Keep Your Work Engine Running

March 26th, 2013

Nearing or in “retirement” after a longtime career but not ready to stop working? Wondering who would want to hire someone “of your age”? Well, lots of employers would like to hire you, actually. And the jobs don’t all involve bagging groceries or giving museum tours. What’s the proof? One promising sign is that how…

Start a Business that Has Built-In Fun

February 26th, 2013

Planning to “retire” and start your own business? Design your business to financially and mentally support your time off. That’s sage advice given by Jane Pollak, in her wonderful book, Sole Proprietor: 101 Lessons from a Lifestyle Entrepreneur.  Though you may not want to give up working as you say good-bye to a long held career,…

Tell Your Story, Find a Job

February 26th, 2013

The buzz in marketing now is telling a story about a product or service—not just listing features on packaging or advertisements. That story concept is spilling over to the marketing of human talent, too. Companies hire people—but it’s hard to tell if a candidate is interesting, dynamic or compelling from a standard issue resume. A…

7 Reasons Why Jane Has No Job

February 8th, 2013

Today I had a coaching session with a bright and accomplished 2011 college grad who has not yet found a job. Before I spoke with this young woman  (I’ll call her Jane), I was impressed with her internship and overall work experience, but could see room for improvement on her resume and Linkedin profile.  After…

Who Needs Work?

February 8th, 2013

Economists categorize people as wealthy, middle class or poor, but according to my late grandfather that leaves out the layer he was fond of calling “50 Dollar Millionaires”. According to my grandfather, many people who give the appearance of affluence actually are highly leveraged with little wealth or savings. It was his favorite snarky topic…

Retire to A “Cultural Creative” Career

January 26th, 2013

Some soon-to-be retirees look forward to blank calendars and think that when they leave their jobs they’ll do a little of this and a little of that. You, however, might want a little more structure and purpose. Maybe retirement will be your time to make a difference in the world. Janet Cranford, a career change and life transition coach, points out that a growing number of people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s are starting small…

Wandering for A Living

November 19th, 2012

When Lyn Kimberly of Weston, Connecticut talks about her childhood, there are many tales of a Vermont camp on Lake Champlain. She spent 10 years as a camper and a counselor and later married a man who shares her love of the outdoors. For many years they wedged camping and canoeing trips into their professional…

The Life Waiting for Us

November 19th, 2012

A very memorable business professional I worked with is a marketing genius who could always see or ignite the next business trend coming down the pike. When I was thinking about a post for this “Fending Off Retirement” blog, I was reminded of the work he did with Ken Dychtwald, an early visionary on the…

Choose Work that Can Ebb and Flow

October 23rd, 2012

Though I think most men zoom through their work days with tunnel vision, most women are interrupted by phone calls from school, doctor appointment scheduling and mundane problems that arise at the family home. When you’re waffling about a return to work, it can seem impossible that you would ever be able to take care…

Three Rooms at the Inn

October 23rd, 2012

When one half of a couple is contemplating retirement, reinvention can be the result for both husband and wife. That was the case with Gay and Roger Squire, now owners of Squire House, an upscale B&B in Dorset, Vermont. Gay raised two sons and had a brief stint as a social worker. Roger had a senior post at…