September/October 2009

Then and Now
By Phyllis N. Segal
Aging Well
Vol. 2 No. 4 P. 4

“I was moved by this woman, perhaps because she was so close to me and her plea was aimed specifically at me. No one else was around. I took a dollar out of my pocket, gave it to her, and hurried off to my class.” Looking back, Ed Speedling wished he’d done more.

The memory stuck with him for nearly 40 years. In his late 50s, Speedling was ready to convert his longing into action. With the support of his wife and children, he left a 30-year career as a healthcare executive and struck out on a new journey to fulfill a deep desire to work with the poor and vulnerable.

Speedling is on the front end of a growing movement of baby boomers eager to make a difference. As their midlife careers come to an end, these older adults are launching encore careers that combine personal fulfillment, continued income, and social impact.

But making the transition isn’t easy. Speedling spoke with top staffers at a variety of nonprofit organizations, explaining that he wanted to help people, but that didn’t get him any job offers. So he changed gears, developing specifically how and where he wanted to have an impact.

Once Speedling decided to look for jobs working one on one with the homeless rather than in policy making or leadership positions, he started to make headway. One connection led to another, and Speedling was offered a job at a local shelter. Despite the absence of a secretary, an office, and an expense account, it was love at first sight.

A few years later, Speedling took a position with Project H.O.M.E. (Housing, Opportunities for Employment, Medical Care, Education), working with families facing unemployment, violent neighborhoods, abuse, alcoholism, and more. He discovered that rather than being a teacher or a counselor, the key to reaching people was about being clients’ equal and seeing them on their terms.

Then, he was a healthcare executive; now, he’s an advocate for the homeless.

Effecting a Transition
But as Speedling’s story shows, getting from then to now isn’t easy. It’s challenging and, for some, impossible to do it alone. Life planning professionals can play a critical role, helping individuals find the right transition while helping the community tap existing experience to solve tough problems. There are opportunities for life planners to be partners throughout the journey or serve as specialists, bringing needed expertise at particular stages along the way.

Reflection is often the first stage. After making the decision to move on from a midlife career, individuals typically experience a period of reflection about what’s next. It may be difficult to shed an identity formed by a 30-year career or clearly see the path ahead. Anticipating and preparing for the ups and downs along the way is essential. And it is hard to do this alone.

Assessment comprises the next phase. As Speedling found, it’s not always enough to want an encore career. Older adults need to know what kind of work they want to do. Teaching, caring for people, advocating for a cause, raising funds, and recruiting members are all common encore career pursuits. Tools are available to help match skills and experience to job areas, and networking with others in the field can help define career goals.

The job search may start with a scan of open positions. Nursing and caregiving are rapidly growing fields, as are gerontology jobs working with an aging population. The federal government and nonprofits are experiencing leadership deficits in mission-critical positions, and many states are seeking math and science teachers. As climate change moves to the top of the agenda, green jobs are beginning to proliferate. Life planning professionals who know a community’s needs—and where the local jobs are—can guide individuals in this phase.

Volunteering with organizations offers an early step for older adults looking to discover or match their passions and can serve as a foot in the door. Congress recently enacted legislation providing for 10 encore fellowships in each state. These are one-year leadership positions designed to help older adults over the age of 55 transition into nonprofit or public sector careers. Serving on boards, connecting with peers in a desired field, and attending networking events are additional ways to discover encore career interests and eventually find jobs.

Developing Necessary Skills
Retraining is sometimes necessary. Community colleges and other four-year institutions are great places for a range of retooling options. For some, weekend workshops that teach new technology skills and tips on updating résumés and handling job interviews are most important. For others, earning a gerontology degree or obtaining a nursing license may take from two to four years and involve a bigger investment of time and money. Life planners can help those seeking encore careers to become familiar with what’s available online and at the local community college or career center.

Encore careers are not for everyone, but there is ample evidence that millions of people in the second half of life see them as desirable. The MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures Encore Career Survey, a recent national survey of adults between the ages of 44 and 70, found that between 5 million and 8 million adults were already in an encore career and tens of millions more (47% of those surveyed) said they want an encore career.

The potential for individual renewal is obvious, but the potential for social change is staggering. If only 5% of boomers launch 10-year encore careers, it would amount to nearly 40 million human years of talent applied to solving problems in our communities and the world.

There is a vast market for helping older adults in the second half of life transition to encore careers that combine continued income, personal meaning, and social impact. Life planners who take on this task are making their own contributions to meeting America’s need for talented individuals with years of accumulated experience and a burning passion to put it to work for the greater good.

“Adulthood simply goes on too long without punctuation,” wrote anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson, PhD. “The famous midlife crisis is a search for that punctuation, for the feeling that one is making a new start.” Retirement as we formerly knew it has changed. Then, there was an ending to work—retirement, a period. Now there is a pause—a semicolon—a time to rest and retool, followed by an encore career or a significant body of work equal to one’s midlife career in weight and importance and intended to make a difference in the world.

To access additional information and resources on transitioning to encore careers, visit www.encore.org.

— Phyllis N. Segal is vice president of Civic Ventures based in San Francisco.