Avoiding Ageism, Revising Roles, and Finding Fresh Fields Job Search Questions [Podcast]

Episode 56 – Marc and Elizabeth answer some of your career questions about steering clear of the perception you can’t keep up, how to change job roles, and positioning yourself to switch careers.

Description:

In this episode, Marc answers questions with his trusty sidekick, Elizabeth Rabaey. You can learn about her career pivots in Episode 020. Listen in to this episode for insights into preparing yourself to work in a changing market, or in a new role.

Key Takeaways:

[:56] Marc explains why he did not release an episode Thanksgiving week. He gave himself a mini-vacation in Galveston.

[1:25] Marc announces his first podcast audience survey on what demographic listens to the podcast, what you like, and what you would like to hear about in the future. Please take the survey at CareerPivot.com/PodcastSurvey. This will redirect you to a Survey Monkey page. Marc will keep the survey going through 2017 to hear from you.

[2:03] Marc reviews the series format of this podcast for new listeners. Each month, the first episode is an expert interview. December’s expert will be Mac Prichard of Mac’s List. The second episode is a career pivot interview. The third episode is of Marc’s choosing. The fourth episode of the month is a Q&A episode with Elizabeth Rabaey.

[3:18] Elizabeth introduces herself.

[3:43] Q1: I am closer to 70 than 60. I have been unemployed a year. I had a grueling all-day interview, and I was not selected. The recruiter told me the younger team members vetoed my selection because they did not think I could keep up. I also had a call about another position there but was not called in. What should I do?

[4:34] A1: Marc says, first, send the recruiter a $25 gift card for telling you why you were not selected and also gave you another opportunity. Reward the recruiter. Second, do not give the appearance of being old. Marc told the candidate to focus on his health, exercise, and eat right. He no longer has a young metabolism.

[7:23] A person who works into their 70s needs to have the energy to do it. Marc tells about a very high-stress job he took that burned him out emotionally and physically. You also need to dress as the culture of the company dictates. Research it. Don’t overdress.

[9:10] Q2: I am a 50-year-old IT professional, currently at a major company in a sales support role. I hate it. I have spent the last 10 years as a team lead, or manager. I want to go back to an earlier role I had, but I don’t see an opening for it. What should I do?

[9:42] A2: Marc has been an IT manager, and those days are largely gone. The cloud is wiping out entire IT organizations that used to manage servers and installations. Marc says to look at where you need to be in 10 years and position yourself. About the only traditional IT departments left are on the state and university levels. They don’t pay well.

[10:54] Marc interviewed Stan Siranovich in Episode 45. Stan used to be a Microsoft Certified Engineer. Those jobs are gone.

[11:20] Marc was in Mexico last month and was interviewed over Zoom, on his iPhone, by Jim Peacock of Peak Careers, in Maine, and Geoff Pearman of Partners in Change, in New Zealand. It worked really well. They discussed the planning needed in your 50s to continue working into your 70s. Q1 and Q2 deal with changing industries.

[14:03] Besides certifications, look at whether you will want to be working for yourself or for an employer. Within Marc’s Online Community, participants are in their 60s and they are looking for freedom, in various forms. They don’t want a 9-to-5 job.

[15:09] Q3: I would like to change industries. I have been managing software projects for 20 years. I would like to transition into working in construction. I am getting a few new certifications, but the jobs want specific industry experience. How do I apply managing software projects to managing construction projects?

[15:43] A3: Marc’s friend Gary O’Neal of Austin HR talks about how he would look for a job. Recruiters want to see a smoothly rising career trajectory. Many people don’t have that. The goal is to make your resume, and your LinkedIn profile look like a nice smooth upward rise. Start figuring out where do you want to go, and eliminate irrelevant items.

[17:46] In this case figure out how to make your software projects look like the construction industry. Part of that is weaving in construction industry lingo, and start talking about the commonalities between what you would be doing on a construction project, versus software development. Figure out the commonalities.

[18:20] Daniel, a client of Marc’s, wanted to transition into the smart-grid industry. What did he do? He wrote a blog, and every month he interviewed somebody in the smart grid industry. He learned a lot in 18 months, and more importantly, built up street credibility.

[18:58] Marc suggests doing a construction blog and figuring out how to make yourself look like a construction person. By the way, this is a very hard task. Your first job will be suboptimal and will serve to get your foot in the door. Focus on the construction industry on your resume and LinkedIn profile. Elizabeth also makes suggestions.

[21:39] Marc talks about following the money. Look for people who just got a loan. That will tell you who will be building. Construction is a very cyclical business.

[23:30] The next Q&A will be toward the end of December. There will be an encore episode for Christmas. Download figures put Repurpose Your Career in the top half of Libsyn podcasts. Considering that the 50+ demographic makes up 5% of podcast listeners, this is a remarkable statistic.

[24:28] Marc invites you to take the podcast audience survey at CareerPivot.com/PodcastSurvey.

Mentioned in This Episode:

Please pick up a copy of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life, by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey. The paperback and ebook formats are available now. When you have completed reading the book, Marc would very much appreciate your leaving an honest review on Amazon.com. Marc hopes to have the audiobook available in early December 2017. Subscribe, and get a notification when it is available.

Marc has a prototype running of the paid membership community of the CareerPivot.com website. Marc has an initial cohort of 10 members helping him. Marc has opened a waitlist. Sign up at CareerPivot.com/Community.

Please take a moment — go to iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. Give this podcast an honest review and subscribe! If you’re not sure how to leave a review, please go to

CareerPivot.com/review, and read the detailed instructions there.

CareerPivot.com/ryc-resources

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Contact Marc, and ask questions at Careerpivot.com/contact-me

Marc@CareerPivot.com

CareerPivot.com/Episode-56 Show Notes for this episode.

CareerPivot.com/Episode-45 Stan Siranovich interview