Category Archives: Baby Boomers

Are You Ready for the Post-COVID Hiring Blitz?

Even execs need to network www.edgecareersolutions.comIn today’s competitive job market, the difference between advancing your executive career and spinning your wheels is leveraging the strength of technology to promote your professional brand.

You’ve embraced technology in nearly every other aspect of your life, so why not to advance your career ? New job search rules require new tools.

Executives need to be on LinkedIn too

As a group, executives have been resistant to the digital job search, but most are now finding that it cannot be ignored. Case in point: my client Ambrose, who was looking to make the jump from Sr. VP into the C-Suite. For nearly five years, he had been passed over for internal promotions and could not make any headway at his target company. After working with me for only three weeks, he was asked by his Board of Directors to consider a newly created leadership role and received a meeting invitation from the CEO he’d been pursuing at his company’s biggest competitor. We clarified his goal, mapped out a strategy to enhance his professional image and made it happen using a combination of LinkedIn and online industry resources.

Everybody and everything is online these days, including career management. From recruiters locating and screening candidates online to job seekers expanding their professional network using social media, finding your next opportunity is firmly entrenched in today’s technology. You know that exposure and reputation management are crucial to career advancement. Here’s how you can use technology to expand your reach beyond your immediate sphere of influence through strategic planning and consistent, intentional effort. 

Technology and Your Job Search

Before online technology, a job search consisted of Continue reading →

Finding the Career That Fits Your Personality

Since we spend the majority of our waking hours at work, career satisfaction is key to our overall happiness. Yet, until we are mid-career, many of us do not pause to consider our level of personal satisfaction. We push forward to earn the accolades, annual raises and the next promotion. Day after day; year after year. Then one day, we wake up and realize we really do not enjoy our jobs. You know you deserve to be happy and feel the urge for a more rewarding career. But where do you start? The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® personality inventory is a very useful tool to help you identify your ideal role – one that aligns with your strengths and how you operate best.

MBTI personality typesWho Should Take the MBTI®

As a Certified Career Transition Coach and MBTI® practitioner, I work with many mid- to late career professionals looking for more career satisfaction. The good news about us baby boomers working longer is that there is time to build a successful second act career. In fact, I reinvented myself at age 48 and have never been happier. I want everyone to have the same career satisfaction and work tirelessly to help my clients achieve it!

The MBTI® offers:

  • Increased self-awareness
  • More job satisfaction
  • Healthier interpersonal relationships

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Today’s Resume is Ideal for Mid-Career Reinvention

Because today’s resume is a forward-facing document that positions you for your next job, it has never been easier to reinvent yourself professionally.

I work with many mid-career professionals looking to reinvent themselves. Their industry may be contracting, job  outsourced or they may simply want a change. Many want to pull back from the responsibilities and headaches that can accompany upper management roles and, once again, become individual contributors. The prospect of leaving your job behind at 5 pm and enjoying a personal life can be pretty attractive.

Until recently, I do not think many of us actively managed our careers. Sure, most of us were told by our parents that we could be anything we wanted to be, but how many of us followed our dreams? I doubt many people wanted to be stuck in an 8’ by 8’ beige cubicle, eating lunch at their desk under glaring fluorescent lights. Yet, that is where many of us Baby Boomers find ourselves. The time to restore your work/life balance and live a purpose-driven life is NOW!  Your New Career

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3 Ways to Master the Modern Job Search

You are successful, admired by your colleagues and proud of what you have accomplished. You have been working your way up the corporate ladder, winning regular promotions and raises. Suddenly, you start to notice that your company is moving in a new direction and you have not been invited to key meetings. Don’t wait until you are notified that their plans do not include you – you need to address the situation head on and take charge of your career NOW. Executive job search tips

If it has been some time since you last searched for a job, be prepared for an entirely new process. Here are 3 tips to mastering today’s complicated job search.
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Boomers Find Real Satisfaction in Encore Careers

As a Career Coach, I work with many seasoned professionals who are looking to reinvent themselves with a new career. Some are looking for more job satisfaction, while others are changing careers out of necessity as opportunities in their current field are dwindling. One of the best things about today’s resume is that it is a forward-facing marketing document – not an autobiography. I can highlight my clients’ transferrable skills and show potential employers how their experience will enable the jobseeker to be successful in this new role.

One roadblock to career reinvention has been employers’ reluctance to take a chance on an employee who does not have proven success in the same field. Current training can help, but I have recently discovered a better way for mid-career professionals to migrate to a new field!boomerdenlogo Continue reading →

The MBTI Assessment Can Help You Find Career Success

I am pleased to announce that I have completed CPP’s MBTI ® training program, and am now a Certified MBTI ® Practitioner! The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator ® is a great tool to help individuals understand the many facets of their personality. This information provides valuable insight into our natural strengths and abilities, which correlates directly to career satisfaction and success. In addition to career-development purposes, the understanding you gain from the interpretation of your MBTI results can benefit you in your interpersonal relationships. MBTI certified practitioner

The MBTI ® tool was developed by Isabel Briggs Myers and Katharine Briggs to help interpret Carl Jung’s theory of psychological types. It has been used for more than 60 years across the globe to help people become more satisfied and successful in their careers.

The results can help you: Continue reading →

Overcoming Age Discrimination in the Job Search – Part II

I have heard from many of my baby boomer job-seeking clients that they have experienced age discrimination in today’s competitive job market. I wish that were not the case, but I am glad to share that there are effective techniques to overcome this challenge. Primarily, you want to focus on the value you offer an employer. You want the hiring manager to see you as a valuable skillset that would enhance their team.

The last thing you want the reader to do is question your age as they read your resume. To make your resume age-neutral:baby boomer in shape Continue reading →

The Millennials Are Right!

Boomers can learn a lot from Millennials. As a generation, many of us Baby Boomers have never managed our careers with intention. Rather than identifying careers that aligned with our passions, many of us moved from job to job as the opportunities presented themselves. job satisfactionNow, in our 50’s and 60’s, we are looking for careers that provide us with the opportunity to do meaningful work. Whether precipitated by a layoff, stress-induced health issues or dwindling prospects in our field, many of us are considering job satisfaction for the first time. What do we really want to do next?

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Baby Boomers are Building Rewarding Encore Careers

career door optionsWork/life balance, personal satisfaction, giving back to the community… there are a variety of reasons people turn to encore careers as an alternative to retirement. Realistically, we Baby Boomers will be working well past the typical retirement age of our parents. We are living longer and most of us will need additional income to supplement any pension or social security payments we may receive. Why not enjoy your work? An encore career can combine personal fulfillment and social impact with continued income. There is a world full of options out there waiting for you!

As a career coach and resume writer, I work with many mid- to late-career professionals looking to increase their quality of life with an encore career. Some of my clients know the exact direction they want to take, while others need guidance determining their ideal path. We work together to evaluate their ideal work culture, the type of role they want to play, and what fields align with their natural skills and interests. Providing advice on networking, interviewing and addressing age discrimination, I guide my clients through the job search process to make it less overwhelming and more successful. Continue reading →