You could move into independent consultancy/contracting if you have a personal network who would buy your services. You would be your own boss, which brings all the advantages and challenges of self-employment. Your income would be directly dependent on how effectively you promoted and sold yourself, the level of your contacts (i.e. the budget they have to pay for your services), and your desired work-life balance. Getting into an external consultancy firm could be trickier as you'd need to demonstrate that spending most of your working life at the same company hadn't constrained you to one way of thinking and one way of doing things. You would also need to demonstrate that you were willing and able to perform at the level you were hired at. For example, without consulting or sales experience, you would likely be hired as a fairly junior consultant. The pay may still be attractive at this level (depending on your current package), but the usual challenges of changing careers would come up (reporting into younger people, etc.)Age in itself is not an issue - in fact a little grey hair a positive advantage as it gives clients the impression of experience. However, recruiters will be looking at the energy and commitment you can bring to the job (can you sustain the hours, are you hungry enough to chase sales, etc.). They will also take into account career track record - have you progresed at a "high performer" rate over the last 25 years, etc.In summary, a move into consulting/contracting is possible, and if you're prepared to go solo then your own willingness is the only barrier to entry. For a career in a consultancy firm, there may be some tough questions to answer - both for recruiters (why do you want to move now; are you just going through a mid-life crisis) and yourself (are you prepared to take a step back in seniority).Whilst I have no doubt that consultancy is a fantastic, rewarding and highly valuable career, you should consider talking to a career coach about exactly what kind of challenges you're looking for, and what your options are in your current organisation / elsewhere in industry.
