BOOMER CAREER PATHS LEAD MILLENNIALS

El Capitan via usatoday.com

The Difference Between The Corporate Ladder And Building Your Own Boomer Career Paths?

You’ve met people, chances are you’ve been one of them, who moved every five years.

The company you started with out of college has been good to you, paying for your MBA good.

The office joined in when you got married and handed you envelopes full of tuition money on the birth of your first child and more for your second.

It was a great start, then the ride kicked in with the first career move to a new city.

New friends, new daycare and schools for the kids, new roles for your wife or husband.

All you had to do was lock in and work it a few decades.

That was the old way.

It was all about loyalty, performance, and taking one for the team if needed.

These aren’t those times. It’s not the same game anymore.

Today you school up on the specifics of where you work. You grind on the details, putting in the sort of hours you’ll never get paid for.

At the same time you add to the toolbox you’ll bring to the next job.

In the end it’s one company or many with upgrades and promotions on a schedule, or advances based on your special skill set.

Here’s one way to identify your special skill set based on a class I took from Jackie Peterson.

From bettersmarterricher.com:

My 7 Principles for Encore, Creative, and Solo Entrepreneurs (adapted on boomerpdx to millennials for educational purposes. Don’t mention it to them, they don’t like being told what to do.)

1. Focus on a deep narrow niche.

Face it, we live in a supply chain world. The only way big box stores exist is through efficient supply chains.

For proof take a look at the all the handmade things we cherish over the Chinese made gear from Costco.

Where do millennials fit in supply chain world? Not a factory unless you move to China. That leaves logistics, marketing, inventory, data analysis, and customer service.

Pick one and drive it hard. By the time you’re fifty you’ll be bulletproof with experience above and beyond anyone else.

2. Articulate your unique value proposition.

Start strong. One of the best introductions I’ve read:

“A solution-oriented, culture-driven leader.”

3. Fend off mission creep.

Changing companies isn’t always changing jobs, even if it’s a different title and more money.

The idea behind developing a deep and narrow niche is specialization.

Logistics, marketing, inventory, data analysis, or customer service. Pick one and drive it hard.

Give your take on the final four.

4. Develop a business mindset.
5. Avoid the time-money squeeze.
6. Understand your target audience.
7. Market every day.

Whether early, mid, or late career, stay flexible. Stay agile.

You may love your job today, but things change quickly.

Two couples I know in their fifties made changes happen. Both have millennial children.

Example One:

An empty next couple could have chugged through their last decade of employment, dragging from one day to the next, one anniversary after another, turning pages on the calendar like an old movie showing time move on.

Their sweet suburban development lay on the other side of the road from an over-55 community with a golf course. The future stared right at them and they didn’t blink first.

Instead they traded out for a house on acreage, a back deck view of five mountains, and a short ride to an airport with direct flights to cities his new job takes him.

This person’s deep and narrow niche puts him in the room with Silicon Valley wizards and he fits right in.

Example Two:

A nice suburban couple traded out for a new house they built in the city.

Both have successful careers built on deep and narrow niches. With some kids finished college and some still going, they laid down Portland roots.

By staying flexible, one of them scored a new gig out of town, moving up I-5 to the big time of Northwest cities.

The new house was as nice as their old, and their Puget Sound place will be special. The main point is their shared enthusiasm for new things.

Both couples represent the sort of people you hope for neighbors and friends.

These are people with the same fears and concerns about change as everyone else, except they do something with fear, like conquer it.

Their biggest concern is showing up every day correct, and they prep the heck out of it to make sure they do.

With careers rugged enough to take the bumps and bruises of a volatile economy they hit the ground running and move the pile every day.

As examples of how to negotiate the job market, they are golden. Their boomer career paths shine a light for millennials finding their way.

In quiet moments I hope they look back with fond memories of their old town. Maybe sing a Beatle song.