• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

512-693-7132

Packages   About   Testimonials

Career Pivot

Career Pivot

Repurpose your career. Pivot now.

  • Get Started
  • Books
    • Repurpose Your Career
    • Personal Branding for Baby Boomers
    • Repurpose Your Career 2019 Book Launch
  • Podcast
    • Career Pivot Interviews
    • Interviews with Career Experts
    • Repurpose Your Career Audio Book
    • Repurpose Your Career Series
    • Becoming an Expat
    • Question and Answer
    • Other Topics
  • Blog
    • Life and Careers in the 2nd Half of Life
    • Ageism
    • Career and Industry Disruption
    • Career Success in the 2nd Half of Life
    • Career Pivot
    • COVID-19 Pandemic
    • Job Search
    • Entrepreneurship in the 2nd Half of Life
    • Encore Careers
    • Social Media
    • Networking
  • Community
  • Resources
  • Expat
  • Contact

Get Career Pivot Insights

Returning to a Past Career and Finding Stability [Podcast]

Episode #194 – Cleo Parker Returns to Higher Education to Find the Stability She Needs in the 2nd Half of Life

Description:returning to a past career

Cleo Parker is a graduate of the Career Pivot community. I want you to hear about her pivot to working for a large university in a role she did much earlier in her career. She even got hired in the middle of the lockdown.

Cleo made some very conscious decisions about her job and life that I want you to hear.

This episode is sponsored by Career Pivot. Check out the Career Pivot Community.

Now on to the podcast…

Download Link | Apple Podcasts | Stitcher Radio | Google Podcast | Podbean | TuneIn | Overcast | Pandora

Cleo’s First Half Career

After graduating from college Celo went to work for a market research company in Cinncinatti but was completely miserable. She returned to Michigan where she grew up to take a position at the University of Michigan as a research specialist. She loved the job and the people but it did not pay very well. However, it did have great benefits with lots of time off.

Cleo has an expensive hobby of showing dogs. The job at U of M would support her lifestyle. She decided to go back to school to get a Masters’s degree in advertising.

She went to work for an advertising agency that did work for Chrysler. She stayed there for over 20 years as that agency was bought and sold multiple times.

In 2006, Chrysler made major cuts in their marketing and advertising budget and Cleo lost her job.

Over the next 5 years, Cleo had 6 different jobs and was miserable at all of them. She finally landed a contract position at Chrysler where she once again worked with people who appreciated what she did. This lasted 8 months.

She got a call for a contract position at Pet Supplies Plus. This contract position lasted 5 years and was laid off in 2018 at the age of 60 years old.

Age discrimination is horrible in the advertising world.

Cleo Joins the Career Pivot Community

Cleo finds the community via an AARP magazine article.

Cleo was encouraged to put time into her side project the Dog Marketing Blog. This did not gain her a following but did get the attention of people at the American Kennel Club(AKC).

Cleo continues to look for a job.

The idea to her that returning to the university setting where she had been so happy in her career would be a good idea. Cleo and her husband are further away from being Medicare eligible. The university does not pay well but has great benefits.

The University of Michigan has a temporary work pool and they advertise that 30% of temporary workers get hired full time. Cleo applied and was hired into the Engineering School. The job was part-time and was only supposed to last 3 months. They liked her so much that they extended the position.

Medicaid Expansion

Cleo’s husband was laid off months after she was. They went to apply for the ACA and were told they were making so little money that they qualified for Medicaid expansion plan in the state of Michigan. It is not the greatest but it cost next to nothing.

Cleo was extremely grateful for having the availability of the Medicaid expansion program.

New York Times Article

I was approached by Mark Miller of the Retirement Revised Podcast and Newsletter for an article he was writing for the New York Times.

Cleo was interviewed for in the New York Times article Why Working Till Whenever Is a Risky Retirement Strategy.

She landed several freelance gigs for an agency that found her from the NY Times article. It was a very positive experience even though she had some trepidation at first being interviewed for being unemployed.

Russ Eanes, another Career Pivot community member was written up in AARP magazine article 5 Retirees Find Purpose in Their Second Act Careers.

COVID-19 Strikes

Cleo was working as a temp and the shutdown starts in early March.

She started working at home. Everyone thought it would last a short while. Every day her team met on Zoom. Her job was winding down.

Cleo was applying for jobs but then a hiring freeze is put in place. She was sure that she would not get hired. One week after the hiring freeze went into effect she was interviewed for a job at the school of nursing. She started on June 1st without having ever met anyone in her new department.

She is a business intelligence analyst in the office of admissions and records. It is a very complicated job but Cleo is learning all of the systems.

Cleo realized that she is creative but needs the work structure. She is ’employee’ material.

Being Part of the Career Pivot Community

Cleo got a lot of support from the community and loved knowing she was not alone.

She was inspired by many because of their successes. She saw the changes in people who worked through the book Positive Intelligence and went through the accompanying program.

Cleo picked up the audio version of Positive Intelligence and found it very valuable.

She found a lot of people that she could bounce ideas off of.

You can contact Cleo at cleoparker@gmail.com. You can also find Cleo on LinkedIn.

How to Find More About the Podcast and Subscribe

Make sure to check out the Career Pivot Community.

You can contact us here.

Marc invites you to connect with him on LinkedIn.com/in/mrmiller. Just include in the connection request that you listen to this podcast.

You can look for Career Pivot on Facebook, LinkedIn, or @CareerPivot on Twitter. 

You can get updates on this podcast by clicking on the Get Career Pivot Insights button below.

You can also subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Overcast, Spotify, and Pandora.

The podcast is available on YouTube.

Please consider writing a review on Apple Podcast or on Podchaser.com.  

Like What Your Read? Get Career Pivot Insights

Do You Need Help With ...

Check out our Help Center where you have access to 14 different content portals.

Category iconCareer Success in the 2nd Half of Life,  Podcast - Career Pivoter,  Podcasts

Primary Sidebar

Are you ready to take control of your career?
Are you ready to stop reacting and start planning what is next?

 

Join Career Pivot

For those who want to fall in love with their work again, redeploy their experience and skills into a new career, and prudently make a shift, Marc Miller’s strategic guidance is a pathway to success.

Kerry Hannon, author of Never Too Old To Get Rich: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Starting a Business Mid-Life

Available on Amazon.com and other fine retailers

Blog Categories

  • Age Discrimination (19)
  • Becoming an Expat (39)
  • Career and Industry Disruption (35)
  • Career Pivot (92)
  • Career Success in the 2nd Half of Life (108)
  • COVID-19 Pandemic (32)
  • Encore Careers (19)
  • Entrepreneurship in the 2nd Half of Life (17)
  • Job Search (110)
  • Life and Careers in the 2nd Half of Life (63)
  • Networking (32)
  • Podcasts (313)
    • Podcast – Becoming an Expat (28)
    • Podcast – Career Pivoter (60)
    • Podcast – Expert (160)
    • Podcast – Other (20)
    • Podcast – Question and Answer (18)
    • Podcast – Repurpose Your Career Book (18)
    • Podcast – Repurpose Your Career Series (16)
  • Retirement (14)
  • Social Media (15)
  • Survey Results (17)
  • The Multi-Generational Workplace (20)

Popular Posts

  • What If You Are Not Passionate About Anything? [Updated] (369,277)
  • College Degree After 50 – Is It Worth It? It… (133,362)
  • Talents versus Skills – Do you know the difference? (127,513)
  • Are you a Multipotentialite? (65,508)
  • What is Your Current Salary? How to Answer! [Updated] (64,096)
  • Perfect Fit for the Position? Expect to Lose! [Updated] (46,996)
  • Who is Really Making the Hiring Decision? [Updated] (43,715)
  • How Long Will My Job Search Take? Longer Than You… (40,983)
  • Dealing with that Directionless Feeling [Updated] (29,934)
  • 3 Steps to Get the Hiring Manager or Recruiter to Respond (27,755)
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

© Marc Miller and Associates, LLC 2012-2019 ~ All Rights Reserved | A Standard Beagle Website | Read Our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions