Career move at 54

[bergclimber34]

Have worked in a predominantly manufacturing environment most of life, electronics mainly, and a struggling with that environment and the type of buildings you work in mainly during the warmer months

Have trained as a journalist oddly, but found that too difficult to get into and was stupidly narrow minded during job searching at the time, so am not current, but have good grammar and vocabulary.

Would like something more office based to escape the sweaty shopfloor, and looking for a bit of advice on how to make a manual, technical skillset look good for office work maybe, is it even possible?

[Jamescrs]

I think you ned to be a bit more focused on what you want to do than simply saying "office work" because working in an office covers thousands of different roles and job types.

I would hazard a guess without knowing you that you may have a number of transferrable skills such as problem solving, attention to detail, communication, to list just a few fairly generic things.

Unfortunately your age may go against you in a lot of sectors but I would explore opportunities in the area where you already work and look at the Public sector where age is not so much of a barrier.

[Quattr04.]

Majority of engineers and things like that either move into management or sales which is just sitting at a desk in the email factory.

More stress and you’ll be taking your work home with you for not much more money

[bergclimber34]

Apologies for being vague.

Having never really worked at a desk it's tough to narrow down roles. A lot seem to require very specific experience which I do not have.

Not sure what public sector roles would suit someone with25 years manufacturing experience.

[ATG]

What does "manufacturing experience" mean in concrete terms? What have you actually been doing?

Having a load of experience in a particular area and being able to write doesn't sound like a bad starting point.

[bergclimber34]

OK sorry.

Building, assembling mechanically, ,electronics, wiring, soldering, using tools, following drawings, making suggestions to improve, working with engineers, meeting deadlines, flexibility, attention to detail, mistake elimination and trying to find ways to prevent them.

Rewriting a CV feels quite daunting tailoring it to a totally different types of roles

[spikeyhead]

Almosst every electronics factory I've been in has been a comfortable place to work.

[bergclimber34]

exactly which is why I need tog et out of the place I am in now

[helmutlaang]

I don’t know where you are in retirement planning but could you do it for 2-3 more years then get a min wage part time gig somewhere?

I’m the same age as you and plan to do this.

[bergclimber34]

Not really no, I am trying to buy a house at the moment so will be needing to work into mid to late 60's.

[StevieBee]

The one thing that springs to mind is whether there's a Trade Journal that serves the sector you're working in. A combination of sector experience and your Journalistic training would, I would think, be an attractive proposition to publishers of such magazines. Unlikely it would pay you sufficient to bail completely but could give you the opportunity to build a new career gradually.