Over-50

Boomers v Gen Y: We're winning

The tension between generations is palpable.  When I walk into an interview or talk on the phone regarding a possible work assignment and the person with the power is a member of Generation Y, I stiffen.  The odds are that we will be on different wavelengths and I will not get the assignment.

But, overall, reports Bloomberg, it's a different story.  We Boomers are doing better than Generation Y when it comes to being able to make a living and building wealth.   Not that it's easy. 

But we have the edge of understanding the game of getting work, keeping work, and getting more of that work.  That's a learned body of knowledge.  No one is born knowing how to go to work.  That comes with having a variety of work experiences ranging from our part time jobs in high school to the wonderful corporate job we lost in a downsizing. 

In coaching, I have never had a member of Generation Y contact me for a complimentary interview.  Several members of Generation X have done that and many from my own Baby Boomer generation.

Mark Zuckerberg: Could we Baby Boomers do his week?

Not only did Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg have an IPO this week.  He also married Priscilla Chen. 

Aging: Yes, a variable but not necessarily the significant one

"In her 60s, my mother got her Master's degree and then a job paying $75,000."

That's what an acquaintance told me last night when I finally recognized that age is, yes, a variable in a job search but not necessarily a significant one.  For example, now that I have repositioned myself to sell a set of specialized skills I am in more demand. On interviews it's obvious that what I can offer overrides any of their concerns about my age.

The game seems to be about approaching our credentials in a way that's directly aligned with demand in the marketplace.  That could mean letting go of tasks we like to do but there is little market for.  We simply leave that out of resumes, cover letters, samples, and interviews.  

What I have ditched is my experience in being highly critical of whatever.  Several years ago when blogging was new, yes, there was a market for that.  Not now.  End of that story.

Mary Kennedy: Was she all of us who had lost our sense of self?

Mary Kennedy's suicide by hanging has touched a nerve, especially among us who are over 50.  One reason why is that, as some commenting on this death point out, she seems to have lost her sense of self.  There are ups and down in life.  Those downs can be harder to absorb and bounce back from as we age.  The lesson here might be to preserve our core identity no matter what blows comes our way from the outside.

At one time, Kennedy was an architectural designer working in Manhattan.  Then in 2010 we read that her husband Robert is filing for a divorce.  Not long after that we read that she is arrested for a DUI. Then we read that she could have been arrested for driving under the influence of a prescription drug but her lawyer got her off.  She did not have custody of her four children.

The reality is that anyone of any age can come back from whatever.  In his mid 60s, T. Boone Pickens lost most of his money and his marriage.  He's back, of course.  Clint Eastwood came back from simply making films which made money to serious work.  His "Million Dollar Baby" is a classic in the art of film.  Hillary Clinton got on the other side of her high profile loss in her campaign for the White House.   I came back in 2003 (Download Geezerguts).  Since I intend to keep in the workforce for another 20 years I anticipate several more comebacks.

The Market Shifts: My big mistake

Telecommuting had served many of us self-employed well.  Then two things happened.  Because of all the layoffs there was a glut of us competing for the work.  Also, there was less work.  Perhaps those doing the contracting out had been burnt.  Whatever, like most human beings, I didn't want to believe it.  I am still holding out hope that I can still live by the sweat of my brow over the laptop in my living room.

It took a while but finally I came around.  I got it that I had to work onsite or even get a full time job.  My fear led to my mistake: Not applying since I assumed I was too old.  Instead I grabbed at the bits and pieces of telecommuting work that was thrown my way.

Then I did the unthinkable.  I applied for both onsite and full time work.  Shock.  I got interviews.  In fact, lots of them.  The rub was that I had forgotten how to compete.  Also I had lost the knack of deferring to the person with the most power and that person is the one who can assign work.

It's been a learning curve.  But progress has happened and just in time. On Monday I drive to Boston to interview for the dream job of all times.  I will keep you posted.

Silent Gen + Gen X = Betty White endorses Obama for president

The coming together of two very different generations could be the sweet spot in the Obama campaign for re-election.  POLITICO reports that 90-year-old Betty White is supporting Generation X Obama.

A member of the Silent or Greatest Generation, White could bring along all her buddies to vote for Obama.  The aging tend to show up and vote. That's a big + for the Obama campaign.

Those "If Onlys" - Even healthcare workers get the boot

If only I had gone into healthcare.

How many times I had heard that from unemployed lawyers, journalists, and secretaries during the worst of the downturn.  Well, amidst signs of a recovery, some of those who were assumed to be sitting in the professional catbird seat are getting the boot.

At my 12-step meeting tonight I was shocked to hear a nurse share her pain that her boss and a number of others in a healthcare facility are being laid off.  Because she does direct service and isn't an administrator she's safe - for now.  Among those getting the ax are middle managers whose children are entering college.

No, there is no safe harbour. It's a illusion to assume that anyone is in any kind of catbird seat.  It's also an illusion to decide to declare any line of work dead.  I was beginning to think that writers aka content providers were finished.  Well, I am finding out we are only finished if we try to earn a living telecommuting.  The well paying work is onsite, usually on a contract basis.  Yes, bring along your own benefits.  Ever since I decided to go for assignments and jobs that were onsite I have been receiving lots of interviews. 

Lesson: Assume nothing.  Everything changes.

Mark Zuckerberg's Investor Relations: Hoodie + sneakers

Boy CEO Mark Zuckerberg is going around the country touting the stock of Facebook before the IPO.  It's funny. Only one analyst has made an issue that the Boy CEO is doing the road shows in his hoodie + sneakers.  That's progress.  I remember when our generation showed up at the revolution with lots of hair and torn blue jeans there were few people over 30 who didn't predict that the world was going to hell in a handbasket.

Of course, I didn't blink an eye when I noticed how Facebook was going about its investor relations.  I was too preoccupied regretting that I wasn't going to get into that deal. 

My Breast

After the mammogram they wanted an ultrasound.  After the ultrasound they wanted another ultrasound.  Now they want a biopsy.  I am on the other side of health issues.  The medical community has put my body in the category of "rule out" and "not yet."

Funny, the driven Baby Boomer I am only worried about how much time the biopsy would take from doing my assignments.  And suppose I did have cancer, would that eliminate the possibility that I could go to a training program in financial communications next month. 

We are creatures who have to deny.  T. S. Eliot was on the money.  He said that reality was too much.

May Days from Baby Boomer Times: We learned we could change

Activists in Occupy Wall Street had leveraged May Day to get back on the media radar screen.  Time will tell if that works. 

The May Day rallies brought back to me memories of my own Baby Boomer political activism.  So many of our generation had come from a conservative background.  Because there were so many of us we had to stay within the lines to get into the system's schools and jobs.  Then we found out that we could change.  We could rethink our assumptions and adopt new behaviors.

All that is coming in handy as the world of work becomes undone.  Instead of waking up every morning as a fixed me I scan the horizon for opportunity and then figure out what parts of my background I can package to pursue that.

This week I might get my third interview for a dream communications placement. I have been approaching presenting myself as a continuum of constantly aligning myself to the shifting competitive factors.