Changing Careers at 55
Jim decided the time was right to sell his company. His wife's illness forced him to take extended time away from the office. Jim's consulting agreement with new owners would run out in about six months. He had started his own company while in college and had never worked for anyone else. How was he going to do it? What was he going to do?
Jim's dilemma is not uncommon. Those of us, who have reached our 50s, know from personal experience or the experience of someone close to us that life has a way of changing our priorities. Sometimes others make the decisions that force us to look for work. For many of us our jobs and our skills became obsolete while we were busy being loyal to our employer and preoccupied with raising our families.
Since 1985, when I began working with "outplaced" middle and senior managers, I have had the privilege of witnessing effective and drastic career changes as well as ineffective and depressing failures. I have also seen new careers emerge and time-honored callings disappear from the job market. Very few of us can escape these changes and they require that we incorporate a few basic career management strategies into our life plans.
Expect and plan for your transition. Most of us will make a big transition sometime between age 40 and age 60. Jim was effective because he had the financial and relational resources to support his transition. He made the life-style adjustments and budgeted enough money to provide for his family while doing part-time consulting as he explored his options, developed additional skills and necessary certifications, and looked for work.
Narrow down your options. Many people are afraid that by focusing, they will miss out on something. However, it is more likely that without a focus, you won't find anything worthwhile. That focus is not on a particular job in a particular company, but determine what kind of jobs and employment situations fit the following criteria: your marketable skills, your learning style and strengths, your motivational interests, the best environmental fit for your personality, and your weaknesses.
Coming to grips with any weakness is as important as knowing your strengths. Dave's most important weakness did not manifest itself until he moved from a vice president position with a large multi-location organization to the presidency of a small manufacturing company in Wisconsin. He had been on a fast track and had great references going into his new job. But he bombed here in Madison. He couldn't develop relationships fast enough with people at all levels in the organization. He didn't have the expert advisors to participate with him in fact-finding and implementation that he enjoyed formerly. Had he understood the keys to his success before he made his move, he probably would have chosen to go to a company where he knew some of the players and most of the people he dealt with were professional managers. Unless you clearly understand the keys to your previous success, they can undermine your transition process.
Find your niche before you go back to school. The most valuable education may not culminate in another degree but might be mastering the use of a piece of equipment or software. Commit first to working with a qualified career professional who can assess your strengths and help you clarify your options. This is a process that usually starts with tests that help you understand your natural talents, motivations and personality strengths. Your best bet is to use a comprehensive assessment like the Career Coach, the IDAK Career Match or the new Career Coach. The most important information these tools give you is the description of the activities that you should be doing on the job, the environments that will stimulate you and an understanding of how you will want to interact with others.
Traditional assessment tools like the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory and the Strong Interest Inventory tend to feed back to you what you already know about yourself and require a lot of interpretation to be of value to experienced workers. Most people focus on the assessment's job list and have trouble remembering the bigger picture unless the written interpretation really emphasizes it.
The list of jobs most assessments draw from is limited to approximately 200 of the most popular – many of which the mature worker has already considered. Also the jobs in many assessments are dated or too generalized to be of value to you. The Career Coach, being validated for release this fall, will include the emerging fields, including biometrics and Internet jobs. The IDAK Career Coach is another assessment designed for the over 35 career changer with a focus on core job duties, using job titles and organization types to illustrate how the information can be applied.
After you have developed a thorough and up-to-date self-understanding, tap the information resources of the people you know. As an introvert, Jim hated the idea of "networking". He thought it meant asking strangers for help with his job search. He learned, instead, that by talking to people he already knew, he could find out about how companies all over town used people with his skill set. He could learn what they were like to work for, what challenges they were facing, and who the decision-makers were. He was not going to ask them to help him figure out his direction. He was not going to ask their opinion on whether a job would be right for him or what he should change about his resume. He already had those bases covered. He was going to ask them about things that they really were experts on – their world. He is now working as a full-time consultant for one of those companies where a friend introduced him to the CEO.
Finally, don't depend on a third party to find the job for you. Third parties can be employment agencies, search firms ("head-hunters") and college placement offices or even your networking contacts. Some career consulting firms even give the impression that for a fee they will unlock the "hidden job market" and let you peek into their secret store of job leads. You will find yourself in the library, on the Internet and talking to your friends like everyone else – but much poorer. Search firms and agencies are paid by their client companies to look for people who are very close fits to the job specifications. They don't market to their clients unless you match. If you fit candidate profile that a search firm is looking for, you will hear from them. Otherwise, you are on your own.
You will find your niche as you develop contact with your prospective bosses at the companies that your research and your contact network point to as good matches for your skills, personality, motivations, and salary history. Those who gave this transition their full attention have told me over and over how they had their choice of opportunities when "the time was right."
