Cummings - How to find a job after 50: from part-time to full-time, from career moves to new careers

Copyright 2005 by Betsy Cummings

All rights reserved.

Warner Books

Hachette Book Group

237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Visit our website at www.HachetteBookGroup.com.

The Warner Business Books logo is a trademark of Warner Books.

First eBook Edition: October 2005

ISBN: 978-0-446-56143-3

Trying to Reinvent Your Career After 50? Hoping to Find the Answer? Why Settle for Just One?

There is no one right path to HOW TO FIND A JOB AFTER 50. In these pages youll be introduced to a wide range of creative solutions that have worked for other mature job seekers from all walks of life. Find out how:

• After she lost her job, Nona S., fifty, a former news producer and charity celebrity recruiter, overcame the stigma of being overqualified and volunteered her way into multiple full-time offers.
• An interim executive placement worked for Stephen F., fifty-nine, who wanted to return to his longtime career in academia and enjoy professional payoff without the office headaches.
• A broken ankle and free small-business classes inspired Marianne D. to give up her twenty-five-year accounting career and follow her dream of opening a quilt shop.
• In middle age, a former Seaworld marketing exec and father of six uncovered a hidden artistic talent and turned the nightmare of an unexpected layoff into a $4-million-a-year business.
• Gerry B., fifty-three, negotiated early retirement and walked away from a fifteen-year stint as an HR executive to forge a career that would bring him closer to home and improve his quality of life.
• Stay-at-home mom Sharai R. employed a step-by-step approachfrom college classes to volunteering to part-time workto successfully reenter the workforce after a twenty-year absence.

How to Find a Job After 50

J ust like finding a dream job, writing a book takes any number of interviews, as well as an enormous amount of effort and assistance, from folks without whose help this book would not have been possible.

Id like to thank my editor Rick Wolff at Warner Books, who so generously gave me the opportunity to write about such a compelling topic, one that is rapidly becoming a point of focus for one of Americas largest populations. He helped define more clearly the content of this book, and with his guidance the final product has evolved into a rich resource for mature job seekers.

Thanks to Melinda Ligos for her tireless support and encouragement during the relentless race that was this book. As much as an editor, every writer needs a mentor, a role Melinda has served for me for many years.

Jeri Sedlar provided invaluable insights into the baby boomer generation as well as an impressive understanding of whats at stake in the job market for Americans over fifty. A huge thank-you to Nancy Thompson and Deborah Russell at AARP, and Colin Milner at the International Council on Active Aging, who provided countless studies, data, and reports that helped build a statistical foundation for a good deal of the books research.

Eric Kingson, a professor of social work and public administration at Syracuse University, has been helpful on a number of work-related pieces Ive researched in addition to this book. He always provides sound insight and discussion on the topic of older workers.

The online job site Monster.com provided much-needed job-hunting and rsum-rewriting tips for which I am grateful. A special thanks to Monster founder and chairman Jeff Taylor for hisas usualcandid remarks about the state of Americas job market and outlook on the future of work in this country. Such forthcoming, honest dialogue can be a rare find for reporters. Jeff is always a rich resource in that regard.

A tremendous thank-you to John Berry, who listened more than anyone while this book was being written. He provided more support than I ever imagined one person could offer.

Finally, Id like to thank the countless individuals fifty and over who so readily shared their stories of struggle and success in rich detail so that readers could be moved to find the job that most inspires them. Their stories prove that theres a dream job for every older workerand that its entirely possible to find it.

The Fifty-Year-Old Wake-Up Call

I n the past year, more than five hundred thousand Americans began their workday gainfully employed and walked out at the end of the day without a job. Fired, laid off, forced out as the victim of a company closure, or otherwise shown the door, millions of workers, plenty of them over the age of fifty, were suddenly forced to reenter the job search market, something many hadnt faced for years, some not for decades.

Others simply walked out on their own, uninspired by what they do, desperate to escape the restrictions of tight management, or anxious to find a new career pathor at least a job that will offer them a different professional role or challenge.

Regardless of how they got there, embarking on a job hunt can be daunting and, for those ill prepared, a quick lesson in humility, frustration, or despair. Never an easy proposition, finding a job after the age of fifty can be disheartening for some and overwhelming, even terrifying for others. Rsums not looked at in years may need to be completely reworked. Interviewing skills have likely all but dried up. Networkingprobably the most feared professional task next to public speakingis something few job seekers are willing to embrace.

Whats more, if you havent traveled the job-hunting circuit in recent years, you may not be aware of the many resources that have sprung up out there in the last year or two alone. Classified advertising certainly still exists. And it shouldnt be knockedpeople land jobs every day by scanning the listings in their local newspaper. But where job seekers might once have been able to rely on that historically reliable source alone, now its just the tip of the job-hunting icebergand barely that. Classifieds can be the last spot a company places a listing for a position, especially if the job is in a niche industry where online job boards focused on a particular skill or area of expertise may more effectively target the talent that a company is seeking.

The good news, however, is that older workers do have a vast, rich pool of resources they may not have been aware of, may have taken for granted, or may simply have overlooked. And that pertains to far more than just job postings. Longtime employment in a particular industry provides reams of contacts for job seekers, but many applicants dont immediately consider that option when they start looking for work. Industry groups can help out-of-work job hunters realize what areas of an industry might be easiest to tap for job openings. Association memberships throughout the years can now pay off in contacts and job leads.

The best tactic for mature job seekers? Stop before you panic, and consider all the contacts, resources, and avenues of exploration your career has built to date. Those who do are usually pleasantly surprised with not only the options they have but also the opportunities they never imagined lay ahead.

To be certain, the workplace after fifty is a rich terrain. For all its uncertaintycareers winding down, retirement looming, a younger generation itching to fill spots soon to be vacated by older workersthe opportunity for professional growth has never been more robust for Americans over fifty than it is today. And for good reason. People now are living on average thirty years longer, says Jeri Sedlar, a retirement expert and co-author of Dont Retire, Rewire!,