Too young to retire, too old to start over. Or at least that’s the line. Comfortable jobs with comfortable salaries are scarce, after all. Almost overnight, skills honed over a lifetime seem tired, passé. Twenty- and thirty-somethings will gladly do the work you used to do, and probably for less money. Yes, businesses are hiring again, but not nearly fast enough. Many people are so disheartened that they’ve simply stopped looking for work.
For millions of Americans over 50, this isn’t a bad dream — it’s grim reality. The recession and its aftermath have hit older workers especially hard. People 55 to 64 — an age range when many start to dream of kicking back — are having a particularly hard time finding new jobs. For a vast majority of this cohort, being thrown out of work means months of fruitless searching and soul-crushing rejection.
To which many experts say, “What did you expect?”
Everyone, whatever age, needs a Plan B. And maybe a Plan C and a Plan D. Who doesn’t know that loyalty and hard work go only so far these days?
“Shame on you if you’re not thinking every single year, ‘What’s my next step?’ ” says Pamela Mitchell, a career coach and author. “It’s magical thinking not to do this.”
Ms. Mitchell, who has reinvented her own career a few times, says everyone should think about options, alternative job paths and career goals, just in case. She recommends talking over job possibilities with family members and, if possible, building a financial cushion.
Constant networking is crucial, too. The idea, she says, is to prepare in case a big change comes.
“If you’re thinking about it, you’ll be doing all this piecemeal along the way,” she says.
All of which, of course, is easier said than done. But some people who have gone through the emotional and financial strains of late-career unemployment say that with skill, determination and a bit of luck, the end of a job doesn’t have to be the end of the world. Changing jobs or careers can be a good thing later in life, despite the many risks. Many agree that a willingness to push beyond the comforts of location, lifestyle and line of work is vital.
Though there is no single path, there are success stories that offer hope.
John Van Beekum for The New York Times
After Bonjet Sandigan left a job in computers, he chose to operate a franchise for ShelfGenie, which makes custom shelves.
Like the story of Bonjet Sandigan, now of Delray Beach, Fla. An information technology specialist, Mr. Sandigan was laid off from Dun Bradstreet in August 2011. But Mr. Sandigan, now 51, has since carved out a new career with ShelfGenie, a seller of custom home shelving.
It was a big switch. Mr. Sandigan grew up in the Philippines and has a computer science degree from Texas AM. For years, he worked in I.T. support, helping customers over the phone. But he never managed to move up. When Dun Bradstreet offered him a severance package, he figured that he could finally afford to take a little time to figure out his next move.
“I did some soul-searching about what’s important to me,” he says. “As you grow, your priorities change.”
His father had been an entrepreneur in the Philippines, and Mr. Sandigan was attracted to the idea of working for himself. With the help of a consultant, he looked into buying a franchise in the I.T. or health care industries. Then he considered a ShelfGenie franchise, which appealed to him partly because it was a turnkey operation.
“The infrastructure is there, the market is there, the policies and procedures are there,” he says. “You just have to follow the procedures.”
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/business/how-5-older-workers-saw-a-chance-to-remake-their-careers.html?partner=rss&emc=rss