Retirement As You Want It

When you're thinking of leaving your mid-life career where you've been successful and respected, you might have qualms about starting something new, even though you are clear that you're ready for an "encore" career. What's an encore career, you wonder? That's the term given to starting a new career that incorporates a sense of meaning and purpose... often giving back to the community by going into the fields of education, health care, social services, and other non-profit work.

MetLife Foundation and Civic Ventures, the think tank spearheaded by Marc Freedman, author of Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life (did he coin the term "encore?") teamed up to offer small grants to 10 community colleges to develop innovative pilot programs to move people from mid-life careers to encore careers. The programs each have a different flavor, depending on the employment needs of their communities, but the common denominator is that they offer lots of support, coaching, mentoring, and exposure to other encore careerists who've made the change. People who come into the programs with worry leave feeling inspired and confident.

The challenge still is to find employers who are interested in hiring these new careerists, but the community colleges funded by Met Life are savvy about marketing and partnering with local employers right from the get-go.

Boomers' responses to a 1998 AARP survey demonstrated that 80% intended to work for income at least part-time past traditional retirement age, both to continue to be challenged and stimulated and now, more than ever, to supplement their depleted pensions. Very likely the number would even be higher today, with the dire economic landscape we're entering.

What better conduit to encore careers than the ubiquitous community colleges, convenient and willing to cater to the needs of the 50+ crowd, who want to be close to home and be retrained at the hours they are available?

Judy Goggin, VP of Civic Ventures, in the report of the MetLife/Civic Ventures pilot project, summarizes what the community college programs found were necessary for a successful enterprise:

• Offer flexible time, including evenings and weekends
• Tailor programs to fit the over 50 learner
• Streamline the application process to avoid administrative red tape
• Adapt existing programs for use by the new students, e.g., counseling, career center
• Use stories from role models, people who've already made the change

• Partnering with local employers is essential

• Engage other community partners

• Broaden support within the college

• Use support services - peer mentors, resume writing, interviewing skills, networking, self esteem building

• Use good targeted marketing and branding of the program

If you are ready to leave your mid-years career and yearn for something meaningful to do part-time or full-time, consider petitioning your local community college to develop programs for the over-50 set. It's a win-win for them, for you, and for the human service programs so needy of your expertise and wisdom.