“Double-nickeled and Stuck! Getting re-employed at 55 or beyond” – Part Three (c)

If you’ve tracked with us through the first four “Double-nickeled and Stuck” posts, we’ve laid a foundation for the most critical piece of a job search – networking. With an optimally leveraged LinkedIn profile that is consistent with a properly formatted resume, the pieces are in place to move to where the success of your job search has an 80%-or-better chance of happening – networking.

That’s the reality. Over 80% of jobs are filled in this country as the result of referrals and networking. And that’s despite all the chest-thumping, flag-waving and heavy advertising by the likes of Indeed.com, ZipRecruiter, and myriad other popular job boards (has anybody seen Monster or CareerBuilder lately? – it seems they’ve left the party).

Some people are great networkers, most aren’t. Not that they couldn’t be. There just isn’t a perceived need. For many job seekers, it’s just plain laziness combined with a low level of perceived need. Maintaining a network, let alone adding to one, isn’t a priority when you’re up to your arse in the boss’s unrealistic expectations and projects.

Chances are, that’s where you are. So, now we’re up against it and gotta do something – quickly.

So let’s cut to the chase and dispense with the network building that you should have been doing while you were employed. We need to do a frontal assault and initiate a very targeted, almost emergency-like, strategic networking plan. You don’t have time to try to connect with your brother-in-law’s sister’s cousin who is a high-powered something-or-other just because your brother-in-law said you should and so you can claim you know him/her. That’s OK if this high-powered something-or-other happens to be a potential hiring manager in your space or is connected to a potential hiring manager.

Time and focused effort are of the essence under these conditions.  They need to be focused on finding a path to hiring managers.

Six part strategy

1. Get a paid LinkedIn job-seeker account. You can be on LinkedIn free – but the free account has been stripped bare since Microsoft bought LinkedIn.

You have two paid job-seeker options: Premium Career at $29.99 per month or Premium Business at $47.99. Both come with a free one-month trial. The Career package helps some but not a lot because it puts limits on who you can view and you only get three free InMails. Inmail is LinkedIn’s private email process that claims to greatly enhance your chance of getting a response from the LinkedIn member that you inmail. (Note from Gary to LinkedIn: it doesn’t so much anymore.)

You might want to consider the Business account for the purposes of your concentrated search because it gives you unlimited people-browsing of 1st- and 2nd- level connections but no visibility to 3rd-degree connections. Now, if you only have eight connections to start with, that isn’t going to help a lot so you’ll want to get your first level connections up as much as possible as quickly as possible during your search. That should result naturally as you network. Step 2 below will help you with this.

2. Take a day and start building a “tribe”. Any old Rolodexes stuffed in a closet? How about those business cards you’ve been collecting and doing nothing with? Who is in your Outlook contacts list that you’ve forgotten about? College classmates? Graduate school classmates? Your 1st level LinkedIn connections?

Your goal here is to try to come up with 100-150 names of people that you would feel comfortable calling to ask a favor.

They can fit into one of four categories:

Connectors – people who know a lot of people
Mentors – people you can learn from
Industry experts – people you need to know
Peers – who you can help and expect nothing in return

These people should become 1st level LinkedIn connections. Find them on LinkedIn and send them a connection request if they aren’t already a 1st level connection (see a suggested connection request script below in point 4).

3. Develop a target list of 30-50 companies that you may have interest in working for. This can be the toughest part of the strategy. Realistically, this list won’t all be in your existing industry, especially if you are not willing to relocate.

View it this way: you have deeply developed skills that are transferable to other industries. Open your thinking and consider other industries.

Here’s a key understanding for this step. We don’t care if they have an open position or not. So don’t limit your list to companies only posting open positions. You won’t get to 30-50 if you impose that limiter.

Here’s an example: a current coaching client is a highly-skilled marketing manager with a long, successful track record in a heavy industry niche, of which there are few other similar companies in his current location. He has no desire to relocate so he is reaching out to totally unrelated industries such as healthcare, software development, start ups. It’s been a challenge to get a list of 50 doing this but it’s developing.

4. Using LinkedIn, research and find 3-5 people to contact within those companies.
When you select a company by typing the name into the LinkedIn Search bar at the top left of your Home or Profile page, the top banner of the company will contain a live link in blue that says “See all __ employees on LinkedIn”. That’s where you will find people you may want to contact.

Most thumbnail profiles that appear will have their titles. Certainly, you will be looking for those who will likely be the decision makers for hiring someone with your background. But don’t limit it to them. Look for people that you may already know or who are doing what you do in the company, or did at one point.

At this point, you should have a range of 90-250 names to contact (30 companies x 3 contacts, 50 companies x 5 contacts). You’ll need that many because we are talking about a numbers game here which will become clearer as we work through the rest of the process.

Now, here’s where we inject a twist that most job-seekers don’t always view as rational. Don’t call these people to ask them for help in finding you a job. Why? Because people don’t like being put into that position and you will have ended a relationship before you even got started. We have a different strategy.

First, send a personalized LinkedIn connection request. You can often add a personal touch by looking for the common connections, work history, schools attended, etc.

For instance, maybe something like this:

Hi Allen.  I came across your LinkedIn profile. Your career experience is very intriguing.  I also see that we (have the same alma mater/we share a common acquaintance in Sadie Sue/worked at the same company back in ’08/etc.).  I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn. Gary Foster

LinkedIn forces you to be succinct.  You have a max of 300 characters and spaces for this connection invitation.

Once sent and accepted, you’ve now set yourself up for the key networking step.

5. Call or email with a request for an informational interview. Informational interviews are telephone or person-to-person interviews that are not designed to get you a job but to get AIR – Advice, Insight and Recommendations.

This process is NOT about making direct requests to be considered for a position. This is about building a relationship, not getting a job.

If they’ve connected with you on LinkedIn, you’ve moved from a dreaded cold call to a warm call.

The intent of the conversation is twofold: (1) to get information about the company to help you determine if it is a company that you would want to work for and (2) to position yourself for consideration for a position if one exists, or develops later.

Click here and download a document that has email and voicemail scripts that you can use to arrange these informational interviews.

If you are fortunate to have connected with someone who may be the hiring manager for your desired position, all the better. But don’t hesitate to reach out to others who may know of unposted positions or movement within the company that may be opening up opportunities in your area of expertise. Moreover, they may have a direct pipeline to the hiring manager, and, depending on your effectiveness in the informational interview, may offer to hand-walk your resume into the hiring manager, or at least encourage him/her to take your call.

Here’s a taste of the type of questions you should consider asking when in an informational interview, courtesy of Nancy Collamer, career consultant, speaker, and author at MyLifestyleCareer.com from her book “Second Act Careers”.

• What do you enjoy most about your job?
• What are the most frustrating aspects of your job?
• What are the most important characteristics for success in this career/company?
• What training should I pursue to make myself more marketable in this field?
• Which professional associations would you recommend that I join?
• What are the challenges, trends, and opportunities in this profession/company?
• Are there good options for freelance or consulting work within this industry?
• Which magazines, journals or websites do you recommend?
• Are there opportunities for flexible work arrangements?
• Is there someone else you recommend that I talk to?
• May I use your name in making the introduction?

6. The last step is to follow up. If you succeed in getting an informational interview, be sure to do the following:

• Send them an immediate note or email.
• Let them know what developed as a result of the time you spent with them, including any connections that they don’t know that came from their recommended contacts.
• Stay in touch periodically – keep them in your “tribe”.

C’mon Gary – are you serious about all this?????
Dead serious! Sound a bit daunting? Yep – it sounds daunting mostly because it’s so different from what most new job seekers think should be the approach. Today’s search requires a process.  This is a process that works – when worked.

I’ve seen this work – beautifully. I’ve seen it fail – miserably. The common denominator in both situations? The job seeker. This process requires attitude, commitment, and persistence.

Go back and read Part Two in this series where we talked about attitude and commitment and the need to maintain energy through this process and guarding against overwhelm.

Plain and simple, we are suggesting you play a numbers game here that 90% or your peers won’t do. That’s why they don’t find the good jobs or get back to their previous salaries.  They compromise and “settle for.” Most often, they will retreat back and follow all the sheep back into the application process.

Why 90-250 names? Simple. You’ll be lucky to get one response out of five calls you make or emails you send. 1:5 = 18 to 50 conversations. Do you think that something might develop out of that many conversations? Count on it!

Work it daily – but don’t kill yourself!
We suggested in Part Two, limit your search to thirty hours. Give this calling/emailing effort 2-3 hours a day, EVERY DAY, keeping a spreadsheet log of your calls, emails, contacts, and conversations. Have faith that it will develop.

I’ll share two contrasting experiences I’ve had with coaching clients.

Case A: a 58-year-old registered nurse with a 10-year track record as the Clinical Manager of a large urology practice. Six-figure earner with a stellar track record. Got sideways with the lead physician and walked out – and then panicked.  She found me on LinkedIn, we started a coaching relationship and she followed the inverted pyramid process to the letter, including this networking strategy. Within less than six weeks, she found herself with three interviews and ended up in a dream job as a clinical liason for a cancer drug company doing what she really loves doing – educating clinicians on the efficacy of cancer drugs. She now travels extensively, makes 25% more than she was making at the urology practice and is thrilled with the new control that she has over her time.

Case B – not so good. Similar situation in some ways. Talented six-figure marketing person needing a job. Followed the inverted pyramid to the point of the networking and tried it for a while but succumbed to the difficulty and rejection in the numbers game and returned to the application process which only heightened her frustration. I couldn’t convince her to stay committed to the process and our coaching relationship dissolved. I just checked her profile – finally landed on her feet 12 months later but it appears to have required a relocation.

Trust the process – turn it into a game, a game with a very promising finish line.

P.S. Here’s a helpful hack for you. LinkedIn profiles rarely provide emails and you are limited on the number of free inmails you get. There is a Google Chrome extension called ContactOut that does an amazing job of providing emails for people you pull up on LinkedIn. Go to www.contactout.com using Chrome as your browser and download it.

The program will put a little black magnifying glass on your top browser search bar. When you pull up a profile, click on the magnifying glass and a window will open in the upper right of your screen and tell you if they have an email address for that person. I have found they have emails for upwards of 70% of the people I look at. You have to be careful because some of the emails are associated with companies that the individual left, so they aren’t always current. But if they have non-company emails address like gmail or yahoo, they usually are still alive.

I hope this series has been helpful. We would appreciate hearing from you as to what worked for you and what didn’t. Scroll down and leave us a comment below.

“Double-nickeled and Stuck! Getting re-employed at 55 or beyond” – Part Three (b)

In Part Three (a), we laid out some of the changes to the job search process that have evolved recently in the face of advancing technologies and changing economic conditions.  We also focused on the first of the three components in the inverted-pyramid strategy that comprises an effective job search for someone past the 50-year mark – the resume.

In Part Three (b), we dive into the second tier of the pyramid – social media.  But not just any social media.  If you haven’t been under that proverbial rock, you know that LinkedIn has become the 800 pound gorilla in job search.  We’ll dig into why and how to use it most effectively.

Optimizing the resume and the LinkedIn profile are the foundation on which you build the ultimate solution to regaining meaningful re-employment – networking.

 

LinkedIn – friend or foe?

If you are a bit of a Luddite and eschew social media, let me just say that LinkedIn stands apart from the Facebook-like social media and to shun it is to put a huge hole in your ability to re-enter the job market.

 

Here are two statistics that should help you understand why LinkedIn has to be a key part of your search strategy.

  • 500 million users worldwide; 128 million users in the U.S.
  • Over 90% of recruiters (corporate and third party) and hiring managers  use Linked In to find people.

For more detail on what LinkedIn has become, try this link.

For a job seeker, LinkedIn has two purposes:

  1. get noticed
  2. network effectively. 

Let’s not make it any more complicated than that.

Get noticed – FIRST!

I’m going to come at you from the perspective of a recruiter and a power user of LinkedIn to find people, because I’m both.  I suggest you put on a recruiter’s hat as you think about how you are going to put LinkedIn to work – and I’m going to fit you for that hat.  So try to track with me on this.

What is a recruiter trying to accomplish, whether they are third party, like myself, or an HR corporate “talent acquisition representative”  or, for that matter, a LinkedIn-savvy hiring manager operating on his/her own?   OK, this is a “duh” – they are looking for someone to fill a new or vacated position that requires a specific set of qualifications and experience.  But, here is a key understanding.  They want that list of prospects to be short.  These are busy people.

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to not only be on the short list but to be as close as possible to the top of results that their search produces.

I’m going to try to keep this fairly simple and manageable by just focusing on what I feel are the four most important components of your LinkedIn profile.  There are other components that deserve attention but, IMHO, get these four done right first.  These do the heavy lifting on getting you found.

But first, a warning.  You’re being scanned

You have 6-12 seconds to make an impression with your profile.  That’s been researched and documented.  Recruiters, by nature and necessity, scan both resumes and LinkedIn profiles and spend, on average 1/10th of a minute looking at you.  If you don’t grab them in the first one third of your LinkedIn profile and “incent” them to look at more of your profile, they are moving on. So you have to say it early and effectively.

#1: A picture is worth a – – – – –

Amazingly, 30-40% of the folks on LinkedIn don’t have a picture.  Even if you’ve got a face ideally suited for radio, I suggest a professionally done photograph with a smile.  I saw stats recently that said you are seven times more likely to be found if you have a picture, and eleven times more likely if you show teeth in a nice smile.  Who knew?

I won’t speak for other recruiters but if my initial search has produced a list of, say, 200 people that I want to pare down to 25 or less, my first round of elimination are those without a picture.  Seriously, without even looking at their qualifications.  It just tells me they aren’t current,  probably a bit sloppy, or, more likely, aren’t interested in being found to start with.

Don’t cut corners here.  Forget the I-phone selfie. Get the photo done professionally, dress professionally and have a solid, light-colored background.  No distracting, busy background.

#2:  Headlines sell newspapers – and job seekers

Right underneath your picture is the most valuable piece of LinkedIn real estate – your headline.  It’s one of the first, if not the first place the LinkedIn search algorithm goes in reviewing a profile.

There you have a space of 120 characters to tell the hiring world what you would like to be found for.

If you don’t, it defaults to the title on your current employment in your work history.  Maybe you’ll be lucky and that title sufficiently states what you would like to be found for, but that’s pretty rare.  You need to proactively go in and edit that headline using the titles that you are guessing that a recruiter or hiring manager is typing into her/his search string.

Here’s my LinkedIn profile headline.  These are the things that I want people to contact me about.

Medical Recruiting | Executive Search | Job Search and Career Coach | Speaker

Here’s another from one of my past coaching clients:

Laboratory Sales Professional | Healthcare Operations Management | Business Development Director

Here’s another one from a referral that just contacted me this week looking for some assistance on re-entering the job market:

Consultant seeking project or full time employment.

Headline #3 doing any good? No.  In fact, I think a headline like that backfires, especially if the rest of the profile reveals someone past 55.  Again, headlines that say “seeking new opportunities”, or something to that effect,  fall to the bottom of my list of prospects. As a recruiter, I am paid to find top performers who are currently fully-employed and “heads down” but open to new opportunities.

How do I know I have the right titles?

As an experienced professional, you should know what titles are the most common in your industry and area of expertise.  But if there is some doubt, or you want to make sure that you pick up on shifts in job titles in your space, review job postings that appear on the career sections of the professional organization websites that you follow.  If they don’t have a career site, contact someone at the organization for advice.  Or who do you know in your network that does what you do that might have some insight into title changes?

With 120 characters, you have room to include different wording of titles.  Start with something.  Remember, editing your headline is a 2-minute experience if you need to change or add something.

#3:  Summary and Work History

Right below your photo and headline is a summary section.  You’ll notice that when you click on anybody’s profile that this section only shows two lines of content with the option to “show more” to see the rest.

Remember the 1/10th of a minute?  You need to say in the approximately 230 characters (including spaces) in these two lines something that will catch the hiring manager/recruiter’s attention get them to and click on “show more”.  In the balance of the section, you should list 4-6 major accomplishments along with your special skills listed vertically using hard returns after each skill.

Here’s the Summary from  J.T. O’Donnell’s profile to illustrate what I mean.  J.T. is one of the premier LinkedIn trainers and long-time career and job search coach.

18+ years of experience in the development and delivery of HR, employment, recruiting, job search, and career development tools and resources. Delivered 200+ presentations to 10,000+ professionals on a wide variety of career topics. Managed teams of 50+ with budgets of $35M+.

Specialties:
Career Advice & Job Search Strategy
Career Assessment & Planning
Career Decoder
Interview Preparation
Salary Negotiation
Career Coaching
Personal Branding
Resume Development
LinkedIn Usage
Employment Branding
Team Training & Corporate Development
Executive Leadership Coaching
Social Media in the Workplace
Recruiting
Candidate Experience
Talent Acquisition & Retention Strategies

The Experience section, where you list your previous work history should emphasize results, accomplishments – notable and number or percentage-based achievements, much the same as your resume.   Again, remember the scanning.  Numbers jump off the page.  Numbers show productivity.  Numbers show problem solving.

The Experience section must be consistent with the resume.  It doesn’t have to be an exact duplicate of the resume but it must be consistent.  You don’t want to create doubt through gaps or inconsistencies between the two.

But I’m going to give away my age!

Yeah, maybe.  But you can be smart about it and not put your 1984 graduation date in your education section.  Just state the college/university and the degree.

And don’t go back more than 15 years in the Experience section.

Pictures don’t lie so there really aren’t any tricks there.  But I’d still go with a photo vs trying to hide the age by not having one.

#4: Endorsements and Recommendations

Endorsements and recommendations can help you come up higher on a list of candidates that a recruiter’s search produces.

You can select 50 different skills in the Featured Skills and Endorsements section.  There are two schools of thought here: (1) take advantage of all 50 or (2) narrow your selection of skills to a 12-15 that really focus on your core skills.

I’m a fan of the 12-15. I think it makes it easier for the endorser to make a decision on what they are going to endorse you for.  Plus it’s easier to move the one’s that I want to get endorsements for into an order that will insure that I get more endorsement for that skill.

You can check out my selection of skills and how I’ve ordered them with a quick visit to my profile. 

How do you get endorsements? Give them.  Most savvy people that you endorse will endorse you back.  Strive to get 99+ showing on your key skills.  These skills should align with those stated in your headline.

Recommendations are important.  Here, I suggest being bold and reaching out to people who you are confident would recommend you.  Send them a recommendations request (click the three dots just to the right of your picture – you’ll find the “request a recommendation” link there).   If they don’t respond, remind them a couple of times – the failure to respond is usually because they are busy.  If a few reminders don’t get movement, be bold and write one for them and ask them if they would submit it.

Also, giving recommendations will usually generate a recommendation in return.

Keywords

Let me wrap this up by emphasizing the importance of keywords.  Keywords related to your skill set and to the types of positions you want to be found for need to be dispersed throughout your profile.  They can appear in your headline, your summary, your work history and in your endorsements.

LinkedIn has a very effective search algorithm and experienced recruiters will use very sophisticated search techniques using LinkedIn’s Boolean search method.  Keywords will be the foundation of any search.

Here’s a search string a former recruiting colleague of mine and LinkedIn power-user used to find a Mechanical Engineer with R&D background for one of his clients.  At first glance it’s a bit of a brain twister but on examination you can see how he has used different types of keywords, along with some filters ( current companies, location) to narrow his search.

R&D/Mechanical Engineer Search String

(“mechanical engineer” OR “mechanical engineering” OR “R&D Engineer” OR  “Research and Development Engineer”) AND (R&D OR “research and development”)  AND (“drug delivery” OR “drug-delivery” OR intravenous OR “combination device”)  AND “medical device” NOT director AND NOT (VP OR “vice president”) AND (“product launch” OR “product development”)  AND CAD AND (FEA OR “finite element analysis”)  + Current company: Sanofi, Medtronic, Eli Lilly and Company, Novo Nordisk, PA Consulting Group, West Pharmaceutical Services, Ypsomed AG, Cambridge Consultants, Team Consulting +Location: United States

This search produced less than a dozen qualified candidates for this recruiter from a universe of 458,680 mechanical engineers and 41,700 mechanical engineers with R&D background on LinkedIn and resulted in a very lucrative placement and a happy client and candidate. This illustrates why having the recruiter hat on and understanding the importance of having a complete profile with keywords can really enhance your search.    Your goal is be one of those twelve in a search. All of the above will help get you there.

Next series, we’ll take a look at a networking strategy – where the rubber really hits the road.

Let us know your thoughts about this post.  Have you had success using LinkedIn?  Other than just an up-to-date profile, how else have you used LinkedIn successfully in your job search?  Scroll down and leave us a comment – we appreciate your feedback.

 

 

“Double-nickeled and Stuck! Getting re-employed at 55 or beyond” – Part Three (a)

OOPS!

I goofed!  I didn’t plan ahead very well.  There’s no way I can cover Part Three in one post and expect you to hang in through all that needs to be covered.  I’m turning Part Three into its own part three series so it’s more digestible.  I guess sort of 3a, 3b, 3c.

So, in our three-part part-three , we’re going to try to put today’s job market into the proper perspective for the over-55 job seeker.  Part 3a is still pretty long. Hope you can hang with me.

Where do you fit?

I’m confident to say that you are reading this because you fit one of these categories:

  1. The unemployed
  2. The soon to be unemployed
  3. The “working worried”
  4. The “bored, is this all there is, I’m ready for something more fulfilling”
  5. The confused, concerned, frustrated, worried –  and angry

Did I miss a category?  If so, leave what I missed in the comment section below with a detailed description.  We’re here to learn also.

While you were asleep – – –

Let me officially welcome you to a job search environment that has NO resemblance to what you did on your last job search.

As an executive recruiter for the past 16 years and job search coach for the last five, I’m in this crazy job market and deal with folks in different situations every day.  I know it is a very difficult and different market.  For you to succeed, you not only need to be on top of your game, you’re going to be playing a different game.  Oh, and BTW, in addition to increased competition and complexity, we now get to sprinkle in something that will cling to us like a barnacle for the balance of our days – ageism.

Here’s a story of a coaching client of a few years back that epitomizes the traps that a new entrant into the search process can fall into.  This talented lady was only in her late 40’s but had been laid off from a business office management position where she had worked for nearly ten years.  Divorced with an active teen-ager at home (equestrian hobby – expeeensive!!), she immediately launched her own search.  In desperation, she had reached out to me with this story:

  1. Applied and sent her resume to 238 positions posted on various company websites and job boards over a nine-month period
  2. Had four interviews, three of which were scams. One legitimate opportunity which she wasn’t selected for.
  3. Had burned through the meager savings she had (nasty divorce!) and her unemployment checks were about to go away.

It had been ten years since a job change.   She actually got the job she just lost through a referral from a friend.  So her exposure to the job market was very thin.  She did what she assumed any job seeker would do.

I wish it were an isolated story.  It’s not.  It repeats with the majority of the calls I have with over-50 job seekers.  I had one this week with a PhD-level IT professional who had applied at over 50 locations in a 6-week long search effort with no interviews and only four actual responses – all form-letter turn downs.

Black-hole job seeking

 Applying is a natural response to a job market re-entry.  But it doesn’t acknowledge what economic shifts, technology and social media have done to the job market over the last 20 years, particularly in the last 5-10.

Back in the dark ages of 1995 when the internet was still in diapers, applying is what you did, but you did it by faxing your resume or filling out a paper application at the company location.

Then came the online era with CareerBuilder (1995), Monster (1999),  Indeed.com (2005) and their ilk along with Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) technology.  The process hadn’t really changed much – you could now just do it online from your desktop.  You still had to wait for a response but now for an email rather than a phone call or snail-mail letter.

Companies started getting hammered with resumes.  According to Forbes, in 2013 the average number of people who applied for any given job was 118.

Inc. Magazine says it was 250.

Applicant tracking systems developed to handle this onslaught.  With their development, the whole system shifted from “screening in” to “screening out.”

Applicant tracking systems screen out by reading keywords and keyword phrases, incorrect headings, formatting, wording/grammar.  They search for job gaps, look for age clues (I’m sure they wouldn’t admit to that!), compare your tasks and duties to the HR boilerplate job description – they seem to have no limit to the elimination tactics that can be programmed in.

    Liz Ryan is a veteran HR professional and job coach. Her article “How Technology Killed Recruiting” provides a really good, helpful review of ATS technology.

Today, it’s estimated that 80% of corporate recruiting departments use an ATS.

 Companies: 1 – Candidates: 0

– if you are keeping score.  What used to work, and what most job seekers still think works, is a black hole.

Forbes says only 23% who apply will get an interview.  Inc. says only 2.5%.  My coaching clients agree with Inc.  So do I.  Any frustrated job seeker I’ve talked with doesn’t come close to the 23% if they pursue this self-directed, “spray and pray” strategy.

The hidden job market

Permit me to deepen the black hole even further.

Upwards of 75% of real jobs aren’t even posted!  They’re hidden.

What you say? Why?

Maybe the hiring manager isn’t ready to pull the trigger.  Perhaps budget approval is pending. Maybe he/she doesn’t trust his HR group to find the right talent and prefers to work her/his own professional network first.  For sure, he/she doesn’t want to be buried in the off-target resumes the ATS is likely to produce.  Perhaps they need to replace someone and are using a recruiting firm to keep the search confidential. Or maybe the company is posting it internally hoping their internal referral system will kick in.  Or maybe they just don’t have the budget to post it out.

Just know that it’s a big percentage and it’s where the better jobs are – hidden from your view.

So what’s a poor job seeker to do?  Heard enough to know that a mindset shift is in order? No?  Then chew on this – upwards of 80% of jobs are filled through networking, only 10-12% through online postings.

Think about it.  When you apply on line, you are doing what every other lazy, uninformed job seeker is doing.  Those aforementioned job-applications-per-job-posting confirm that.  You have chosen to be part of a very “un-select” group.  Can I say “sheep-like follower” and have you still hang with me?

EGAD!  I have to network?

OK.  Enough already with the problem.  Get me to a solution.

Here it is!  Network your ass off!

Scroll back about four paragraphs.  See that 80% number.  It’s for real.

I know.  You don’t do job fairs and Junior Chamber of Commerce networking events.  Elevator speeches in a noisy room over cheap wine to an equally desperate stranger just isn’t your thing.  That’s OK.  Those events attract the same people that are applying and are continuing to show their naivete and desperation by working these events.

You need to take it up a notch – a big notch.

Picture this:  a group of “talent acquisition” professionals (aka internal, corporate HR recruiters) whose primary job is to kick you into the black hole.  Key understanding here:  when you apply, you land right in the middle of the human resources department.  So what?

HR recruiters have NEVER, NEVER been able to say “yes” to a hire.   But they have ALWAYS, ALWAYS been able to say “NO”.  Just suppose they had a bad hair day – or are buried in resumes and days behind.  Or just plain don’t give a s*#t.  Still like your odds?

Where do you need to be?  With someone who says YES (forgive me for the “duh”).  That would be?  The hiring manager (another “duh” – sorry).  How are you going to reach her/him?  Not through an HR rep of any kind – they go to a special school to learn to lay down their lives to protect the hiring manager from direct contact by a candidate.  How dare you make them look bad!

Summary:

  1. Don’t make HR your starting point by applying. You’ve injected a roadblock on the front end of your search.
  2. Find a direct route to the hiring manager.
  3. Realize and accept the fact that you will eventually have to deal with HR. Remember that they do things like schedule interview times, explain and administer benefits, complete paperwork. They are policy and procedure people – and they are good at it.
  4. So don’t piss them off. At any stage of the process, they can still cut you off at the knees and destroy your progress.  Consider them a necessary part of a successful triumvirate – of you, HR and hiring manager- and treat them with respect and be responsive to the things they need from you in the process.

Where do I start?

It has to start with a success mindset that is tempered with the knowledge that this could be a real slog with the possibility of numerous setbacks and disappointments along the way.  There will be temptations to compromise, to take a “settle for” position.  And that may be necessary in the short term to meet financial needs.  But it needn’t be permanent.

Your success in your job search will be a test of perseverance and will depend on your belief in yourself and your ability to stay with a process i.e. a systematized approach to the activities that will eventually guarantee your success.

An inverted pyramid strategy

One of the ways I have found that removes some of the mystery and angst with my coaching clients and sets them up for success is to view the start in the form of an inverted pyramid with three components:

With my coaching clients, we start from the bottom and work up.  I put the relative importance of each component in that order.  Resume and Linked In Profile are foundational to the most important component – networking.  They must be done well.

Resume

Here’s where I raise the hackles on professional resume writers, some of whom are friends, most all of whom are outstanding at their trade.

The resume is very important.  However, I find that most job seekers inflate its importance. I put it as the least important of the three components for a few simple reasons:

  1. Nobody ever hired anybody off a piece of paper.
  2. An effective job search doesn’t lead with a resume. The resume should follow activities that result in requests for the resume.
  3. Resumes become the most relevant component in a strategy that is limited to applying to posted jobs and/or using third party recruiters.

I’m not a professional resume writer.  I could be – and pick up a few extra Benjamins each month I suppose, but I choose not to.  I leave the choice to the client – shell out $500 to $1,500 for a “Picasso” or work with me and let’s build the resume together to accepted formatting and content standards.

Here’s my strategy with this that has proven successful with coaching clients.

Generally accepted resume formats, or templates, aren’t complicated.  A skilled resume writer is trained to pull out of you the skills, responsibilities and accomplishments in your work history, your educational background and relevant other experiences and wordsmith it into a really pretty doc with boxes/graphs/tables/shaded areas that help justify their fee using semi-advanced word processing composition skills – true “Picassos”.  They are good and earn every penny of what you are willing to cough up.

My position is that you don’t need to spend the money on a Picasso because, if you are conducting an effective networking-based job search, the resume is in a secondary position and not the lead position.

So I help my coaching clients become the author of their own resume which then forces them to dig deep into their past and resurrect the accomplishments that will add power to the resume and, more important, to their stories.  It’s not hard for the two of us together to put it into an acceptable, professional format without having to go to a workshop on Microsoft Word composition or spend half of next month’s mortgage on a Picasso.

Thumbs down on density and responsibilities

I’ve probably seen 10,000 resumes over 16 years and 95% of them were stinkers, even at the exec level.  Why?  Because they almost always focus on responsibilities at the expense of accomplishments.  And invariably they are too dense and try to say too much.

Hey, I get it.  When you are in the “my resume is my salvation” mindset, you are going to want to try to say everything about you in two pages – hence size 8 font and a ton of boring, self-indulgent, inflated, irrelevant information.  And, might I say, almost guaranteed rejection by a busy, fast-moving hiring manager or recruiter.

So that’s where I go with coaching clients and where you should go if you are going to self-direct and write your own document.  Description of responsibilities should be brief and the list of number-based, quantifiable accomplishments should dominate the resume.

Here’s another clue:  recruiters and busy hiring managers like white space.  They abhor size-8 font and pontification.

A serendipity

It’s amazing to witness what this exercise does by taking people deeper into their past and re-discovering the high level of impact they have had but had either forgotten or didn’t feel was significant.

This exercise has a couple of very positive serendipitous effects.  First, by resurrecting and acknowledging forgotten/overlooked accomplishments, a new self-confidence emerges.  That depression, anger and settle-for attitude you brought with you after the groin-kick starts to turn.   Secondly, this exercise plays an amazing role in preparing the seeker for conducting a “knock their socks off” interview.

Summary

To sum up part 3a:

  • The majority of jobs (and the best) are hidden.
  • A “spray-and-pray” strategy is a fool’s journey.
  • Don’t front-end your search with a trip into the HR Department, aka “black hole.”
  • Your resume is very important and it needs to be crisp and concise.  But don’t lead with it.
  • Lists of responsibilities on a resume don’t get hiring manager attention, achievements do.  Emphasize hard-hitting, quantified, problem-solving, attention-getting accomplishments.  Prove that you have had impact.

Next step?  Entry into the social media world.  Nope – not the Facebook world.  The Linked In world – the default platform for getting found as a job seeker.  Next week – Part 3b – why you need Linked In.

 

Leave your thoughts about this part in the comments section below.  Have you had good or bad experiences in your job search leading with your resume?  We’d really like to get your feedback and hopefully learn something new about experiences out there in this ever-evolving job market.

“Double-nickeled and Stuck! Getting re-employed at 55 or beyond” – Part Two

In part-one of this series, we took a look at some of the psychological and emotional steps necessary to enhance chances of finding employment after 55.  In part-two, I’d like to address the issue of being prepared for the energy and commitment a full-on job search will take.

My comments will be based on someone initiating a self-directed job search i.e. without the help of a coach.  This will apply to most, especially amongst male job seekers.  I have found that female job-seekers are more open to working with a career coach than men – mostly an ego thing (hey guys, I get it!  I are one!)

In my experience,  the statistic that I mentioned in Part One regarding length of search holds pretty true for self-directed searches i.e. count on one month of search for every $10,000 in salary you are seeking. Certainly there are exceptions to this, some searches being shorter, some longer. Lots of things can impact the length: degree of job specialization, willingness to relocate, flexibility on salary are a few.

One of the biggest influences on shortening the job search is the depth of commitment to a disciplined, structured job search.  And that’s where the energy – physical and emotional – can come into play.

In Part Three of this series, we will dig into how job search has changed and the activities required to conduct an effective job search in today’s job market.  But here, we want to better prepare you for the rigors of the search.

A couple of things can come into play that will affect your attitude and thus your energy.  First, you may well be carrying forward some anger or resentment over the separation which can be a definite energy robber.  Secondly, you will most likely be stepping into unfamiliar territory and find the process confusing.  This too is an energy drain.

My suggestions for preparation for this process are simple:

  1. Increase your aerobic and anaerobic exercise by at least 50%. For some coming from a “cubical nation” job, a doubling might even be better.  Mild depression, sudden extra “free time”, confusion on where to start – all of these can easily lead to bad health habits with failing to exercise being one of the most serious mistakes.  It’s pretty simple biologically – your brain, in particular, needs oxygen to think more clearly. Remember also that “sitting is the new smoking” (a bit of a stretch, but you get the point).  Job searches, chairs and computer screens are all linked so get out of your Office Depot faux-leather throne at least three times an hour and take a five minute walking break.
  2. Modify your diet. I suspect you aren’t a vegan or a vegetarian.  But during a job search, I’m suggesting you might want to get closer to either.  Increase your intake of fruits and vegetables and healthy carbs suchs as nuts, legumes and keep the animal protein lean.  Better yet, keep the animal products to a minimum.  Above all, eliminate the high glycemic load foods (pastries come to mind) that cause energy and mood swings.  Oh – and this one is tough – stop the coffee after noon (caffeine has a six-hour half life) or replace coffee with green tea.
  3. Get 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. This should probably be number one.  You may be one of those hard-chargers who has convinced him/herself that you can get by on 5-6 hours.  May have even been doing it for years.  Well, the data is in and it’s conclusive – that’s a life shortening habit and a definite drawback during a rigorous job search.  Your energy levels will be noticeably higher with proper sleep.  Check out this article if you aren’t convinced.
  4. Start your day with some form of meditation and statements of gratitude. I hope you are of the understanding that the ONE thing in life that we can truly control is our thoughts.  Coming off a stinging RIF, you may be inclined to let them slide to the wrong side of the thought ledger.  Sitting in prayer or meditation for 15 minutes and either stating out loud or writing in a journal what you are grateful for each day can get you started with the high energy day that it requires.

 

 

 

“Sound when stretched is music.  Movement when stretched is dance.  Mind when stretched is meditation.  Life when stretched is celebration.” 

Shri Ravishanker Jee

The last suggestion I have in this area is to guard against letting the search overwhelm you.  I suggest, even though you will likely have a very high feeling of urgency about this, to keep your focused search effort to no more than thirty hours a week.  The operative word here is “focused”.  Beyond thirty hours, you will approach burn-out and start hitting a frustration level that will detract from your effectiveness and tempt you to move away from your focused, structured process.

In Part-Three, we will go into the complexities of today’s job search, how it’s changed and lay out some suggestions for building structure and focus into your job search.

What has worked for you for building and maintaining energy and focus for your job search?  Scroll down and leave a comment – we’d love to hear from you.

“Double-nickeled and Stuck! Getting re-employed at 55 or beyond” – Part One

In this part-one of a three-part series on “Double-nickeled and Stuck! Getting re-employed at 55 or beyond”, we will begin to take a look at the reality of what it takes to regain meaningful employment in today’s rapidly evolving workplace and at the process it takes to be prepared for the challenges ahead.

Am I re-employable?

We’ll assume you don’t have a rap-sheet full of Class IV felonies and that, up to now, you’ve been a productive, above-average-to-superior contributor to your employer’s cause.

Yes, you are re-employable. But we need to get real about what it may take and to go into the process with modified expectations.

First of all, if you are still reeling from the groin-kick of an unexpected “involuntary retirement” from your job, there will be a few phases you’ll have to work through before you can be effective in a job search.

It’s easy to slide into the self-doubt abyss. Expect it, accept it, work through it. For most, it will start with denial and isolation followed by anger followed by depression followed by bargaining (willing to accept less or compromise) and, finally, acceptance. The choice here is to either compact all that into a few days or let it go on for months and eat yourself alive and make those closest to you wish you were somewhere else.

The sooner you can get to that final stage, the sooner you can get moving again. A good coach can help you climb out of the abyss by providing an understanding ear coupled with encouragement, accountability and direction.

No, you’re not a slug!

Your time and developed skills have not been wasted. There is a need. You have transferable skills, probably very deep transferable skills. But it may not be back in the same industry.

I often see folks in this position only looking back into the industry that just gut-punched them. Another opportunity may exist there but consider also that other companies and industries out there can use what you have.  They need – and want – the deeper wisdom, discipline and common sense that come with that seasoned skill set. So start by being open to considering a big step away from the business space you’ve been in.

Time to reflect

You are at a very critical inflection point. It’s a good time for some introspection. Consider doing a deep-dive into three areas:

  1. What you accomplished while employed. Look, companies don’t employ slugs – at least for very long. You’ve done a good job and it wasn’t so much your performance but a new paradigm of business that took you out. Spend some time resurrecting those proud, acknowledged and rewarded accomplishments at your work. It’s likely you’ve forgotten them or taken them for granted. Journey back into your professional memory, dig them out. Write them out, preferably with hard-number quantification included. This is foundational to attitude restoration, for establishing your personal brand going forward and for helping you with the next tip.
  2. Some deep personal assessment. With this face-slap and temporary employment-lull comes a timely opportunity for re-assessment. What is it about you that made the accomplishments from #1 happen? Have you ever seriously reflected on what it is that drives you? What has motivated you to get up every morning and do your job? I suspect it was more than just mortgage coverage for 30 years.This is an important time to really examine the “why” of your life. The on-rush of life, mortgage coverage and public-image maintenance has a way of covering over one’s true motivating drivers. Now would be a good time to get honest about this area of your life.
  3. Start building your personal brand. What does that mean – personal brand? I like the definition: “the development of a unique professional identity and coherent message that sets you apart from others in your industry.”  It will be important to be able establish what will draw attention and differentiate you. Here we go back to your previous accomplishments and begin to really isolate your strengths:
    • What were you most recognized for?
    • What problems did you consistently solve for others?
    • What do people come to you repeatedly for advice?
    • What success stories do you have stretched across your career?  Your personal brand then needs to be translated to the components that you will need for your job search, specifically the resume, Linked In profile, your “elevator speech” and your interviewing skills.

All that is obviously beyond the scope of a single blog. My basic coaching program addresses this componentry with an eye toward positioning someone optimally for that move back into the marketplace.

Few of us function completely outside of innate talents and strengths. But, alas, few of us function completely within those same talents and strengths. And this is often due to the fact that maybe we don’t fully understand or acknowledge what our deepest talents and strengths are. In other words, we often are forcing ourselves to operate counter to how we are truly wired up.

That’s what I did for about 35 years of my sales and marketing and self-employment career. I had to reach my sixties (OK – I’m slow!) before I finally acknowledged and moved toward what I REALLY, REALLY wanted to do and what I was REALLY, REALLY good at. It’s still a work in progress, but a very gratifying one.

What turned it for me? A lot of self reflection along with some strengths assessments and some really solid books on personal psychology. Specifically, I bought the book “Now Discover Your Strengths” and took the Strengthsfinder assessment that comes with the book. I took the test three times before I finally accepted what it was telling me.

I also read (twice) three books by Marty Seligman, originator of Positive Psychology which acquainted me with the importance of operating within my strengths and also provided some assessments that were, surprisingly, in line with what Strengthsfinder unveiled for me.

All that has contributed to me finally moving to where I’m operating more within my innate talents and strengths.

So there’s a starting point. Do some self-assessing and take some quiet time asking yourself those same questions: What am I REALLY good at? What do I REALLY want to be? Where have I had the most impact?

Get some outside help.

Two other suggestions here

  1. Get with 5,10, 15 people who know you well and ask them what they think are your strengths and compare them to what you think they are. This is kinda tough since you may be a bit embarrassed about your situation and your dobber may be down, but it’s often a very revealing reality check.
  2. Hire a coach. Find somebody that will help you work through the down-time and the re-invention that you are going to need to go through.

 

Modify your expectations

We don’t dare leave this Part One without injecting a caveat. THIS WILL BE A BITCH!! With some serious heavy lifting.

Here’s the reality of it all. Those of us in the recruiting and job search coaching world know that re-entry at this age is tough, protracted and not a given. Be prepared for the following:

  • For a self-directed job search, count on a minimum of one month’s search for every $10,000 in salary. How prepared are you to be able to hold out that long?
  • Being able to return to the salary you just left probably isn’t going to happen. Can you expect it to be different when you are the 55-year old going to work for the 43 year old to do what he or she will hire a 40-year old to do?
  • Today’s job market morphed while you were busy living life at your last job. What it takes to find a job has no resemblance to what you did the last time and will require a process and discipline that may tax you heavily emotionally and physically.

You will be thinking “JOB”. It’s an appropriate time for  some new thinking as you go through this process and consider “ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY” instead.
We’ll begin to address more of this with Parts Two and Three.

Let us know your thoughts about all this. What have your experiences been in this area? What advice do you have for others who find themselves in this situation? What’s worked and not worked for you? Leave a comment below – we really appreciate hearing from you.

Double-nickeled and stuck! Getting re-employed at 55 or beyond – Launching a Three-part Series

A current coaching client of mine is 58 and stuck! Had the rug pulled out from under a 30-year successful run in sales in the healthcare space following a merger of his company with another.

No warning. “Here’s a few month’s severance and thanks for your service. We already have three other people doing what you do for about 1.5x your salary.”

Another victim of the merger/acquisition steam roller running through many industries.

Another talented mid-lifer on the receiving end of the last un-addressed “-ism” – ageism.

He kinda saw it coming. You know, that little uneasy feeling in the gut that’s hinting something is up but that’s so easy to suppress and deny. That little voice that says maybe I should be thinking about “putting out feelers.”

But it’s so easy to just back-burner it and let it get lost in the onrush of 21st century life and our deeply ingrained pursuit of material goals.

Then the curtain comes down! BAM! Life just took an unintended turn and the “pucker factor” and cortisol flow just went way up.

Unfortunately, it’s a pretty common story. Current reality is that both corporate loyalty as well as employee loyalty has shifted dramatically. Today, companies feign employee loyalty but, end of day, they are looking for ways to get rid of employees and replace them with technology.

Don’t we wish that companies truly love their employees? And they do, but only as long as the “productivity index” is positive. When technology can step in and replace to restore/achieve the productivity, the love goes away.

Who would have thought that in the mere span of 15-20 years that the least safe place to find employment security would be working for a company?

Three part series

I’m putting together this three part series in hopes of providing some help and encouragement for those in this type of situation to regroup and reinvent themselves and move onto an even more productive and fulfilling period of “second growth.”

I’m breaking the series into three parts to address three of the most common questions asked by someone in this position:
• Am I re-employable? Who wants someone like me when they can get two or three “youngsters” at the same price?
• Do I have the energy to launch a job search?
• Do I even know how to go about looking for another position in today’s job market?

My answer to those questions are:
• Yes. Somebody needs you
• Maybe
• No

Over the next three blogs, I’ll expand on those answers and provide some insight into each. For now, just know that you aren’t in this battle alone and that the potential solutions are much better than you may think. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, if you have comments or other questions that you would like answers to, leave a reply below.

What will you do with your “longevity bonus”?

So, I’m at my 9 year-old desktop computer staring into dual monitors doing my bus dev search thing on Linked In looking for key points-of-contact in companies in my targeted recruiting niche.  Recruiting remains a part of my “portfolio work life” because of a couple of things: (1) I married a woman who likes to sleep inside and eat warm food and (2) the outsize mortgage that comes with fulfilling that marital commitment.

My keyword search turned up a Director of Human Resources for a company I am targeting because she had “Director, Human Resources” in her Linked In headline.  But it was what she had below her headline that really caught my eye.  It said:

Traveling and Living Life

My curiosity was naturally piqued because (1) HR Directors are normally pretty office bound, often chained to their chairs, spread thin, understaffed and overworked and (2) “living life” is not the demeanor that I usually associate with how HR Managers view their work life.  It’s a grinder job.

A further peek into the profile reveals that this particular HR Director had retired after 33 years in her field and is now “traveling and living life.”  Apparently this new life didn’t leave time for her to update her Linked In profile.  I probably wouldn’t bother either if I were that excited about finally “living life.”

From her profile, I could estimate her age between 55 and 60, so she’s one of that diminishing number of folks who are choosing to retire early.

But here’s what struck me as odd.  If she started “living life” on January 2017, which is apparently her retirement/matriculation date, what was she doing with her life for the previous 33+ years?  Dying?

Well, technically, yes.  Because we all start dying the minute we are born. But isn’t there an interesting perspective and message in that innocent phrase?  It would seem to say very loudly that my “years-to-date” have been less than thrilling and gratifying and that I needed to get out to finally live life.

My kudos to her for fooling her employer for those three decades.

The linear-life-cycle model

I guess none of us should be surprised by that. At her age, like most “boomers”, she was born into a culture built around a three-stage, age-graded model – the linear life model.  I call it the 20-40-20 plan: 20 years for education, 40 years of work (typically for “the man” and building “the man’s” dream) to be followed by the coveted 20 years of retirement bliss, doing what you really wanted to do all along during those first 60 or so years.

What they failed to tell us, back in the day, was that, if you followed this traditional retirement model, that third part – the 20 at the end – usually didn’t end up being the full 20.  IBM did a study a generation ago and found that their average retiree didn’t make it past their 24th pension check.  Shell Oil did a study of early retirees and found that embarking on the retirement path at age 55 doubled the risk for death before reaching 65.

I haven’t checked.  Can frequent flyer miles be used to pay funeral expenses?

What’s our protagonist going to do – just travel until she dies?  I know travel is a big deal for retirees.  And there are certainly some awesome places to visit and see on this mudball.  But at some point does living a life tied to travel start to become a bit of a wobbly stool? After all, how many pictures can you store and have time to reminisce over?  Plus, last I heard reminiscence is not a great profit producer or life extender.

Longevity bonus

Here’s the other possible glitch in all this.  There’s an increasing chance today that said HR Director may live 15, 20, 30 years longer than she thinks she will.  That’s more time than most frequent flyer accumulations will last or, for that matter, more time than needed to see all the places in the world worthy of photographing.

Our “lucky” former HR Manager may be faced with what a huge swath of boomers are, or will be, facing:   extended life spans that outlast their resources.

So, I guess reality sets in at some point for Ms “traveling and living life”.   And that reality may mean finding a way to replenish the coffers spent seeing the world. Egads!  Not back to work!  Back to not-living-life?

Work extends lives

It might have to happen.  It’s happening for a growing number of us – working longer.  But we’re also learning that extending our work lives actually increases our vitality and energy and, ironically, adds to our longevity. Work, in fact, has been determined to be the number one contributor to healthy extended living.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be for money.  Maybe you are one of the fortunate few today who planned well enough to be well-heeled through your second half.  It can be volunteer, or a “play-check” as suggested by Mitch Anthony, author of the fabulous book “The New Retirementality.”

It a mixed bag of ironies.  We work hard to be able to get away from work only to find out that what we strove to get away from is what ultimately enables us to live healthier, longer.

I know this message flies right by the 33% of retirees who have no intention of ever going back to work.  But for those of us in the 67%, it can be an exciting time of second growth.  A time when we can continue to work doing more of what we REALLY want to do and thus make aging work for us instead of against us.

That’s why I really love working with 50+’ers to help them get creative about how they can finish out having left a footprint. It’s exciting to see creativity and enthusiasm resurrected.

 

I’d love to hear your comments on all this.  What are your views on work in this second half?  How are you going to plan for the possibilities of an extended life?  What’s been working for you as you begin to move into this “second growth” period?

Three Reasons You Should Try to Live to 100

I suspect you didn’t get up this morning thinking about how exciting it would be to live to 100.  A thought like that may be way down the list of important things that will drive your day.   In fact, I’m guessing that the very thought created a visual in your mind that was, well –  repulsive?

I’ve tested this idea of living to 100 on nearly all my friends, on all of my immediate and most of my extended family – even built and presented a 20-minute speech around it at my Toastmasters club.

The reaction has been universal –  gag me with a spoon!!!  Gary has slipped a gear – again!

Although largely disowned by family and muzzled at dinner parties, I remain undeterred.  I’ve decided to live to 100, have gone public with it and will continue to beat that drum with anyone who is willing to listen.

This isn’t some hair-brained thought.  If genetics ruled – which they don’t –the average life spans of previous generations in my family would say that I should have been gone some time ago.  But genetics, for the most part, don’t determine our lifespan.  But lifestyle habits do.  So I figured if I know what those lifestyle habits are, and if I get serious about them, then surely I could beat the odds and get to 100 or beyond – even if I started late, which I did.

I’m a proud septuagenarian (for you Pittsburgh Steeler fans, that means I’m in my seventies) and feeling better physically, emotionally and spiritually than any other time of my life.  Turns out those lifestyle habits are pretty simple – not to be confused with easy.  I’m trying to get better at them every day.

I also wrestle with something deep inside that keeps  whispering “you ain’t done yet so get off the average lifespan mantra and do something significant with the time that is left, whatever that may be.”

 

 

Here are my three thoughts on why we should try to live to 100:

 

Reason #1 – We  Can.   As I mentioned in my last blog post, we know the human body can last 122 years, 164 days because Mlle Jeanne Calment of Paris did it – confirmed.   There were 50,454 U.S. centenarians in the year 2000, according to the U.S. Census.  It’s predicted that this number will grow to over 600,000 by mid-century.  Centenarians are the fastest growing age group, percentage-wise, in our country and globally.

So, who’s to say you can’t?  I know, like most, you’ve got a mental list the length of your arm of why YOU can’t or don’t want to.  I get it – it’s where our mind goes on this topic.

Reason #2 – We Must.  Us boomers and pre-boomers need to be thumbing our nose at the youth movement in business and politics.  And at the myths of automatic senescence in later years.  What better way to prove to the world that we never lost what we have to offer from our life experiences, mistakes, victories, disappointments, and triumphs.

An African proverb says:   “When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground,”

We have much to teach about life but we have to stay alive and fight for the venues through which our wisdom and still-present value can be shared.

Reason #3 – We Just Might.   Hey, life doesn’t come with any promises.  Lightning does strike; diseases and accidents happen; genetics come into play on a limited scale.  Frankly, you have less than a 5% chance you will make it to 100.  But if you thought you could, do you think maybe some different decisions would show up in your life?

Do you think there might be an attitude shift?

Do you think you might rethink and reject the myths that you’ve bought into about aging?

Do you think that if you only made it to 92 or 95 or 98 but more fulfilled, impactful and having left a legacy that the 100-year target made sense?

I read today about 88-year old retired Vail, CO orthodontist, Dr. Fred Distelhorst, who recently scaled Kilimanjaro with his granddaughter.  He is the oldest person on record to have climbed the 19,361 free-standing mountain.   His comment?  “It wasn’t such a big deal.  I was surprised it wasn’t harder.”  Dr. Fred also bikes regularly and still skis 100 days a year.  I like his chances of getting to 100 – or more.

 

We’re taught to fear aging

For a while, I was baffled by the near-universal negative reaction I got to the idea of living to 100.  But I understand – it’s a scary thought because of our conditioning.

Here’s a YouTube video that, in one minute, says it better than my pontification.  Watch this and see which situation your thoughts go to – the person on the left or the one on the right.  If you relate to the one on the left, come join the conversation.  We have a good but tough message to convey.

What are your thoughts on the idea of striving to live to 100?  Leave a comment below.

Time to Decide – Take-off? Or landing?

“Life is a fatal disease. Once contracted, there is no known cure”

Dr. Walter Bortz, retired Stanford geriatric physician, made that statement in his 1984 book “Dare To Be 100”. It forms a backdrop for his message about our potential to live longer, healthier and more meaningful lives.

Dr. Bortz knows a thing or two about growing old. What better source than someone who has 50+ years of observing life, death, and survival?

Well into his 80’s, he continues to set a very active pace taking a longevity message to audiences globally.

I discovered Dr. Bortz and “Dare to Be 100” in 2013. Dr. Bortz was saying three decades ago what we now realize is the truth about what it takes to age successfully.

His books (I believe there are seven of them) were a catalyst for me, providing a sensible “roadmap” to late-life health with facts and advice unencumbered by political or corporate influence.

I find that most of us are repulsed by his claim that there is no reason we shouldn’t live to 100 or beyond. I get it – I carry the same images of extreme, prolonged frailty that we associate with growing old. We don’t want to be like those images in our head.

It’s a deeply ingrained attitude – but it’s naïve. I’ll stake that claim on the fact that we choose not to understand our biology. And because we don’t understand it, we do things that result in us “living too short and dying too long” and robbing ourselves of our full life potential – really the core of Dr. Bortz message.

OMG! Another blog?

I would be delusional to think that you’ve been eagerly awaiting a blog on aging, what with only 100 million other blogs out there and the rather “uncomfortable” nature of the subject.

So why blog?

I’ve discovered a “passion” – a desire to help people who have passed the 50-year milestone to pivot their attitudes regarding aging and “Make Aging Work” by thinking and living bigger while slowing the aging process.

Oliver Wendell Holmes once said “Many people die with their music still in them. Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it time runs out.“

With boosts from the likes of Dr. Bortz and others that I’ve studied and followed, my hope is to help others live their whole life, sing all their song and to live longer, live better and finish out with vitality and a strong sense of purpose.

Been there – – – –

I passed the over-50 threshold some time ago – I’m a “pre-boomer” by four years, born in 1942. My life experiences and professional experiences as an executive recruiter and career and “reinvention” coach, coupled with two decades of intense reading and study on human development and the aging process, has led me to two conclusions about how we age in this country.

  1. We don’t live long enough to truly die of old age because we choose not to understand how our bodies and minds function and thus subject them to repeated, long-term abuse and disuse.
  2.  We allow myths, misconceptions, outdated models, dangerous cultural traditions, deceptive advertising, deplorable government policies, and just plain complacency guide us to a premature demise.

Gap analysis

A prominent Yale physician, Dr. David Katz, founder of the school’s Prevention Research Center, got my attention a few years ago when I heard him say:

“We know all that we need to know to reduce, by 80%, the five major killing diseases in our culture – heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, and dementia. We don’t need more new fancy drugs or expensive new equipment and technology or more Nobel prizes. We already know what we need to know.”

I believe Dr. Katz’ position extends logically to aging: we know all we need to know to live healthier, longer and more productively.

We have a 42-year gap between our 80-year average life span and the length of time our bodies appear to be designed to last at this point – 122 years, 164 days. Ms. Jeanne Calment of Paris set that bar as the oldest human, fully documented and verified.

Why the gap between our potential and our average, between what we already know and what we do to stay healthy and live longer? Take #2 above and stir in ignorance (as in ignoring best practices), instant gratification, comparison, stress, lack of purpose. Feel free to add your own thoughts to this toxic brew.

Quixotic as it may seem, I’m choosing to join the voices of those who are working to dilute this brew and close this gap.

Make Aging Work

This journey may be a bit idealistic but I’m venturing forth nonetheless with my crusade-like mission, sharing what I hope will be valuable, meaningful information and resources.

I’m calling the home-base for this venture “Make Aging Work – Live Big, Age Little”. I believe we know what we need to know to do that.

Despite what our society would have us to believe, we can truly make our second-half of life work for us in a big way rather than against us.

Life to 100 and beyond with energy, enthusiasm, and purpose is now one of the fastest-growing realities of our age. Centenarians are growing at 8X the rate of any other population demographic in our country. We are learning what it takes to “live longer, die shorter” and finish out with purpose having left a footprint.

This site is intended to be a place to learn more about living a longer, healthier, more vigorous “second half” – and a place in which you build the value through your feedback and input. You are the key to helping our demographic make aging work for us instead of against us.

I invite you to join the conversation and the crusade. Please share your thoughts, insights, experiences – and pin my ears back if you disagree or if you feel I’ve slipped over into hyperbole.

I look forward to your feedback. Please leave a comment below.