Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

What’s age got to do with your career?

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There’s no question that generational issues play into job search. I wanted to share a few key details I learned in the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Atlanta’s conference this week, “What’s Age Got to Do with It?” Presented by Maureen Kelly, Atlanta Regional Convention, Heyward Williams, Georgia Power and Rosalia Thomas, IBM, the talk focused on how companies can help retain workers who may be retirement age and touched on generational issues in the workplace.

Boomers

The session addressed the issue of how companies can plan for and harness the power of their more experienced workers who may plan to retire in search of flexibility, but may still be willing to and interested in contributing to the organization’s brain trust. Job seekers may not realize that some companies are actually concerned about the fact that their more seasoned, knowledgeable workers may leave the organization high and dry when it is time to leave. With the projected number of people aged 65+ expected to grow exponentially, it’s an important topic to consider.

The presentation shared the following statistics:

– By 2010, 40% of the U.S. workforce will be over 40.

– Regarding the federal workforce (1.6 million civilians):

  • 50% can retire in the next 5 years
  • 70% are supervisors
  • NASA: scientists and engineers over 60 outnumber those under 30, 3 to 1.

In 1991, 11% planned to continue working past age 65.

In 2010, 33% expect to continue working past 65.

When I was tweeting this session, I heard from several Twitter friends questioning if people really wanted to stay in the workforce, or if financial considerations were primary decision factors. In fact, the presentation suggested that 71% of these workers are happy with their job and do not want to leave. (Per CNNMoney.com). (Of course, this is just a statistic, and will vary from person to person, but there was a strong feeling in the room that people WANT to work because they enjoy it and want to continue to contribute.)

The presentation noted these companies as having best practices regarding keeping their experienced professionals engaged in programs such as mentoring, consulting, advising, etc: Pfizer, Georgia Power, IBM, WellStar. These are companies that value age and experience. This is important to note.

(An aside: for those interested in exploring “encore careers” – work that combines passion, purpose and income, check out http://www.encore.org/.)

Gen Y

At the end of the talk, Rosalia Thomas from IBM shared some interested points regarding her impressions of Gen Y employees. In her view, Ys want everything quickly, want to move up and quickly take on leadership roles. They don’t offer any loyalty. She believes they focus mainly on how they will benefit from the job and how they can move to the next job. In fact, she related a story of a young hire who explained that she was only in the job for as long as she was benefiting, and planned to move on as soon as it was feasible. While Ms. Thomas’ explained that Gen Y job seekers have seen their parents burned by loyalty, the explanation didn’t seem to temper her opinion of employees so blunt about their goals and plans.

Ms. Thomas seemed very concerned with the trends she is seeing with Gen Y employees. It is important to point out that, while being loyal to a company may not be realistic or even expected, it may not behoove entry-level workers to be quite so direct about their plans. There is a lot of focus on authenticity in the blogosphere, but, for Gen Yers who wish to gain traction in certain companies, this talk was a reminder that those sentiments may not be received well.

All of this advice is fine, but you need help actually find a job? Check out THE CAREER SUMMIT for lots of great career advice.

The topics include everything from how to think about finding a job you love, to what has changed in search, demystifying the recruiting process, online career management, interviewing and (last but not least) — strategies and tips for your resume, social media profile and job search. Read more HERE or visit the site HERE to learn more.

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Over 50 in the job hunt

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I recently received a note from a prospective client. An executive in his late 50’s, he took early retirement from his company and was looking for his *next* thing to do. He explained he had applied for hundreds of executive positions and almost as many minimum wage positions with his resume, but that he had not been called in for one interview. His frustration, “I can’t help that I am over 50.”

What a frustrating situation. I can imagine how difficult it must be for a job seeker who has not been in the market for some time – applying for jobs – even minimum wage jobs – and no one being interested.

If this sounds like you…Stop and think about this: Is it really your age or experience level that is preventing you from landing interviews, or is it your approach to the job market?

Start with the minimum-wage jobs:

Put yourself in the shoes of people at McDonald’s who receive your resume detailing your executive-level experience. If you were doing the hiring, would you hire you? What experience on your resume suggests that you would be good at running the cash register? Or that you have experience serving food to impatient customers? They can’t understand why you would apply for the job, and they aren’t going to stop and try to figure it out. Yes, maybe you are thinking of a franchise ownership, and want to learn the ropes, but have you said so? Regardless of your goals, have you tweaked your resume to suggest you have the skills they need to serve their customers?

McDonald’s just needs to put someone in the job who can manage the responsibilities. If you can do it, the onus is on you to explain how; you need to send a customized resume for the job, not the same resume your outplacement firm created to help you apply for executive positions.

As for the executive jobs:

If you are not landing interviews, there is a problem, either with your resume or with the way you are conducting your search. If you are applying to hundreds of jobs, are you really focusing on each position and company and tweaking your materials appropriately? I’m guessing not. Companies are interested in someone who has exactly the experience they need. They want what they want, and they are unlikely to spend a lot of time trying to analyze your materials to identify where the overlap between your skills and their needs might be. That is your job.

Target your resume. Identify organizations of interest and make inroads by networking. Use social media channels to expand the number of people who know and take an interest in you. (The side benefit of this for over 50 workers is that they look in touch and prevent themselves from being labeled out-of-date.) Use what you learn to improve your materials and help hook your targeted organizations.

Sorry to yell, but: DO NOT SEND THE EXACT SAME RESUME TO HUNDREDS OF JOBS. No matter what the jobs may be. You need a resume that you know how to tweak slightly and adapt for different positions. You also need a cover letter that makes it clear why you are qualified for the job. In a few special circumstances, I have written cover letters for clients who really didn’t have the exact skills and qualifications for the targeted job, but the letter earned them calls and generated interest. While I am not a fan of applying to jobs without having the qualifications, these successes show that a persuasive, targeted pitch can make the difference.

Take the time to focus your search. Don’t look for a scapegoat (your age, too much experience, the economy, etc.) Instead, use your skills, market your experiences and accomplishments to the right organizations and people and give your search a fresh, new start.

Of course, my job is to help people navigate the job search maze. Maybe I can help. Contact me for a quote. It might be the best investment you could make.

Footnote: If you are looking for meaningful work in the non-profit sector for your next (or encore) career, be sure to visit the Encore Careers site, which shares great resources to help people who want to use their skills to combine “purpose, passion and a paycheck.”

photo by CJ Roberts

Altruistic Tuesdays: Can volunteering win you a job?

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In a competitive job environment, I have often advised that clients and readers consider volunteering and/or interning for free in order to gain some valuable experience and/or to bridge a gap (in experience/in time since last worked for pay, etc.)

Adult internships are not new. In fact, in a New York Times article from two years ago, Elizabeth Pope wrote that:

Adult internships emerged about 10 years ago as the concept of “golden years” retirement expanded to include paid work, volunteering or pursuing a life passion, said Mark Oldman, a co-founder of the career site Vault.com.

A more recent piece by Tory Johnson reminds readers that an unpaid internship can be a great way to get experience that is directly related to your target job. It’s a good idea for people changing careers or planning to go back to school. Kind of a “try before you buy” approach.

Eve Tahmincioglu explored the legal ramifications of for-profit organizations working with unpaid interns in a story for Time Magazine this month. (Hat tip @heymarci.) Eve notes,  “Michael Schmidt, an employment attorney in New York City, has seen an uptick in recent months in private employers calling him to find out if they can bring in unpaid interns as a way to cut costs. His answer: volunteering at for-profit companies is, legally, a no-no. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has spelled out several criteria with the goal of ensuring that internships not only provide real training but also can’t be used by companies to displace regular employees.”

This is really the month for focusing on legal issues for unpaid interns. Steven Greenhouse wrote a piece for the April 2nd New York Times exploring the fact that “Leading federal and state regulators…worry that more employers are illegally using such internships for free labor.” The piece notes, “The rules for unpaid interns are less strict for non-profit groups like charities because people are allowed to do volunteer work for non-profits.” (Thanks @workinggirl for sharing the link.)

Clearly, this is a tricky issue, but nonprofit organizations may not be so concerned, as they are allowed to work with volunteers. So, especially if you are considering working for a nonprofit, it may make sense to log some valuable volunteer hours to indicate your strong interest in the organization. In some cases, your hard work and hours as a volunteer may help put you first in line for a job should one become available.

Encore.org has a very useful (and free) ebook on the subject of how to turn volunteering into a job. They suggest:

  • Find volunteer work in an organization whose mission you share.
  • Offer your expertise.
  • Show your range.
  • Make yourself indispensable.
  • Identify an organizational need.
  • Incorporate your volunteer work into your resume.

The ebook (available to download HERE) offers practical tips and resources and reminds careerists to focus on the experience and its usefulness rather than expect that it will lead to a job .

Be sure to visit Encore.org for many resources to help transitioning professionals.

photo by SanJose library

Thinking about making a change for a career in teaching?

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As part of my new “Altruistic Tuesdays” series, today, I am pleased to highlight a story from Encore.org:

John Kostibas saw the problem in the educational pipeline. As a major player in the telecommunications revolution and an engineer himself, Kostibas noticed “a huge decline in American engineering students, all stemming from a math phobia they had in middle and high school.”

He was 54. “My thought was that if I can help them get over this phobia, I can direct more students into engineering and technology careers.” After years of start-ups and high stress business deals, Kostibas decided the time was right. “I was ready to do what I always wanted to do, which was teach math in high school.”

Even though he was an engineer, John still needed to pursue his certification in teaching. He was lucky to be able to find a program that was geared to career changers and fast-tracked his plans. Today, as a math teacher at a high school in Louisville, Texas, he is able to show students that math is relevant and useful as a result of his real-world work experiences.

Encore.org offers resources to help you learn about opportunities to volunteer in a classroom before you make the change, alternative certification programs for qualified applicants and subsidies from companies and government programs to help cover the costs associated with preparing to teach. Follow this link to connect to Encore.org’s suggestions for people thinking of making a change to a career in the classroom.

Stay tuned tomorrow for more resources and things to consider if you are thinking about teaching!

photo by Miranda310

Resources for those considering a career in healthcare

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Yesterday, I shared the story of Terry Ramey, the auto worker studying to become a nurse from Encore.org, a resource for anyone thinking of making a change to a satisfying career that will allow them to help others. If Terry’s story inspired you to consider a career in healthcare, I am delighted to share extensive advice Andrea Santiago, about.com’s guide to health careers.

I asked Andrea to comment on what people should think about when considering a shift to a career in the health field. This is her very generous response!

Immerse yourself in the medical practice environment as much as you can – e.g. volunteer at a hospital, get a job answering phones at a local doctor’s office, anything you can do.  This will help you to (a) learn about different roles before you invest in additional education etc (b) begin learning about the industry – picking up skills, “lingo” etc. and (c) begin meeting people in the industry who can help you network and/or serve as mentors, guiding you through the process of applying to schools or certification programs if needed, and/or applying for new roles etc, and (d) get on-the-job training etc.  I know many people who start out answering phones at a doctor’s office, who then are trained on billing/coding, back office functions, OR who are given on the job training to work as medical assistants, etc.  Most offices do not require certification for medical assistants especially if they know you have been trained etc.

Some of the more entry-level jobs to look for (in terms of not requiring a great deal of advanced education) are: medical assistant, medical receptionist, medical translator (usually Spanish is the most in-demand language needed – so obviously must be bilingual for that), phlebotomist (person who draws blood – can also get OJT for this but can take a short course to learn it if you feel more comfortable doing so), and home health aide (one of the top fastest growing segments of the healthcare industry is home health – expected to grow in # of jobs by over 50%!  That is huge)

Also, LVN/LPNs (licensed vocational nurse/licensed practical nurses) are going to be one of the fastest growing careers of the decade, according to the BLS (more info on my site – stats, details etc) and this only requires a high-school diploma or equivalent and a relatively short course.

Most of the above jobs are examples of jobs you can get relatively easily, and/or work while you go back to school for something more advanced/more lucrative, if that’s what your goal is.  Also, this is a great time to go back to school, especially if you don’t have your bachelor’s degree yet. There are many government programs right now for people to get assistance with tuition, and some of the programs are not even needs based, so definitely check those out – one program is for people who have been laid-off from a job, or have some other qualifying event.

Another tip – look for transferable skills and focus on obtaining additional education/experience to supplement/target for the health care industry – for example, if you are in IT, start studying/learning about healthcare IT (another rapidly growing segment of healthcare, due to EMR) and/or look for a way to get experience or knowledge that would make you marketable in healthcare IT – network from people in health care and find out what skills/certifications their facility is seeking etc.  The same goes for accounting/finance, administrative professionals, salespeople, etc – look for ways to transfer your skills.

That being said, you can’t just jump into the new field (healthcare) without putting forth the effort to learn the ropes either through a few classes or via networking etc – for example, if you’re in sales, you can’t just start blindly applying for medical sales jobs and expect that to work in this market – you’ve got to have an edge, find some way to get medical experience or knowledge, even if it’s on a volunteer basis.  Go on a ride-along with a medical sales rep, start networking with medical industry professionals, maybe even get a job working in a doctor’s office so you can show the interviewer that you understand the client because you worked in a doctor’s office for 6-12 mos, or whatever – also by working in a doctor’s office you’ll meet the reps who are coming through selling various drugs and equipment and you can start networking with them etc.

If you do want to go to school for an advanced degree to be a nurse or doctor, there are many great resources online – lots of nursing scholarships and other ways to pay for med school – I have a couple articles on my site about it:

But also you can check out the ANA (American Nurses’ Association) for additional resources on nursing and for med school info, one of my favorite resources is the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges).
And here are a few other general articles/resources on my site relative to breaking into the healthcare industry:

Other resources for allied heath careers:

ExploreHealthCareers.org – resources and information about ALL types of health careers as well as links to resources for funding.

American Medical Association – provides a directory and a list of accredited educational programs

Do I need a college degree for a health career? Terrific advice and resources from About.com’s Health Careers expert, Andrea Santiago

Allied health career profile, what to expect in allied health – more from Andrea at About.com.

photo by oedipusphinx