Well I'm still unemployed, looking hard for work but it's not looking very hopeful (not that it's 100% hopeless either of course). So what other alternative is there I guess but to do something entirely new.
I know there are all sorts of huge obstacles one will likely hit trying to retrain for and change a career in mid-life (like huge age discrimination especially if just starting out in a career, it's one thing to start out in a new career in your 20s and 30s but ...). But this depends somewhat on what one switches to as well, some careers are maybe more open to people starting in them even if they are over 40 or 50 (I'm in my early 40s but after I retrained I certainly won't be any younger). Does anyone know what these careers might be?
Also what would you consider if you were retraining? Yes of course one considers if there are jobs in the field. But again if there are hidden barriers like age to enter a new field these aren't easy to suss out. Also if a field REALLY ISN'T that great and doesn't have that many openings period compared to applicants, it isn't always that easy to tell by jobs ads either, because there might be job ads and an ok amount, but it might also be the case of employers being flooding with enough resumes that they are able to be EXTREMELY picky in who they actually consider (what I am encountering now to an almost absurd degree - the purple squirrel phenomena in full effect) so that almost noone even gets considered for an interview.
If the problem was me screwing up interviews rather than the job market seeming very very very tough out there so that interviews are very sparse, then I wouldn't be thinking career change, but I am. It could be this part of the country isn't so hot for anything I've done, but I don't plan on relocation either (or I would relocate in the area perhaps but not moving cross country - my man and my mom are here what can I say). Yea training for a new career would be expensive, time consuming, and PLENTY risky as well, but it may be the best option.