2019 Baby Boomer Career Predictions
It is January of 2019 and it is time to look to some experts for their predictions and prognostications for the coming year.
You can look back at the predictions and prognostications by many of the same experts last year in the post 10 Career Experts Share Their 2018 Baby Boomer Predictions.
How did we do?
Let’s get started.
7 Expert Predictions for 2018
The year when the discussion about experienced workers shifts toward recognizing their value …
Chris Farrell, Author of Unretirement: How Baby Boomers are Changing the Way We Think About Work, Community, and the Good Life
Twitter:@cfarrellecon
My assumption is that the economy won’t sink into recession in 2019 and that the partial government shutdown will end. Those two assumptions are key because I expect 2019 to be the year when the discussion about experienced workers shifts toward recognizing their value. The last couple of years companies and nonprofits have talked about the value of older workers. But with the tight labor market and the need for qualified workers, management will act more deliberately to keep or hire experience.
Employers are increasingly becoming more open to the idea of hiring older applicants …
Richard Eisenberg, PBS Next Avenue
Twitter: @richeis315
Employers are increasingly becoming more open to the idea of hiring older applicants due to the tight job market. Don’t assume you can’t get the job because you are over 50+. Apply strategically, look for insiders you know at the employer to put in a good word and advise you on applying wisely, provide a smartly-done resume and cover letter, research the employer and make your best case.
Privacy will become self-harming …
Neil Patrick, Neil Patrick Associates
Twitter: @NewCareerGuru
Privacy will become self-harming. In 2018, US and EU investigations in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal forced Mark Zuckerberg to face up to Facebook’s disregard for data privacy. This episode highlighted the yawning gap which has developed between global data companies and the regulatory forces which should, but don’t keep pace and control them. Artificial intelligence is the next phase of this technological revolution. It will use our data to decide who is eligible for jobs and who isn’t. If you choose to have little or none of your professional life online, you will become essentially invisible to the algorithms which will decide whether you are ‘deserving’ of employment. The hard truth is none of us can choose privacy anymore if we wish to remain employable in the digital age.
Since it’s been projected, professionals will need to be consultants after 2020 …
Mark Anthony Dyson, The Voice of Job Seekers
LinkedIn: Mark Anthony Dyson
Since it’s been projected professionals will need to be consultants after 2020, older workers should find success in a niche market. These professionals must market, do PR, and network deeply diligently. The more niche where there’s less competition, the more opportunities will have your name on it.
While more employers are beginning to recognize the value of older workers …
John Tarnoff, Reinvention Group LLC and author of Boomer Reinvention: How to Create Your Dream Career Over 50?
LinkedIn: John Tarnoff
While more employers are beginning to recognize the value of older workers, that realization will be overshadowed by an enduring bias that characterizes older workers’ skills as less relevant to solve today’s problems. Don’t just stay current, stay ahead of the game. Anticipate what you’ll need to learn, and be prepared to demonstrate how your updated skills, plus your experience & wisdom, can make a difference today and in the future.
In a time of labor shortages, older workers are more attractive to employers …
Phyllis Mufson, Catalyst for Personal & Professional Growth
LinkedIn: Phyllis Mufson
In a time of labor shortages, older workers are more attractive to employers, but will this situation continue? A pair of demographic shifts says yes. Millions of baby boomers will be reaching retirement age in the years ahead. At the same time, the birth rate has hit a thirty-year low meaning fewer workers will be available to replace them as they retire. This is great news for boomers who want to continue their careers past retirement age and also retirees who decide to rejoin the workforce in more flexible or limited jobs after a year or two. Their depth of experience will be at a premium.
My Prediction
We are reaching a crucial time in our country and our economy …
Marc Miller, Career Pivot
LinkedIn: Marc Miller
We are reaching a crucial time in our country and our economy. We have a booming economy where not everyone has participated in the growth and prosperity. That growth will slow in 2019 and therefore, some of will have some hard choices to make if we want to continue to thrive. Baby boomers will have to get strategic in how they develop their skills and market themselves in order to stay relevant.
So what do you think? Write a comment below with your Baby Boomer predictions for 2019.
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Great insights from everyone here! It’s been a learning experience for all, both employers and the older workers. What I see occurring more often is that Baby Boomers and those who are turning 50 every day are not sitting around waiting for things to change or get better. They’re taking things into their own hands. They’re re-entering the workplace, seeking side hustles, entrepreneurship, and other streams of income. They’re identifying skills and talents that are fast becoming highly valuable! They aren’t settling for one opportunity and instead seeking out as many as they can handle. With that is a growing need to promote one’s self, network, and be visible online and off. Boomers and GenX are seeking new opportunities to generate income, yes, but also opportunities to enrich their lives.
Kristen,
I agree and disagree. There is a segment that see the opportunities to do something different. There is another segment that are giving up. I want to work with the first group as you do too.
Keep up the good work.
Marc:
I believe that no matter our age or stage, the advantage goes to those who continue to know themselves better and how to engage with a diverse population and mind-set. In the end, it’s still all about relationships. Thank you for your ongoing work to help us make the second half, the best.
Mark Ross
ENCOREPRENEUR; Creative Income. Meaningful Experiences. Social Impact.
Amen! Riches is niches! Expertise to solve problems and take away pain points is where people can shine as seasoned workers who know what to do. However, they must be current and relevant with technology and get out there and be social on social media; especially LinkedIn.
All of these predictions sound very exciting to me. I think, however, that baby boomers must take seriously the need to stay on course with updating and enhancing their skills. Technology is not a foreign language to most baby boomers. In fact, baby boomers grew up at the beginning of the technology revolution. They have experienced rapid changes in technology , and some have had the good fortune to work through these changes. My question is how do we help business embrace the talent and experience that baby boomers bring to the dance. Do we need a national conversation on the many benefits of a multi-generational workplace? Do we need to put these findings into a financial analysis that demonstrates to business the solid return on investment from a multi-generational workforce? This is an issue that needs to be solved today, because, let’s face it, none of us escape getting older. I have yet to meet Peter Pan.
A superstar team of career professionals gathered to layout the career roadmap for 2019 and beyond. Crucial for baby boomers to enter burgeoning fields such as cybersecurity, healthcare, even k-12 education is experiencing shortages in Math, Science STEM/Steam fields and if you can learn a foreign language that can increase boomer opportunities to stay in relevant in the 4th industrial revolution. Unlike previous generations boomers cannot rely on just a traditional pension but search for alternative streams of income by launching an E-Commerce venture. Boomers can maximize their current cash flow that can be accomplished by working remotely like Marc has done from Mexico or other countries such as Costa Rica, Panama or Ecuador where the US dollar is the accepted currency.
Some great advice and I am including this article in my about-weekly list of job-search related articles that I email out to several New England networking groups.
On the other hand, I’ll opine on Neil Patrick’s point = one of the single best Electrical Engineers I know has ZERO digital footprint, deliberately. He’s an engineer’s engineer, the kind any company would die to have. So even as companies complain they’re not finding enough people, the focus-focus-focus on digital resumes, etc., to find people is going to artificially constrain the supply further.
And there are reasons I am, in general, becoming a technophobe:
https://davidhuntpe.wordpress.com/2018/12/01/on-becoming-a-technophobe/
Here is the problem, if your colleague who is an engineer’s engineer gets caught in a downturn and loses his job, how would he be found.
Marc Miller