Southern California Job Market : Taking Another Road : BOOMERS WHO’VE HAD ENOUGH MAKE THEIR MOVE
Considering changing careers in midlife? You’re far from unique.
There’s the pet store owner in Colorado who used to be a doctor, and the doctor in New York City who used to be a photographer. There’s a stockbroker in Orange County who was once a banker, and a man in Seattle who quit being an accountant to become a chef.
Middle age has traditionally been a time in American life when the desire for a radical job change surfaces as once-rising career expectations begin to subside and family obligations grow.
While not new, the longing for expanded midlife horizons is more noticeable in the 1990s because most baby boomers--that large and often affluent group born in the 20 years after World War II--are now middle aged.
“Almost everyone I know has gone through several careers,” says Dr. Ken Rosenberg, 47, a public health physician who interrupted his medical career in the 1980s to spend eight years as a commercial photographer.
Indeed, just as it has become routine to switch jobs five or six times within a profession, it is now common to switch careers one or more times, said James C. Cotham III, author of “Career Shock,” a book about career-switching.
Today’s worrisome economic climate has only accelerated new-career searches as corporate employment shrinks in such traditional fields as aerospace, financial services and real estate. The promising career of 10 years ago can have a dead-end feel today.
The signs of the new environment are ubiquitous. Law school applicants have been rising sharply at Southwestern University Law School in Los Angeles--chief among them aerospace engineers looking for a new line of work.
Ann Coil’s career-counseling business in Orange is as busy as ever. Her clients are typically nearing 40 and voluntarily searching for new careers in spite of the poor job market. “They feel it’s now or never,” Coil says.
People who have successfully changed careers in midlife say it’s invigorating, but it won’t work unless the move is well-planned.
Usually, that means sticking with your old career until you have thoroughly mapped out the new one. And set aside enough money, particularly when starting a business. New careers usually mean sharply lower income.
Confidence and flexibility are also important. “People who believe they’re in control and are innovative can find marvelous new careers,” said Jon Goodman, head of USC’s entrepreneur program.
Examples abound. Ronald Reagan, after all, had four different jobs--sportscaster, actor, union leader and corporate spokesman--before turning to politics. Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley got a law degree while still a policeman.
Some experts argue that all workers--no matter how content--should develop contingency plans for a second career.
Restless workers sometimes use a career change to flee city life for open space and clean air. This often means starting a business or becoming a consultant; corporate jobs in small towns are scarce.
“You can do two things here,” says entrepreneur Scott Linden, 37, who left the San Fernando Valley in the late 1970s and now lives in the central Oregon resort town of Bend. “You can flip hamburgers at McDonald’s or you can start your own business. That’s about it.”
Another Bend resident, Don Hamon, is a former Bay Area paramedic who burned out on his job. He and his wife started a company that roasts coffee beans. Despite long hours and financing problems, Hamon says he’s living happily ever after: “If you look at what people are buying, and you’re willing to work 70 hours a week, I think there are great opportunities out there.”
The two-income family can smooth career transitions. Ex-banker Liz Howe, 45, who lost her job in Orange County in the rapidly shrinking savings and loan industry, is now in training at Merrill Lynch, the stock brokerage. She faces a long stretch of lower income, but says the impact is eased by her spouse’s job as an engineer: “Without my husband’s support, I could not have done this.”
Some mid-career changes are more extreme. After a frustrating career as a physician and hospital administrator in Chicago, Jay Scharoff chucked it all two years ago and opened a pet store in postcard-pretty Boulder, Colo.
So far, so good, says Scharoff, whose move stunned erstwhile colleagues. “What I first told people what I was going to do, they thought I had completely lost my mind,” he says.
Though Dr. Rosenberg did not remain a commercial photographer in New York City--a job so unremunerative that he augmented his income by taking wedding pictures--he looks at those eight years as well spent.
“It was a time out that helped me get some perspective on my life,” he said. He is now back in public health, studying epidemiology.
Not all career changes are so abrupt. Harry Kerker, 43, quit his advertising job last year with Young & Rubicam because he faced an unwanted job change and, in a sentiment common among baby boomers, desired more time with his family. He formed Kerker & Ko., a graphic-arts production firm, in the guest quarters behind his home in La Canada-Flintridge. Today, Kerker says, he earns more money without shortchanging his young children. “I took my kids swimming at lunch today,” he says.
