{"id":731,"date":"2012-04-20T17:26:42","date_gmt":"2012-04-20T17:26:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=731"},"modified":"2012-05-02T14:16:25","modified_gmt":"2012-05-02T14:16:25","slug":"how-to-lose-a-job-and-find-a-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=731","title":{"rendered":"HOW TO LOSE A JOB AND FIND A LIFE"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When he was fired from Time-Warner four years ago after two decades of service, James S. Kunen was abruptly thrown into a job market that was less than welcoming for workers in his age group\u2013baby boomers brushing up against 60.<\/p>\n

He has written an appealing book,\u00a0Diary of a Company Man: Losing a Job, Finding a Life<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>that with a touch of humor and a load of humanity takes you down the elevator from his lofty and well-paid post\u00a0as Time-Warner director of communications to his job today teaching English as a second language to immigrants.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNow I find myself at this place called Too Young to Retire and Too Old to Hire, and there\u2019s a huge crowd here, a regular Woodstock, with more arriving all the time,\u201d Kunen writes.<\/p>\n

But this isn\u2019t Wavy Gravy\u2019s world. He confronts the core questions many laid-off baby boomers do: What is it he can do now? Where can his skills translate to a job, one that makes him feel some sense of purpose? And who will hire him?<\/p>\n

These are heart-felt and sometimes wrenching questions that anyone 50 + planning a successful career transition today faces, particularly after a lay off that you\u2019re unprepared for. (See my story\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0on planning a second career.)<\/p>\n

Sure he feels sorry for himself at first, angry and a little bewildered, but not for long. And I like that. His emotions are bound to happen. It\u2019s what you do next that matters. His story is one that many workers seeking a new beginning can learn from.\u00a0To get some deeper insight I asked him to share his sage advice\u2013from one who has been there and made it to the other side.<\/p>\n

Kerry Hannon<\/a>: What was the biggest challenge in finding work after leaving\u00a0Time Warner<\/a>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Copyright 2011, Peter Serling<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Jim Kunen:<\/strong>\u00a0After getting laid-off at age 59, the biggest challenge was figuring out what I wanted to do. I felt that this was my last call to find my calling. Some people have a clear calling. For example, I once met a fellow who worked at Mapquest drawing maps. When he was five years old, he stumbled into a box of\u00a0National Geographics<\/em>, opened one up, saw a map, and never looked back. He knew this was what he was put on earth to do. But many of us aren\u2019t so lucky. We spend our lives groping, trying this and that, and we often end up in a particular job more as a result of chance and circumstance than by choice or planning.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d been a defense attorney and a journalist and somehow ended up working in corporate communications. I knew I wanted to do something I\u2019d find truly meaningful now. But what does \u201cmeaningful\u201d mean? I talked to a number of people \u2013 including an auto worker, a nurse and a theologian \u2014 and concluded that what I wanted was personal, hands-on connection with people whom I could help in some way.<\/p>\n

Looking back over my life, I realized that I had repeatedly volunteered to teach English to immigrants, and concluded that here was something I would like to do as a full time job.\u00a0 I took a six-week certificate course, landed part-time work teaching foreign students, and eventually found a job teaching immigrants at a community college. I love it. I feel like it\u2019s what I\u2019m supposed to be doing.<\/p>\n

KH: What three tips would you give other older workers facing a similar situation, to turn their next act into a winning one?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JK:\u00a0<\/strong>1.<\/strong>\u00a0If you need to acquire new skills or brush up on your old ones, don\u2019t be self-conscious about going to school with people your kids\u2019 age. If you just act natural and avoid mirrors as much as possible, you\u2019ll soon see your classmates as peers, and they\u2019ll treat you just like anybody else, as will the teachers.<\/p>\n

2.<\/strong>\u00a0Don\u2019t be afraid to embark on a course of study that may take some time. If you find yourself thinking, \u201cBy the time I finish this full-year course, I\u2019ll be 60,\u201d ask yourself, \u201cHow old will I be in a year if I don\u2019t take this course?\u201d<\/p>\n

3.<\/strong>\u00a0Do volunteer work in areas that might interest you.\u00a0 You\u2019ll build experience and skills, make contacts, find out what you enjoy (and what you don\u2019t), and \u2013 it may sound trite, but it\u2019s true \u2013 if you help other people, you\u2019ll feel good, in fact, probably a lot better than when you were toiling for The Corporation.<\/div>\n

KH: What is the greatest reward of your new work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JK:<\/strong>\u00a0Teaching English to immigrants at a community college, I\u2019ve become part of a genuine, larger \u201cwe.\u201d That\u2019s the greatest reward. There\u2019s no falseness, no artifice; no one is using anyone else as a means to an end. We are all in the classroom to learn together, to succeed together, to empower and support one another. I love the students, and I love loving them, and I love their loving me. A lot of us are poor people; some of us are more educated than others; but we all respect one another as equals \u2013 just as the Framers of the Constitution intended.<\/p>\n

By contrast, as a corporate communications guy and editor of a magazine aimed at employees, my job was to make employees feel that \u201cwe\u201d were all part of the company, all part of a team. That turned out not to be true.\u00a0 After laying off 500 people one day, the CEO told the financial press, \u201cWe\u2019ve eliminated the bloat.\u201d That tells you all you need to know. Who\u2019s \u201cwe\u201d? Who\u2019s \u201cthe bloat\u201d?<\/p>\n

KH: How big a role did the support of your wife and family play?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>JK:<\/strong>\u00a0Very big.\u00a0 Hopefully, you and your spouse share common values when it comes to where the true worth of a person lies. If your spouse fell in love with a job title or married a paycheck, you\u2019ve been in trouble all along, and that\u2019s going to become more apparent now.\u00a0 If you\u2019re there to support one another, to believe in one another, to be patient with one another, to vouch for the importance of what each of you thinks is important and for the desirability of what each of you desires, you\u2019ll be all right.<\/p>\n

KH: How were you able to lose the ego and sense of entitlement that years in the corporate world can create?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JK:<\/strong>\u00a0I admit that every second week when direct deposit replenished my bank account \u2013 I called it The Miracle of the Loaves \u2013 I got a bounce in my step. No matter what I thought of the intrinsic value (or lack thereof) of what I did at the office, money is a measure of value, and I was getting paid well, so I felt valued.<\/p>\n

When I was told that I was bloat to be eliminated, when in a heartbeat I went from trusted colleague to presumed-dangerous enemy (ID card and computer access taken away, entry to the building denied), that sense of value was gone. Without the title and office and pay and perks, I felt diminished, smaller.<\/p>\n

But then I realized, I haven\u2019t been downsized, the company\u2019s been downsized. I\u2019ve been given the opportunity to get out of that corporate cubby hole, stand up and stretch and grow, to find something to do that lets me be fully me.<\/p>\n

KH: Anything you would do differently?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JK:<\/strong>\u00a0I wouldn\u2019t be so quick to conclude that I was unqualified for jobs I\u2019d like to have. I read somewhere that to teach English to immigrants at a community college, you had to have a masters degree, so I didn\u2019t even apply. I restricted my job search to for-profit language schools \u2013 a narrow and poorly paid slice of the market. Only by chance, after six months, did I happen to hear that you can teach without a masters in all kinds of adult continuing education courses based at community colleges. I applied and pretty quickly got one of those jobs \u2013 in a great program at LaGuardia Community College in Queens, NY.\u00a0 So my advice is, look beyond what you think you know.<\/p>\n

Learn more at\u00a0http:\/\/jameskunen.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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James S. Kunen<\/a>\u00a0is the author of\u00a0Diary of a Company Man: Losing a Job, Finding a Life<\/strong><\/p>\n