Helen Keller once said, "Security is mostly a superstition. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." Keller, as we all know, overcame some of the most devastating barriers imaginable to achieve great things in the world.
Compared with her inspirational example, it's shameful how wimpy and risk averse so many of us have become. It may be scary to take some calculated risk with your future, but you may also be surprised by the zest it adds to your work life. A 25 year veteran of the Bell System learned this lesson well. Fresh out of engineering school at 22, he'd joined forces with the phone company as a field engineer in Chicago and stayed… and stayed… and stayed. Like many corporate Goliaths, the Bell System was once a bastion of stability where "lifers" traded a career's worth of devoted service for guaranteed employment.
No more. After divestiture, he was declared "surplus" or "at risk" on three different occasions. He always managed to save himself at the eleventh hour, but the uncertainty took an emotional toll.
"I was clinging to my employer like a prisoner to his jail bars," he says. At age 47, he was eight years short of a full pension and, if he could help it, he wasn't going anywhere without it. But eight years is a long time to spend hanging on to the edge of a lifeboat. He didn't make it.
Right after his 50th birthday, a new package was offered that made leaving more palatable. It cost him 25 percent of his pension to walk away. But, at his age, he figured it was a better alternative than staying. He no longer wanted to spend precious time passively waiting to leave-especially since there was no guarantee he could last another five years.
"Ten years ago, it would have been heresy to say you wanted to leave Bell," he says. "Today, it's idiotic for someone like me to stay."
It helped that he'd built a strong financial safety net through his 25 years of service.
"If I didn't take the risk, I knew that I'd always regret the missed opportunity," he says. "That seemed like a bigger risk than not trying."
Once free, he gambled again-this time on a franchise operation. Last I heard from him, he and his two teenagers were happily dishing out yogurt to health conscious customers. Risky? Perhaps. But since risk is inevitable, at least you can choose the kinds of chances you want to take. This former Bell veteran loves the newfound feeling that he has more control over his own destiny.
For the 45 and over crowd, age may be the greatest deterrent to risk taking. With seemingly little margin for error, the consequences of making a mistake loom larger. Yet in reality, there may be as much risk in staying put as there is in leaving familiar ground. Expert job hunting skills can minimize some of the anxiety that comes from taking more employment Know How to Job Hunt
My friend's apartment building has a new doorman. You can tell by his attitude that he thinks he's too good for the job. Actually, he's one of the worst doormen I ever met. He always makes it clear when he opens the door that he's doing you a favor. Personally, I'd rather open the door myself than deal with his condescending attitude. Once he told me that he likes to punish tenants who aren't nice to him. Unless they smile and say "Good morning," he won't open the door.
He makes a point of telling people that he's not a doorman by choice. He's an engineer who's stuck opening doors for people until he finds another real engineering job (I hope he finds one soon so the rest of us won't have to suffer through his attitude much longer).
For some reason, this guy brings out the worst in me. I know I should be more sympathetic to his plight: After all, I'm a career development expert and this guy needs his career back big time. But he doesn't make me want to help him. Nor am I alone. My friend doesn't like him, either, and thinks he's rude.
Actually, when I first heard about his situation, I felt sorry for him and offered to look over his resume. He rebuffed me. He's sent out more than 300 resumes (and barely gotten any response), but he's convinced the problem is his age and not his resume. Nobody wants a 53 year old engineer, he says. Before you decry his victimization, however, I ask you to consider other possible reasons for his dilemma.
First, his job search lacks meaningful focus. While he did make up a list of potential employers and send out a "broadcast letter" announcing his availability, he didn't take the extra step it takes to make that strategy productive. He needs to know more about each company's specific goals and explain in letters or networking interviews how he might be able to add value. For example, he's multilingual. With a little extra effort, he could identify companies that are doing (or planning to do) business in Germany. At such firms, his German language skills could be useful.
Also, he doesn't individualize his letters in any way. He doesn't bother to figure out which division of a company to target or who the likely hiring managers would be. He just shoots off a letter to anonymous personnel managers saying, "I need a job." Nor does he follow up his correspondence with telephone calls to make sure it's been received and read. He never makes it clear to employers that he's a real live person with a valuable contribution to make to an organization.
Worst of all, this engineer turned doorman is ignoring the cardinal rule of job hunting: Network, network, network. Any job search book will tell you that at least three quarters of all positions are filled through networking or word of mouth, A candidate without a networking strategy eliminates 75 percent to 85 percent of potential employment opportunities a priori. That's ignorance or stubbornness, not age discrimination.
The truth is, this man's attitude is his biggest problem. He seems to think the world owes him a living, and he's mad at the people who are giving him one for making him earn it. All the networking in the world won't help if you turn potential contacts off with a sour grapes disposition.
I don't care what age you are, this engineer's search strategy won't work for any professional in the 1990s. Like it or not, you simply have to go the extra mile to attract employers' interest today.
Savvy careerists know how to market themselves in an entrepreneurial way. They take stock of their marketable skills, research and identify employers who need those talents and make every effort to let them know that (1) they want to work for the firm, and (2) they have something unique to offer.
Like it or not, the rules have changed. You can get with the program or get left out in the cold. Your choice.
There's also a burgeoning field of career and outplacement counselors who coach people on how to find jobs. If you get your walking papers, knowing how to access those resources and learn about the process is key to finding a new job.
