When it comes to jobs and careers, change happens!
Sometimes it comes at you, and sometimes it comes from you. One moment you are a 58-year-old manager at the top of your career, and the next moment there's reorganization and you've got a three-month layoff notice.
Or, one day, you are feeling fully engaged at work, and on another, you find yourself saying, "I'm ready for something else, something different, something new, maybe something part-time."
Nothing lasts forever, and that's especially true when it comes to workplaces, job security, career identity and personal interests. If you are over 50 and you've enjoyed stability in your career for many years, you may be on the verge of transition. The seeds of change may be sprouting.
Transitions and expectations
Transitions take more time than you expect, so it's important to set realistic expectations about the process so you can deal with the inevitable ups and downs of change.
If you want to dig into the inner workings of how people experience change, read the works of William Bridges. In his groundbreaking book, Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes (1980), he makes an important distinction between "change" and "transition."
Change refers to events and actions. It is external. It's what you can see -- selling a house, changing jobs, deciding to work part-time, becoming a grandparent, starting a new career. Change events occur in relatively short time frames.
Transition, on the other hand, is internal. It is the psychological recalibration that accompanies changes. It is subtle and takes time. Bridges provides a wonderful three-step description of transition: Endings (letting go of past roles, activities or affiliations), the Neutral Zone (exploration and reorientation) and Beginnings (new choices about work and life). He captures the essence of how people grow, explore and learn.
The Neutral Zone is a particularly important step in the journey. It is that phase of transition in which important groundwork is laid for your next steps. It's a time of creative exploration, but also of confusion. As a result, it can be exciting and daunting all at once.
"It's not so much that we're afraid of change or so in love with the old ways, but it's that place in between we fear... It's like being between trapezes. It's Linus when his blanket is in the dryer. There's nothing to hold onto."
- Marilyn Ferguson, American futurist
Career issues for the over-50 worker
It's important to have a perspective on change and transition because these in between times provide opportunities to reframe your experience.
Instead of thinking, "What's wrong with me? Why haven't I figured it out? Why am I experiencing all this change at this point in my life? My children have it more together than I do," you can say, "It's a process. It's supposed to be messy. It's fun some days and unnerving other days. It will take time. It's a normal step. It's an opportunity."
Being adept at managing change and transition is important for people in their 50s, 60s and 70s. On the career front, there are several issues that typically come to the fore:
Work identity
As we progress in our careers after 50, one stream of thought focuses on our self-perception regarding work. We experiment with alternative work identities:
- Who am I relative to work?
- Am I continuing in my current career, trade or profession?
- Do I make a small shift and apply my skills in a different role or setting?
- Do I make a more drastic departure and do something very different?
This internal dialogue is the substance of transition. It affects our energy and ability to be creative, to take action and to make actual changes in our work lives.
Phased retirement
Another common career question is how central work is going to be in our lives. For some people, a major career issue is making the transition to part-time employment. Financial planning is an important aspect of this step. There also can be a significant adjustment regarding work identity as people move from full-time work to something else.
- What does it mean to not be going full-speed ahead in my career?
- How do I define what I do and who I am?
Dealing with a change in job scope, responsibilities, work environment, role, title or other symbols of organizational life truly requires some strong transition management skills.
Entrepreneurial adventure
Sometimes the career change is to become your own boss. This option may mean transforming your accumulated work skills into a consulting practice, or it might be hatching a business idea that has been percolating for a few years. Perhaps it means turning a former hobby into a storefront or an Internet business.
- How do I build a whole new network?
- What product would I like to develop and market?
- What will it be like to let go of familiar surroundings and resources?
In any of these cases, there are interesting changes and transitions that await you: building a whole new network, developing a product and marketing plan and letting go of familiar surroundings and resources.
Dependent care
Balancing work and life and caring for others has always influenced many people's work choices. After 50, however, this dimension can take on a new wrinkle. Your son or daughter may move back home after college or after working for a few years. You may become more involved in responding to the needs of aging parents and their concerns about health care, residence and quality of life. Either of these two family care scenarios raises issues:
- How much time can I devote to work?
- Will I need to cut back on hours or effort?
- What level of income do I need to maintain?
- Where will my parent(s) live?
- Will I need to move?
Exploration
At 50-plus, a significant "career move" may simply be to explore alternatives, such as a cross-industry move, switching from one organizational sector to another or testing the feasibility of working independently. Exploration forces you to get out of your professional comfort zone to do research and to explore new work roles. You leave behind your status as an established professional, trade- or craftsperson to become the "informational interviewer" thinking about repackaging your skills and interests to meet new challenges.
With the excitement of new possibilities, however, comes the ambiguity of the unknown and unpredictable. That is the essence of transition.
You can do it!
To fully gain from your exploration, consider the following tips on transition:
- Be patient with the gray area of confusion. Allow yourself more "hang-time" for creativity and exploration. Many people deprive themselves of potential opportunities by rushing the process. Sometimes the desire to end the confusion and apparent indecision can be very strong. Good intentions of "figuring it all out" can bring premature closure.
- Be careful not to be overly judgmental about yourself. The 50s and 60s can be like any other time of significant change and development, such as graduating from school. Who says you should have figured it all out by now?
- Do a reality check on your expectations of how change happens. What do you believe about the process of transition? To what extent is it controllable and planned? To what extent do spontaneity and serendipity play a big part? What time frame do you have in mind? What do you know about yourself in terms of how you've handled change/transition in the past?
- Be active and explore. It takes time to generate opportunities and uncover alternatives. Read. Search the Web. Talk to friends and colleagues. Put yourself in situations where you can imagine yourself doing something new or different. Formal career assessments can be helpful when used carefully. However, there is no test, inventory or quiz that will give you the answer, even though you may relish the idea of a "quick fix." Combine reflection and active exploration.
- Appreciate what's on the "to do" list. When you think about it, there really is a lot of work to do:
- Exploring possibilities for work, learning and leisure.
- Determining what balance of work/non-work activities you want.
- Understanding your financial picture so you can determine the range of choices you have.
- Shaping your evolving "career brand" and how to present your capabilities.
- Figuring out whether the next step is another "career job," something completely new or a "bridge job" as part of phased retirement.
- Exploring possibilities for work, learning and leisure.
- Reset your timetable. All this "work" takes effort and time. Don't be surprised that an actual transition requires several months, if not years, to coalesce. Change and transition is an iterative process, but you can get started on it now. You can begin new activities, make short-term decisions and take incremental steps while respecting the fact that the internal transition takes time.
"It takes nine months to have a baby, no matter how many people you put on the job."
American saying, from Transitions, Making Sense of Life's Changes