Jeff Saperstein

How to Thrive in Third Stage Career Despite Age Discrimination

“Who is going to hire a 62-year old”? Career Coaches often hear this plaintive question.  We understand the dread and anxiety common among those who are 55-years+, who want to work but feel excluded and marginalized by employers who devalue older workers. So, it is normal to presume many 35-year old hiring managers and bosses may be writing off Baby Boomers.

The unemployment rate among workers age 55 and older has skyrocketed since COVID-19 lockdowns, jumping from 3.3% in March to 13.6% in April, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Millions of jobs are not coming back. “Unlike previous recessions, this pandemic-led downturn has hit older workers especially hard and will likely create long-term employment challenges for them,” according to Richard W. Johnson, who directs the program on retirement policy at the Urban Institute.

You can anticipate a long period of workforce disruption as the Pandemic runs its course. Millions of business owners, professionals, and workers will close their businesses or practices, lose employment, or are furloughed.

But conventional wisdom need not deter you from reimagining your work-life. Think of your career in three stages: The first stage is early career learning your profession, building your business acumen, or developing the skills to enable you to succeed; the second stage is mid-career to rise in your status, income and expertise; the third stage is to make your choices in work to fit the life you want to have.

Rather than contort yourself to fit work, make work fit you. Now you can do so despite the Pandemic and here’s how to think differently.

What do you hire your work to do for you?

This third stage is when you can ask: how work will fulfill you, fit into the lifestyle you want, and align with the skills, experiences, and values you now have?

Ditch the dread, and approach this third stage with curiosity, passion, engagement, and enthusiasm for what’s next. Rather than accept the myth of the Golden Years in retirement playing, think of this as the Golden Age for meaningful work that keeps you feeling whole and alive for as long as you are able.

But first, you have to get ready.

Here are several attitudes and trends that can work in your favor.

Know who you are, where you fit, and how you can add value

For many who entered the workforce 30 or 40 years ago, we were expected to conform and adapt to organizational requirements. The old joke was IBM stood for “I’ve Been Moved”. We literally “went to work” in downtown offices, traveled extensively for meetings, and the job demands came first. Who we were was who we needed to be to succeed in prescribed requirements and expectations.

Now you can think about what you want to do, the kinds of people you want to work with, and how you would like your skills and experiences to be utilized. Self-reflect so you can direct your third stage work-life to be congruent with how you want to live. Maybe travel and fixed hours are not what you want, because you want more time with family and autonomy and flexibility in work schedules.

These new preferences can shape your search for next stage work, but you need to evaluate what you want for yourself, the environment—both human and physical— who you want to be engaged with, the purpose and meaning you want to fulfill, and what you offer that others value and will pay for.

Most often, third stage workers want to feel useful and needed, purposeful, and in life-affirming collaboration with others. Go with your aspiration to fulfill these desires.

Let Go of the Illusion of Certainty and Security

Most of us were oriented to working within organizations and institutions that retained their good workers and promoted based on achievement, competence, and our internal company professional reputation. Today, the work world is more team and project-oriented. Longevity is less assured. Change your expectations. You may both find different work, evolve in your assignments, and even your role.

Adopt an Entrepreneurial Mindset

You are responsible to create your own opportunities. To adopt the adage “you eat what you hunt”. If you seek opportunities based on your own criteria and use the systems that are already organized and available, you can find work even if you are not certain about the duration and outcome. Entrepreneurs invest their time and resources to serve others and create value. You can do the same even as a free-lance, part-time, or time-limited worker.

Create a Diversified Work Portfolio

Consider approaching your third stage work as you would your investment portfolio. If you are familiar with diversification in asset management, then you can apply the same to your work portfolio. Different work may simultaneously provide and satisfy diversified experiences and fulfill different needs.

In my case, I am simultaneously a University Instructor teaching interviewing and writing to undergraduate students; a Career Coach helping individuals make transitions for work that matters to them; a memoir writer helping someone transmit their life story to their family and friends. The university experience satisfies my teaching and young adult interaction needs; career coaching satisfies my helping and serving others in a deeply meaningful way; my memoir writing enables me to help someone find the connections and meaning from their own experience. Each role and set of tasks are different, yet when combined they satisfy varied interests. In addition, I have a very active volunteer work-life that enables me to be in the “fellowship of endeavor” with like-minded people in causes I care about. I also take classes, webinars, and even have private tutoring to learn a language for future extended travel in a foreign country.  

Feel free to mix it up!

Become More Agile and Fearless

If you can reimagine your life story to be based on joy and abundance rather than fear and scarcity, you can enable your own trajectory. Agility means you can be flexible and pivot readily to changing circumstances and opportunities. Fearless means you are willing to take calculated risks for your own happiness without knowing what the result will be. Having the determination and grit to “give it a go”, you can allow for emergent possibilities

Here are strategies and approaches you can take to thrive in your third stage career:l

Upskilling is easily available, inexpensive, and efficient to learn

Learning to learn what you need to increase your options is now easier with so many online tutorials and webinars. You can reverse engineer your learning path by observing which software systems or platforms are most used in the fields you would like to work in. If you would like to work in customer relationship management, then Salesforce may be necessary. Salesforce certifies online users through their online community of practices Trailblazers. You can be certified through online course study and receive a digital badge that verifies you can apply the management system. Upskilling is the new way to build your value for what you want to do.

Virtual is Now the Work Reality

We were not natives of the internet nor social media; we are immigrants to these modalities. So, while we may feel a bit behind and clumsy, the virtual work world is universally accessible, flexible, and user-friendly.

Seize opportunities the technologies now provide. Check out my free podcast interviews and blog posts on Interconnectedindividuals.com to see how you can understand the future of work and better understand the opportunities for virtual work by listening to how leaders and thinkers can provide fresh thinking. You may want to begin with Vint Cerf, Google Evangelist and one of the founding luminaries in the expansion of the Internet for universal access.Vintcerf

Start with Your Life/work Goals

Be specific. Perhaps you want to work to supplement your fixed income and still be flexible and autonomous on when, where, and how much you work.  Maybe you want to engage with younger people who are in school or Moms returning back to work after extended leaves for childcare. Or consider a problem you want to work to be part of the solution such as climate change or criminal justice reform. 

Check out organizations with free resources, advice, and work plan templates that can orient you.

These organizations offer free resources and experts to advise you. Get information and educated before you begin your work plan.

-AARP Life Reimagined

-US Government Employment and Training Administration

-Marc Freedman’s Encore.org

Enroll in online diagnostic tests

These tools help orient you to understand your current skill sets and ways of being so you can best choose how to thrive and best present yourself:

-Clifton Strength Finders

-IPEC Energy Leadership Assessment (administered and interpreted by certified coaches)

-IPEC Values self-assessment (link to my website jeffsaperstein.com for free assessment form)

Platforms, Apps, and Global Exchanges is a Game-Changer

If you would like to start a business, join project teams, or be recruited for jobs that fit you the new technologies make it cheaper, faster, and less risky than ever before. Imagine you can inhabit a new online universe in which you become part of galaxy through adoption of a Platforms such as LinkedIn, Apps such as Waze for GPS, and Global  Exchanges such as Amazon or Alibaba.

Use platforms to both establish yourself and connect with others who can provide work

Platforms can help you access jobs based on your profile and skillsets. Rather than trying to apply randomly or being circumscribed by your geographic location, you can now work from home and establish your own network and Eco-cluster of those you help and who help you for work. These platforms provide free tutorials and guidance on how to use and get the best value to refine your profile and make the best matches for what you want.

-Flexjobs/Relate

-Linkedin

Join Communities of Practice to expand your network

You can join multiple communities online to both share your knowledge and interact with others. Professional associations, specialty expertise areas, or just people who share a common interest are organized for you and easy to join at no cost to you.

Get recommendations for your LinkedIn profile

One of the most effective ways to establish your reputation is by obtaining credible recommendations for your LinkedIn profile. It is easy, and LinkedIn archives on your profile permanently. Just ask people you have worked with to post a recommendation from their LinkedIn account to yours. When employers or collaborative teams search for candidates, your recommendations matter for your enhanced credibility.

Establish a business on a global exchange

It is now easier than ever to start a business. Do you like to handmake crafts? Then you can create a business on Etsy. Want to become a chef and demonstrate your recipes? You can post on YouTube and request subscriptions.

For the most widely utilized global exchanges check out Amazon web services and Alibaba to see how to start your online business.

Volunteer in non-profits to establish your credentials and experience

Non-profit organizations are great places to enhance your life with purpose and meet like-minded people. Using the portfolio approach, you can play different roles as a volunteer in non-profits: serving on boards of directors, hands-on work, and fundraising. One can engage with non-profits, church activity, and community organizations, and become known and sought after by establishing your reputation and building your experience. Volunteer activity itself without financial compensation is life-affirming. But you can also use this experience and contacts to springboard your own business.  

Volunteers for tutoring in math, English, and other primary school subject areas can develop their own practices. If you can get credentials, you can also be a substitute teacher for grade school kids. Local school districts are using platforms for registered substitute teachers to fill in for a class vacancy even the night before school-day begins.

Become involved in community boards, activities, and organizations

Work can be more engaging with others who have a common purpose. Those who share a passion to address an issue can help each other.

There are 180,000 Nextdoor platforms.  You can sign in and dialogue with people in your community and see requests and needs. You should not promote your business on Nextdoor, but you can become known by your helpfulness in an area of expertise.  Your local library is also a great place to volunteer and work with the librarians who might become referral sources for you to tutor.

Today human capital is more about applying skills to doing business, creating products, delivering services, and more — it is not dependent on people being in physical proximity. Age should be no impediment. So as third stage workers you can now navigate your own journey on the route you decide. The world of opportunity is now open to you. Seize it and thrive!