Tag Archives: Raleigh NC

We Are Not Too Late for a Second Career

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Just when a friend of mine lost all hope of getting a job at 68 years of age, he was offered a CEO position at a financial services company in Raleigh, NC. Ken had been out of work for eight years and just could not land a position. Prior to that, he held sales and marketing positions at various companies. We would sit on the phone for hours bemoaning our fate. All the good jobs and assignments were going to younger people.

Then one day Ken’s granddaughter introduced him to several social media platforms, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, others. He started to socialize online the way he used to network in person. He dedicated himself to only posting info that made him look desirable for a high ranking position: 1-Business stories he found in his daily readings about a targeted niche. 2-Short, positive thoughts about changes in the specific industry he was interested in. 3-Inspiring comments about recent industry speeches and activities that he posted on other people’s blogs, podcasts, videos and group discussions.

Ken’s main goal was to appear knowledgeable and ageless. He carefully scrutinized every sentence he posted so that he always appeared positive, hopeful, and determined. There was never an attitude, a need to show-off or self-righteousness. It was all about presenting himself as a confident individual who knows how to get things done.

He was very disciplined about his postings. Ken made himself extremely visible and consistent. One day he received an email from a member of the board of a medium-sized financial company in Raleigh that mostly deals with real estate investments. The email was an invitation to a roundtable discussion about the stock market being held at company headquarters. Other outsiders were being invited too. He had to pay for his travel. All else was comped.

He went. When Ken came back from the two-day meeting he was a new man. Not only did he feel refreshed and enthused, but he felt relevant for the first time in years. His participation in social media gave him the business degree he never got. He taught himself so much about what was happening in business today that he actually became more knowledgable than many executives 10 years younger than himself.

Ken used the time away from the daily grind of business to actually become a strategist. The roundtable discussion in Raleigh was really an audition for all those who were invited to participate. Ken got the highest marks because he was the only one who understood and appreciated how to use today’s digital assets.

Today, Ken travels to Raleigh every Monday through Thursday and works from his home in Alpine, NJ on Fridays. He plans to work until he drops. He said he spent eight years in a forced retirement already and was miserable. These days he feels more alive and satisfied. While he doesn’t have much time to BS with me anymore, he doesn’t miss a day of being a voice online. He is gaining more traction than ever before and is teaching his grandchildren social resume skills that will be their calling card in the future

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We are not Too Late for a Second Career

Posted on by
Reply

Just when a friend of mine lost all hope of getting a job at 68 years of age, he was offered a CEO position at a financial services company in Raleigh, NC. Ken had been out of work for eight years and just could not land a position. Prior to that, he held sales and marketing positions at various companies. We would sit on the phone for hours bemoaning our fate. All the good jobs and assignments were going to younger people.

Then one day Ken’s granddaughter introduced him to several social media platforms, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, others. He started to socialize online the way he used to network in person. He dedicated himself to only posting info that made him look desirable for a high ranking position: 1-Business stories he found in his daily readings about a targeted niche. 2-Short, positive thoughts about changes in the specific industry he was interested in. 3-Inspiring comments about recent industry speeches and activities that he posted on other people’s blogs, podcasts, videos and group discussions.

Ken’s main goal was to appear knowledgeable and ageless. He carefully scrutinized every sentence he posted so that he always appeared positive, hopeful, and determined. There was never an attitude, a need to show-off or self-righteousness. It was all about presenting himself as a confident individual who knows how to get things done.

He was very disciplined about his postings. Ken made himself extremely visible and consistent. One day he received an email from a member of the board of a medium-sized financial company in Raleigh that mostly deals with real estate investments. The email was an invitation to a roundtable discussion about the stock market being held at company headquarters. Other outsiders were being invited too. He had to pay for his travel. All else was comped.

He went. When Ken came back from the two-day meeting he was a new man. Not only did he feel refreshed and enthused, but he felt relevant for the first time in years. His participation in social
media gave him the business degree he never got. He taught himself so much about what was happening in business today that he actually became more knowledgable than many executives 10 years younger than himself.

Ken used the time away from the daily grind of business to actually become a strategist. The roundtable discussion in Raleigh was really an audition for all those who were invited to participate. Ken got the highest marks because he was the only one who understood and appreciated how to use today’s digital assets.

Today, Ken travels to Raleigh every Monday through Thursday and works from his home in Alpine, NJ on Fridays. He plans to work until he drops. He said he spent eight years in a forced retirement already and was miserable. These days he feels more alive and satisfied. While he doesn’t have much time to BS with me anymore, he doesn’t miss a day of being a voice online. He is gaining more traction than ever before and is teaching his grandchildren social resume skills that will be their calling card in the future.