Am I Too Old to Change Careers?
The Truth About Career Joy in Your 60s
What if the real reason we rarely see joy at work in our 60s… is because we’ve stopped looking for it? These late-career professionals did things differently—and thrived.
Am I Too Old to Change Careers?
A listener recently asked me:
“I'm 62—is that too old to change career?”
It’s a question that deserves more than a quick “never too late” response. Because under the surface is a deeper worry that many professionals in their 50s and 60s quietly carry: *What if I’ve missed my chance?*
I hear this often in my work as a career redesign coach—and I want to offer a more useful answer.
Why We Think Joy at Work is Rare in Our 60s
A few years ago, one of my clients—let’s call him Cathal—was approaching his 55th birthday. That milestone got him reflecting on the future, as big birthdays tend to do. He asked me, *“Do you know anyone in their 60s who still loves their full-time job?”*
In that moment, I couldn’t think of a single person.
It hit me like a lightning bolt. Had I subconsciously written off the idea of full-time career joy after 60?
That same week, I quietly launched a personal research mission to find what I started calling **“the unicorns”**—people in their 60s who were still working, still curious, and *thriving*.
What I Discovered About Thriving in Your 60s
I found them.
Chris, 66, thriving in one of the world’s biggest companies.
Kathy, still leading in pharma and public service.
Peter, who moved continents at 65 to start a brand-new career.
They weren’t following the old rules. They weren’t chasing titles. They had rewritten the script.
These individuals shared several patterns, across industries, disciplines, and roles:
- They say yes more often than no.
- They learn about themselves, not just new skills.
- They see careers as **ecosystems**, not ladders.
- They care deeply about the problems they work on.
- They build relationships with long-standing **trust and generosity**.
- And most importantly—they stay curious and visibly valuable.
So, Is 62 Too Late?
No. It’s not even late.
We’re living longer, working longer, and—when we allow ourselves to—**wanting to feel more** during our work years, not less.
But we do have to be smarter about how we work.
The professionals I found were international career designers. They had a strategy. They understood that **you don’t need permission—you need a plan**.
What Can You Do If You’re Stuck at 60+?
Here’s where to begin:
- **Get clear on what matters now**—not what mattered ten years ago.
- **Ditch the ladder**—and design an ecosystem of value, joy, and meaning.
- **Start with one small experiment**—not a leap.
- **Talk to someone who’s done it before**—don’t try to do it alone.
You’re Not Too Old—You’re Just Getting Started
If you want to be paid well to do meaningful work for as long as *you choose*, don’t shrink your dreams to fit your age.
**Redesign your work life to include them.**
And if you’d like help building that plan, I happen to know a programme that was designed just for this moment.
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Mentioned in This Post
- Article: “50-Year-Old Corporate Toast”
- The (2025) Midlife Work-Life Satisfaction Report
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Am I Too Old To Change Careers
[00:00:00] Listener question: “Am I too old to change careers at 62?
Lucia Knight: This is the Joy At Work podcast, and I'm Lucia Knight. Here's this week's question from a listener.
Listener: I'm 62. Is that too old to change career? And is it too old to work with you?
Lucia Knight: Ah, this question takes me straight back to a client conversation about four or five years ago. Let's call him Cathal. He was one of my Speedy Sherpa clients, and he had just turned 55, and as big birthdays do, it got him reflecting. Looking ahead in a way that are busy lives normally don't allow.
[00:00:33] Client story: The moment that sparked a new research mission
Lucia Knight: Cathal asked me if I knew anyone in their sixties who was still employed full-time and actually enjoying it. I hesitated because in that moment I couldn't think of a single person, not one, not someone who was still employed and genuinely loving their work.
And it was a wake up call for me. Had I become so focused on the 50-year-old corporate toast trend that I'd called out in 2017, that I'd quietly written off the idea of thriving in full-time employment after 60?
I knew plenty of self-employed 60 somethings doing brilliant work. But working for someone else full-time, loving it? That was different.
So I told Cathal the truth, I don't know anyone yet, and I asked him to stay focused on our work while I quietly kicked off a new research mission.
[00:01:31] The search for unicorns: thriving professionals in their 60s
Lucia Knight: I went looking for what I started to call the unicorns. People in their sixties who were still employed, still curious, still thriving, and after weeks of awkward silences, countless conversations, tapping networks and whispering, Hey, I'm hunting for unicorns, to anyone who'd listen, eventually they appeared.
There was Chris 66 thriving inside one of the world's biggest companies. Kathy, still growing and leading in pharma and public roles. Peter, who moved continents at 65 to start a brand new career in a brand new industry. Graham, John, Philippa, Neil, Lydia, every single one of them defied that tired idea of corporate toast at 50.
Now, were they? Unicorns. Maybe not, but they were rare. Rare enough that I still believe the corporate toast trend is real for way too many people, in way too many companies.
[00:02:30] Is 62 too late? Why it’s not even late
Lucia Knight: But let's come back to the question, is 62 too late to change career or redesign your work life? No, it's not even late. Our generation and the ones behind us aren't just working longer. We're wanting to work longer, but we have to start being smart about it. Our strategy has to look different.
What I discovered in my research is that those thriving in full-time work in their sixties and seventies. Don't follow the old rules. They've rewritten them.
They're international career designers. They make deliberate choices. They play a different game and they value different things.
I wrote a meaty article about this. It's not a light read, but worth it. I'll pop it in the show notes.
[00:03:19] What these “unicorns” do differently
Lucia Knight: It's the results of 11 deeply personal interviews, and here are just a few patterns that emerged across industries, disciplines, personalities and roles.
They say yes more than they say No. They're not just learning new skills. They're learning about themselves constantly. They don't see their careers as ladders. They see them as ecosystems. They don't chase titles. They chase meaning and satisfaction. They choose to care deeply about the problems they work on. They asked great questions across generations, disciplines, roles, and companies. They make their experience useful by staying vital, curious, and obviously valuable.
And maybe most importantly, they build relationships with deep trust, curiosity and respect. And a wild amount of generosity. Not transactional, networking, not what can you do for me connections. These are people who check in with no agenda, who remember that day you did that brilliant thing, and the day you messed up and ask them for help.
They keep relationships warm. For decades, while also juggling deadlines and life like the rest of us. Honestly, I learned so much from them.
[00:04:50] The truth behind invisible career joy in later life
Lucia Knight: So to our listener and to anyone wondering if 62 is too old to change careers or design work differently, we think career joy in our sixties is rare because we don't see it in this no news is good news world, but maybe we're not looking hard enough.
[00:05:10] Final insight: You don’t need permission—just a plan
Lucia Knight: If we want to be paid well to do meaningful work for as long as we choose, not as long as we're allowed, don't shrink dreams to fit age. Redesign our work lives to include those dreams because at 62, you don't need permission. You need a plan.
And I happen to know just the woman who can help you design it.
