Do you have a career identity crisis?

By Marcia LaReau

Today, entire industries are collapsing at record speed. Trusted skill sets have become obsolete and new skills are in demand. In the midst of this unparalleled scope and speed of change, our future rests in our ability to sustain a credible career identity that is flexible, adaptable and embraces an inclusive, multi-cultural and global awareness.

How many times can one person experience an identity crisis?

Yes, that’s right…there have been several. When I finished high school I knew that I would major in music. There was no question in my mind that I was a headed for a music career. After college, I landed a job teaching at a state university and for over 15 years worked my way up through the ranks. Then came the first identity crisis—the “all too real” glass ceiling.

Over time I retooled my skills and conducted a semi-professional orchestra. My job was unexpectedly terminated— identity crisis Number 2. I went back to school for a performance degree and studied with a world-class conductor and pedagogue. After graduation while applying for new positions— 9/11. My entire industry took a hit***—identity crisis Number 3. I had to scramble.

I landed a corporate position as a Quality Control Analyst, then as a Training Director, but I was laid off after 15 months. With the help of some excellent career coaching I reinvented myself as a project manager and after 8 months re-entered the corporate landscape. Did you catch identity crisis Number 4?

Five years later, after I had transitioned to Human Resources, most of my division was laid off and the human resource labor pool hit market saturation. Meet identity crisis Number 5. I started my own business a year later in 2007. This is the sixth year of operations and I realize I’m going to make it.

As odd as it seems, I have already planned my next career identity and hope to achieve it within seven years. I’m no longer a victim. I’ve taken charge.





What is Career Identity?

My definition:

Career identity is the distinction given to ourselves or by an outside entity that defines the nature of the value that we bring to the work place. For example, Project Manager, Receptionist, Customer Service Representative, and Curriculum Designer.

Are people simply ambivalent about their careers?

Dr. Judith Sherven, PhD (who has over 6,400 followers on LinkedIn!), wrote the article: Why People Are So Afraid to Own Their Careers.

The primary reasons people gave were:

• Self-promotion is uncomfortable, 
• Office politics are “demeaning” and, 
• Reducing one’s career to a 90 second elevator speech is unreasonable and they didn’t know where to start. 

All these reasons are truly valid and they are all personal. The career crises in my career were a combination of individual crises and global and systemic changes that were completely out of my ability to influence.

NOTE: Dr. Sherven gives excellent tips on how to mentally process the primary reasons people gave for their personal career identity. She also brings action steps to manage those challenges. If you relate, please read the article.

New causes of a career identity crisis:

There are probably as many reasons for a career identity crisis as there are people who have experienced them. With the speed of change that is affecting commerce, I believe there are critical components that factors into the equation. Failure to do so is to be left on the side of the road.

The Great Recession, new advancements in technology, and demographic changes in our labor pool have, in my opinion, brought about identity crises for segments of the working population.

Here are a few examples:

• In the U.S. in 2012, college grads faced a combined unemployment and underemployment rate of 52 percent. This is partially a result of the high number of Millennials entering the workforce. 

• Tablets and other technologies have brought changes to the printing industry, especially newsprint. 

• Global communications have, in part, laid the foundation for countless technology jobs to migrate offshore to India and beyond. 

• With the emergence of social media, the marketing industry has changed dramatically and new skill sets have emerged as the former trusted skillsets have become obsolete.

• These and other change-agents have brought to the fore, the need to hone the skills to be able to change career identities throughout our work-life.

Gone are the days of the gold watch!

That’s right. There was a time when a person started their career with one specific job. Perhaps they processed orders, sold products, or analyzed business needs. They expected to stay with “their” company for the duration of their career. They looked forward, “with great pride” to the day they received a gold watch.

Not anymore.

Today, we are expected to change jobs every three or four years. The very work we perform at the workplace will not likely be there in four years (so thirty-five years…?). And finally, the gold watch. It too has become a relic.

Tips on creating your career identity:

Whether you are a recent graduate trying to establish your career identity, or you already have career experience:

• Be selective in your networking activities so there is time to establish real relationships and genuinely demonstrate your value to select members in your network. Choose carefully. 

• Routinely and intentionally find people that you respect and can serve as accountability partners. These are people you get to know well and connect with on a regular basis. Choose thoughtfully.

• Identify quality leaders and visionaries in your industry and follow them. Choose broadly. When an opportunity arises to connect with them, do so. 

• Especially if you are in your early career, find mentors who will challenge you and champion you on your career path. Choose wisely. 

• If you are in your mid or late career, select and mentor individuals who are finding their way. Choose liberally. 

• Make a commitment to your industry, to be informed and aware of the factors that may cause a change in direction. 

• Remain flexible, keep a global perspective, and be willing to embrace new cultures and new technologies. 

A four and eight year plan:

1. Think about the kind of positions or roles you would like to fill in eight years. 
2. Ask, “What kind of people are selected for these positions?” These become your target positions in four years. (Search for job postings and check out the Requirements to find the needed skills, experience, and training.) 
3. Now ask what kind of position you need now to be ready for the next step in four years. 
4. These are the positions you should apply for now. 
5. Once you land a job, watch for changes in your industry and adjust your four and eight year goals to change with the future forecast. 

*** Since 9/11 an orchestra has closed its doors every week. That’s approximately 630 orchestras.

Called a Creative Thinker, Career Futurist, and a person of unusual solution, Marcia LaReau founded Forward Motion, LLC in 2007. Since that time, she has become a recognized leader in the employment industry, and Forward Motion has spread across the United States and abroad to help jobseekers find jobs that fit.

Website: http://forwardmotioncareers.com/
Blog: http://forwardmotioncareers.com/category/blog/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ForwardMotionUS

How to never lose your job (a reprise)

By Neil Patrick

In January 2009, Grant Cardone put up an article in the Huffington Post with this title.

To put that date in perspective, this was about one year after the start of the global financial crisis and 8 months after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

I agree with some of his observations, but we now have the benefit of hindsight on events which have seen the unfolding of the worst financial and economic crisis since the 1930’s.

And this has shown that Grant’s viewpoint fell way short of the mark. Even in 2009, it should have been apparent that we were dealing with something other than a cyclical recession. We were (and are still) dealing with a systemic collapse.

So let’s take a look at what he proposed. He said:

There are two groups of people that will never be without work;

1) those working for companies and in industries that are selling enough product to keep them profitable.

2) Those people within those companies that contribute to the selling, yes the selling, of the products and services of that company.

Those that are able to drive revenue through the selling of the products and services of the company are the most needed and valuable people in that company. Warning: Assist the company you work for in bringing in revenue (selling products and services) or you are at risk of losing your job!

Fair enough, but to say such people will never be without a job is a massive over-generalization. And he hinted at this when he continued:

The question is, who will lose their jobs and who will not? If you notice the people that are losing their jobs today are attached to companies that are failing! Note - if the company doesn't do well, make profits, jobs are lost! (my emphasis). The next level will not be from failing companies but from those companies that don't want to fail! (sorry Grant, but I never came across any company that wanted to fail).

What he missed was the fact that (and I don’t care about the labels that economists apply here) we are not dealing with a recession, when everything gets tough for a while and then bounces back. In a recession, companies make less profit and have to scale back some of their expenditure, whilst trying to lift revenue.

Today is different. We are dealing with a systemic collapse. And in a systemic collapse, companies don’t just struggle, they die. In large numbers. And people's jobs die with them.

And whilst companies are failing every day, that’s a symptom not the cause of the problem. The root of the problem is massive over borrowing by western governments. Plus endless QE programmes by central banks that continue to deflate the value of our wealth and earnings. Plus much needed, but unaffordable healthcare programmes. Plus an ageing population. Plus soaring food and utility costs. Plus rising house prices at least in some regions thanks to misguided government interventions (yes, that’s you David Cameron).

Compared to this, the problems faced by businesses are miniscule.

The massive and naive gamble of western governments is that while contracting government spending, they can simultaneously boost the growth of private sector businesses. And it’s just not happening. Because governments are useless at this. They launch expensive initiative after expensive initiative. Every one sounds great with all the spin at launch. And then a year or two later they are quietly shelved when surprise, surprise they didn’t work.

So we are trapped in a Catch 22.

Western governments cannot spend their way out of recession. Their currencies are losing value and their assets are dwindling whilst expenditures continue to soar. Government bonds (misleadingly also called gilts) are showing diminishing yields as investors place less and less faith in the security of such instruments.

You only have to look at the situation faced by Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain to see what happens when a government’s borrowing options dry up.

But back to Grant:

Those that will never lose their jobs are those that go beyond the normal expected responsibilities and the duties of their post. Those that creatively extend themselves and take responsibility for assisting the company in revenue creation will never be let go. The job of selling the products and services of the company you work, will no longer be left to the sales force but become the responsibility of everyone that desires to continue to work for that company.

Sorry Grant, this may be true in a recession, but it’s just wishful thinking in a systemic collapse. It is of course also completely irrelevant if you work in the public sector where revenue generation is completely disconnected from the success or otherwise of your employer.

What happened to all those top selling people at Lehmans, at Bear Sterns, at MF Global, at Northern Rock? That’s right they lost their jobs with everyone else. And the subsequent devastation of the whole financial sector meant that only a minority could expect to find another similar job with another employer. And if you think that banking is not typical of the world of real jobs, what about all those folk employed by Detroit City who lost their jobs and/or pension rights? What about all those staff at Woolworths, Borders, Aquascutum, Comet and countless other retailers that have gone bankrupt?

So if no-one’s employment can be assured anymore, what are we to do?

The first fact to get a grip on is that there is no such thing as a secure job anymore. It makes not a bit of difference how good you are or how hard you work, your future is never assured. So despite Grant’s opinion, my belief is that not even the best sales people in the world can count on anything anymore.

Second, if you accept this first fact, you need to be preparing right now for the day when you lose your job. That means getting your borrowings down as much as you can and building enough reserves to ensure you can survive for at least 6-12 months with no income. At least then you are giving yourself enough time to hopefully find another job somehow.

But what is a job? Essentially it’s the means by which you earn the money to live and hopefully enjoy your life. And being employed by an organisation is only one of the ways you can do this. The numbers of entrepreneurs in their middle and later years are soaring right now. And whilst many report that they don’t earn as much as they used to, almost all report that they are happier and more fulfilled than when they had a ‘normal’ job.

All this means preparing yourself for the possibility especially if you are over 50 years old that you may never get another job again. But that’s not necessarily as catastrophic as it sounds. It might just be the greatest opportunity of your life. And this is how you can make sure you never lose your job, because you will own your job and your vision for your life goals. Not someone else’s. But you should be thinking about it right now and doing what you can to start developing your ideas and plans, because when the hammer falls, your clock will be ticking…

The value of blogging and my favourite Twitter people in the world!

By Neil Patrick

Happy birthday to US!

I am writing this at the first anniversary of starting this blog.

I thought that it would be useful to share what I've discovered so that you can see for yourself what anyone could achieve in 12 months starting from scratch. I have absolutely nothing to brag about, but strangely few bloggers seem willing to share this stuff. Many people extol the benefits of blogging, but few talk about the numbers side of it. So, I thought it might be helpful to share my data and experience for anyone who is curious about the potential that blogs and social media offer for mature professionals.

Why did I do this?

I put up my first post here on 24 September 2012. I was a total rookie and had never blogged before. My blog posts came from three sources. About one third were written by guest posters, a further third were curated from mainstream and online media and all the rest I wrote myself. Since my first post, I have followed up with 263 more. That’s quite a lot compared to most bloggers it seems, but I am in a hurry; I’m driven by two main motivations:

1. A desire to urgently inform mature professionals about how the career world has transformed without many of them really noticing and what they could do about it to protect their futures. 
2. An intense curiosity to discover for myself if and how I could harness the power of social media to assist me achieve 1. above. 

What happened?

Well it’s now one year on and I have some answers.

I’ll start by sharing some headline numbers.

Total all-time hits on this blog are around 60,000 according to Blogger. Monthly hits on this blog are currently around 10,000. However, the biggest chunk (around 70%) of these ‘hits’ are not in fact reader views, they are hits by various ‘bots’ from Google, Twitter, Kred, Klout etc. The ‘real’ figures according to Google Analytics are currently around 2,500 - 3,000 human visits a month. Big difference huh? So the first point is do not trust the numbers of hits that are recorded by Blogger or Wordpress etc. Most of these are not human reader views.

At the same time I set up the blog, I also set up a Twitter account to support it and get the message out to anyone who might be interested in what I was doing. Currently, my Twitter following is around 6,200 followers. So on average, I'm getting roughly one blog view every two months per Twitter follower.

According to Beevolve, the average Twitter following is 208. So if you have more than that, you can give yourself a pat on the back! Interestingly, less than 0.5% of Twitter users have more than 5,000 followers. 

You can see these stats and more here:

http://www.beevolve.com/twitter-statistics/

According to statisticbrain, there were 554m Twitter users in July 2013, so the top 0.5% of Twitter users ranked by following is a whopping 2.8m people! Suddenly being in the top 0.5% doesn’t sound too impressive, but given this is hardly the sexiest or most entertaining blog in the world I’m totally amazed to have got so far so fast.

http://www.statisticbrain.com/twitter-statistics/

But the numbers alone don’t really tell the whole story. I am not chasing numbers for numbers’ sake. I think engagement is much more important. What’s the point of having hundreds of thousands or even millions of social media connections if you are not interacting with them?

This is where Klout and Kred come in. These both purport to measure online influence. My Klout score has reached 61 out of 100 and my Kred score is 785 out of 1000 for influence and 8 out of 12 for outreach. Before I started this blog, these were both zero or as close as makes no difference. If you want to know more about Kred and Klout and what they mean, I have written a post about it here:

http://40pluscareerguru.blogspot.com/2013/04/klout-and-kred-are-they-relevant-to.html

And then there’s Linkedin. A year ago I had about 360 connections on Linkedin. Every single one was someone that I’d met at least once (and usually much more) face to face. People I’d worked with and done business with over the last 20 years or so. About six or seven of them had been kind enough to give me recommendations.

In all honesty, I used LinkedIn pretty much like many do…rather like a self-updating address book of all my real world business connections. And since I worked mostly inside that little bubble, my network was growing very slowly. I would receive about one invitation a month to connect if I was lucky…and most of these were from people I'd met face to face.

Fast forward to today. Every day now I get a new invitation to connect with someone new on Linkedin. Most days it’s several. And most of these are from the sort of people anyone would love to have in their network. Apart from creating lots of exciting new opportunities, this has also massively boosted my search ranking on Linkedin. Today if I search against the keywords for the type of work I do, I come out on page one of a Linkedin search within a radius of about 50 miles. This in turn means I am approached more and more frequently with great new opportunities. 

But numbers are not the most important thing…people are

But these numbers don’t reveal the reality of the situation. People and relationships are what this is all about, not statistics.

I want to share insights, information and knowledge that is relevant and that I hope will help people. I want to engage with people. I want to help them avoid the growing threats to their futures and achieve their goals.

Which brings me to what I think is the most incredible outcome of these last 12 months. It’s the sheer number and quality of people that who’ve chosen to connect with me with and who have responded positively to what I am doing.

They are as diverse as they are numerous. There are so many that I couldn’t possibly recount all the details of all the emails, DMs, tweets, phone calls, Skype and Google hangouts that have gone on. But I want here to publicly thank every single one of them that has inspired me, helped me, encouraged me, enlightened me and even just been nice to me.

Here they are. Every single one of these people is just wonderful and I have provided their Twitter handles too so if you wish, you can easily follow them on Twitter and engage with them yourself.

Awesome Recruiters:

Axel Koster @AxelKoster

Barbara Adams @CareerProGlobal

HRIS Jobs @hrisjobs

Ibro Palic @Ibro_Palic

Intellego Jobs @intellegojobs

Randstad USA @RandstadUSPros



Career and resume experts:

Debra Wheatman @DebraWheatman

Kerry Hannon @KerryHannon

Kim Marino @CareerCoachKim

Michelle Lopez @One2OneResumes

Tony Restell @tonyrestell



World class coaches:

Donna Svei @AvidCareerist

Fernado Ratkoczy @JobSearchCenter

Jacob Share @jacobshare

Jane Anderson @jane_anderson__



Awesome HR pros:

Anne Marinis @AnneMarinis

Jeremy Scrivens @JeremyScrivens

Karalyn Brown @InterviewIQ

Lisa Orrell @GenerationsGuru

Nicole Le Maire @NicoleLeMaire



Linkedin experts:

Koka Sexton @kokasexton

Stacy Donovan Zapar @StacyZapar



Great guest post writers:

Anna Pitts @annaepitts

Anthony Juliano @ajuliano

David Hunt @davidhuntpe

Jim Langendorf @jplang43

Ron Thomas @ronald_thomas



Brilliant bloggers:

Andrew Ginsburg @GinsburgJobs

David K Waltz @davidkwaltz

Deb Briceland-Betts @DBricelandBetts

Jason Poquette @jasonpoquette

Jesse Colombo @TheBubbleBubble

John Baldino @jbalive

Karen Austin @TheGenAboveMe

Leo Woodhead @thecareersblog

Marc Miller @CareerPivot

Marcia La Reau @ForwardMotionUS

Mary Eileen Williams @FeistySideFifty



The lifetime achievement award goes to:

Everald Compton @EVERALDATLARGE



Social media and tech experts:

The one and only…Gary Hyman! @GaryHyman



Special mention for support above and beyond the call of duty:

Yittah Lawrence @ITISAGR8DAY



And last but not least all these super kind people who have supported and encouraged me:

Abby Kohut @Absolutely_Abby

Angel Torres @angeltorres

Anke Gosch @ueberfliegernet

Anne Sachs @TheatreSmart

Anthony Sider @BudgetDude

Biggleswade JCP @BiggleswadeJCP

Buzz Brindle @BrindleMedia

Caroline Fabian @fabe_recruits

Corrina Wade @wade_corrina

Dave Kushan @DavidKushan

David Nicola @Capt_Careerist

Deepak Sharma @deepakmandi

Diana Schniedman @DianaSchneidman

Diane McWade @dianemcwade

Dionne Lew @DionneLew

Dr. Heather Dix @HeatherChizz

Elzbieta Jaworska @edjaworska

Fotis Tsoumanis @fotispersisting

Getrude Sawadye @getrudesawadye

Gul Nur Bilek @GulNurBilek

Hanna Hurley @hanna_hurley

Helen Fisher @HelenJFisher

Jacqueline Ktita @JacquelineKtita

Jeanette Barrowcliffe @J_Barrowcliffe

Jerome Holland @JeromeHolland1

John Hanna @johnhannagdp

John Siracusa @john_siracusa

Karen Julius @karenjulius

Karla Crawford @kklm7

Kimberlee Lockhart @Kimba_67

Les Floyd @Lesism

Luis Carlos de Paula @lcdepaula

Margie Miklas @MargieMiklas

Mark Affleck @markaffleck

Mark Seaden @MarkSeaden

Projectme @projectmeuk

Sonja Vukadin @SONJAVUKADIN

Steve Leuck @AudibleRx

Wayne Miller @Affilipede

William Carrington @ColCarrington 

I only knew just one of these brilliant people one year ago (yes that's you John!). Today I am proud and flattered to count every one of them as a valued friend and supporter. My sincere thanks and appreciation goes out to each and every one of you. You are all awesome!

Which brings me to the most important point of all. When I started out just one year ago, I had no idea of where I’d be today. I had no clue if anyone was interested in what I thought or had to say.

The last year has shown me that social media can help anyone not only get their message out, it can connect you with people that not only share your beliefs, but also who are willing to share their valuable time, which is why I wanted to express my gratitude in this way.

And that’s the whole point, none of us knows everything. We never can and we never will. But through teamwork and helping others before ourselves, it’s possible to achieve extraordinary things. And that’s the power of social media. Finding and connecting us with the people that share our beliefs and values so we can create amazing things together.

I’m not promising that I can solve everyone’s problems, although I’ll try to help wherever I can and payback all the people who have helped me on my journey. I started out with a very simple idea. I just thought that too many mature professionals were blind to the career revolution that has swept away almost everything that we all grew up believing about work and careers. And this was a big threat to them. And I hoped that my modest insights could help make peoples’ futures a bit more secure and successful.

My work is far from done. But thanks to all of you, my commitment and belief in my mission has been cemented and will drive us forward to…who knows where?

Thank you all and I am now wondering where things will be a year from now. Personally I can’t wait to find out!

Happy birthday to US!

Job-Hunting Tips For Mid-lifers You Haven't Seen A Million Times Before

By Ann Brenoff Senior Writer, The Huffington Post

A few years ago during a job interview, a young recruiter asked what I hoped to be doing in five years. I suppressed a guffaw. It's a question recruiters have been asking for decades with the goal of learning about an applicant's career ambitions. The fact that I was pushing 60 at the time was what made it funny to me.

In my head, I said "In five years I hope to be collecting Social Security and laying on a beach in Hawaii, you little Pipsqueak" but out of my mouth came something like "I want to be working in a vibrant newsroom like yours, teaching younger journalists how to maintain professional standards by my example."

Midlifers get lots of advice about how to compete with younger applicants on job interviews. I'd like to throw out a few tips of my own based on nothing but personal experience. I'd point out to skeptics that I landed a job here at Huffington Post and will share that I had other offers before taking this one.

1. Emphasize your experience -- and yes that means acknowledging your age.
Lots of people tell you to make your resume age-neutral, meaning remove the years you graduated school. To those people I have to ask: Really? You think I'm going to pass for someone right out of college?

I would respectfully suggest that instead you emphasize the skills you acquired because of your experience -- your wisdom about workplace dynamics, your maturity at dealing with conflict, your grace under pressure and track record of success.

2. For those who lost their last job in the recession and remain unemployed in the corporate world, add what you learned from that experience as well.
Unemployment is a humbling thing -- and something we can grow from. Talk about it bluntly, calmly, objectively. You were laid off because of a contraction in the economy, not because you weren't competent.

If you are still eating and sleeping under a roof, chances are you have strung together enough gigs to eek by. In today's parlance, that makes you an entrepreneur. At the very least it speaks to your determination to plow through adversity. I think it's fine to let recruiters know that you suffered some hard times but also that you are someone who gets down to business and gets the job done. Just say it all with a smile.

And if you were smart enough to get some retraining so that you have a skills set that matches up with today's jobs market, discuss that too. Not even Millennials were born knowing how to figure out Facebook's privacy settings. Someone taught them, just like someone taught you.

3. Learn today's lingo but be true to yourself.
If you want to be hired by that insanely awesome company, you need to be confident about your place in it. But be yourself. If they wanted another 20-something hipster for the job, you wouldn't be sitting in the room with the interviewer.

Don't dress like a college student and don't talk like one either. Be yourself.

4. Don't act like a parent.
Nobody wants to work with their mother. This one was the hardest thing for me during interviews. I'm outgoing and personable. It's a trait that made me a good journalist. I make people comfortable when we talk.

But I also nurture by nature. I notice things like the absence of a wedding band on the hand of a 30-something and have to bite my tongue. The point is, I bit my tongue. You are there to discuss a job, not offer personal life advice.

A friend relates the story of being interviewed by a 20-something for a job working on a large travel website. The interviewer actually remarked that my friend was older than his father. Instead of lecturing the interviewer on the inappropriateness of his comment, my friend turned it around and started talking about what he was doing when he was the interviewer's age -- which was traveling the world hitching rides on barges throughout Asia and eventually working in management on a cruise ship. The interviewer suddenly stopped seeing his father and began seeing a fantasy version of himself. My friend got the job.

5. Don't assume that you're the smartest guy in the room.
This is an attitude midlifers slip into sometimes on the basis that they worked at a job for more years than the interviewer was perhaps alive. Truth is, the workforce has changed. And the skills required to do our jobs -- all of our jobs -- are different now than they were 35 years ago. Instead of doing the "been there, done that" thing, accept that your younger colleagues in fact know more than you do about a lot of parts of how to do the job. Treat them as peers, respect their knowledge and share yours freely.

6. Address the stereotypes head on.
We all know what they say about us, that we are techno-illiterates and can't be taught new tricks. Navigating the online world isn't brain surgery. What I don't know about, I know how to find out. I don't think midlifers are techno-illiterates as much as it is that our lives aren't as techno-centric as the lives of Millennials.

A few months ago, an editor asked me if I had a "texting relationship" with a source. I admit I hadn't before heard the term. She meant, do I text with the woman? No, but I routinely call her. Texting relationships feel one step removed from phone calls, but offer the benefit of not disturbing the person if they are asleep. Note to editor: They also are easier to ignore. I called.

This post originally appeared here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ann-brenoff/job-hunting-tips_b_3361900.html

Don't Start a Job Hunt Until You Read This

By Gail McMeekin

I have been hearing unusual stories from clients who are job-hunting these days. So I decided to consult a few recruiters for a new perspective and their advice for gaining employment in today's world.

I first spoke with Jill Ikens, President of Atrium Staffing in Boston, which is a woman-owned staffing firm headquartered in New York City with multiple offices in New Jersey, San Francisco and Pittsburgh. She is seeing an uptick in new hires in Boston, especially in the fields of biotech, start-ups and new opportunities in human resources, especially on the benefits side, due to the constant and upcoming changes in health care laws. There is also a rising demand for human resource managers and generalists.

Jill finds that students who have worked their way through school and have solid work experience have a much better chance of finding work and are more marketable in employers' eyes. She worries that candidates often rush through their resumes without making it clear what they have to offer or taking the time to tell their personal work story. As a former teacher, Jill is often shocked by the spelling and grammar on the resumes she gets, which can ruin a candidate's chances for success. 

She advises candidates that it is imperative to do significant research on a company before an interview. Companies are looking to hire people who demonstrate uniqueness and creativity and can market themselves to match the company culture. She does see a trend towards video resumes in the future too. Jill also talked about the importance of good manners, such as hand writing notes to thank the interviewers, which job hunters may overlook.

Jill urges candidates to clean up their social media accounts of anything controversial and to be careful of what they are posting. She also recommends that job hunters complete their entire Linked In profile, including gathering excellent recommendations, as companies will be reviewing profiles very carefully. Use Twitter to follow companies where you are interested in working. Social media will give you great interview material and increased connections.

My second expert is Jenna Bayard, an Executive Search and Assessment Consultant at Russell Reynolds Associates in New York City. She has worked in the field since college. She finds that she and her colleagues are spending more time than ever coaching their candidates to communicate clearly and effectively in interviews. She says that too many candidates are talking in circles, not listening or following directions, and rambling when they are asked how they can add value to the hiring company. I mentioned that it sounded like candidates need "media training" where they can learn to speak in bullet points and synthesize information to convey quickly with impact. She agreed.

Like Jill, she says that LinkedIn In has radically changed the field of job-hunting for candidates and companies alike. She highly recommends that executives invest in the Premiere Edition of LinkedIn. She encourages people not to apply blindly for a job, but to use the LinkedIn tools to get to the hiring team. It is good to have 500+connections. She says that if you are looking for work and currently working at another job, do not fill out the Job Seeker Application, as your current employer may see it. Jenna declared that audio phone screening is dead and that companies are now using Skype or Face Time for interviews. If you have anything controversial on your digital footprint, i.e. Google, Facebook, etc. that you cannot remove; you need to address it openly with the hiring company.

Jenna says that while hiring has improved, many companies are quite gun-shy about making a poor hire. Therefore, the interview process is more complex and takes much longer. Companies are road-testing executives and digging deeply into their strategic skills, their problem-solving talents, and whether or not they match the company culture by requiring multiple interviews, more time connecting to people at the company, and more evidence that this candidate can come in as a change agent. Companies are looking to hire people who are not just going to do their job description, but demonstrate new ideas and the capacity for innovation. Job-hunting, especially on the executive level, requires lots of patience for candidates since companies keep evaluating them from all angles. Jenna says that some candidates actually withdraw from the hiring process in exasperation or because they are out of vacation time from having so many interviews with one company.

Lastly, Jean Kripton Dunham has owned Jean Kripton, Inc. in Chicago for over 25 years now. She rode out the recession and now sees lots of requests for new talent. She sees three major trends. Candidates, who lose their jobs due to a lay-off or other reason, need to completely re-evaluate themselves before they go back on the job market. They need to be certain that they have the skills required for the new workplace, especially in technology. Plus they need to update their network and understand how their field has changed and be strategic about how to sell themselves into the positions they seek.

Secondly, Jean says that companies need help getting crystal clear on exactly what kinds of competencies are needed for a posted job. Part of her job is to try to get the hiring company to zero in on real specifics. She also says that many hiring companies are still rigid about candidates in transition. For example if someone has changed jobs frequently, but can demonstrate an upward career path, that should not be held against him or her. Sometimes when people are out of work, they need to work part-time anywhere they can just to pay the bills. So candidates need a solid explanation for each career move.

Thirdly, I asked Jean about the issue of age, as people over 50 are afraid they are no longer marketable. Jean advises candidates not to make their age an issue in their communications with companies. Candidates need to convince companies that they want to make a long-term commitment and that this is not just a stepping stone job. If you are over-qualified for the job that you are seeking, you need to persuade them as to why it is a good fit for you and which specific company challenges you are excited about. Jean says, and I agree, that companies have to become more flexible in reviewing each candidate as an individual. Even if they have had a number of jobs, this candidate may be a better choice than a person who has done exactly that same job before and hasn't experienced a variety of business models and work cultures.

So, there are lots of changes in the field of work to consider before you launch a job-hunting effort. Many people are working at a workaholic pace, are out of touch with their network and their industry trends, and have not been to a conference in years. We now manage our own careers. Make sure that you are actively building your network of colleagues, in-person as well as in organizations in your industry, even if you have a job today. You may not have a job next week. Marketing yourself is no longer an optional skill-set in the 21st century. You need a portfolio of skills and evidence that you can exceed the demands of a job, visibility in your field thorough speaking, blogging or being active in associations, and a daily marketing plan for finding the best company match for you. Good luck!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gail-mcmeekin/dont-start-a-job-hunt-unt_b_3260697.html

We should use, not lose, our senior brain power

By Harold Mitchell

There's a lot of talk these days about work/life balance and I think we have mostly got it all wrong. Work is life and life is work. It's not a choice between the two - it's about choosing to be happy and positive no matter what we are doing or how old we are. There's an old Zen Buddhist saying, "Before enlightenment - chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment - chop wood and carry water''. My 92-year-old dad lives this literally. Last weekend he told me how happy he is that winter is approaching up in the mountains where he lives. It means that he can get out his trusty axe and split wood for the fire. He's an expert and you need to be. The trick is to turn the axe head a millisecond before it hits the block of wood. Three kilos of fast-moving razor-sharp axe head in inexperienced hands can do a lot of damage. More than 80 years of log-splitting will probably ensure my dad makes 100. Age is no barrier to him keeping the home fires burning by working each day. The same is true for my once-a-year lunch partner, octogenarian Peter Clemenger, the former head of our greatest advertising agency. He is as active as ever and as sharp as my old man's axe. As is emeritus professor Derek Denton, founder of the Florey Institute, one of the world's greatest neuroscience facilities and located here in Australia. At 88, he is overflowing with ideas that people all over the world are still listening to. I had a cup of tea with him earlier this week and he told me about the latest experiments being undertaken by his research group, which includes brilliant scientists both here and in America. They are doing world-leading work on addiction, something that profoundly affects almost every aspect of our society. Passing the so-called age of retirement does not mean that we have to enter the age of uselessness or even idleness. Just have a look at the busy, creative and internationally important work of that great Australian Jim Wolfensohn. The former head of the World Bank is still on international boards and apart from his amazing business acumen, those who know Jim, marvel at the way he took up the cello at 51 - some 45 years after the brain cells were at their peak for picking up new things. At an earlier time, as part of the organising group of the outstanding Alfred Deakin Lecture Series just on a decade ago, I sat listening to Baroness Susan Greenfield, who at 62 is still one of the world's leading neuroscientists. She explained the functioning of the brain very simply - "use it or lose it". And that's the message for Australia - use the experienced brain power of our senior people or lose out on the essential ingredient that money and youth can't buy - wisdom. Too often, we hear younger people saying ''he's too old'', and in the advertising and marketing industry it's commonplace for the jeans clad, sneaker-wearing, ponytailed hipsters to try to rely on raw youthfulness to get them through. Sure we need the youth but we also need the wisdom of age. Some time ago I was a speaker at a conference in Sydney about China with the Chinese Minister for Propaganda and Bob Hawke. I felt like a youngster with a lot to learn as the 84-year-old former prime minister engaged with the 81-year-old Chinese leader, a member of the 18th Politburo Standing Committee. I can tell you without a doubt, Hawkie has not lost it. So with ANZAC Day just passed, we must continue to be mindful of all of those who gave their lives for this country. We need to remember that the purpose of their great sacrifice was to enable us to use our freedom well. And in my book, that means understanding and accepting that life is work and service. By the way, you might remember that $428 haircut I got in New York. Well, it didn't last, I had to get another one last week! Harold Mitchell is an executive director of Aegis. Source:The Age http://news.olderworkers.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=326:we-should-use-not-lose-our-senior-brain-power-&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=31

6 Recession-Beating Tips for HR Professionals

By  Nicole Le Maire

It is possible to identify three strands of argument in the literature as to the effects of the current recession in the Human Resources function. The first suggests that the recession will have a cataclysmic effect on the HR function or even on the viability of long prevalent employment models, with one study suggesting that numbers of professionals working in HR would be cut disproportionately compared to other support functions. Whilst ‘transactional’ HR processes, could increasingly be relocated to low-cost countries (Asia/Africa) and the worldwide crisis of the ongoing globalization of businesses would ‘decimate HR’.

The second (which is dominant among my network of HR Professionals) suggests that the recession is increasing the status and influence of HR which deepens the appeal and prevalence of HR practices. The third strand, often grounded in empirical reviews, is much more measured and circumspect regarding whether changes arising from the recession are fundamental or likely to be of lasting significance to HR teams. In this strand of observations, changes are often understood to be pragmatic, eclectic and incremental in nature.

There is already enough evidence out there suggesting that organisations are moving their administrative and low value adding HR services to more cost effective companies, even if these companies are located overseas.

An example is Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) UK which announced earlier this year that it plans to outsource the administration of the HBOS final salary pension scheme to Towers Watson. Employees working in the 'information line' team are immediately at risk of redundancy and hundreds more employees throughout the UK will have to go through a selection process for the remaining HR jobs. The workforce is reduced by around 15% and other changes were also announced which will lead to the loss of over 250 HR jobs. (I find it funny that there are a variety of HR vacancies being advertised, whilst these HR jobs advertised do not seem to have been changed? Recruitment in such times should be stopped, no?)

There also has been much debate as to whether recessions lead to transient, if otherwise significant changes, or caused profound and lasting disjuncture's in the ways firms manage Human Resources and relate to trade unions. A case can be made that recessions to date – and especially the deep and prolonged recession of the 1980s to early 1990s - has had more sustained impacts on employment relations through their influence on macro-level developments in institutions and arrangements, than on micro-level engagement between employers, employees and trade unions in firms and workplaces as today.

For the last couple of decades, businesses have also been trying to force the need for line managers to take on more HR responsibilities. However, in practice, whilst savvy HR databases have been put into place, only few companies have been able to boost real returns and cost savings. There is every reason to believe (I do), that over the next years this view of moving HR responsibilities to line managers will indeed take place, cutting HR business costs as planned. Once can expect that this will further reduce the reliance on dedicated HR staff to take on the people management duties of line managers.

The operational and strategic HR contributors, that do remain within the HR function and provide HR support consistent with the ‘high-commitment model’, will certainly start gaining more confidence and trust.

Commitment from HR teams is not perfect, in particular, when you ponder over business goals and strategic interests. It's extremely hard for a company to achieve maximum profits and efficiency if it takes to heart the loyalty and interests of its employees. This particularly issue may impact the needs of the organisation as it is likely to undermine internal HR issues due to such competitive or recessionary conditions. For example: an organisation has to consider its survival first and the HR functional image of caring for the needs and security of its employees, get's a hit after that organisation has to terminate employees! Which may or will likely lead to HR losing their great brand/employee image at some point.

For those searching in vain for transactional HR jobs, this is the one area where skills are transferable to other functions, across industries. For those looking for new operational and strategic jobs, there is always merit in looking at other similar opportunities. Some statistics suggest that HR professionals are less likely to consider being entrepreneurs. (check out www.humanresourcesglobal and you can see it is possible for a HR professional to go entrepreneur, even working on a new innovative HR venture in this economic crisis)

This can limit your options, so make sure there is a good reason why you would not explore a career in running your own business. Try it before you reject it because you will be surprised at how a lot of HR businesses do not require the kind of capital investment that some other businesses require. This also means that the returns can be high if you get it right.

Meanwhile, let’s remind ourselves of the advice HR normally give employees:

· Don't feel sorry for yourself. There's always something you can do.

· Don't rush into another job too soon. Use your time to think about what you really want and don't want.

· If you want to do something different, go for it. Don't be put off by re-training. It's an experience in itself.

· Give yourself a break if you need one. Ask for help and support - and allow yourself to feel sad.

· Ask yourself if you would benefit from a re-evaluation of your values and needs.

· Talk to your HR network as they hold the power over the job!

This guest post is written by Nicole Le Maire, Founder of Human Resources Global Ltd. a HR Consultancy targeting individuals and small organisations within the emerging market regions (South America, Africa and the Middle East). Nicole focuses on supporting clients in non-traditional HR ways and she can be contacted via Nicole@humanresourcesglobal.com

Employers and recruiters take note - these are the myths about mature workers

By Hani Kafoury 

Peter Spunt, an ex-senior executive in the pharmaceutical industry, has had his share of job search challenges with what human resources experts refer to as “ageism” - or age discrimination.

“At 62, I am happy to contribute to an organization’s success,” Spunt says. “Salary and a fancy title are not my primary concerns. I just want to make use of my hard-earned experience, successful track record and skill set. The fire is still in the belly.”

He is not alone. Many mature workers, defined as aged 45 or older by CEDEC (Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation), seek job-search training and coaching assistance through employment service providers such as OMETZ, La Passerelle and Executives Available. But they come across diehard myths still held by many employers.

Myth No. 1: Expect to pay more

This is by far the most pervasive. Larry Riley, director at job assistance program Executives Available, specializing in job-search strategies and support for professionals 40 years of age and over, says employers may be missing an important point.

“People don’t have the same financial needs later in life - the kids are gone, the mortgage is probably paid for,” he says. “Mature workers are at a different stage of their lives and may not necessarily be looking for high salaries.” Contract work or reduced work hours may be an option - and a win-win for both parties.

Myth No. 2: Expect trouble with younger employees

A 50-year-old may not see eye-to-eye with a much younger manager - but is it age? “While there may be the odd cross-generational challenge, I’ve found that age has little to do with getting along,” says Daniel Ascher, from executive recruitment firm Denell-Archer.

“If you think there is a good fit with the candidate you are considering, that he or she is bringing in the right experience, the right chemistry, and can be managed, then you’ve got yourself a good potential employee.”

Myth No. 3: Expect no overtime

Everything being equal, work ethic often characterizes mature workers. “For most mature workers, the occasional overtime is not an issue because their kids are grown up and they are very motivated to contribute all they can,” says Marianna Balakhnina, coordinator of labour market development at CEDEC. “Many employers say that mature workers have a high level of motivation and dedication.”

Myth No. 4: Expect a short stay

A major study from CEDEC shows that mature workers have lower turnover rates, are quite stable and stay longer within a position and within a company.

“Mature workers tend to be more selective. So once they’re in, they are going to be quite effective and loyal,” says Lois Liverman, executive director at OMETZ, an NPO offering a range of services to job seekers, employers and entrepreneurs.

Myth No. 5: Expect rigidity

Don’t presume or jump to conclusions. “The company should be offering an interview to someone based on experience and skills,” Liverman says. “You need to be able to have that fit. The perfect resumé is one that opens the door. Once they go through it, take the resumé and toss it — it means nothing.”

(As a coach, trainer and consultant in the people side of change, I have found that age rarely has anything to do with whether we embrace or resist change.)

Myth No. 6: Expect technology trouble

“It’s not about being tech savvy, it’s about what the position requires,” is a message often reiterated to hirers by Leslie Acs, executive director at La Passerelle, an employment and career transition centre. “One gentleman in our program has been in the garment business for over 30 years. His understanding of the entire process is incredibly profound. But not in a technical way - it’s like he ‘feels’ it. He gets frustrated because recruiters ask him typical questions, not ones that highlight his strengths.”

“But it’s changing,” Acs added. “The value of a mature worker is being appreciated more. Technology is teachable - wisdom and leadership are more difficult to teach.”

Myth No. 7: Expect less stamina and energy

The 2012 CEDEC report indicates that only a small minority of mature workers are challenged physically. Balakhnina is emphatic: “Mature workers are motivated by their eagerness to reach out first to employment service providers, to complete the programs, to do everything they can and not give up.”

When it comes to busting “ageism” myths, company size does not matter. Whether it is a large Crown corporation, such as the Business Development Bank of Canada, or a smaller organization such as Triton Pharma, a company’s culture and approach to diversity is key.

“BDC approaches recruitment from a perspective of diversity and inclusiveness,” says Ela Borenstein, Partner at Health Venture Fund at BDC Capital. “The last two years, we’ve been recognized as a top employer for employees over 40. Currently over 20 per cent of our workforce is over 50, with the average age being 41. It reflects how much emphasis we put on experience.

“I started with BDC in my 40s, and I have been acknowledged as bringing experience and deep expertise to the table.”

Sybil Dahan, president at Triton Pharma Inc., concurs. “We’re a sales force and marketing organization, and for us age is not an issue as long as there is a fit. Our Sales Manager is 67 going on 25!”

Dahan sums it up well. “In the hiring process, you do not want to put age as an obstacle, because what you are looking for is what is missing in your team. Do you have the right mix of gender, age, training, cultural? And from there you go and get it, to gain that competitive edge.”

Before creating Tranzition Consulting Services, Hani Kafoury spent almost 30 years in the corporate world in various senior leadership positions. He holds an M.A. in psychology, is trained in organizational transition management and leadership coaching, and is a certified Myers-Briggs practitioner. Kafoury works with organizations and individuals in effectively managing major change.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Hani+Kafoury+Dispelling+myths+about+hiring+mature+workers/8179324/story.html

Baby boomers start 'encore' careers

By Rodney Brooks


“Of 76 million people above 50 and nearing retirement, about half have interest in entrepreneurship,” said Jean Setzfand, vice president of financial security at AARP. “And many want to give back to their communities.”

Sitting at home through a 20- or 30-year retirement is no longer an option for an increasing number of baby boomers.

Some are looking to do something else because they have to for financial reasons. But, increasingly, boomers are embarking on entirely different “encore” careers after retirement.

“The reality is people are living longer, healthier lives, and when they get to the point when the need to make a change - they retire, are laid off or sell their business - they are 60 years old, and they say ‘I still have another 10, 15, or 20 or more years and I want to do something,’ ” said Nancy Collamer, author of “Second Act Careers: 50+ Ways to Profit From Your Passions During Semi-Retirement.”

“It’s out of financial necessity is some cases, but it’s lifestyle in other cases,” she said.

Take Linda Lombri, 65, and Virginia Cornue, 68, both of Montclair, N.J. In their post-retirement lives they have reinvented themselves as mystery writers, even though neither had written fiction before. They began an e-book series, the “Sandra Troux Mysteries,” which is sold on 10 websites, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Apple’s iTunes. The first in the series, “The Mystery of the Ming Connection,” was published last year under their pseudonym, Crystal Sharpe. Their second in the series will be out this spring; the third in the fall.

Both fans of the Nancy Drew series when they were young girls, they have re-imagined her into a trio of female baby boomer characters. “Not only are we reinventing ourselves, we have our characters reinventing themselves as well,” Cornue said.

Pushed out at 62

Lombri had careers as a home economist and a marketing executive. She was forced into retirement at 62 when her job was eliminated - when she had a daughter who was a high school sophomore. “I was ready for (retirement) emotionally, but not financially,” she said.

Cornue said she has already reinvented herself several times. She started out as an actor in New York City, became a director of nonprofit organizations and ended up a cultural anthropologist. She still teaches part time at a local college.

Then there’s David Roll, 72, who ended his career as a Washington, D.C., lawyer 10 years ago and embarked on a new one as an author, historian and founder of Lex Mundi, a nonprofit agency that finds pro bono lawyers for social entrepreneurs around the world.

But it’s the nonprofit legal agency, which has taken him around the world, that occupies most of his time: “I love it,” he said. “It has its frustrations, because you’ve got to raise money to keep it going. But to have created something that is having an impact. ... Not every social entrepreneur is changing the world, but they are some doing amazing things.”

Cookies!

Yuval Zaliouk, 74, is co-owner of YZ Enterprises in Toledo, Ohio. He retired from a career as conductor of the Toledo Symphony in 1989 and decided he didn’t want to move his family to take another conducting assignment.

The answer was his dream: to make and sell cookies based on his grandmother’s recipe, starting out in his kitchen. 

“I even won entrepreneur of the year award in 2003,” he said. “I never imagined that I could be a businessman.”

The Almondina cookies now sell 12,000 cases a day, ship to all 50 states and can be found in supermarket chains such as Trader Joe’s and Publix. Oh, by the way, the co-owner of the business is his wife, Susan, a former ballerina with the Royal Ballet Company in London, where they met.

“Only in America,” said Zaliouk, a native of Israel. “There is a lot of mobility in this country. It’s not like Europe, where if you are not fired, you stick with a job for life. Here you are free to start things. It’s a different atmosphere.”

Marc Freedman is founder and chief executive officer of Encore.org, a San Francisco-based organization that helps Boomers start that second career. Its focus is getting them involved in nonprofit agencies.

Freedman spent 15 years working with children in low-income neighborhoods. He has long had an interest in mentoring, so he made his second career into a job that helps baby boomers step into their second careers.

“The larger aspiration behind the organization is to tap the human capital and population moving into their 50s and 60s,” Freedman said.

Zaliouk has advice for budding boomer entrepreneurs: “In one word, courage.”

“It really is a question of courage, making up your mind to do something - courage, tenacity or stubbornness,” he said.



http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20130327/BIZ/303270026/Baby-boomers-start-encore-careers



HELP FOR ENTREPRENEURS

The U.S. Small Business Administration and AARP are involved in helping retirees into encore careers, as entrepreneurs. They are jointly promoting April as Encore Entrepreneurial Mentor Month, featuring one-on-one instruction, classes, mentoring programs and help writing business plans.

New research proves ageism laws don’t protect older workers

Last week TAEN published the latest edition of its 50+ Jobseekers Survey. In some ways the results are predictable – surveys so often tell us things that we already know by instinct – but there are surprising insights too.

ONS figures show more older people in work and there is a general feeling that older people are doing reasonably well in the labour market.

The sad fact is however, that deeply embedded structural disadvantages and ingrained ageist attitudes bar hundreds of thousands of older people from returning to work. It is clear that older jobseekers struggle harder than most. Overwhelmingly they want to work because of financial need, a desire to feel valued and the social interaction work brings. Many are ‘worried’ or ‘desperate’ about not working.

They identify adverse attitudes by recruiters, mismatches of their own skills or qualifications with employers’ needs and the national focus on youth unemployment as being among the reasons for their problems.

These barriers faced by older jobseekers continue more than six years after age discrimination was outlawed by the 2006 Age Regulations and two years after the end of the Default Retirement Age (DRA), allowing people to be forcibly retired at 65.

Today, despite these reforming legal changes, the challenge of ending age discrimination is as relevant as ever. Only one in ten over 50s looking for work think age discrimination law had helped them.

47 per cent of our older jobseekers believed that the law had not had any benefit at all. One respondent, a former managing director seeking work, commented, “Age discrimination is rife in my view. Employers can work out your age with ease.”

Some respondents even volunteered the view that repeal of the DRA had made it harder to get work!

A former HR manager commented, “Given that compulsory retirement is now not available I suspect that many employers are reluctant to recruit older staff who, they fear, may present motivational and even attendance issues in future.”

One could argue that finding work has always been bad for older jobseekers. Blaming the end of the DRA on their current problems may be misreading the problem.

Moreover, those completing our survey as “older jobseekers” were by definition people who had not (so far) succeeded in getting work. Others who had been successful might have offered different views – if we had asked them.

Nonetheless, how do we respond to our respondents who claimed their problems could be explained by employers being charier about hiring people who want to work longer, now the DRA has been removed?

Perhaps they are right.

We have a labour market that is ambivalent in its attitudes to older people. Employers will allow them to work longer in the same jobs if they wish but they bottle out of offering them new jobs, believing they may want to work for ever.People are working longer in part because they can choose to remain in work longer but the lot of the older person who has left a job is problematic.

He or she is likely to fall outside the person specification offered by employers to recruitment agencies, simply on grounds of age. And there is significant evidence (anecdotal, of course) that some recruitment agencies connive with employers and fail to challenge ageist attitudes. (See Loughborough University’s Working Late project for example).

It seems clear that the law is being flouted with impunity and there is a presumption that, ‘of course employers will discriminate by age if they wish to so’. The eradication of age discrimination in employment is a far from complete.

The time has surely come to assess the effectiveness of the law against age discrimination in recruitment. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has the power to launch official enquiries and undertake formal investigations. What is stopping it?

http://taen.org.uk/blog/view/119

Why Post 50 Males Must Resist Becoming "Standardized Old Men"

By Brent Green

Two years ago I spoke at the Florida Boomer Lifestyle Conference in Clearwater, Florida. I entitled my presentation "The Mission, The Man, The Money: Marketing to Baby Boomer Men." My goal was to inspire this audience about business possibilities revolving around Boomer male aging in a society that has often marginalized aging men.

I wanted my audience to understand why and how Boomer men will challenge the stereotypes and social strictures of aging. This is a generation that has never settled for outdated traditions, and collectively men over 50 will create new images of male aging: concepts that are humanistic, individualistic and empowered. The sociology of Boomer male aging has vast implications for business, from edgy new products to inspired services.

On a concurrent track I happened to be reading Existentialism for Beginners, a concise book written by David Cogswell, one of my high school classmates and a friend from our college years. Although I once designed and taught a university course entitled "Topics and Problems on Humanistic and Existential Psychology," it is lamentable how much I had forgotten about existentialism and how extensively this philosophy pervades contemporary thinking and culture. It's a philosophy for today as all Americans struggle to discover how to redefine and reinvent themselves in a time of much economic uncertainty and global unrest, a time when traditional institutions seem to be faltering.

David Cogswell brilliantly grapples with the complexities of existential philosophy and all the major writers contributing to this revolution in thought that emerged into popular culture following dark years of fascism and World War II (although he correctly traces the roots of existentialism back to the mid-19th century).

As Cogswell writes, "Existentialism focuses attention and concern on the individual over the group..." And he conveys a liberating idea: "To achieve an authentic life, an individual must direct oneself and resist the pressure of mass society to create standardized human beings."

With Boomer men sensing the end of their primary careers and a future rife with uncertainties - economic, social and medical - many are now considering how to avoid becoming standardized aging humans. Many realize that to resist society's impositions - stereotypes of aging males, lack of clear purpose that can accompany retirement, and wrenching searches for deeper meaning, for relevance, for a sense of legacy - they must do as existentialists intone.

"There is not fixed definition of a human being," Cogswell clarifies. "We define ourselves through our choices and actions. We find ourselves in the world, existing in a particular situation, but must go forward from there to create ourselves."

This is the power and perplexity of a life-stage so bereft of clear-cut paths. Living beyond 50 and 60 compels most men to understand their fundamental values and then ascertain how those values can best be expressed for personal enrichment and enduring benefits for others.

In my Florida speech I presented some interesting new research about happiness. According to researchers, humans seem to find greatest happiness early in adulthood and then again late in life, beyond 50 and 60. Between those bookends looms a mid-life slump when we feel least happy with our situation.

For American men, that deep trough arrives around age 56, a chronological anniversary that so many men are now experiencing. The low point for American women arrives nearly a decade earlier, possibly in tandem with menopause and empty nesting.

Roughly 12,273,000 American men are now between 55 and 59, so, according to this research, millions are struggling with depression and futility that robs us of our sense of life satisfaction, our happiness. It's not too much of a leap to conclude that many of these men are grappling with the potential wasteland of an aging life, a sunset not fully validated with continuing engagement, enrichment and purpose.

Individual men may feel powerless against external forces of unemployment, layoffs, downsizing and chronic diseases. But when a generation of men known to challenge authority confronts this evolving life-stage, transformative beliefs and actions can emerge. A generation of men that embraced feminism and racial inclusiveness can create new constructs for male aging, conceptions that are engaging, uplifting and liberating.

Author Cogswell identifies Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900) as the "soul of existentialism," a thinker who has influenced contemporary psychology, literature, spirituality, art and music. Nietzsche wrote that "society everywhere is a conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members." And it seems true today that millions of Boomer men, vital and engaged as many now are, must nevertheless consider how traditional habits in western society could conspire to strip them of their opportunities to thrive beyond 60 and into bonus years promised to so many.

I concluded my Florida speech by resurrecting words written more than a century ago by Walt Whitman:

"I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
"And what I assume you shall assume,
"For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you."

"I too am not a bit tamed,
"I too am untranslatable,
"I sound my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world."

Whitman's thoughts are a metaphor, reflective of the heart of a generation of men looking into the mirror and seeing the face of male aging. They will not be tamed in the sense of outdated traditions around aging, and collectively they will bring new meaning to this life-stage while stimulating reinvention of the businesses and brands that serve them.

As the great writers about existentialism would urge, Boomer men must resist all forces compelling them to become standardized old men. YAWP!

Brent Green is the author of "Marketing to Leading-Edge Baby Boomers" and "Generation Reinvention," the founder of Brent Green & Associates Inc., a frequent keynote speaker and radio host

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brent-green/how-baby-boomer-males-wil_b_1326714.html?goback=.gde_4667519_member_221669684