Start Here - Career Pivot

Welcome to Career Pivot – The Premier career website for those in the 2nd half of life who want to start planning their career and stop reacting.

Do You Dream of Having a Career that You Look Forward to Every Day?

I was raised to be an employee and to go to work for a father-like employer who would take care of me. After 30 or 40 years, I would be able to ride off into the sunset to a happy retirement. A little more than halfway there – they moved my cheese.

Work was never supposed to be fun but to allow me to pay the mortgage, put food on the table and take care of my family.

Does this sound familiar?

My Journey

After graduating from Northwestern University with a Computer Science degree in 1978, I went to work for a father-like company, IBM. I then spent 22 years wandering around in my career and changing jobs every few years. That gave me experience in a lot of different jobs and industries. I was a jack of all trades and an expert in none.

In 1999, IBM converted my pension to a cash balance plan and then converted me back. That broke the bond of trust and I planned my exit. I left for a technology startup, Agere Inc. that was being acquired by Lucent. It was not a risky move though it felt risky leaving IBM after 22 years. I still was working for a safe, father-like company that I thought would take care of me.

It took a moment of clarity, a near-fatal bicycle accident in 2002, that caused me to change course. This moment of clarity – a head-on collision with a Toyota automobile while on my bicycle (where our combined speeds exceeded 50 miles per hour) – changed everything.

Since that time, I taught Algebra I and II in an inner-city high school and developed a corporate development program for a non-profit.

After three years at yet another tech startup, I started Career Pivot to help those in the 2nd half of life make meaningful, career decisions.

Career Pivot Was Born

CareerPivot.com was launched in February 2012. In the previous year, I discovered virtually no one was addressing the needs of baby boomers and their careers. The assumption was we were all going to ride off into the sunset and retire in just a few years. Well… as we all know, that is not happening.

You will find over 600 blog posts, a podcast, the Repurpose Your Career book, resources, and soon an online community where you hopefully find that you are not alone.

Career Pivot Community

The Career Pivot Community is for those of us in the 2nd half of life to come together to learn and support each other.

We all want the freedom to work how you want to work when you want to work, and working at something you love.

The Career Pivot Community is currently not accepting new members but if you would like to join the waiting list please click on the button below. The third cohort of about 10 members is currently on board. I will be selecting an additional 10 individuals during the months of April and May.

Join the Waitlist

What Do You Need Help With?

Most of you have found this website because you are trying to solve a problem.

As a result, we’ve organized the site into 14 portals to help you find the content that best suits your needs. These are:

You’ll find these highlighted under the heading ‘I need help to…’ on our front page and the sidebars on this site.

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Each week, I will write about the latest tips, strategies, and advice on making smart career moves in the 2nd half of life.

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I trust that you’ll find Career Pivot to be a useful resource for you in managing your career. Please feel free to join in on the many conversations happening around the site in our comments section. You can drop me a note any time on our social media pages as well. I’m particularly active on Twitter and LinkedIn and look forward to connecting.