Career Resources and Advice for Experienced Workers

In the movie “The Company Men,” several managers get laid off. One of them is afraid that the neighbors will find out. He dresses up in the morning, leaves home in a suit and returns for dinner as if coming back from work. Apparently, he perceives the social stigma of unemployment to be higher than the many negative consequences of his behavior — living a double life, missing opportunities within his network, and the inconvenience and inefficiency of scheduling an unproductive day. In short, behavior that is emotionally destructive wastes time and does not achieve positive results.

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Editor’s note: Have you ever had a sudden idea or feeling that’s so great or overwhelming that it becomes your sole focus? It’s like you thought you were happy until you had this idea about how you could be so much happier?

And then as soon as you have this idea you really wish you didn’t because you know it’s going to change your life forever, and life change is a huge, scary inconvenience?

es? Well, congratulations, you’re having a mid-life crisis. Just kidding. But if this big idea has to do with your work, then you may be on the brink of a midlife career change.

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Generally, the decision to change careers isn’t made lightly. It’s a process — and for some a dilemma — that stirs many questions, doubts and fears. You may worry that a career change will lower your earnings, require an expensive investment in education and training, or force you to start from scratch in an unfamiliar industry.
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Ever since I was young, I have had a piggy bank, a place where I threw my change in to help de-clutter my pockets. Every month I broke into that piggy bank, counted my change in order to buy myself an ice-cream cone, or, if I had waited long enough, I might even have had enough money for a Barbie doll. As I got older, I stopped throwing change into the piggy bank and left it in my pockets because, frankly, I needed all the change I could get, especially in college. I still do today, and so do many workers and job seekers.
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