My job is replaced by technology - advice needed

[Zuki]

Hi everyone

I am a 45 yo Singaporean female with a bachelor degree whose job was recently replaced by technology. In order for me to look for a job in a different industry and acquire new skills from scratch, what is best action I should take? The minimum wage I can accept is $3k per month.

1) Apply for a entry level job?
Concern: What are my chances when I have to compete with fresh grads?

2) Re-learn by going back to school to do a degree again or masters that is going to be relevant for the next 15 years?
Concern: Is it worth spending $30k to $40K to start from scratch?

3) Start with contract jobs and build up the skills set slowly?
Concern: will employers give weightage to contract jobs experience?

Any advice is welcome. I have been in my previous job for 20 years and now very lost and troubled about my future.

Your situation is quite bleak both in terms of outdated & irrelevant experience/skillset and also "killer zone" age.

You should not be setting unnecessary limits like 3k above pay to lower your already very low chances. 3k is approximately what a lot of local uni grads and some higher end private uni grads are getting, I don't think it's that easy for you to compete with them.

#1 is good to try, but remove that limit of 3k above pay, it will just make your search worse than it already is.

#2 is no go. Why waste more money on some generic low end degree or masters? At your age when finish you will be close to 50. It adds no value - if you can buy the cert, anyone half your age can do it as well.

#3 is most likely the only option you will be forced to take up if #1 doesn't work. My advice is to do both #1 to #3 at the same time. Chances of #1 is very low and if #3 got contract jobs just take up first.

Most important thing is to damage control on CV first. Do not make a bad situation worse by piling long periods of unemployment. A late 40s CV with huge gaps in unemployment will just more or less force you to driving Uber.

what is your previous job? any other useful qualification?

Not the original poster but in a rather similar situation.
I have been looking for a job for 6mths.
Should I take up contract jobs?
Or should I take a 20% pay cut for perm roles to open up more opportunities? Some potential job roles didnt progress due to pay mismatch.
If I hold on to my last drawn and there are no job offers, I will hit 40 soon, will I be in a worse situation then?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Not the original poster but in a rather similar situation.
I have been looking for a job for 6mths.
Should I take up contract jobs?
Or should I take a 20% pay cut for perm roles to open up more opportunities? Some potential job roles didnt progress due to pay mismatch.
If I hold on to my last drawn and there are no job offers, I will hit 40 soon, will I be in a worse situation then?

Just take up whatever you can first. For older people the worst thing is unemployed for long periods of time. It will result in not being able to secure even entry level jobs if wait too long.