the Missouri-based entrepreneurship institute Kauffman Foundation, you'll be in excellent company by committing to your passion, because those between the ages of 55 and 64 have held the top spot for entrepreneurial activity since 1996.

Get Paid to Drive
Unlike many industries where youthfulness is a company's unspoken desire, the trucking business opens its arms to the mature population, and even encourages the career to be a family affair. Earn your commercial driver's license within just a few months, and set out on the road, either local or long distance, driving solo, with your pet, or teamed with your spouse. This career choice, a key component in national commerce, is backed by a solid foundation of 3 million people who, according to AARP, make trucking one of the largest occupations.

Degree-Free Careers
Those who graduated from the school of hard knocks are often overlooked for jobs that require a degree. While the lack of higher education in no way means you're an unqualified applicant, it does mean you'll do best to set your sights on industries that look more for life experience or trade school, and even offer on-the-job training. Retail sales manager, tutor, administrative generalist, customer service representative, real estate agent, security officer, and forest fire fighter are just a handful of potential opportunities where previous experience can be viewed as transferable skill.

Feed Your Soul
If finances are solid and you seek more socially valuable career options, volunteering may be the perfect countermeasure. A joint survey by the MetLife Foundation and Civic Ventures found that approximately 31 million people between 44 and 70 want to make a career change into something that benefits the greater good. From walking dogs or brushing cats at the local humane society to tutoring at-risk kids and from serving meals at the community soup kitchen to building low-income housing, the opportunities to engage in more meaningful work are plentiful.

Originally written for and published by Demand Media.