Thirty-Four years ago when I was contemplating a change of careers, I learned that the best way to find a new job was to network through personal contacts. I began with 5 people I knew and using certain information interviewing techniques, I was offered jobs in fields I never would have known about. Today we have LinkedIn, job boards and placement services. But my clients over 50 tell me that they send out hundreds of resumes, and respond to many job postings and never get a response. I work with them to figure out what they really have to offer in the way of skills and experiences and then help them develop an approach to find the work that’s right for them. Otherwise they are wasting their time trying to fit into other people’s boxes rather than creating their own box. Sometimes actually no box at all!

Recently Chris Farrell of Market Place Money spoke to the Encore event here in Delray Beach about how baby boomers are changing the way we think about work. In this article for Forbes magazine he confirms that the method I teach still is the most productive way of finding new work: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2017/04/10/the-problem-with-job-boards-for-older-job-seekers.

I have written before about the fact that creativity doesn’t decrease with age as long as one continues to use your mind in creative ways. This has been documented in various scientific studies, but a recent article in the New York Times by Pagan Kennedy, author of “Inventology, How We Dream Up Things That Change The World” she told of John Goodenough, 94, who has just filed a patent on a new kind of battery that could revolutionize electric cars. She cited studies that show that in the U.S. the highest value patents often come from the oldest inventors, over 55. While there is certainly plenty of creativity among the young, a study of Nobel physics laureates found that most made their discoveries after 50 and the peak of creativity for Nobel winners is getting higher age-wise every year. As Mr. Goodenough said “You have to draw on a fair amount of experience in order to be able to put ideas together.” When I work with retirement planning clients I remind them that they have the power to create what they want in their lives and to create new things using their life experiences. This is something people tend not to believe and need to be reminded of. To read the article in full: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/07/opinion/sunday/to-be-a-genius-think-like-a-94-year-old.html?