By Mark Venning

At the 14th annual conference of the Association of Career Professionals International in Puerto Rico (June 2003) over 40 career professionals from 11 countries and a representative from the United Nations gathered to discuss perspectives on working with older experienced clients in an aging world.

With growing numbers of business people 50 plus asking for a different kind of conversation, career professionals need to work with more challenging career language to help people look at re-designing their life and work story. Based on current trends presented in this forum these questions were posed:

What are we becoming as Career Professionals in our relationships with clients in an aging world?

How will we adapt to new roles with our clients in a new “career designing” process?

A clear response can be best summarized in the comments of participants from Argentina, Canada, Italy, UK, USA and the United Nations. As they see it, if the trend in the workplace for an aging workforce is towards re-qualification with more short term assignments that require greater adaptability – our role as futurists is to identify, what the needs of organizations will be over next 10 years. We need to develop a sharper awareness to help workers look at wider options and provide the right tools to help them make the best career decisions.

At the same time we need to work with Human Resource and Search consultants to help change corporate perceptions of what “old” is. In that sense we become corporate educators and influencers. Beyond this role, career professionals form a unique relationship with clients in their personal journey inside and outside organizational life.

Older experienced workers are trying to create and cross bridges into a new world we have up to now called “retirement”. But retirement is a world that increasingly appears less like a “retreat or withdrawal” or “seclusion” as the dictionary would suggest.

If a career in an aging world can be described as a “life journey”, based on the “quests of clients”, how will we adapt and what do we become in our new roles in a “career designing” process – helping people cross life’s bridges?

Participants from Canada and the USA said that we need to help clients 50 plus, develop a portfolio of work experience – and, using more creative approaches help define their particular purpose. In addition, to help clients not work in isolation, we need to connect them with other people with shared visions but not necessarily with the same professional base where relationships are more familiar.

Another group representing Germany and regions in the USA suggested that we are more effective when are moving away from basic work search techniques, and we are helping clients reframe themselves in the concept of “life cycle” career development. We need to anticipate longer term needs, present eclectic options and create links to make choices happen for clients. This means that in our “one on one” time, being more flexible in our availability, and in our “counsel/coach/consult and refer” process, develop an alignment with other resources such as elder care advisors.

Moving the conversation further, countries like Argentina, Canada, Spain and USA made the point that self employment training is an important option in later years of work life and should be included as part of planning for post-organizational retirement. In areas like Argentina where unemployment is high, teaching small business skills is critical to helping clients position their abilities as a resource to companies. Unlike Canada where the federal government has funded a Self Employment Assistance Program for over 10 years, self employment in Denmark is not an option for government criteria in judging the success rate of finding full time employment. In Spain teaching people how to start a business is attractive, but the culture is not geared that way.

If the promise of long term full time employment belongs to a by gone day and career management has shifted from the organization to the individual even in countries such as Japan, then the process of exploring options is vital and even more heightened for older workers still too young to retire who want or need to work. Retaining older workers in different ways should be explored and career professionals could partner with clients and organizations to find better ways to position employment relationships.

According to career professionals in Canada, the UK and USA – senior management and knowledge based professionals are looking for bridged or phased retirement plans. Mobility to work in different parts of the world, giving back by serving on Boards, volunteering, working on a diversification of shorter contracts, having multiple part time jobs are all part of the wide options. These work options are not meant to be in competition with other parts of a life plan but rather part of “whole life integration”.

In our role as career “re-packagers” we may be need to shift how we market our services to older clients, many of whom have had career services before. With shorter programs now being offered by organizations, there are opportunities for more personalized services. At a time when many are zapped by negative world news and an underwhelming corporate experience, there is potential to deliver more for older clients than what is expected by career transition programs, that arguably haven’t moved content wise for over a decade.

And as we rethink our career materials and take a look at new professional roles with older experienced clients there are two important things we must not forget as career professionals. As pointed out by several participants we must improve our knowledge in the way we talk about aging – and, encourage inter-generational relationships in the workplace or wherever we deliver career services. One way to lose innovation and productivity is to have an environment where people are marginalized, segmented or stereotyped by age groups. At the 2004 Conference in Venice, our next forum will pick up on this, remembering it’s not age but attitude that shapes who we become. mvenning@changerangers.com

Mark Venning is founder of Change Rangers “The Leading Voice on Career Longevity” and President Elect for ACP International. He can be reached at mvenning@changerangers.com