Midlife Crisis? Take Control of Your Career!

“At midlife, a man or woman feels an inner siren call like an old memory.

we suddenly remember our former intuitions for a possible life.”

David Whyte, The Heart Aroused, Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America.

Midlife is a moving target, but it’s more about attitude than chronological age.  The market loves youth and each additional birthday candle after age 40 signals decreasing options unless you take control of your career.  YOU have to create opportunities, YOU are Director of Sales.

• What are you selling?  Anyone at midlife has extensive experience and expertise.  What is unique about yours? 
• Who are you?  What are your values? Cultural fit is the largest determiner of success or failure with an organization. 
• What are the consistent outcomes of what you do?  How do your stories reflect effective leadership and management?

Five top reasons older job seekers fail to get offers:

1. Focused on the past, ingrained biases and ways of doing things
2. No evidence of continuous learning; degrees outdated, lack intellectual curiosity
3. Try too hard to impress in interviews; talk too much, inquire and listen too little
4. Rigid, opinionated, inflexible, know it all
5. Lack aura of leadership and professional presence appropriate to field and industry

Five top advantages at midlife:

1. Experience and expertise
2. Good judgment
3. Interpersonal skills
4. Credibility with stakeholders
5. Work ethics

Five ways to beat the competition!

1. Know yourself; believe in yourself.  Do the hard work of in-depth self assessment
2. Create powerful , consistent, comprehensive marketing materials; resume, brand statements, Linked in profile
3. Target your job search; know what you are looking for and where you want to work; bring together your network and keep your eye on the goal
4. Learn the marketplace; do your research; look for work that needs doing rather than wasting time applying on-line
5. Get a Career Coach; no winning ball team ever did it without a coach, why should you? 

It’s your career.  It’s your life.  Isn’t it time to take control?

Power Tips for a Winning Midlife Career Transition

Attitudes become our realities. At midlife, if you believe your age is a reality, you’re probably right. If you believe it’s a disadvantage, you’re definitely right. Midlife is an incredible time to invest in the future. Rich with experience, at the height of your professional expertise, you’re positioned to put all your talents, interests and abilities together for the most productive and fulfilling years of your life. Take this advice and power on!

1. Create your brand: Differentiate yourself in the marketplace by creating a brand that is recognizable, repeatable and outcome based.
2. Expand your horizons: What have you learned today? Whom have you met? How often have you laughed? What risk did you take?
3. Get in fighting shape: Are you ready for the competition? Would you bet on this horse?
4. Define your market niche: So, ok, you can do most anything, but where do you excel? Where do your talents, interests and skills meet?
5. Invest in people: We are herd animals by nature, and we are inherently integral to each other’s lives. Nurture your relationships; create new connections.
6. Fish where the fish are: “Cruising the net” is probably the most popular, and least effective, way of finding a great new career opportunity. The courting ritual that goes on in front of monitors is like guppies in different tanks posturing in front of the glass. Interesting but probably not going to produce new guppies. Get out there and meet people face to face.
7. Get a Coach: Would you put a winning basketball team out on the floor without a Coach? Isn’t your life worth as much as a ball game?
8. Create a power resume: Forget the nonsense of a 1-2 page resume. If you’ve got it, flaunt it! It’s your sales brochure, the owner’s manual for a cutting edge product.
9. Bury the past: No one hires a wounded bear, so move on. Save the recriminations, pain and regrets for your journal and then burn it. There’s too much possibility in the future to waste emotion on the past.
10. Get with it! There is a time to cogitate, a time to ruminate, a time to meditate, but make it quick. Exploring new options is exactly what you should be doing at mid-life. This is a beginning, not an ending and you don’t want to miss the party.

“This time, like all times, is a very good one,
if we but know what to do with it.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson