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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: January, 2018
Jan 29, 2018

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 insight on doing detective work about why you weren’t hired, skipping the recruiter process, and how much notice is required when you leave a job.

Key Takeaways:

[:45] Marc welcomes you to the episode and gives an overview of the podcast series. This month the series will be out of the normal order. Next week Marc will interview Camille Knight, a logical creative who married her love for data and creativity. Marc has a couple of experts lined up to be interviewed, but scheduling has been challenging.

[1:37] The expert interview is usually the first in the monthly series. The third in the series is a topic of Marc’s choosing, and the fourth episode is the ‘mailbag’ episode with questions from listeners.

[1:51] This is the mailbag Q&A episode with Elizabeth Rabaey.

[2:07] Elizabeth introduces herself and her job.

[3:20] Q1: I have been passed over for a position. I just received an email. How do I find out why I was passed over for the position?

[3:36] A1: Marc recently updated a blog post, “You Didn’t Get the Job. Now What?” The key piece here is you need to have people on the inside. As you start the job search, find a referral inside the company. Marc tells about a friend’s asking Marc for help with HR at his employer. Marc found out what skills his friend was missing and told his friend.

[5:55] At an interview, get business cards from interviewers. After the interview, you immediately thank everyone, then send LinkedIn connections requests, and even send the recruiter a $5.00 Starbucks gift card if they were nice. Get on the good side of the recruiter. Next, talk to your contact and see if they can play detective with HR.

[7:06] The last step is to wait a month or so, look on LinkedIn, and see who got the job. It’s unlikely to get a job in competition with an inside person. Send that person a connection request. Reach out to them and see if they’d be willing to talk. Other similar positions may come up. Just because you didn’t get the job doesn’t mean it’s all over.

[8:31] If the person who got the job is 25 years younger than you are, that may tell you what they want in a candidate. Ageism is alive and well. Look for companies that are very age-friendly. Some companies are well known for being age-friendly. Be a detective before the interview.

[9:45] Q2: I have been applying for positions and rarely do I get a callback. If I do, I meet with a low-level recruiter who does not have the experience to evaluate me for this position. How do I bypass the recruiter to talk to the hiring manager?

[10:09] A2: Marc says listen to Episode 58 with Gary O’Neal. Marc will do a blog post soon on the four things you don’t know about the hiring process at your target companies. You don’t know when a position will open up. You don’t know what keywords, if any, are plugged into their job post. You don’t know who will be filtering the resumes, and you don’t know if the recruiter knows anything about the position.

[11:26] Gary O’Neal talks about bypassing the whole recruitment system by figuring out who the hiring managers are. You can do that on LinkedIn. Systematically start reaching out to people. Applying for jobs online does work some of the time. Those are the exceptions. Recruiters ask you a stock set of questions.

[12:28] In Episode 58, Gary talks about reaching out to three kinds of people at the company. A hiring manager, someone who would be your peer, and a recruiter. Gary talks about reaching out to 100 companies with a three-email sequence. By going around the standard hiring process, you can make real connections.

[13:03] In an upcoming month, Marc will have Career Sherpa Hannah Morgan as a guest. She has been consulting on jobs for 12 years. Job searching has changed greatly in 10 years. If you follow the recruiters’ process, you’ll get stuck in it.

[13:36] Gary also says, we believe there are all these rules. There are no rules. Gary recently had a new client. They had 1,300 applicants in the cloud. No one was looking at them. They hire people who mail in their resumes and come in. Most companies don’t hire very well. The process is broken.

[15:17] Gary also mentions you will get a lot of silence. If you reach out to 600 people and get a 20% response rate, that’s 120 people to talk to. They will be nice because they responded. Reach out, and reach out some more. Marc tells how a LinkedIn connection came just by looking at a profile. He was then able to connect his friend.

[17:54] Q3: I just accepted a new position at a different company. I just know my boss will throw a fit when I turn in my resignation and will make my life miserable for two weeks. Do I have to give two weeks’ notice?

[18:12] A3: Marc says this is a tough one. When you signed on with your current company and signed an acceptance letter, it spelled out what you agreed to do when leaving including the length of notice. Marc believes in offering at least two weeks’ notice, if not more. Leave, tying everything up in a nice little bow.

[19:35] If your boss is going to throw a fit, it’s your job to be the adult in the room. Don’t take it personally. Stay calm, insist that you are leaving, but have the discussion of if the boss wants you gone, you will be happy to use PTO time. One of the things to find out before you leave is if they will pay out on your PTO time when you leave.

[21:32] When Marc left his last corporate job, he was stressed out, and he planned his exit meticulously for the first week in January, after bonuses, option vesting, and a healthcare payment. When you take your next job, keep those signing papers.

[22:18] Elizabeth gave two weeks’ notice on two occasions, and the last time it was mutually agreed that two weeks was not necessary. Plan your leaving on good terms.

[23:18] Marc says to figure out ahead of time what are you going to do for health insurance, especially to bridge the time between your last job, and when you become eligible for benefits at your next job.

[24:30] Ask HR what COBRA will cost.

[24:59] Marc notes that the first question came from the podcast survey. Marc will pull other questions from the survey for future Q&As. If you have a question you would like Marc to answer, you can either go to CareerPivot.com and hit the Contact Me button, email Marc at Podcast@CareerPivot.com.

[27:38] Check back next week when Marc will interview Camille Knight.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Careerpivot.com

CareerPivot.com/Episode-20 with Elizabeth Rabaey

CareerPivot.com/Episode-58 with HR expert Gary O’Neal

LinkedIn

Please pick up a copy of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life, by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey. The paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats are available now. When you have completed reading the book, Marc would very much appreciate your leaving an honest review on Amazon.com. The audio version of the book is now available on iTunes, Audible, or Amazon. Marc will be giving away one or more free copies of the audio version — follow his directions in this episode.

Marc has the paid membership community running on the CareerPivot.com website. The website is alive and in production. Marc is contacting people on the waitlist. Sign up for the waitlist at CareerPivot.com/Community. Marc has an initial cohort of 10 members in the second half of life and they are guiding him on what to build. He is looking for individuals who are motivated to take action and give Marc input on what he should produce next. He’s currently working on LinkedIn and blogging training. Groups will be brought in 10 at a time. This is a paid membership community where Marc will offer group coaching, special content, and a community where you can seek help.

Please take a moment — go to iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify through the Spotify app. Give this podcast an honest 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.

Email Marc at Podcast@CareerPivot.com.

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

CareerPivot.com/Episode-63 Show Notes for this episode.

You can find Show Notes at Careerpivot.com/repurpose-career-podcast.

To subscribe from an iPhone: CareerPivot.com/iTunes

To subscribe from an Android: CareerPivot.com/Android

Careerpivot.com

Jan 22, 2018

Marc takes some time to dissect the podcast audience survey, discuss podcast statistics provided by Libsyn, the podcast host server, and what this might mean for the future. This podcast was launched 14 months ago and targeted one of the smallest audiences who listen to podcasts, the over-55 crowd. According to Edison Research, which presented at Podcast Movement this last year, the over-55 crowd makes up about 15% of all podcast listeners, which, by the way, is about half of the demographic. They make up 38-40% of the population. Marc should be approaching 3,000 episode downloads in January, which pushed this podcast well into the top of all podcasts on Libsyn. For that, Marc wants to say, thank you! He is quite humbled by the response.

Listen in for survey results and future plans for the Repurpose Your Career podcast.

 

Key Takeaways:

[:57] The audio version of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life is available now on iTunes, Audible, and Amazon. Listen to the end of this episode for how to win a free copy of the audiobook. Marc will give away one copy a week for one month.

[1:21] Marc announces that the Repurpose Your Career podcast is now available on Spotify, via the Spotify app. There have been a fair number of downloads, already.

[1:37] Marc lists the order of episodes. The first episode is an interview with an expert. Two weeks ago, Marc interviewed Nancy Collamer. Last week, Marc interviewed Christine Hopkins-Spidell, a late-in-life career pivoter. This week, Marc discusses the results of the audience survey. The last episode of the series is a listener Q&A.

[3:33] Marc launched the podcast to support the publishing of the book, Repurpose Your Career. He started with about 300 downloads in the first few months — that was November-December of 2016, and it has steadily climbed ever since.

[3:48] The podcast hit a plateau in the early Fall. Things have kind of exploded in December — a usually quiet month for podcasts. Episodes were up 50% in December and they continue to rise in January, at a rapid rate. Why? Marc has no idea.

[4:09] Charts for the survey will appear in the Show Notes on the CareerPivot.com website. Look for Episode 62. The current episodes are averaging about 300 downloads in the first 30 days. This is a standard measure of the popularity of a podcast. Most downloads will occur in the first 30 days after you publish a particular podcast.

[4:40] Marc received 33 survey responses, which he thought was pretty good. He guesses that one in ten listeners filled out a survey, which is not bad, considering most people listen on mobile devices, so they are not near a computer when they hear them.

[5:02] About 70% of survey respondents were male. In previous surveys of Marc’s readership, the gender results were about split. According to Edison Research, male podcast listeners outnumber female podcast listeners 56-44. There will be a link to the report in the show notes.

[5:27] 90% of the respondents were between 45-64; two-thirds of those were between 55-64. The survey shows Marc is hitting his intended audience.

[5:44] Approximately half of all the listeners are unemployed or retired. The other half are mostly looking for a change in career, job, or industry.

[5:58] 98% of the respondents are from North America. One is from South America, and one from Europe.

[6:09] 25% of the respondents have been listening less than one month but you were inspired to fill out a survey in the very first month of listening. Marc thanks you!

[6:23] 22% of the respondents have been listening for 10-12 months. Marc really thanks these folks!

[6:30] The rest of the audience was fairly evenly split up between 1-3, 4-6, and 7-9 months. There was a pretty wide range of response and how long they have listened.

[6:43] Over 40% of respondents listen to the podcast on their computer. That’s double the general population.

[7:01] The most common source of downloads was iTunes, followed by all the web browsers — Chrome, Firefox, Mozilla, or Safari. You may have noticed, the most current episode of the podcast is embedded in the blog post as an ad, embedded in a player in the blog post.

[7:41] Slightly less than 40% listen on an Android phone. iPhones came in last. Because of the fact that there is no common app player on Android, People on Android phones don’t listen to podcasts as much as people on iPhones. This was surprise to Marc..

[8:11] Half of respondents were selective in the episodes they listen to. ¼ of listeners listen every week. Many said they were too new to the podcast to say.

[8:27] Over 70% said their favorite episode was an interview with someone who made a late-in-life career pivot. The other three episodes split the rest, pretty much evenly.

[8:46] Marc shares things people liked about their favorite episode: seeing themselves doing the same in a few years, looking for practical experience-based examples of how to transition, relatability, engagement, learning about how they made the transition, enjoying “Marc’s pivots and lifestyle,” liking to hear how others did it.

[9:27] Others liked: hearing actual specific personal stories from people who figured out what to do and made it work, really enjoying Marc’s podcast about moving overseas and how to grow his career-pivot business, learning about retiring early, moving to a low-cost area for retirement, second-act careers and side hustles.

[9:55] Others said: applies to me at this stage in my career, am in the same situation of late-career move, liked the book and guest stories best, personal stories are relatable, knowing you are not alone in your journey. Marc says that is probably the most important piece he wants you to get from this survey. You listeners are not alone in this.

[10:32] Others answered: looking for ideas on how to get where I want to be, real-world experience, illustrates clearly that those of us who are older  are still fully capable of working, changing jobs, starting a new career, building a business, etc., connecting with a person, enjoy the mailbag, it’s my story, it’s inspiration as I need to do a pivot.

[11:08] More comments: some of my questions have been answered in the mailbag, I just graduated from college and I’m over 50.

[11:21] Those are some sample answers why people chose their favorite episode. A lot of them want to hear stories that show them other people have accomplished this. They want to know they’re not alone.

[11:41] Marc’s last question was what topics listeners want to have addressed. They said: include more minorities, specific steps of going into management consulting, how to get gigs, resources for structuring consulting contracts, transferable skills, how to earn while traveling. Marc is looking for a travel blogger who started after 50.

[12:31] More answers were: the effect on work status of becoming a caregiver, funding a pivot, portfolio careers, running a retiree micro-business as part of a portfolio, pros and cons of downsizing or moving as a strategy late in life, retiring before 59-and-a-half, tapping retirement accounts early, how much you need to retire early, or abroad.

[13:08] Retiring to Mexico or Ecuador is a big topic. Other comments: living overseas very helpful since you need at least $1 million to retire in the U.S.A., other organizations that help you rank and decide what would be helpful, how to post-mortem an interview, or why you didn’t get a job. Marc may add this one into a mailbag session.

[13:43] More comments: transition from employment to self-employment, age discrimination, moving from a large-population area to a small-population area, rebuilding business network for an introvert in a new location, starting a business, ageism, how to avoid being screened out by people who know nothing about the job.

[14:16] Additional comments: the online black hole (Marc says, go back to the Gary O’Neal episode, #58), gig-economy mindset, landscape, and resources, finding part-time work as a software developer, age discrimination, dealing with the fear of the unknown, preparing for change later in life, dealing with careful plans being upset.

[15:17] Other suggestions: entrepreneurship, relocating, remote working, training and updating skills, research on career trends for people over 50, freelancing tips and examples, the possibility of multiple income streams, am I too old to start a business? Beating the doldrums of unemployment at 55, interviewing ‘don’ts.’

[15:46] Marc hopes you got something out of those comments. Marc plans on working with his producer, Podfly, to make changes based on your comments in the coming months. Marc will address a few of the issues in the next couple of Q&A episodes. Marc is looking for a travel blogger who has turned travel into an income stream after 50.

[16:16] Marc has someone in mind to talk about the gig economy and the possibilities. The comments make it obvious that Marc needs to interview more late-career pivoters. If you know someone who has made a late-career pivot, please send Marc a note to Podcast@careerpivot.com. In the last episode, Christine came to Marc to tell her story.

[16:55] Marc has one client lined up for an interview. She is a logical creative. She is a data analyst with a unique streak of creativity.

[17:08] Marc thanks everyone who participated in the survey. Your feedback is invaluable.

[17:36] Marc gives instructions on how you could get a free copy of the audio version of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd half of Life. Marc announces a previous recipient of a coupon for a free copy.

[18:12] Marc is working on the Career Pivot community website. The website is live, in the process of being put into production and ironing out a few glitches. Marc is contacting people on the waiting list. To learn more, please go to CareerPivot.com/Community and sign up for updates.

[18:42] Marc is currently working on LinkedIn and blogging training. He is planning on four to five beta groups with 10 or more people at a time. This paid membership community is a place where you can receive group coaching, special content, and most importantly, a community where you can seek help.

[19:13] Next episode, Marc and Elizabeth will share answers to questions from listeners.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Careerpivot.com

Libsyn

Edison Research on Podcast Listeners 2017

Show Notes at Careerpivot.com/repurpose-career-podcast

Please pick up a copy of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life, by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey. The paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats are available now. When you have completed reading the book, Marc would very much appreciate your leaving an honest review on Amazon.com.

Marc has the paid membership community running on the CareerPivot.com website. Marc has an initial cohort of 10 members helping him. Marc has opened a waitlist. Sign up at CareerPivot.com/Community.

Please take a moment — go to iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify through the Spotify app. Give this podcast an honest 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.

Email Marc at Podcast@CareerPivot.com.

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

CareerPivot.com/Episode-62 Show Notes for this episode.

CareerPivot.com/Episode-58 Show Notes for Episode 3 with HR expert, Gary O’Neal

You can find Show Notes at Careerpivot.com/repurpose-career-podcast.

To subscribe from an iPhone: CareerPivot.com/iTunes

To subscribe from an Android: CareerPivot.com/Android

Careerpivot.com

Podfly.net

Jan 15, 2018

Christine Hopkins-Spidell earned her Doctor of Law and Policy from Northeastern University, in 2016. Her research focused on federal and state laws relating to our Medicare and Medicaid programs. She earned her Master of Science degree from Northeastern University in Drugs, Biologics, and Medical Devices and her BA in Social Science at Roger Williams University. Her early career began working as a paralegal in law firms focused in the areas of real estate and corporate law while attending classes to earn her BA. She joined Textron Financial Corporation, which provided commercial and consumer lending, a subsidiary of Textron, Inc., in 1991 and over the next 20 years held various roles, including the Litigation Manager and Compliance Manager before accepting the position of Senior Corporate Compliance Specialist at Textron, Inc. Chris is currently VP of Compliance for HealthDrive.

Listen in for advice on preparing a careful and purposeful planned career pivot.

 

Key Takeaways:

[:56] The audio version of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life is available now on iTunes, Audible, and Amazon. Listen to the end of this episode for how to win a free copy of the audiobook. Marc will give away one copy a week for one month.

[1:24] Marc announces that the Repurpose Your Career podcast is now available on Spotify. There have been a fair number of downloads, already.

[1:49] Marc lists the order of episodes. The first episode is an interview with an expert. Last week, Marc interviewed Nancy Collamer. This episode, Marc interviews Christine Hopkins-Spidell, a late-in-life career pivoter. Next week, Marc will discuss the results of the audience survey. The last episode of the series is a listener Q&A.

[2:48] Marc reads the bio of Christine Hopkins-Speidel.

[4:08] Marc introduces Christine. Chris is happy to share with the audience how the things she learned from the Repurpose Your Career website helped her. Chris talks about her career as an early paralegal in law firms in the area of real estate. She learned early on the importance of knowing where to find the answers.

[6:15] After Chris had her Paralegal certificate, she worked toward her Bachelor’s degree in Social Science. She received the offer to work at Textron, which was a great opportunity at a multi-national company of several industries. She had a lot of mentors there. After 20 years, she wanted a change. She wanted to plan it carefully to avoid risk.

[7:32] Chris’s last position at Textron was Senior Corporate Compliance Specialist. It was an auditing position related to laws, risk assessment, and action plans. She developed training materials around the laws that impacted the industries.

[9:27] Sometimes Chris needed to investigate non-compliance issues, which made her an unwelcome visitor. As Chris approached 20 years, she knew she could retire, and that was the impetus to look for other opportunities. She knew her Bachelor’s degree in Social Science would not take her far and that she had to prepare herself better.

[10:48] Chris was in her mid-fifties when she looked at this career change. Her children were already married. She wanted to see what else she could do and make a difference. She looked at healthcare, especially Medicare, and also considered starting her own business, an herb and honey store.

[12:46] Chris considered what would work best for her at that point in her life. She used a tool called the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis. She determined that a store would have to be a longer-term goal. In the meantime, she took money she had set aside and studied for the healthcare industry. She started with math, at Khan Academy.

[15:04] To pick up on some undergraduate work, Chris went to brick-and-mortar colleges. She remembers her first class very well. She felt unprepared.

[16:21] Besides getting into a Master’s program, and the undergraduate classes, Chris recommends taking some free online classes that are not for credit but very worthwhile.

[16:58] Chris was accepted into two Master’s programs: Regulatory Affairs and Psychology. She started in Psychology, learned a lot, but felt it wasn’t a fit for her, and she switched to the Regulatory Affairs program.

[17:33] Northeastern had a great program, with mentors to help her along, and also an internship program that met her objective to gain work experience in the new area. She knew she was going into a very competitive industry.

[19:10] Chris sent out one resume for a clinical research at a public hospital and got the job. She worked in Neuro-Oncology on clinical studies. It gave her the opportunity to really learn the healthcare industry.

[19:59] Chris had been planning for an internship but got a job, instead, while she was still working on her Master’s degree. For the degree she needed an internship, so she asked the hospital if she could do it in their finance department, and learn that aspect of Insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid. It was great experience.

[21:31] Chris thinks she got the job because they were looking for someone with regulatory experience, although she hadn’t seen that in the job posting.

[22:58] Marc notes that job descriptions are often misleading. This job turned out to be perfect for Chris. She learned all the medical terminology and acronyms.

[23:57] From there, Chris was finishing her Master’s when she heard about the Doctor of Law and Policy program. She told the doctors at the hospital that she was applying for the program, and they gave her a great reference. She was accepted into the program, which meant more expenses.

[25:40] To eliminate a commute, and to pay her expenses as she went, she got a job closer to the University in Boston. She got a couple of offers and accepted the one at HealthDrive, with the agreement that she could have time for research to finish her doctorate.

[26:41] HealthDrive is an integrated healthcare program for patients in nursing homes in 10 states. Her initial title was compliance specialist at an entry level. Her boss there had 25 years of experience, and she knew she could learn a lot from him. After several months, they promoted her to Vice President of Compliance.

[28:49] Changing industries is really hard. Christine had a huge learning curve between financial compliance and healthcare research, and then compliance.

[29:38] Chris had to eat humble pie in college when she was yelled at for walking in late to class after an important executive meeting at work. She was shocked, but kept her calm. She also felt sluggish and slow compared to the young college kids. She also had to transition from running the show to not running the show.

[30:52] At HealthDrive, Chris ensures that the company is in compliance with the laws and regulations that affect the industry — the same job profile that she had at Textron, in a completely different industry. HealthDrive has about a thousand employees in the field and at headquarters.

[31:50] Chris didn’t expect to be back in an executive position in a new industry. Marc calls it good karma. Good things happened because she didn’t expect them. She really contacted the learning curve, and learned to study again.

[32:58] Chris’s advice for the audience is to plan effectively for the change. She recommends the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, a part of Six Sigma. You don’t want to guess. You want to plan what the risks are to you, and how to offset the risks before you make a change. She also recommends Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow.

[37:09] Marc’s final thoughts: Christine is risk-averse and is a meticulous planner. This is similar to the path Dr. Joel Dobbs took in Episode 3.

[38:00] Marc tells what you need to do this week to get a free copy of the audio version of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life.
[38:27] Marc is contacting people on the waiting list for the online community of the CareerPivot.com website. To be put on the waiting list, please go to CareerPivot.com/Community. Marc is looking for individuals who are motivated to take action will give input on what they want to see next in the community.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Careerpivot.com

Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life, by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey The paperback, ebook, and audio versions are available now.

Northeastern University

Roger Williams University

Textron Financial Corporation

Textron Inc.

HealthDrive

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis

Khan Academy

Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman

hopeysti@aol.com

Show Notes at Careerpivot.com/repurpose-career-podcast

Please pick up a copy of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life, by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey. The paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats are available now. When you have completed reading the book, Marc would very much appreciate your leaving an honest review on Amazon.com.

Marc has the paid membership community running on the CareerPivot.com website. Marc has an initial cohort of 10 members helping him. Marc has opened a waitlist. Sign up at CareerPivot.com/Community.

Please take a moment — go to iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify. Give this podcast an honest 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.

Email Marc at Podcast@CareerPivot.com.

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

CareerPivot.com/Episode-61 Show Notes for this episode.

CareerPivot.com/Episode-3 Show Notes for Episode 3 with Dr. Joel Dobbs

You can find Show Notes at Careerpivot.com/repurpose-career-podcast.

To subscribe from an iPhone: CareerPivot.com/iTunes

To subscribe from an Android: CareerPivot.com/Android

Careerpivot.com

Jan 8, 2018

Nancy Collamer is a semi-retirement expert, and author of Second-Act Careers: 50+ Ways to Profit from Your Passions During Semi-Retirement. She writes a bi-monthly blog on work and purpose for NextAvenue.org and Forbes.com and publishes a free newsletter about second-act careers through her website, MyLifestyleCareer.com. In private practice since 1996, Nancy holds an MS in Career Development from the College of New Rochelle and a BA in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Listen in for advice on preparing yourself for your semi-retirement opportunities.

 

Key Takeaways:

[1:07] The audio version of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life is available now on iTunes, Audible, and Amazon. Listen to the end of this episode for how to win a free copy of the audiobook. Marc will give away one copy a week for one month.

[1:41] In this episode, Mard interviews Nancy Collamer, semi-retirement expert and author of Second-Act Careers: 50+ Ways to Profit from Your Passions During Semi-Retirement. Next is an episode with a late-life career pivoter. The third in the series is a topic of Marc’s choice. The last in the series is the Q&A episode.

[3:18] Marc introduces Nancy. Nancy really loves her free time. She has a lot of interests outside of work, including family, volunteer work, and hiking. She loves her job because she feels so strongly about people having a holistic, balanced life, with the time to pursue other interests.

[4:50] Nancy is passionate about second-act careers. There are problems with being older and working but there is so much opportunity for people after they retire to have the chance to do what they want to do professionally with the flexibility of time for all their other interests and to find that mix that they didn’t have in their full-time careers.

[5:38] Nancy enjoys getting this important information out there to folks. Marc hears from his online community that they are surprised by their options for work. It can be hard to imagine the possibilities and think outside the box. Nancy’s retired brother-in-law never thought about other possibilities after a long career at one company.

[7:22] Nancy sees two beneficial trends for Boomers: first, the exploding growth in the gig economy, including working through a temp agency, taking on project work, or creating a side business, and second, the graying of the workplace.

[9:18] Marc’s online community informs him that people want freedom over their work — when, how much, and where — and at some point in the job economy companies will have to hire older workers. Nancy just wrote an article with seven ways employers can make the workplace more accommodating for older workers.

[10:50] Marc tells about Nomadland and how the semi-retired in trailers are being taken advantage of by certain industries.

[11:14] People have a hard time knowing what they should do in semi-retirement. Nancy gives a few tips. Disregard sunk costs. Do you still enjoy it; do you feel like your adding value? It may just be certain elements of your job you want to walk away from. What did you like? You might find a part-time position in a better environment.

[15:05] Marc’s periodontist sold his practice, stayed on as an employee of the new owner, and can work as little or much as he wants.

[16:23] Your area of expertise is where you are best known in your largest professional network of contacts. It’s where you have your greatest income potential. Explore it before you move on to other options.

[17:11] Most people build on a piece of what they did before. Nancy gives examples.

[19:05] Most employees are branded by their business skill set and their expertise in their industry. It’s usually easy to trade one, not both, in one pivot. Nancy talks about a Microsoft marketer’s pivot. He transitioned to a magician for events and did marketing for magicians who had no marketing acumen of their own.

[21:45] Nancy sees opportunities for people over 50 in the gig economy and using the internet for working from home. She uses herself as an example, interviewing online. A vice-president retired and became a dog-sitter and dog-walker on Rover.com.

[23:46] Marc uses the example of a three-way international Zoom call he joined on his iPhone from Mexico.

[25:44] Surround yourself with second-act inspiration. You will be excited about the possibilities.

[26:33] Marc will give away one or more copies of the audio version of his book if you will follow the instructions he gives in this episode. Listen for details.

[27:24] Marc is contacting people on the waiting list for the online community of the CareerPivot.com website. To be put on the waiting list, please go to CareerPivot.com/Community. Marc is looking for individuals who are motivated to take action will give input on what they want to see next in the community.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Careerpivot.com

Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life, by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey The paperback, ebook, and audio versions are available now.

Second-Act Careers: 50+ Ways to Profit from Your Passions During Semi-Retirement, by Nancy Collamer

NextAvenue.org

College of New Rochelle

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

MyLifestyleCareer.com

Unretirement: How Baby Boomers are Changing the Way We Think About Work, Community, and the Good Life, by Chris Farrell

“7 Ways Employers Can Support Older Workers and Job Seekers,” by Nancy Collamer

Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century, by Jessica Bruder

Rover.com

Show Notes at Careerpivot.com/repurpose-career-podcast

Please pick up a copy of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life, by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey. The paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats are available now. When you have completed reading the book, Marc would very much appreciate your leaving an honest review on Amazon.com.

Marc has a prototype running of the paid membership community of the CareerPivot.com website. Marc has an initial cohort of 10 members helping him. Marc has opened a waitlist. Sign up at CareerPivot.com/Community.

Please take a moment — go to iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. Give this podcast an honest 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.

Email Marc at Podcast@CareerPivot.com.

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

CareerPivot.com/Episode-60 Show Notes for this episode.

You can find Show Notes at Careerpivot.com/repurpose-career-podcast.

To subscribe from an iPhone: CareerPivot.com/iTunes

To subscribe from an Android: CareerPivot.com/Android

Careerpivot.com

Jan 2, 2018

Marc introduces the common themes of the eight career changes or pivots recapped in this episode. First, they had an idea and did not act on it. Second, there was a moment or event that vaulted them into action. Third, no matter how well they planned it, things did not turn out as planned, and they needed to adapt as they went along. Marc reviews some of their stories, with clips characterizing the three phases in common. He shares some guest clips for each of the three phases.

Listen in for a variety of experiences and tips for pivoting to or changing careers.

 

Key Takeaways:

[1:08] For the past month, Marc has been running the Repurpose Your Career audience survey on who listens to the podcast, what you like, and what you would like to hear about in the future. Please take the survey at CareerPivot.com/PodcastSurvey. This will redirect you to a SurveyMonkey page. Marc will end the survey on January 8.

[1:47] Marc’s audiobook Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life, is available on iTunes, Audible, and Amazon. Please check it out.

[1:59] Marc will begin the podcast series format again next week, with an interview of Nancy Collamer, semi-retirement expert and author of Second-Act Careers: 50+ Ways to Profit from Your Passions During Semi-Retirement. Marc really likes this book.

[2:20] This episode is coming out a day late due to the New Year’s holiday and is a repeat of Marc’s favorite episode of 2017. Everybody has been reporting that they like the stories people have been telling. This episode is a compilation of interviews with eight individuals who have repurposed their careers. Listen to the common themes.

[3:39] Marc interviewed Dr. Joel Dobbs in Episode 3. Dr. Dobbs was an accomplished pharmaceutical executive. Now he has a portfolio career that includes consulting, teaching, and coaching. He planned this out well. Dr. Dobson noted that his life was half gone, and he was inspired by the book Halftime, to do something different.

[6:01] Dr. Dobson took a pause to reflect and sought things that would lead to a new life of significance, to give back. He thought about doing something very different.

[8:02] Marc interviewed Mike O’Krent in Episode 7. Mike went from a carpet store to chronicling people’s lives in video interviews with Life Stories Alive. Mike tells how he started chronicling Holocaust survivors’ stories for the Jewish Federation of San Antonio — for one project ending in 2000. When it was over, he went back to his carpet sales.

[10:36] Marc interviewed Jennifer Winter in Episode 28. Jennifer was VP of Sports Sponsorship for Turner Broadcasting and hated it. Everyone told her how great her job was, so she stayed 21 years. Impending layoffs started her thinking about a change.

[14:42] Marc introduces the next phase, vaulting into action, with more from Mike O’Krent. Mike’s business coach had him write a list of items he both enjoyed and did well. As he read the list to the coach, he was directed to reread certain items and lit up with the Holocaust interviews. The coach asked, can you make a business like that? [17:16] Marc interviewed Kay McManus in Episode 32. Kay was a business professional working for technology companies before she was laid off in 2009. Now she is the CEO of Kay-Kan. Kay says being laid off was what moved her to act. It turned out she was able to serve the managers at her past job as a freelancer. Then she went full-time.

[21:01] Marc introduces Vicki McCullough of Sequitur Marketing, his guest in Episode 11. Vicki was laid off multiple times and finally decided to be her own boss. She explains how she started. After she tried the job search route to no success, she started contract work in marketing. Then she told herself, this was the time.

[22:46] Marc had two guests who made multi-step pivots. Elizabeth Rabaey was Marc’s guest on Episode 20. Elizabeth also helps Marc on the mailbag episodes. Elizabeth worked for an environmental engineering company, on air and water permitting. After multiple pivots, she is a marketing professional for a large mining equipment company.

[23:44] Elizabeth networked into a project manager position at a company larger than her first one. Elizabeth got involved in marketing and branding there. After a year, her old company reached out to her for marketing, and she worked for them for three years.

[29:59] Towards the end of 2016 Elizabeth was looking on job boards and found a marketing coordinator position for an international company. She went to the company website, applied for the job, and her engineering and marketing backgrounds got her hired very quickly. She works from home, with the possibility of international travel.

[32:31] Marc interviewed Thom Singer in Episode 15. Thom was a business development professional who worked for a law firm until the 2009 recession when he was laid off. He then launched his career as a keynote speaker and MC. He had already been speaking on the side, but the layoff motivated him to make this his profession.

[33:03] Thom’s background prepared him to train other law firms. But, because of the recession, they stopped hiring outside services. Associations of all kinds still held their meetings, and so keynote speaking became the biggest part of Thom’s business. He was unable to get the rates per speech he needed, and his mortgage didn’t shrink.

[34:53] Thom was losing money. The family went through cash reserves and credit cards. In a few years he caught up to his previous salary, but then had to work off three years of debt. In six and a half years he was at a stable level. A bad quarter still makes him nervous, but then the next quarter is fine.

[35:49] Marc interviewed Mike Martin in Episode 24. Mike spent most of his career in industrial sales, but that career sputtered out. Mike shares his multi-step pivots, from teaching school, to driving trains, to being a drone pilot instructor.

[38:02] Mike got his teaching certification just as massive teacher layoffs hit Texas. So he finished his bachelor’s degree in aviation. He took a job at a small airport, but didn’t like it, so he looked at other transportation, and found an opening as a train operator in Texas. He passed the test, aced the interview, and was sent to train operator school.

[39:58] Mike got an RV, and parked it at an RV resort near the train school. In 10 weeks he had a certificate, and was assigned to wash trains until a route came up. He got an assignment to burn in new trains, with their computer systems. Then he started testing the signal systems on a new route. When the new route opened, he ran the PR train.

[42:01] With the new line open, and new confidence from training operators, he returned home. When he looked around, he saw activity in the drone world, and that’s where he landed. He took 25 hours of training, and started training others to fly, for Dart Drones. He could not have planned his career path, and made corrections on the way.

[45:18] Mike encourages career pivoters to pursue their dreams and never give up. The first avenue might not work out. Work the industry deep and wide.

[45:48] Marc’s final words: Please listen to the episodes of the interviews that resonated with you. Please take the Repurpose Your Career podcast audience survey at CareerPivot.com/podcastsurvey. Please pick up a copy of Marc’s book, and write an honest review on Amazon.com. The audiobook is now on iTunes, Audible, and Amazon.

[46:49] The website for the Career Pivot Community website is live. Marc is contacting people who are on the waiting list. To join the list go to CareerPivot.com/community. Sign up to receive more information about the community as it evolves.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Careerpivot.com

Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life, by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey The paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats are available now.

Second-Act Careers: 50+ Ways to Profit from Your Passions During Semi-Retirement, by Nancy Collamer

Show Notes at Careerpivot.com/repurpose-career-podcast

Dr. Joel Dobbs, Episode 3

Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance, by Bob P. Buford

Mike O’Krent, Episode 7

Jennifer Winter, Episode 28

Kay McManus, Episode 32

Vicki McCullough, Episode 11

Elizabeth Rabaey, Episode 20

Mike Martin, Episode 24

Thom Singer, Episode 15

Please take Marc’s survey at CareerPivot.com/PodcastSurvey. This will redirect you to a SurveyMonkey page. Marc will keep the survey going through 2017 to hear from you. Taking the survey will help Marc to select Repurpose Your Career topics for 2018.

Please pick up a copy of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life, by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey. The paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats are available now. When you have completed reading the book, Marc would very much appreciate your leaving an honest review on Amazon.com.

Marc has a prototype running of the paid membership community of the CareerPivot.com website. Marc has an initial cohort of 10 members helping him. Marc has opened a waitlist. Sign up at CareerPivot.com/Community.

Please take a moment — go to iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. Give this podcast an honest 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.

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

CareerPivot.com/Episode-59 Show Notes for this episode.

You can find Show Notes at Careerpivot.com/repurpose-career-podcast.

To subscribe from an iPhone: CareerPivot.com/iTunes

To subscribe from an Android: CareerPivot.com/Android

Twitter: @CareerPivot

LinkedIn: Marc Miller

Facebook: Career Pivot

CareerPivot.com/ryc-resources

Careerpivot.com

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