{"id":5512,"date":"2016-05-05T09:05:14","date_gmt":"2016-05-05T13:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=5512"},"modified":"2016-05-08T22:16:10","modified_gmt":"2016-05-09T02:16:10","slug":"planning-your-careers-second-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=5512","title":{"rendered":"Planning Your Career\u2019s Second Act"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"download\"<\/a>\u00a0Unemployment is difficult at any age, but it can be especially difficult when you are over 50.\u00a0Surveys show that up to 80 percent of us hope to do so, but only 20 percent actually do. The reasons are many, but unexpected health problems and age discrimination are right up there.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
But people age 50 and up who have left jobs \u2014 voluntarily or not \u2014 and successfully found their Second Act jobs or careers have something in common.<\/article>\n
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Most developed a Plan B while they were still working \u2014 just in case.\u201cWorkers do get terminated, and they do decide to leave voluntarily and think they are going to find something,\u201d Sara Rix, an employment consultant, says. \u201cIf you are planning on working in retirement, having something lined up before you submit your papers to your employer is a good idea.\u201dRix says older workers often underestimate the problems they will face trying to re-enter the workforce or finding something they like to do in retirement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not easy to do,\u201d she says. \u201cPeople don\u2019t think seriously about what they might like to do and what it may take to get to that particular job. They enter retirement thinking, \u2018I\u2019ve always wanted to open a nursery, or work in a TV studio.\u2019 We all have dreams, but we need to back up those dreams with some sort of skills and abilities. Often that\u2019s left too late for older workers.\u201d<\/div>\n

Adds Kerry Hannon, a career expert and author<\/strong>: \u201cA lot of people quit before they are ready because they can\u2019t take it anymore. The people who are most successful at moving to a new thing, and it doesn\u2019t have to be full-time, work on it a couple of years ahead to prepare to make a career transition. You should get started early.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/article>\n

Read full Washington Post article here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Rene Syler lost her job as a co-anchor of CBS News\u2019 \u201cThe Early Show\u201d in 2006. Though she wasn\u2019t expecting to be unemployed, she had started to prepare for life outside the network. She wrote a book, \u201cGood Enough Mother: The Perfectly Imperfect Book of Parenting,\u201d which had gone to the publisher just weeks before she was fired. She built that book into a brand, which includes TV appearances, speaking engagements and a successful website, goodenoughmother.com<\/a>.\u201cWhen I was still at CBS, I did a lot of things wrong,\u201d Syler, 53, says. \u201cBut some things I did right. I knew I needed to make myself a brand. I knew this wouldn\u2019t last forever.<\/article>\n

When I left television, I remained a communicator,\u201d she says. \u201cInstead of sitting behind the desk and talking to people on the other side of the camera, I\u2019m having a more intimate back-and-forth through the website and social media.\u201d<\/p>\n

Career experts say it is critical to figure out in advance what your skills are and how you can parlay them into a Second Act. If you have trouble figuring it out, ask the people around you, Hannon says<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes people recognize things that you are good at and you don\u2019t realize,\u201d she says. \u201cAsk family and colleagues what they think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other tips for preparing for that encore career:<\/p>\n

<\/b>Be active.<\/strong> \u201cDo not sit at home and send out resumes,\u201d Hannon<\/strong> says. \u201cGet out and meet people. Volunteer. You never know who you might meet. Getting out of the house is great for depression. At the very least, you are meeting people.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more tips and full story, click here\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n