Create the Job that Matches Your Values

By Guest Author Nancy Anderson

Values undergo a seismic shift in midlife and beyond. Making money is important, but monetary goals take second place to emotional and spiritual fulfillment; not only for yourself, but also for those you serve in your work. Ironically, putting love of what you do before money brings all the money you need.

By contrast, in your twenties and thirties you needed to go for the personal gold, experiment with many options, choose sexual and marriage partners, and compete with peers for recognition from authority figures. But once you reach the early forties it is time to let go of these youthful pursuits so that you can move into the authority role, as was the case for my client, Charles.

When I met Charles he spent most of his time going to networking meetings, and surfing job sites on the Internet. He would get excited about a referral or posting and send in his resume, and then get disappointed when there was no response. It did not occur to him that what he wanted to do for a living was not advertised, and that he would have to create the job that matched his values.

“What do you mean, create the job? “ Charles asked worriedly.

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“If you try to fit yourself into a job that’s already defined you will only repeat the past and fail,” I said. “You need to think about what is important to you at this stage of life, the problems you can and like to solve. Then connect with the people who have those problems. In other words, think like an entrepreneur, not a job hunter.”

It takes about a year to shift from an employee to an entrepreneurial mentality, meaning that your focus is on pleasing your customer or client, not how much money you make, your job title, health and retirement benefits, and impressing upper management.

Changing the way he thought about work was not easy for Charles, since he had always held staff positions in corporations, reporting to bosses who failed to live up to his expectations. To help Charles make the transition, I asked him to talk with two of my clients who were in sales to learn what it was like to be in a line position.

“Sales? No way. That’s not for me,” Charles said adamantly.

To his surprise, Charles felt at home with salespeople.

“One of your clients said he thought I was a natural at sales because I was a good listener,” Charles said. “My subordinates have always complimented me on how well I listen, but I didn’t see how that applied to sales. Your other client suggested I find a small company whose product or service I would buy and recommend to others, as he had done. He also said to talk with someone I knew who owned a small business, just to practice that approach.”

After his meetings, Charles thought of a friend who had a home remodeling business. He told me they were planning to meet the following week to discuss the business, and future trends.

“I’ve always been envious of the passion Brad has for his work,” Charles said about his friend. “I’m not an expert carpenter like he is, but I am interested in fixing up houses. I’m eager to learn more about his business, and if I can be of help to him.”

Two months later, Charles went to work part-time in Brad’s business, using his marketing background to create an appealing website, and a survey of Brad’s former and existing customers that revealed needs Brad did not know they had. In another month, Charles was meeting with prospects and bringing in new business.

Had Charles taken the conventional route (sending resumes to strangers in fields that interested him), he would have been rejected because he didn’t have experience as an entrepreneur, or in the remodeling business. This is an example of how taking small steps leads to passion.

“I like showing Brad how to increase business,” Charles said when we met for an update in my home office. “It’s easy for me, just like you said it would be. Brad’s so busy now he’s hired a couple of subcontractors to handle the workload. What’s strange is that I’ve always loved marketing strategy. I just didn’t know I could apply it to a small business, much less to something I found personally satisfying.”

Every day was an opportunity to learn, Charles said and, because Brad trusted his judgment, he could be creative.

“Learning and creativity were missing in my previous jobs, so no wonder I felt stagnated.”

Charles’s story shows that opportunities are not where you expect them to be, particularly when you reach midlife and beyond. Had he gone back to what was familiar, working in a staff job in a large company, he would have made money, but his life would have had no meaning.

To create the job that makes the best use of the strengths you have honed over a lifetime of experience, talk with people whose service or product you already buy and recommend, including people you know. Ask what it took for them to succeed, what they’d like to do next, and what prevents them from reaching these goals.

Be assured, when you connect with the people who have your values, and your strengths can help them reach their goals, they will ask you to work with them. And because you are always looking for ways to improve, you get better and better as you age, expertise that makes you virtually recession-proof.





Nancy Anderson is a career and life consultant based in the San Francisco Bay Area and the author of the pioneering career guide, Work with Passion, How To Do What You Love For a Living (New World Library, 1984, 20th anniversary edition, 2004). Her new book, Work with Passion in Midlife and Beyond is available in online and retail bookstores. Her website is www.workwithpassion.com.