It is no secret that we are in TOUGH economic times. The daily news is full of layoffs and bankruptcies… If you are in the earlier part of your career, the long term prospects are great. For the 20 and 30 year olds, there will be a lot of opportunity in industries that are going to see massive retirements from the so called Boomer generation. Plus, this younger generation has an advantage in the career fields that have not even been invented yet but will be flourishing in 10 or 20 years.
The problem is what if you are toward the end of your career? What if you are in your late 40’s or older and you are hoping to only have another 20 years of your work life? In the seminars and career coaching that I do, I am seeing a rising trend…
Imagine being in this situation…There is a person in their 50’s, they have had very good jobs, often making high $100k or $200k per year. They have worked in one field or industry their whole career and now their career is in trouble. Maybe their company is going under or the industry is changing drastically or they are downsized because they can be replaced by multiple people for cheaper salaries. In addition, their 401k’s and retirement plans are in deep trouble and they may not have time before they retire for these investments to come back to their full value. The house that they had been planning to sell when they retire to Florida is now worth a LOT LESS, if they can even sell it.
So, at the very worst time, they are now looking at doing a job search. They may even have to change fields, and they are almost assured of not making what they were making before in salary. This is a pretty bleak and common scenario right now… is there any hope? What should this person do to get a career solution?
YES there is HOPE!!
Let’s look at why your employer was paying you the big bucks before you were or are about to be downsized. There are at least three things that made your employer pay you a salary that probably could have paid 2 or 3 recent college graduates…
1. Experience — You have gained valuable knowledge and expertise over the years of doing your job and these can only be learned by putting in the time. There is only so much that can be learned in school or by books, and then there is a whole field of knowledge and effectiveness that can only be learned on the job. People skills is a big one. There are certain techniques to leadership and management that can only be mastered on the front lines and in the trenches.
2. Wisdom — This flows out of experience. But not everyone who has worked for a long time, has wisdom. That is why two people can work in the same career for the same amount of time and one ends up making superb salary and the other one makes very average salary. Turning knowledge into wisdom is a skill that can be learned and mastered. Often wisdom seems to be cloaked as common sense. When I have had to deal with employees in my business, the one glaring weakness I see is a real lack of plain old fashion common sense!
3. Contacts — This is where you stand out! You have developed a network of associates and vendors and relationships that can not be replaced over night. It takes time to build trust and a reputation and this is an extremely valuable commodity for you and the companies you work for.
The person we have been describing above has three options….
1. Get a new job…. this is obvious, but as you are doing your job search, keep in mind the three points we just mentioned. Your resume and your interviews should include these three things…. Let your potential employer know that your experience, wisdom and contacts set you apart from other job seekers. Also, you need to focus your resume on Profit Skills… this is a crucial concept we will discuss later.
2. Start your own Freedom Business — This is a term we use to describe a small, flexible business designed to meet different career needs. All of the skills we just mentioned…experience, wisdom, contacts… are crucial to running your own business. We have worked with clients that have actually left their jobs and began freelancing and were hired back by their previous employers in a consulting role.
3. Hybrid Career– Like the name implies, this is half job and half self employed. There are a lot of creative scenarios that a person can create to help solve a career problem. You can work a job and have a part time business on the side. You can do freelance or project work for several different companies. You can become entrepreneurial inside your company.
For many people in their 50’s it may be difficult to find a new job that is desirable. But if you remember that you are valuable in the marketplace because of your experience, wisdom and contacts, then you can come up with some creative solutions where you have some of the security of a job and some of the freedom of working for yourself.