Mid-Life Job (or Career) Change

Have you ever seen the three panel cartoon where a man is shown the door by his (now former) employer. The door closes behind him. And in the third panel he has turned around and is facing the closed door banging to get back in?

It’s sad. Many men and women in mid-life have been (are being, and will be) shown the door this year. Some will have been downsized. Others will have had their jobs shipped overseas or to lower cost environs. And some will have seen their employers fold up their tents and disappear in the night.

Whatever the circumstances, for men and women who have invested years in one field and are now on the outside looking in, the feeling is horrible, even with a durable parachute. The question becomes, “What am I going to do with the rest of my life?”

A healthy answer is, “Everything (or anything) you didn’t have the courage or incentive to do while you were comfortably sequestered in your former job.”

Consider Theresa Knight, a project manager for a telecommunications firm in New Jersey. I met Theresa when she registered for an over 50 job change workshop I was conducting. She had survived two previous downsizings, moving from one multi-national telecom to a national telecom and then to a spinoff of the national telecom. She had taken a slight hit on her first downsizing. But, the transition to the spinoff left her salary alone but with significantly reduced responsibility. In other words, she was making too much money for the work she was required to do. And, now, another restructuring had just been announced.

Theresa wasn’t worried the first two times. She was ten to twelve years younger then and her husband, George, still had his job…and his health.

Things change quickly. George had been downsized about 18 months ago and since then had developed heart problems. They sold their home and downsized their cost of living. They could make it on Theresa’s pay alone. But, they couldn’t survive without it.

Theresa wanted options. And, at the end of the seminar she had an idea.

I saw her two weeks after the seminar and her confidence was restored. Here’s what she did.
Theresa knew she had at least ten good years in her. She had great ideas, loads of energy, and strong credentials. She knew she was bigger than her current position. As a matter of fact, her boss was always coming to her for advice.
But, she knew that she was making much more than her peers with similar responsibilities. She knew she could do her boss’ job. And his boss’ job better than either of them. So, we created a plan for her to create her own position within her current company and propose it to her boss’ boss, the executive V. P. of development.

Theresa went to him with a plan, based upon her highest level of accomplishment in the industry. She showed him how to maximize the performance of his unit while reducing expenses and redundant development projects.

Theresa got the job. She became her current boss’ boss and was placed in charge of a major development initiative.

In Theresa’s case, turning around and knocking on the closed door would not have worked. But, going upstairs and knocking on the door of a higher level in the company did. Her past was her future.

How did this work?

I’d love to say it was easy. It wasn’t. But, it is a simple process, only three steps:
1. Know your strengths and how they have contributed to your past successes.
2. Know the challenges facing your prospective employer.
3. Make a value-based proposal (a win-win offer) that showcased your strengths and answers the needs of your prospective employer.
The details, of course, need to be worked out. But, next time I’ll offer another example of mid-life career change.