Posts

#CareerAdvice : #CareerChange -How to Change Careers at 40 & Over. Great REad!

/in /by

IN MANY SPORTS, halftime is when the coach changes up the strategy and can redefine success for the rest of the game. Positions are adjusted and players are swapped. The team that takes the field or court in the second half often has a completely different approach to the game in terms of pace, priorities and tactics.

The age of 40 is a similar waypoint for when people reconsider their career and whether they are in the right position or even the right sport. Following seven steps will guide a job seeker through the unique journey of making a major career change at 40 and older.

Understand Yourself

Philosophical wisdom usually starts with an exhortation to know oneself. After all, if you don’t know yourself, who does? What motivates you? What are you good at? In what areas are you less skilled? Starting with a clear measure of who you are and where you fit in the world of work is critical to any job search but especially if you seek a change of function, industry or profession.

The good thing about being 40 is that you likely have about two decades of work experience and have both received feedback and contemplated your own successes and failures. Think about when you have felt the most competent. Was it when you “nailed” an oral presentation? Or was it when you closed a difficult sale, fixed a technical problem or when you helped a colleague with a social issue? Unlike a recent graduate who needs to speculate regarding her strengths and weaknesses, the 40-year-old should know them cold.

Like appraising a piece of art from a different vantage, it is important to look at one’s career from varying perspectives. Why did one assignment go well and another less so? If you can explain your value retrospectively with confidence, you have a much better chance of articulating the value prospectively into a new role or field.

The 40-something job seeker needs to work his or her plan even while remaining open to changing the self-awareness, goals and execution plan along the way

Determine Your Goal

Having decided on who you are, you must determine what you seek. Life and careers are full of tradeoffs. Are you willing to move? How much of a step back are you willing to endure to make a change? What do you really want to do? What function, industry, level and location do you seek?

The goal needs to be specific, measurable and actionable. “I want a better job” is not a helpful goal. “I want to make a move into sales management at a service-oriented company with revenue of more than $25 million on the West Coast of the U.S.” is clearer and more definable. The goal may change in focus and clarity throughout your career change journey, but the struggle for definition is at least half the battle.

Like this Article ?  Share It !You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing  Participates Worldwidein our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network:   www.linkedin.com/in/fscnetwork

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Sun-Consulting-LLC-Outplacement-Services/213542315355343?sk=wall

Twitter: Follow us @ firstsunllc

Question: Want the ‘the best/current articles/blogs on the web’ on Job Search, Resume, Advancing/Changing your Career, or simply Managing People?

Answer: Simply go to our FSC Career Blog below & type job search, resume, networking ) in Blog Search: https://www.firstsun.com/fsc-career-blog/

What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Continue of article:

Articulate Your Why and Why You

If you know yourself and what you seek, how will you communicate to others in such a way that they can inform, help and direct you? A clear and concise elevator pitch is a key tool in learning how to present yourself and tell your story for opportunity. Tie the past to the future through the mechanism of your self-understanding and future goal.

“I have enjoyed good success as a salesperson and as a sales manager. When I think back on the first half of my career, I have noticed that my biggest impact was in the analytical support of my clients and teams. It turns out that I am very good at quantitative and qualitative analysis. It is the reason why I want to shift my career into a financial analyst role.”

Note the use of the personal narrative and career search goal as a bridge from the past to the future.

Assess Your Resources

Once your intellectual house is in order, you must turn to the practical aspects of executing your plan. Start with a candid assessment of your resources. These are your financial, social and intellectual capital. Financial resources include money and investments on hand, of course, but also an inventory of obligations. A single parent with limited means who is also supporting an elderly parent, for example, may not have the same risk tolerance as someone in different circumstances.

Social capital includes your contacts database but also your friends and family who can support or provide friction for your career change plan. Get the key people in your life on board with your plan by providing the same insight that you learned by articulating your “Why and Why You” statement.

Finally, take stock of your intellectual capital. Do you have the right degrees, certifications or licenses for the move? Not all fields require these designations, but you need a clear understanding of what might be required early in the process of making a career change.

Research and Network

Online and print research is a big part of executing a career change at any age but especially at 40 or older. Since you are selling wisdom and experience as a key part of your value offering, you must in fact be informed and knowledgeable. In addition to personal research, the best source of access to information, people and organizations is networking. Aggressive and focused networking is the most effective route to new opportunities. The good news is that these steps can be done before you leave your current position. Set a goal to meet two additional people each week for focused networking and be sure to offer assistance to others as you work toward your goal.

Take the Plunge – but Only After Reducing Your Risk

At a certain point, one must take the plunge. This does not mean hastily quitting a current job in order to dedicate oneself to a poorly conceived quixotic quest. It does mean breaking the cycle of procrastination that afflicts most people (when they are honest with themselves). A written plan with deadlines and goals will provide accountability and ensure that real progress is being made.

Rapidly Iterate and Repeat

Few startup companies stick with the same business model with which they launched. And so it is with a career switch job search. The six steps above are a process that may be repeated multiple times throughout a career. What you want and how you conceive your goal will likely change and adapt to real-world conditions and learning. For example, a social worker interested in getting into corporate sales might be surprised to learn that there are selling opportunities in the nonprofit world that may not require as radical an industry change as previously thought to gain access.

The 40-something job seeker needs to work his or her plan even while remaining open to changing the self-awareness, goals and execution plan along the way.

Career change is challenging at any age, but the 40-or-older job seeker has the advantage of greater resources, wisdom and insight than her younger colleague. Midlife career change is possible and likely when the candidate follows these seven steps and comes back after halftime ready to win.

Author: Peter A. Gudmundsson, Contributor

Peter A. Gudmundsson has written for U.S. News and World Report since 2015. He is the CEO of Th…  READ MORE

 

USNews.com |  July 26, 2019

#Leadership : #RecruitingTalent -Why #OlderWorkers are the Economy’s Hidden Asset. #AgeDiscrimination is real, and a #JobLoss around age 60 can Force #EarlyRetirement.

/in /by

The association of old age with inevitable decline runs deep. To carry on with work–or indeed with anything more demanding than afternoon lectures, a movie, and an early dinner–during the traditional retirement years seems cute at best and depressing at worst.

Economist John Kenneth Galbraith called these common reactions–surprise laced with condescending admiration or misplaced concern–the “Still Syndrome.” It’s the “young” asking questions like, ‘Are you still well?’ ‘Are you still working?’ ‘I see that you are still taking exercise.’ ‘Still having a drink?’ As a compulsive writer, I am subject to my own special assault, ‘I see you are still writing.’ ‘Your writing still seems pretty good to me.’ The most dramatic general expression came from a friend I hadn’t seen for some years: ‘I can hardly believe you’re still alive!’”

No one would think “decline” on meeting Luanne Mullin, age 71. Mullin has assembled a portfolio of activities in recent years, some paying gigs and others volunteer jobs. “Life is full,” she says, laughing. That’s an understatement. Among her jobs with incomes are project manager for a nonprofit organization in Marin County, California, that focuses on older adults and the disabled; her own coaching business and workshops; and acting gigs in the backgrounds of television and movies. Mullin has a portfolio of volunteer ventures, too. She’s a volunteer leader for the mature student organization at the College of Marin, focusing on lifelong learning. She helps produce a local documentary film series. She organizes salons bringing people together to discuss critical topics.

Mullin has plenty of company in her entrepreneurial quest. The demographics of aging ranks as one of the most significant long-term forces shaping the U.S. economy and society, alongside globalization, automation, and climate change. The numbers are striking. The U.S. Census Bureau forecasts that those individuals 65 years and older will account for more than 21 percent of the U.S. population–about 73 million–in 2030. Older Americans are also living longer, on average. Life expectancy for people reaching age 65 now averages 19.4 years. That’s up from 13.9 years in 1950.

OLDER WORKERS ARE STARTING MORE BUSINESSES

Older Americans are showing plenty of zest for life at work and at home. They aren’t doddering life away as antiquated stereotypes, and tasteless jokes suggest. The swelling numbers of Americans age 50 and older and their experiments in rethinking and reimagining the second half of life will have a profound impact on everyday life in America.

“In coming decades, many forces will shape our economy and our society, but in all likelihood, no single factor will have as pervasive an effect as the aging of our population,” said Ben Bernanke in a speech when he was still chair of the Federal Reserve Board. For instance, the future trajectory of housing markets, public transportation networks, and urban design will be shaped by growing numbers of mature adults. The global age-friendly city initiative is encouraging many urban communities to accommodate an aging population. Well-connected transportation networks of public transit, ride-sharing apps, and on-demand vans can ease trips among modern elders to work, the grocery store, restaurants, yoga studios, and medical appointments.

Like this Article ?  Share It !You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing  Participates Worldwidein our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network:   www.linkedin.com/in/fscnetwork

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Sun-Consulting-LLC-Outplacement-Services/213542315355343?sk=wall

Google+:  https://plus.google.com/115673713231115398101/posts?hl=en

Twitter: Follow us @ firstsunllc

Question: Want the ‘the best/current articles/blogs on the web’ on Job Search, Resume, Advancing/Changing your Career, or simply Managing People?

Answer: Simply go to our FSC Career Blog below & type(#career, #leadership, #life) in Blog Search:  https://www.firstsun.com/fsc-career-blog/

What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Continue of article:

An impressive body of scholarly research suggests that, given the opportunity, people in the second half of life can be as creative, innovative, and entrepreneurial as their younger peers, if not more so. Experienced adults are experimenting with different ways to stay attached to the economy, including self-employment, entrepreneurship, full-time jobs, part-time work, flexible employment, and encore careers. Here’s one indication of the embrace of work: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 1995 and 2016, the share of men ages 65 to 69 in the labor force rose from 28 percent to 38 percent. The comparable figures for women were 18 percent and 30 percent.

Here’s another critical number with a similar message: The 55-to-64-year-old age cohort accounted for 25.5 percent of new entrepreneurs in 2016, up from 14.8 percent in 1996, according to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the unincorporated and incorporated self-employment rate among workers age 65 and older was the highest of any age group. The 65-plus rate of self-employment was more than triple the unincorporated rate and five times the incorporated rate of the 25-to-34-year-old age group. Put it this way: The 50-plus population will start more businesses in the years ahead than any other demographic.

WHAT OLDER WORKERS CAN BRING TO THE WORKFORCE

Here is a big, grassroots idea that is already making its presence felt: Experienced workers and 50-plus entrepreneurs rethinking and reimagining the second half of life. A new era of broad-based prosperity is within our grasp. Older adults are in the vanguard of inclusiveness by breaking down barriers to staying employed. The fight for purpose and a paycheck is a battle for respect and recognition.

“Perhaps the greatest opportunity of the twenty-first century is to envision and create a society that nurtures longer lives not only for the sake of the older generation, but also for the benefit of all age groups–what I call the Third Demographic Dividend,” writes Linda Fried, dean of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. “To get there requires a collective grand act of imagination to create a vision for the potential of longer lives.” Fried is spot on.

Older adults are already exercising their imagination as productive workers and motivated volunteers and engaged entrepreneurs. They’re battling against age discrimination, taking actions to remove pernicious stereotypes holding down experienced workers. Older Americans represent an enormous market for goods, services, and experiences. Many of those products and services will be built and designed by older adults with a flair for understanding the 50-plus market. The widely touted innovative benefits of employing a diverse workforce include tapping into the insights of older workers.

Several factors are coming together and reinforcing one another, bringing new ideas and different expectations about the second half of life from society’s fringes to the mainstream. Boomers are better educated than previous generations. They’re also healthier, with a sixty-five-year-old today having the same risk of mortality or serious illness as those in their mid-50s a generation ago.

The most under-appreciated aspect of work may well be that it’s a social activity. Colleagues care if you show up. Work offers the possibility of creativity and purpose, a reason to get up in the morning, an opportunity to tap into skills and knowledge developed over the years. Work helps people stay physically fit and mentally active. Social connections are one of the best contributors to meaningful longevity and, for many older adults, the community in which they spend the most time is the workplace. Employers are finally looking at experienced workers with greater appreciation.

A big reason behind the change in employer attitudes is the relatively tight labor market of recent years. Employers continuously complain they can’t find the qualified labor they need. I’ve never found the lament particularly convincing. It seems many experienced workers could do the job, given the chance and perhaps with some training. But executives seemed blind to the opportunity experienced workers offered–until now. Management teams are finally learning they can’t afford to ignore experience.

Age discrimination is real, and a job loss around age 60 can force early retirement. The business cycle hasn’t been tamed, and more recessions lie in our future. The timing of the next downturn is uncertain. But it’s a safe bet that the unemployment rate will climb higher at some point, including for experienced workers in the second half of life.

That said, there is no going back. America has passed a significant inflection point when it comes to experienced workers and mature entrepreneurs creating a more welcoming economy and labor market. Experienced workers are no longer obsolete. They’re a valuable asset–productive and creative–with older entrepreneurs in the vanguard.

This article is adapted from Purpose and a Paycheck: Finding Meaning, Money, and Happiness in the Second Half of Life by Chris Farrell. It is reprinted with permission from HarperCollins Leadership. 

 

FastCompany.com | February 23, 2019 | BY CHRIS FARRELL 6 MINUTE READ

[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]