By Dharma
Paula Lopez Crespin’s encore career is teaching math and science in a low-income school in Denver.
Teach for America www.teachforamerica.org has made teaching cool for graduating seniors from the nation’s best universities. Are they now going to make it cool for don’t-dare-call-them-seniors graduating into their own encore careers?
Paula Lopez Crespin, 50, gave up a banking career, took a $32,000 pay cut and now teaches in a “gang-riddled section of Denver.” For that opportunity, she had to compete with tens of thousands of applicants, go through a challenging selection process and convince skeptical Teach for America officials she was sincere. “How much more honest can I be?” she told The New York Times. “I want to change careers. This is not a résumé builder.”
Crespin is among the 81 percent of Teach for America (TFA) applicants last year who were either career changers or graduate students, which the organization is increasingly focused on in an attempt to increase the number who continue teaching after the two-years TFA requirement.
Currently, 40 percent of TFA teachers leave after the two-year commitment in a low-income school. Finding applicants is not a problem for TFA. This year 42 percent more people applied to the program than last year: 35,178 for just 4,100 positions.
Hiring experienced adults like Crespin is part of TFA’s new strategy. “Age is not a factor,” says Grant Besser, head of TFA’s “emerging markets” team, who is looking for “leaders and high achievers committed to education reform.”
Writer Cecilia Capuzzi Simon writes, “Seasoned professionals like Ms. Crespin might help improve that retention rate by bringing self-knowledge, work ethic and tested ideals to the job.”
Crespin says her friends thought she was crazy to give up her banking career and take a $32,000 pay cut, but she maintains it would have been insane to remain in a job she “just couldn’t stomach anymore” and opted instead to do “something meaningful with my life.”
Crespin had been drawn to teaching before, but gave up and returned to banking after several months of substitute teaching because she was unable to find a fast-track program. Her second introduction to the field came via her daughter, who was accepted into TFA after graduating from college.
Fearing for her daughter’s safety in an inner-city classroom, Crespin opposed the move until she visited her daughter on the job. “That was the ‘wow!’ moment for me,” she told Simon. “I was sitting in the back and wanted to wave to her, but she was in a zone, in command. She was the best teacher I had ever seen.” Crespin decided to apply to TFA herself.
The job isn’t easy. Crespin typically works 60 to 65 hours per week, “beyond what you get paid for.” But she and her husband, who recently obtained a master’s degree in social work, preparing for his own encore career, do not regret dipping into their 40l(k)s, refinancing their home and cutting back on spending. “We are happier than we were,” she said.
Posted 07/27/2009 – 11:12am by Terry Nagel
By Dharma
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TOP 10 SENSATIONAL REASONS
Why NOW is the Perfect Time for Boomer Women to Discover their Life Purpose & start planning for an ENCORE career that they Love!
Quote: “Don’t Die with Your Music Still In You” –Wayne Dyer
By Dharma
The question of the boomers’ legacy is very much up for grabs right now.
In “The Boys of Pointe du Hoc,” about the most heroic rangers on D-Day, Douglas Brinkley argues very convincingly that Reagan’s 1984 visit to Normandy actually began the whole “Greatest Generation” thing. It hadn’t existed before, and understanding the story and the current yearning in the country was part of Reagan’s political/cinematic genius. So he largely “invented” the greatest generation mythology that day, with Peggy Noonan’s help.
Tom Brokaw followed a few years later, named it in a catchy and appealing way, and we have lived with that story ever since.
If it is true that the story of the greatest generation was written between 1984 and 1995, then we are coming into the time when the story of the boomer generation might be written. And how that story turns out will be determined by several things including what we “need” as a country and people at the moment, what the generation actually does (if anything), who writes the story and the motive of the writer.
We can influence the story of the boomer generation in a big way, but we can’t make it up in the absence of the right societal political setting, and we can’t make it up in absence of real and important action and leadership from those in the generation.
July 27, 2009 – John Gomperts, Civic Ventures
By Dharma
Baby Boomers are transforming the way we think about retirement and aging. Retirement in America is undergoing a revolutionary transformation. When our grandparents and parents retired, they could usually count on a handsome company pension, as well as Society Security and other benefits. Today, few workers in the private sector will enjoy a company pension. And today, Social Security and Medicare face growing funding issues. Americans are being told—every day and in increasing numbers—that they will have the sole responsibility for producing income for themselves for a much longer span of retirement time.
Retirement Revolution, hosted by broadcast journalist Paula Zahn, is a two-part documentary that explores the many challenges and opportunities faced by the 78 million Baby Boomers who are now heading into retirement.
Our new generation of “old people” fulfill a unique and important role in society.
As the first wave of Baby Boomers turns 65, they are changing America’s ideas about what it means to grow old and what it means to retire. With sixty-five fast becoming the new “middle age,” retirement may mean a new career instead of the golf course.
Retirement Revolution offers practical considerations that can help ensure a retirement on one’s own terms, even in a risky world in which Medicare and private pensions are facing real problems. With everyday stories placed in the context of experts’ perspectives on retirement and aging, Retirement Revolution alleviates anxieties, inspires confidence, and demonstrates the pressing need for change where the ways of the past simply won’t be enough.
“Retirement” today often means the beginning of a new career.
The documentary explores numerous revolutionary discoveries: how even late starters can save enough to supplement their Social Security income; how to turn home equity into old-age income; how to ensure a secure old age with new retirement investment products like annuities that begin at age 85; the joys of encore careers begun after age 50; how Social Security can be secured for another 50 years; and the remarkable compassion and help that the new “old people” are providing to the rest of society.
Explore the Retirement Revolution microsite at www.wttw.com/retirementrevolution.
Retirement Revolution is a co-production of James L. Schlagheck and WTTW National Productions.
By Dharma
After my friend Anne left a successful career on Wall Street, she spent several years writing fiction. She completed two novels, then realized that the issues and problems in the real world had become more compelling than the stories she was making up.
“What was I doing writing fiction when I could be out there with real people, doing something meaningful?” she told me. “Cliché or not, I wanted to use my business skills and international experience to make an impact on the world.”
As it turns out, she is in good company, according to a study released today by the MetLife Foundation and Civic Ventures, a San Francisco-based think tank on boomers, work and aging. The 2008 Encore Career survey asked 3,500 Americans between the ages of 44 and 70 about their current and future work plans and preferences.
The results indicate that a majority of people in that age group want to use their skills and experience to help others. In fact, the report estimates that between 5 and 8 million Americans are already involved in what Marc Freedman, CEO of Civic Ventures, calls an “encore career”—meaningful work that combines earning an income with making a contribution to society. “I think of it as practical idealism,” he says.
What the Study Means
The results of the study may be early evidence of a trend. “For us, the major finding was the numbers,” says Freedman. “This is not just an abstract ideal. Millions of people are already acting on this impulse.”
People like Ed Speedling, who became an advocate for the homeless after a career as a health care executive, or Beverly Ryder, who brought her years of corporate experience to a new role in public education. (These stories and others can be found on Civic Ventures’ networking site, www.encore.org.)
Freedman credits these “pioneers” with “blazing the path” for those behind them. And considering that there are 78 million baby boomers, that’s a lot of people to play “follow the leader.” According to the study, nearly half of those not already in encore careers have a strong desire to move into such jobs.
“If even a small fraction of baby boomers go into encore careers, it could have a transformative effect on industries that are so dependent on human resources to be effective,” says Freedman.
This is good news for education, health care, government and the nonprofit sectors, all of which already are experiencing critical labor shortages. A study by the Bridgespan Group—a Boston-based management consulting group for the nonprofit sector—reported that nonprofit organizations will need some 640,000 new senior leaders over the next 10 years, and that number could rise as high as 1.2 million.
Changing Public Policy
While Freedman acknowledges that those who want to pursue an “encore career” must take some of the responsibility to make that transition, he also thinks that society should meet people halfway. That’s going to require changes on many levels, he says. “We’ll probably see a dramatic increase in life coaching and workshops for more affluent people, but if we are going to tap the talent in other sectors of the boomer population, we need changes in public policy.”
In the first place, he suggests getting rid of penalties for working longer. Making affordable health care accessible could encourage active participation in encore careers, he says. Freedman also argues for the creation of new kinds of incentives, like IBM’s Transition to Teaching program, which prepares employees to take on a second career as a math or science teacher.
“And we need more online resources for people wanting to make this kind of shift,” says Freedman, who notes that most of the major job sites offer openings in other industries.
The study reports that people already in their encore career discovered that many problems that they had anticipated—like the lack of flexibility or the fear of being underappreciated—never materialized. Over 75 percent were satisfied with the salary and benefits, but the need to learn new skills and coping with a loss of seniority continued as concerns. Still, the feedback from those who have already embarked on an encore career was positive. “The message seems to be ‘try it, you’ll like it,’ ” says Freedman.
That’s certainly true for my friend Anne, who’s now working in the nonprofit sector in the area of global poverty. “Right now, there’s nothing else I’d rather do,” she says.
Survey Results
The survey of 3,500 men and women was conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc. by telephone and on the Internet from February through April 2008. The respondents were divided into three categories: those in encore careers, those interested in such careers and those not interested. The complete study is available at www.civicventures.org.
Among the key findings related to those in encore careers:
• The majority were between the ages of 51 and 62. More than half were women.
• Most (52 percent) are engaged in professional or managerial careers, and an additional 28 percent in other white-collar occupations. Nearly one in five (18 percent) have blue-collar jobs.
• The largest group (42 percent) lives in the suburbs; 30 percent live in urban areas and 28 percent in small towns and rural areas.
• More than a third of those who chose encore careers did so for financial reasons and health benefits.
• Most reported a high level of satisfaction (84 percent) and felt they were making a difference (94 percent).
By: Cathie Gandel | Source: AARP Bulletin Today | June 18, 2008
"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."