Boomers: We Probably Wouldn't Be Able to Get Our Great Careers Going Today

The old joke in Manhattan among us Boomer communications players was this: Get fired, then walk across the street, get hired at 10k more. 

Actually, that happened for me. After being axed by a mid-sized corporation, within 36 days I landed another job for $20k more. But I had to relocate to Detroit for that. No big deal. In those days they picked up the moving expense. And after I got there and began work the job wasn't cancelled. 

Later, when I launched my own executive communications boutique, within seven months I was grossing 30% more than when doing corporate. Back then healthcare insurance was cheap. So, that expense wasn't a barrier to taking the leap into self-employment. It is now. Most personal bankruptcies result from medical expenses. 

In addition, want to change careers or sectors? The MBA really took care of that and it was affordable. Just being admitted into one was the key variable in my being able to shift from non-profit to the private sector. 

Moreover, employee development had been standard. You could even attract mentors to guide you one-on-one. Partner at law firm Paul, Weiss Brad Karp told The Wall Street Journal that when he was just starting out in the firm as an associate:

" ... he learned by sitting next to senior lawyers during conference calls; they’d mute themselves so they could discuss strategy."

There was authentic caring. During his own professional journey, Karp applied that ethos to those who came to him for guidance. 

Obviously, today we Boomers likely wouldn't be so blessed in career matters. The odds are that we, as with so many current knowledge workers, wouldn't even be able to set in motion a career. If we did and if we got knocked out of that box, probably there would be no way to claw our way back in. 

Some lines of work, such as practicing law, might be experiencing a golden era. However, AI will generate a contraction in demand. 

The lion's share of professors in higher education are evolving into dinos. Almost 50 colleges have closed down since 2020. 

Jobs lost in tech. The Wall Street Journal documents: More and more of them are not coming back.

My former field of content-creation? Gonzo. 

Piled on those realities are the new hoops created for applying for white-collar employment. They range from up to seven interviews to grueling unpaid multiple take-home or on-site tests. The most I had to endure were two paid-for-by-employer plane trips to Detroit and an unpaid speech to prepare (which they actually had used and it landed me an offer). 

But, most importantly we Boomers were treated with respect. There was no other option to produce the work as there is now with AI. 

Professional networks, be they LinkedIn or Reddit, are peppered with Boomer comments about being relieved that we're not out there scrambling for have-to-make-a-living jobs. 

Given longevity more of us than what would be expected are still earning income by the sweat of our brow. However, it's opening ourselves to inner torment if we position and package that as a "career." We had our careers. They were good. We were lucky.

Not that we Boomers don't have troubles. Health problems - both their existence and their uncovered-by-insurance costs - catapult us into a new dimension of angst. 

Will the stock market crash and put the kibosh on our budget? 

Close friends die. Relocation to LCOL areas means starting over again socially. 

We look into the mirror and no longer can we adjust that face to what it had been.

However, we had had it easy, didn't we. 

Should there be a Boomer national movement to "adopt" a member of the generations following us? Provide mentoring about how to earn a living in an economy of scarcity? Lobby for financial safety nets? Establish scholarships for retraining?

Youth wants us gone. It could move the needle for their financial survival, though, if we hang around to help. So far help hasn't been on the way for them. As that famous line from "The Bronx Tale" goes: No one cares.

Careers. Forget all that. It’s about earning a good living, no matter what.

Complimentary consultation with Jane Genova, StreetSmart Coaching (janegenova374@gmail.com)


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