Here's how you can navigate alternative career paths in late career as a customer support professional.

*Understand your areas of strength and capabilities outside of your job as a Customer Support Professional. *Reframe your work experience in order to make your skills and experience transferable to the proposed role

To navigate alternative career paths in late career as a customer support professional , you need to do the following: I. Consider other roles and positions you can take up by assessing your strengths and capabilities

As a late-career customer support professional, you can explore alternative career paths by leveraging your expertise to move into roles such as customer success management, training and development, quality assurance, or consultancy. You can also consider leadership positions, such as team lead or support manager, or transition into related fields like sales or product management, where your customer insights are valuable. Gaining additional certifications or skills in these areas can further enhance your career prospects.

Leverage Past Achievements: Think about projects or situations where you excelled. Did you develop a new training program? Resolve a particularly challenging customer issue? These examples showcase your skills in action. By taking a deep dive into your skillset, you'll gain valuable insights into which career paths best leverage your strengths and experience. This self-awareness will be crucial as you explore new opportunities.

II. Identify skills that you can transfer to another role .Skills such as communication. problem-solving and technical knowledge are transferrable skills that a Customer Support professional can transfer to other roles

Expand your network (industry events, online platforms, informational interviews). Leverage your existing network (past colleagues, mentors, friends/family). Become a connector, offer value to others. Follow up, be persistent, build relationships. Prepare an elevator pitch (short, compelling statement about your goals). We must always Remember: It's about building connections, not just collecting contacts. Be genuine, listen actively, and make a positive impression!

The customer support landscape is on the cusp of being totally transformed within a few years. The change will be radical and will come faster than most expect. Yes, AI is, of course, the culprit here. The job landscape will change quickly for any support role, but there is a new role emerging where you can upscale your career. It's AI manager! AI right now can still be difficult to set up, monitor, and manage. There is this sweet new role you can jump onto that will leverage some of your previous skillsets while forcing you to create new ones. The AI manager role is likely here to stay in the short term and will give you more leverage over the rest of the CX organization. Jump in!

It’s common for people to feel uncomfortable in their current jobs and think about switching to a different domain. However, I believe there is no specific age or time when you must start something new. Whenever you feel passionate about a career and want to give it your 100%, you can start at any time. When you are eager for a particular job role, you will naturally focus on it more and work to improve everything related to it. The first step is to identify the job role you are passionate about and want to pursue daily. Whether you are transitioning to a tech or non-tech job, entering the corporate world or a different field, or starting your own business, it doesn’t matter. Just go for it. This is your moment.