Job coaches offer tips for finding employment
Getting Back in the Game
By Audry T. Hingley
With layoffs increasing, it’s no secret that boomers are among those caught in the crossfire. Many are turning to job coaches, who specialize in helping clients focus on their job strengths and prepare them for an effective job search.
“For many boomers, this is their first search since college,” says Bud Whitehouse, client services director of Career Management of Virginia. “They have stumbled from one job to the next ... now you have to absolutely know what you’re doing [to find a job].”
Three facts of boomer job life
Bonnie Miller of The Brown Miller Group says three things particularly impact boomer job seekers: Some are behind in terms of technology; some never had to look for work before; and, yes, there’s age discrimination.
Regarding age discrimination, she says, “Look at yourself objectively and how you come across [to potential employers]. Look like someone in good health. Present yourself as someone who has energy and is willing to learn what [you] don’t know.”
Whitehouse says the answer to age discrimination is to find someone who doesn’t care: “If you’re looking for a job, you’re really looking for someone with a problem ... If you are the solution to my problem, you’re hired.”
In-person, not online
Both say people spend too much time on online job searches. Miller adds, “It’s better to talk to one person than to throw your resume out to 30 people.”
Whitehouse says most people do things wrong when job searching: “Everyone knows you have to network, so we go to people and ask them to put their [professional] reputations on the line for us. We focus on the Web because it’s there, but it doesn’t represent a high percentage of jobs ... you have to change the way you think about getting a job.”
Miller says she’s different from other coaches in two ways: She’s a licensed professional counselor specializing in career counseling and charges by the hour ($85 an hour). A former director for the University of Richmond’s Women’s Resource Center, she formed her agency in 1994 with Sally Brown, who has since retired.
Whitehouse has been involved in the human resources/employment field for more than 30 years; he began Career Management in 2004 after doing career coaching for another firm. Regarding cost, he describes himself as “a revenue generator,” with fees paying for themselves in client outcomes. “I’m different in that there’s precious little about employment I haven’t seen,” he says.
Boomer Job Search Success Stories
Boomer John Morgan lost his job as a data architect after 12 years when Circuit City closed. He partnered with Career Management after attending a lecture Whitehouse gave. Now working as a senior data architect with the commonwealth of Virginia, he admits, “I might have gotten this job anyway, but I think there are places where I did things I would not have done if I had not had Bud. I was a techie and not a natural networker. Networking contacts I made did affect this position.”
Boomer Lynn Thomas was doing promotional advertising sales when she retained Whitehouse, and she is still doing that. She explains: “I’d changed careers and I wasn’t sure if I was in the right mode or not. For me [the cost] was worth it to define my skill set. It also boosted my morale to know that non-successes in my past were because I was trying to fit into a mold I was never meant for. It helped me to define more than my career—but also my calling.”
In the meantime
Miller and Whitehouse agree that a job that pays the bills while searching for a position you really want is a good job — but if it monopolizes all your time, it’s not.
“I had someone who took a job as a truck driver. His schedule gave him no time to look for another job ... he locked himself in,” explains Whitehouse.
“This could also be the time to find a job that feeds your soul ... if you love books, maybe you can work at a bookstore,” Miller suggests.
Miller says volunteer work or coursework can build a bridge to a new position. Being willing to have several income streams can also help. She says boomers need to strike a balance between “not getting hung up on job titles” and still having a career focus.
Whitehouse says boomers tend to be loyal to employers, staying in jobs until the end rather than being proactive: “I see a lot of people in their 50s. When I ask them how long they plan to work before retirement, they say 10 or 12 years. ... When I say that’s four jobs, you can watch their faces change.”
Morgan says he hopes to continue to build relationships, adding, “If something happens, I will have the network in place and perhaps the network would produce a better job if I need it. I learned a lot about myself. The whole process will benefit me forever.”
For More Information
• The BrownMiller Group,
www.brownmiller.com, 804-288-2157
• Career Management of Virginia,
www.cmvacareers.com, 804-282-6466
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Audrey Hingley is a Richmond, Virginia freelance writer.
