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BoomerJobTips Update-Battling Age Discrimination – Young and Old

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BoomerJobTips Update

boomerjobtips

Welcome to the BoomerJobTips Update and the central point to get current career information for the Baby Boomer Generation!

This week’s popular post is Battling Age Discrimination – Young and Old. This is a great post about the discrimination that occurs regarding our ages. This discrimination can happen at a young or old age indiscriminately.

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  • Is a Portfolio Career Right for You? With Steve Preston [Podcast] – Career Pivot http://bit.ly/2tWoHB9
  • On Becoming The Conference Catalyst with Thom Singer [Podcast] – Career Pivot http://bit.ly/2kPw0sn
  • Mailbag — Divorce, and Later-in-Life Job Search Questions [Podcast] – Career Pivot http://bit.ly/2uxBjjr
  • Flexibility May Be The Best Option for Your Career Pivot With Brie Reynolds [Podcast] – Career Pivot http://bit.ly/2sckewQ

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Repurpose Your Career - A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life

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Is a Portfolio Career Right for You? With Steve Preston [Podcast]

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Episode 39 – Steve Preston describes the aspects and traits of portfolio careers, including how to know if you would enjoy earning income through multiple activities.

Description:

Steve Preston is Marc’s expert guest in this episode. Recognized as The Career Catalyst, Steve has transformed the lives and careers of thousands of people. Following a successful management career, Steve turned the opportunity of ‘redundancy’ (British for layoff), into a springboard, to achieve a very different working life. By exercising choice, Steve has become what he calls the architect of his own future, pursuing a successful portfolio career. Now, an internationally acclaimed author, speaker, and leading career coach, Steve is passionate about helping unlock and fulfill people’s potential. He especially enjoys helping people change their working lifestyle and develop portfolio careers to work for passion, pleasure, and profit.Is a Portfolio Career Right for You? With Steve Preston

Marc and Steve start the discussion with an introduction to Steve and his passions. Steve’s foremost passion is making a difference for others. He defines the portfolio career, what it is good for, and who it suits best. He talks about choice and flexibility. He shares examples of portfolio careerists from his book, Portfolio Career: How to Work for Passion, Pleasure, & Profit. Finally, he explains some of the aspects that people have who are attracted to a portfolio career.

Listen in to learn about working for passion, pleasure & profit, with multiple earnings streams.

Key Takeaways:

[3:22] Steve introduces himself and his passions. He is a family man, empty nester, world traveler, tennis player, music-lover, and guitar player. He loves craft beer and is especially passionate about making a difference to the lives of others.

Download Link | iTunes | Stitcher Radio | Google Play

[6:38] A portfolio career derives income from a number of different sources. It’s a different mindset from having a one-income job, or a self-employed career doing one type of work. It uses any combination of activity, interests, skills, talents, and passions to create the working lifestyle you want, working for passion, pleasure, and profit.
[7:44] In Marc’s online community, the one thing everyone wants is freedom. Steve shares a couple of examples of people of people from a recent visit to the U.S. Many people have portfolio careers without knowing what one is, exactly. Steve features many samples in his book. Freedom is what most of them enjoy.
[11:29] Steve clears up some myths about portfolio careers. Two widely-held conflicting concepts are: you never make money from your passion, vs., if you do what you love, the money will automatically follow. It all depends on your stage of life, and what the passion is. You might just be focused on earning enough. Take positive action.
[14:23] A portfolio career does not make you Jack of all trades and master of none. Steve offers examples of Jacks of all trades, and masters of many. In general, those with portfolio careers are very good at what they enjoy, or why do it?
[15:27] Some people who are transitioning ask, How do you expect me to get multiple jobs when I’m struggling to get one? A full-time job is not the point of a portfolio career. You want income from multiple strands of activities. There can be a mixture of employed and self-employed.
[16:40] There is not any one type of person who wants a portfolio career. There are examples from around the world in Steven’s book. But they have in common that they are open to challenging the way they work and earn, and challenging the conventional job mindset. They mix and match their ways to earn. They want choice.
[19:08] Steven shares stories from the book. One came from a Turkish family farming background and worked in the corporate world for awhile, but now earns multiple income streams in multiple currencies, as an internet entrepreneur. He also is involved in crypto currency. He failed his way forward. It has taken him 10 years to succeed.
[21:58] Another example was in local government, and laid off in his fifties. He unleashed his latent creativity. He now works with neuro linguistic programming, writing, blogging, and copy editing. He copy edited Steven’s books. He creates presentations.
[23:33] A lot of the examples are like Marc’s clients, who fit into the corporate world until they couldn’t take it any longer. Steven shares another example, of a lady who daydreamed her way out of a corporate job, into becoming a digital nomad in Malaysia. It’s essential to have a support group, spouse, or fan club to pick you up when you fall.
[25:53] Key aspects of a portfolio career: mindset, resilience, and finding your anchor. One thing that will cover most of your earnings. Then you build up other streams besides that. If you get overloaded, then prioritize, and collaborate with other people.
[28:19] Self Marketing is fundamental. LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and so on are integral to your brand. Say the right things about yourself that will interest the right people. Steven’s book lists the top ten aspects that make the difference for portfolio careerists.
[30:22] Marc’s final words: Marc would like you to pick up Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide to the Second half of Life, at Amazon or other online retailers. When you complete reading the book, Marc would appreciate an honest review on Amazon.com. Marc is working on a CareerPivot.com membership community.

Mentioned in This Episode:

Careerpivot.com/episode-39

Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the Second Half of Life, by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey (Now available online)

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

Call Marc at 512-693-9132 and leave a message and email address.

Portfolio Careers: How to Work for Passion, Pleasure & Profit, by Steve Preston

StevePrestonTheCareerCatalyst.com

Amazon.com/Steve-Preston

Twitter: @SteveMPreston

LinkedIn: Steve Preston

Please take a moment — go to iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. Give this podcast a 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.

Marc Miller  

Be sure to check out the Career Pivot Client Testimonials Page

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Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast

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————————————————

Check out my latest book which is available on Amazon.com!

Repurpose Your Career - A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life

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Check out the BoomerJobTips Page for the latest curated content relating to baby boomers or join us on the BoomerJobTips LinkedIn Group

“Advice” – The Magic Word in Managing Your Career

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Advice“Advice” is the Magic Word

When someone comes to you and asks for some advice, do you ever turn them down?

Probably not.

In fact, you probably take it as a compliment!

What is the best way to approach a contact for help with your career?

Ask for advice?

I use this in a larger strategy called Asking for A-I-R.

  • Advice
  • Insights
  • Recommendations

(More: The Key to a Successful Shift: Asking for Help)

First Ask for Advice

Let’s say you are looking to network into one of your target companies. You get one of your contacts to make an introduction. When you reach out to the targeted individual you immediately ask; “Can I have a few minutes of your time to ask some advice?”

Might they ignore your request? Sure.

Might they simply say no? Sure.

If they refuse to help you then they are probably a jerk. In that case, you do not want to talk to them anyway. Move on to the next person on your target list.

When you get some time with this individual you might ask for advice about getting hired at the company.

Secondly, Ask for Their Insights

  • How do you like working there?
  • Can you describe the culture?
  • What is the management style in general in the company?
  • What is the management style of your immediate boss?
  • How is hiring done – referral, posting on a website, headhunters …?

If you think of any other questions please share them in the comment box below.

Ask for Their Recommendations

The step that many forget is to ask for recommendations!

  • What should I do next?
  • Who do you recommend that I talk to next?
  • Can you introduce me to anyone that might help me in reaching my goal?

When you get a recommendation, you need to follow up, follow up and follow up. You keep the person making the introduction in the loop at every step!

I like to think of this as “sales closing.” As a sales person, you want to close each meeting. It is not necessarily to make the sale but to move to the next step.

(More: Strategic Networking Playbook – Who, How and When!)

What Can I Do For You?

The last step in this process is to always ask what can I do for you? 

When I network, my philosophy is to be as helpful as possible and never expect anything in return. It is all about creating good karma. You do this enough and good things will come to you. The issue is you never know when good things will come back to you. They usually come back to you when you least expect it.

Asking for Advice Story #1

I like to tell the story of my son, who after graduating from college in 2006 was having difficulty landing his first job. He applied with a large employer in Sacramento, California. I instructed him to get on the Sacramento chapter website of the professional association where he belonged and to e-mail all of the Sacramento officers and ask for 15 minutes on the phone to ask some advice.

My son expected that this was a bunch of hogwash. No one will reply.

Much to his surprise every last one of them gave him at least 30 minutes, and he got a lot of great advice. He did not get the job, but he learned that when you ask for advice…. people will respond positively.

Asking for Advice Story #2

Recently, I had a client who was working on penetrating the headquarters of a large company in the Austin job market. She was introduced to the head of human resources through a contact. The next step was to pull out the magic word and ask for advice.

The head of human resources could have easily blown off the request but instead was asked if she wanted to come in for a cup of coffee. That coffee meeting led to a whole series of introductions that have not led to a position just yet but she now has a whole set of valuable contacts.

All because she used the magic word of “advice”.

Advice is the magic word in managing your career!

Do you ask for advice?

Marc Miller  

Be sure to check out the Career Pivot Client Testimonials Page

Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons below?

Subscribe

Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast

When you subscribe to this blog you get full access to Career Pivot’s Whitepaper Library

————————————————

Check out my latest book which is available on Amazon.com!

Repurpose Your Career - A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life

————————————————

Check out the BoomerJobTips Page for the latest curated content relating to baby boomers or join us on the BoomerJobTips LinkedIn Group

BoomerJobTips Update-5 Things to Consider Before a Midlife Career Change

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BoomerJobTips Update

boomerjobtips

Welcome to the BoomerJobTips Update and the central point to get current career information for the Baby Boomer Generation!

This week’s popular post is  5 Things to Consider Before a Midlife Career Change. This is a great post about the many questions someone should ask themselves before making a midlife career change. It’s a big decision but one that can have big payoffs as well.

Most Popular

Podcast

Baby Boomer

Career

Job Search

Another way to look at the same links AND MORE from BoomerJobTips.

Join us on the BoomerJobTips LinkedIn Group

Be sure to check out the Career Pivot Client Testimonials Page

Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons below?

Subscribe

Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast

When you subscribe to this blog you get full access to Career Pivot’s Whitepaper Library

————————————————

Check out my latest book which is available on Amazon.com!

Repurpose Your Career - A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life

————————————————

Check out the BoomerJobTips Page for the latest curated content relating to baby boomers or join us on the BoomerJobTips LinkedIn Group

Stealth Competitor? Wonder Why You Do Not Get Rewarded?

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Stealth Competitor?

stealth competitor
Copyright: phoopanotpics / 123RF Stock Photo

Are you a stealth competitor? If you are, you probably do not get rewarded the way you want.

You may ask why?

If you are really a stealth competitor then no one knows what you want.

I was first to be introduced to the concept in my Birkman training. Later, I had a female client send me the book, Knowing Your Value: Women, Money, and Getting What You’re Worth by Mika Brzezinski.

What is a Stealth Competitor?

They are typically really nice people. Their warmth is contagious. They are all for the team or, at least, that is what they say.

I had one client who was a big time stealth competitor whose daughter said, “Mommy only plays games where everyone wins.”

The problem is if you lose in a game… you really lose nothing. It is just a game.

My client was an educator who was a wonderful team player. However… when she did not get the end-of-year recognition or award she would get really ticked off.

I told her that it was not even obvious that she even wanted the award.

Her response was, “You should have known.”

She was a stealth competitor. No one had a clue that she wanted or even deserved the award because everything was for the team.

Microsoft’s CEO Tells Women It’s Bad Karma to Ask For a Raise

Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, got lambasted for his comment back in 2014:

It’s not about asking for the raise, but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along… And that, I think might be one of the additional superpowers that quite frankly women who don’t ask for a raise have. Because that’s good karma. It’ll come back because somebody’s going to know ‘that’s the kind of person that I want to trust. That’s the kind of person I want to really give more responsibility to.’ And in the long-term efficiency, things catch up. And I wonder… And I’m not saying that’s the only approach.

I wonder whether taking the long-term helps solve for what might be perceived as this uncomfortable thing of ‘hey, am I getting paid right? Am I getting rewarded right?’ Because the reality is your best work is not followed with your best rewards. Your best work then has an impact, people recognize it and then you get the rewards so you have to somehow think that through, I think.

This is a classic example of why we have stealth competitors. Society programs us not to ask for what we want. This is particularly true for women. They are told from their earliest ages that if you work hard and do your best you will be rewarded.

Yeah, right!

Knowing Your Value: Women, Money, and Getting What You’re Worth

In Mika Brzezinski’s  book, Knowing Your Value: Women, Money, and Getting What You’re Worth, she interviewed dozens of women involved in the 2008 presidential campaign. One quote from Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to President Obama and Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls was particularly powerful.

As a female and an African-American, Jarrett says she always expected to face obstacles in the workplace: “My parents raised me to think because I was a girl and because I was black I was going to work twice as hard. They did it with no chip on their shoulder — it was a just a fact of life, get used to it. Don’t try to change what it is, just work twice as hard.”

So she says that’s what she did.  She worked hard and kept her head down.  But Jarrett didn’t expect that working hard would not automatically lead to advancement and better pay.

“I felt like if I was deserving, then my boss should recognize that I was deserving.” — Valerie Jarrett

Does this sound familiar?

Is this a female thing?

Most of the stealth competitors have been women. All of the educators I have worked with have been stealth competitors. I have had a number of men who followed the stealth competitor model. They primarily had the concept introduced that it was bad to ask for what they wanted by their father.

Just like you heard from Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, it is a popular belief in our society that if you do good work, keep your head down, and stay focused on the goal you will get rewarded.

Yeah, right!

Understanding what you want!

I wrote in my post, 6 Rewards that Make Us Feel Valued at Work, most of us want 2 or 3 of these 6 rewards.

They include:

  1. Mission
  2. Bonus Check
  3. Public Recognition
  4. Pat on the back from your boss
  5. Recognition from your team
  6. Pat on the back from your client

If you are a stealth competitor, we have no idea what the heck you want. Therefore, most of the time you will not get rewarded the way you want.

Marc Miller  

Be sure to check out the Career Pivot Client Testimonials Page

Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons below?

Subscribe

Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast

When you subscribe to this blog you get full access to Career Pivot’s Whitepaper Library

————————————————

Check out my latest book which is available on Amazon.com!

Repurpose Your Career - A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life

————————————————

Check out the BoomerJobTips Page for the latest curated content relating to baby boomers or join us on the BoomerJobTips LinkedIn Group

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