Mid Life Interview Preparation Guide

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An emotional period of doubt and anxiety sometimes experienced by people who realize that their life is already half over.

When preparing for the interview, identify the skills and activities you'll be using in the new job. How are they related to skills and activities you used in the past? Think of some specific instances where you excelled - three to five should be enough.

Interviewers are looking for up-to-date skills, especially in their older workers. What did you learn from your experiences, both positive and negative? What might you do differently if the same problem presented itself?

When thinking about situations to discuss in the interview, do not limit yourself to work experiences. If you've returned to school recently, or taken additional training courses, think about how you behaved in situations you encountered there. Or if you've volunteered or participated in community or political activities, maybe you applied your knowledge or skills in a way that reveals your abilities that related to the job you're interviewing for. These are often resources when changing job fields.

Be sure to write down your stories or notes about them to refer to in the intensity of the interview without anxiety. The more you can think through the situations you'll be discussing before the actual interview, the more you'll be able to mine the experiences for relevant details which related to the job at hand.

Midlife often is called "the prime of life".

Your body changes at midlife, too. Around your mid-40 s, you enter a transition phase called perimenopause. It is a time of gradual change leading up to and following menopause. In general, perimenopause extends from age 45 years to age 55 years, although the timing varies among women. During this time, the ovaries produce less estrogen.

Menopause is sometimes called "the change of life." It marks the end of menstrual periods and of your childbearing years. On average, the age at which American women have their last menstrual period is 51 years.
Perimenopause and menopause are natural events.

In your 40s, increasing and decreasing hormone levels can cause changes in your menstrual cycle. These changes can be erratic.
Although changes in bleeding are normal as you near menopause, they still should be reported to your doctor. Abnormal bleeding can sometimes be a sign of other problems.

As you approach menopause, you may start having hot flushes (also known as hot flashes). About 75 percent to 85 percent of perimenopausal women get them. These flushes are the most common symptom of perimenopause.
A hot flush is a sudden feeling of heat that rushes to the upper body and face. The skin may redden like a blush. You may break out in a sweat. A hot flush may last from a few seconds to several minutes or longer.
Hot flushes can happen anytime - day or night. Those occurring during sleep, called night sweats, may wake you up and leave you tired and sluggish the next day. Even though hot flushes are a nuisance, are sometimes embarrassing, and may interfere with daily life, they are not harmful.

Perimenopausal women may have to deal with sleep problems. Night sweats may disrupt your rest. You may have insomnia (trouble falling asleep), or you may be awake long before your usual time.

Once made, bone is always changing. Old bone is removed in a process called resorption, and new bone is formed in a process called formation. From childhood until age 30 years, bone is formed faster than it is broken down. After age 30 years, the process begins to reverse: bone is broken down faster than it is made. However, bone loss that happens too fast can result in osteoporosis. Osteoporosis causes bones to become too thin and weak.
To prevent osteoporosis, you should focus on building and keeping as much bone as you can before menopause. You can do that by getting plenty of calcium and exercise.

Heart disease kills more women than any other cause of death. After menopause, a woman's risk of heart disease and stroke increases. Women who have not reached menopause have a far lower risk of cardiovascular disease than men. The estrogen produced by women's ovaries before menopause protects them from heart attacks and stroke. When less estrogen is made after menopause, women lose much of this protection. The risk of heart attack and stroke then increases.

The constant change of hormone levels during perimenopause can effect a woman's emotions. Some women have mood swings, memory lapses and poor concentration. Some may feel irritable or are depressed.

Losses, new demands and changes in routines are common at midlife. Your children may be entering their teen years - a time of challenges.
Today, many women wait to start a family until they are around 40 years of age. Becoming a new mother at midlife - no matter how joyful an event - is a big adjustment.
Women who have not had children or never married also face changes of midlife.
Despite these challenges, midlife often is still a rewarding phase of life.

The best thing you can do to get through midlife's rough spots is reach out for help. Talking with others is reassuring. If you open up to a friend, you may find she is facing the same fears and stresses.
If you are bothered by unsteady emotions or mental lapses, talk to your doctor.

With HT, you are given estrogen to replace the estrogen your body is no longer making. If you have never had a hysterectomy and, therefore, still have a uterus, you normally are given progestin, as well. This helps reduce the risk of cancer of the lining of the uterus that occurs when estrogen is used alone.
Estrogen often is prescribed as a pill you take daily or a patch you wear on your skin. Estrogen also is available as a vaginal ring.
Oral contraceptives (birth control pills) also contain estrogen and progestin, but in higher doses. During perimenopause, oral contraceptives offer birth control and help regulate the menstrual cycle. They may be used during perimenopause before HT.

One benefit of HT that women are likely to notice right away is the relief from symptoms. For about 98 percent of women who take estrogen, hot flushes are relieved. Estrogen also treats vaginal dryness and irritation. Women who take estrogen have fewer urinary problems, such as infection and incontinence.
Hormone therapy also has been shown to help keep bones strong, which helps prevent osteoporosis. However, it only protects bones for as long as you use it.

As with any treatment, HT is not risk free. Estrogen therapy causes the lining of the uterus to grow and can increase the risk of uterine cancer. However, adding progestin lowers the risk of uterine cancer to less than that in women who do not take HT.
In women who take HT, spotty bleeding may occur. Some women even get heavier bleeding like that of a menstrual period.
There is an increased risk of breast cancer in women who use combined hormone therapy. The increase appears to be small, but increases depending on how long a women takes hormone therapy. Hormone therapy also modestly increases the risk of heart attack, stroke and blood clots.

Eating a healthy diet will help you look and feel better. It also will lower your risk of osteoporosis and heart disease.

Making exercise a part of your life can pay off in many ways. Exercise can help you lose weight and keep it off. Aerobic exercises help protect against heart disease and diabetes, and weight-bearing exercises help prevent osteoporosis.
To get a good cardiovascular workout, you need to exercise at your target heart rate for 30 minutes or more most days of the week.
In short, exercise makes you look and feel better.

Weight gain is not so much a result of meno-pause as of middle age. About one in four women aged 35 to 64 years is overweight. Metabolism slows as you age, so your body takes longer to burn up the food you eat. Women have about 25 percent body fat, compared with 15 percent for men. This extra fat makes it easier for women to gain weight and harder to lose it.
In general, it's best not to exceed weight guidelines for your height.

Women who smoke shorten their lives by five to eight years. They also increase their risk of osteoporosis. Smoking doubles the risk of heart disease and cancer of the cervix and vulva in women, and multiplies the risk of lung cancer 12 times. Even the children of smokers can be affected by being exposed to secondhand smoke.

Drinking alcohol poses special concerns for women. A woman who drinks the same amount as a man is affected more. This is because her body contains less water to dilute the alcohol and her stomach has less of the key enzyme that digests it. When you drink, the alcohol slows your reflexes and affects your judgment and memory. One important reason why perimenopausal women should watch their drinking is that alcohol interferes with bone growth and calcium absorption.

While I have never been in this industry, I will be using the same abilities and skills to solve problems, meet deadlines and manage people that were needed in my previous positions. For example, (give examples of your abilities which form a connecting link between your skills in previous jobs and the one in which you are being interviewed).