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Repurpose Your Career | Career Pivot | Careers for the 2nd Half of Life | Career Change | Baby Boomer

Repurpose Your Career podcast brought to you by Career Pivot is a podcast for those of us in the 2nd half of life to come together to discuss how repurpose our careers for the 21st century.  Come listen to career experts give you proven strategies, listen to people like you tell their stories about how they repurposed their careers and finally get your questions answered.   Your host, Marc Miller, has made six career pivots over the last 30 years. He understands this is not about jumping out of the frying pan into a fire but rather to create a plan where you make clear actionable steps or pivots to a better future career. 
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Now displaying: September, 2017
Sep 25, 2017

In this episode, Marc answers questions with his trusty sidekick, Elizabeth Rabaey. You can learn about her career pivots in Episode 020. Listen in to this episode for ideas on planning a freelance path, whether you need a Bachelor’s degree when you have the experience, and volunteering and networking at a not-for-profit.

Key Takeaways:

[2:40] Elizabeth introduces herself. Through an assessment, Marc helped Elizabeth find and connect with her creativity. After pivoting, she is the marketing coordinator for an international company. She uses Adobe InDesign to create marketing materials.

[4:14] Q1: I am out of work for two-and-a-half years after surgeries. I am completely recovered. I am an illustrator/designer and have worked in several industries.

[4:56] I have been reaching out to my network. I adjust my resume for every opportunity. I am getting no response. There is no human connection in the application process. I would love to work freelance but have no sales ability. How do I find opportunities?

[5:42] A1: Marc notes that people in that situation apply for jobs, but graphic design jobs are few. There are lots of freelance gigs. Marc suggests looking at Upworks and other freelance broker sites. They have a rating system, so you need to get some gigs on there and get good ratings. Look for local freelance groups and creative meetups.

[7:07] Look at creative communities, such as Adobe users. These will vary by location. If you still want to apply for a job, look for people on LinkedIn who “look like you” and find out where they work. Those are potential employers. The key is to go talk to employees or freelancers about how they get work. Freelance groups have business workshops.

[10:32] Q2: I just turned 60. Unless I can find someone to take care of me financially, I will have to return to work. I have a Project Management Planner (PMP) certificate, but every job seems to require a BA. I don’t want additional debt. What are my options?

[10:52] A2: A PMP is sufficient. Put on the application, “20 years of experience in lieu of a BA,” or BS, (whichever they specify). That gets you honestly past the applicant tracker. Do not lie.

[11:51] Q3: I am not having any luck finding employment. I am qualified to be an HR manager, but I don’t want a management role. I have applied to non-managerial positions in HR and had a couple of interviews but no offers. Money is not a problem. I am willing to work for much less than I have in the past. I would like to work at an Non-Profit.

[12:42] A3: There are multiple pieces to this. No one is going to believe that you are willing to work for less money. If you go back into the for-profit world in the second half of life, it’s going to come down to a relationship that you already have or can resurrect or build. To work in the nonprofit world takes completely different skills than for profit.

[14:28] Marc suggests first seeking a nonprofit certificate program at a community college. Fundraising is different from sales. Volunteer management is not HR. You will have to build relationships at the nonprofit by serving on a board or volunteering. They are often dysfunctional. Figure out which one you could tolerate with its dysfunctions.

[17:07] Elizabeth has worked on nonprofit boards. She recommends building your network by volunteering. There may be a lot of uncertainty and you may need flexibility.

[18:01] Marc serves on the board of one nonprofit, Launchpad Job Club, and the President hates to ask for money. Money is necessary for a nonprofit. Marc notes that getting to a size where employees are paid is a big, difficult change for an NFP.

[19:03] Marc invites you to record your question for the show using the microphone option at CareerPivot.com. Your voice can be on the show! Or email him your question.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Please pick up a copy of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life, by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey. When you complete reading the book, please leave an honest review on Amazon. The audio version will be available in or October.

Watch for news of the membership community of the CareerPivot.com website. Marc has an initial cohort of members helping him develop the content. Soon there will be a waiting list, with a link to be set up in a future episode.

Next week will start the four-part series, “Can Tim Repurpose His Career?” with his personal operating system assessment.

CareerPivot.com/ryc-resources

Careerpivot.com
Contact Marc, and ask questions at Careerpivot.com/contact-me

Marc@CareerPivot.com

Twitter: @CareerPivot

LinkedIn: Marc Miller

Facebook: Career Pivot

Birkman Assessment

Adobe Creative Cloud

Mamiserwaa

Launchpad Job Club

Freelance-austin.org

Upwork.com

Flexjobs.com

Freelancer.com

Guru.com

“79 Websites To Get Freelance Jobs Fast,” Abdullahi Muhammed, Forbes

CareerPivot.com Episode-47

Take a moment — go to iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. Please give this podcast a review and subscribe! If you’re not sure how to leave a review, please go to CareerPivot.com/review, and read the detailed instructions there.

Sep 18, 2017

 In this episode, Marc shares the chapter, “Career Mistakes: Failure is a Great Option,” from his upcoming audio book, Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life.

Key Takeaways:

[3:11] Failure is a great option if you are not running a life-or-death mission. If you’re like most people, it’s inevitable and essential. You don’t learn unless you fail. If you are unwilling to fail, you are unlikely to venture into anything very impressive.

[4:41] Mistake 1: Marc was ‘seduced’ by a former manager to leave an easy job at IBM, and join her at IBM Global Services. Why was it one of the biggest mistakes of his career? He should have done his own research about the job. It wasn’t for him, and it led him to unhappiness. So he quit.

[7:42] Mistake 2: Taking his ‘dream job.’ Most of us take a dream job, without ever investigating what it actually entails. Marc went to teach Math in an inner-city high school. He had a lot of experience writing curriculum to teach engineers. He was not prepared to teach kids whose problems reached far beyond his ability to help them.

[10:59] Mistake 3: ‘I can make this work!’ Marc took a job that was not optimal, working in fundraising for a non-profit that was not aligned with his goals, just before a major downturn in the economy. He lasted a year, but he could not make it work.

[12:57] Failure’s upside: Marc is happy he took all three jobs. He learned a tremendous amount about consulting, public education, and non-profits. He also learned a lot about himself.

[13:19] Very few of us just hop from one career, into the perfect one, without some experimentation. Marc tells about Dave, a client who pivoted through several jobs before landing where he was happy.

[14:32] Failing, experimenting, and reinventing can be an adventure, but you need your infrastructure in place. Marc has come up with a plan to help you do this to prepare for your career pivot.

[14:47] Rules of Reinvention: Have a Plan B. Be prepared to pull the plug on the reinvention project. Have a clear timeline and metrics to determine your success.

[14:59] You might have three or five goals you’re working on, in terms of finances, skills learned, or happiness. Give yourself short windows to achieve these and evaluate them.

[15:22] Make sure the work you’re doing is something from which you could pivot into something else. Don’t fall away from your skillset without building anything you could use in your next job if this one doesn’t work out.

[15:36] Keep your network fresh even as you’re working in a new job or industry.

[15:41] Marc reviews when he had a Plan B (at IBM), and when he had no Plan B (at the high school). He planned his withdrawal from the nonprofit, which gave him time to find multiple Plan Bs.

[16:28] Think through your Plan B carefully. If a job becomes a trap, you need a way to escape it.

[17:06] Learn from your mistakes. The way you turn a mistake into something good is by learning from the experience. Marc learned a ton from his mistakes — what he needed and what he did not want to have.

[18:29] Failure is an option, but fail fast. Don’t be too risk averse, but be resilient.

[19:57] If you have a laptop, an Internet connection, and some hustle, you can start a business right now, with no money down. You won’t need a loan. Marc has written two books without a publisher and created a website that garners over 10,000 visitors a month without a major capital investment. He has created a highly-recognizable brand.

[21:22] In two of Marc’s three mistakes, he failed fast. That greatly eased his recovery. He was able to get back on track without being separated from his job skills. Don’t cling to a mistake just because it took you so long to make it.

[21:54] If you’re not failing, you’re not growing, but you have to be doing both. Have a plan, have a way to gauge whether it’s working, and jump ship when it isn’t. If you planned it right, another ship will come along, soon enough.

[22:13] Action Steps: Reflect on a career failure. Write down how you recovered. Reflect on what you could have done differently. Did you take risks, and if you did not, do you have regrets about that?

Mentioned in This Episode:

Please pick up a copy of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life, by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey. When you get done reading the book, please leave an honest review on Amazon. The audio version will be available in September or October.

CareerPivot.com/ryc-resources

Careerpivot.com
Contact Marc, and ask questions at Careerpivot.com/contact-me. Marc answers your questions every month.

Marc@CareerPivot.com

Twitter: @CareerPivot

LinkedIn: Marc Miller

Facebook: Career Pivot

CareerPivot.com Episode-46

Take a moment — go to iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. Please give this podcast a review and subscribe! If you’re not sure how to leave a review, please go to CareerPivot.com/review, and read the detailed instructions there.

Watch for news of the membership community of the CareerPivot.com website. Marc has an initial cohort of members helping him develop the content.

Sep 11, 2017

In this episode, Marc interviews Stan Siranovich. Stan is closer to 70 than 60. Stan has reinvented himself twice in the last 15 years, this time it was as a big data guy. Stan recently landed full-time employment for the first time in about 15 years. He is just two to three months into the new job, so anything could happen, but his story may be inspiring to all of you who thought you might never go back to work again. He has landed as a Senior Data Analyst, where he typically had to compete against 20-somethings to get the job. Stan is working hard at the new job with a small startup. It’s a new environment for him, but he is learning and adapting. Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Listen in to learn how to educate yourself online for the position you desire.

 

Key Takeaways:

[3:44] Marc introduces Stan Siranovich, closer to 70 than to 60. Stan is a scientist who has been doing data science since long before “Al Gore invented the internet.” Stan studied data science in undergraduate and graduate work.

[4:13] In the first half of life Stan did polymer research and development and technical marketing for large chemical corporations. Most of his career was with Bayer Corporation, but he also worked for some years at Mobil Oil, and also at Cargill, and AkzoNobel.

[4:41] Stan started in analytical chemistry, moved into product development, then into polymer synthesis. He began at Mobil, was recruited by Cargill, and then was recruited by Bayer. Soon after arriving at Bayer, they had a massive structural change.

[5:27] Stan was given two options: research or technical marketing. He chose technical marketing, from his customer-facing days at Cargill, and he liked it. He also did applications development, and product development for a while. Then he hit the speaking circuit when the company entered the wood coatings market as a supplier.

[6:02] There was another downsize. The Pittsburgh campus went from about 2,200 employees to about 800. Stan went off on his own and bought a franchise. He liked running a business but missed the research and development. In 2000 he sold it, after about a year.

[6:56] After selling the franchise, Stan worked contract jobs, and was recruited by AkzoNobel. He moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he was the technical marketing manager for Coatings/Resins in North America. It was a $60 million product line with 170 products in 20 categories. In 2001, profits lagged, and they sold the business.

[7:34] Stan worked some temp and contract jobs, then went to Sullivan University to become a Certified Microsoft Network Engineer. While in school he was hired in the IT Security department of Yum! Brands until 2008 when 600 were laid off in Louisville.

[8:45] Stan worked some more contract jobs until late 2012, then he formed Crucial Connections, LLC, and did consulting and contract work through the business. Stan says it was a tough business without having a multinational name behind him.

[9:44] Stan had to draw down on savings to survive. He decided to look into big data. He had been working with computers since running 'PV = nRT' equations as an undergraduate. At Bayer, he had done statistical experimental design using JMP statistical software from SAS.

[10:56] To get himself up-to-date, Stan did a lot of self-education. He already had a BS in Chemistry and an MBA with concentrations in Finance and Management Information Systems. Besides his Microsoft Engineer certification from Sullivan, he took a series of certification tests from Microsoft. and several certification tests from CompTIA.

[11:54] Stan took courses from Coursera, Lynda.com, Springboard, Sharp Sight Labs, and Udemy for his online education. Stan spent small amounts on the training. Some courses are $10.00, some are $100 to a few hundred dollars. He prefers shorter skills courses, as he already had studied theory. Stan works now in JMP, Tableau, and R.

[13:52] Stan started working with Marc over a year ago. Stan was struggling with recruiters. Marc told him to be more proactive. Stan did presentations anywhere that would have him, and a lot of networking. One of his presentations is on YouTube. These presentations gave Stan exposure to the data science community in a three-state area.

[15:10] Stan showed that he knew his stuff. It was the only way to get by recruiters. If the gatekeepers can’t check off enough boxes on their list, you don’t make the first cut.

[15:39] Stan was hired in July. A recruiter from V-Soft emailed him. Stan had worked with V-Soft for seven years, but nothing had come of it. From the email to the first day of work at the client was eight days.

[17:44] Marc wants everyone to understand this: When you are going through this kind of job search, you have no control over the timing.

[18:02] The last time Stan was a full-time employee was years earlier. He has been contracting since that time, until this job. It feels good to have a regular paycheck.

[19:09] Stan is one of Marc’s poster children. The big challenge was to keep Stan positive and moving forward. Stan got frustrated dealing with recruiters. It took a long time. If Stan could talk to himself two years ago, he would say, keep putting one foot in front of the other. Do what you need to do. Educate yourself. Get out. Meet people.

[21:36] Marc’s final thoughts: Are you inspired by Stan’s story? I hope it would inspire you to be resilient and stick with it. Stan does not give up.

Mentioned in This Episode:

CareerPivot.com/blog

Marc@CareerPivot.com

Contact Marc, and ask questions at Careerpivot.com/contact-me. Marc is accepting new clients, so reach out to him. He will supply a link to his calendar to set up a call.

Please pick up a copy of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life, by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey. When you complete reading the book, please leave an honest review on Amazon.

CareerPivot.com/ryc-resources (Repurpose Your Career Resources)

CareerPivot.com/episode-45

Please take a moment — go to iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. Give this podcast a review and subscribe! If you’re not sure how to leave a review, please go to CareerPivot.com/review, and read the detailed instructions there.

Watch for news of the membership community of the CareerPivot.com website. Marc has an initial cohort of members helping him develop the content.

Email: PittsburghStan@gmail.com

Email: Stan@CrucialConnection.com

Bayer Corporation

Mobil Oil

Cargill

AkzoNobel

Certified Microsoft Network Engineer

Sullivan University

Yum! Brands

SAS

CompTIA Certifications

Coursera

Lynda.com

Springboard

Sharp Sight Labs

Udemy

JMP

Tableau

R

V-Soft

Dice

 

Sep 4, 2017

For the U.S. Labor Day holiday, Marc provides a brief episode for shout outs and an announcement of a special series of four podcasts for October, where he will take a client through his assessment process, to know themselves, before committing to a new position. Marc refers listeners to Episode 041, “What Is Your Personal Operating System?” Listen in for what to expect in this special series.

 

Key Takeaways:

[:56] This episode is releasing on the U.S. Labor Day holiday, so Marc is keeping it short. Marc gives a shout-out to Podfly Productions, LLC, and those who help produce this podcast: Eric Begay, Ryan Morrison, and Tim McGowan. These folks edit the podcast, create the show notes, and make sure it’s on iTunes.

[1:24] Marc gives a shout-out to his virtual assistant, Stephanie Brodt, who creates the podcast post, the Boomer Job Tips post, Marc’s Career Insights email, and a lot of other stuff, to make all of this work.

[1:38] Marc announces that starting on the first Monday of October, he will be podcasting a four-part series, called, “Can Tim Repurpose His Career?”

[1:48] Episode 41 was the chapter, “What Is Your Personal Operating System?” from Marc’s upcoming audio book, Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the Second Half of Life. In Episode 41, Marc describes the process he uses to help his clients understand themselves. Marc will take Tim (not his real name) through this process.

[2:05] Tim is a 50-year-old male who has been stair-stepping himself out of his current career. He has been building a business on the side. Tim was laid off from his regular paycheck last month, and now has the “kick in the butt” to complete his career pivot. Listen to this case study of what it takes to “know thyself.”

[2:25] Marc’s final thoughts: See episode show notes at CareerPivot.com/episode-44. Go to CareerPivot.com to subscribe and get updates to this podcast and all the other happenings at CareerPivot.com. Subscribe to the CareerPivot Blog, and receive the CareerPivot Insights email every Sunday, with a link to this podcast.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Careerpivot.com/episode-44

Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the Second Half of Life, by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey (Now available online)

Contact Marc, and ask questions at: Careerpivot.com/contact-me

Call Marc at 512-693-9132 and leave a message and email address.

Please take a moment — go to iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. Give this podcast a review and subscribe! If you’re not sure how to leave a review, please go to CareerPivot.com/review, and read the detailed instructions there.

 

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