Careers Archives – Page 3 of 10 – Unretirement Project

8 Reasons to Learn About Social Security Early in Your Career

February 6, 2019 by Sharlyn Lauby 2 Comments

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I used to think the right time to learn about Social Security was right before I need it. No sense in learning about something and then having to learn about changes. Well, I’ve changed my mind on this. I received a copy of the book, Social Security Strategies: How to Optimize Retirement Benefits [3^rd Edition]. Sad to say, I received this book over a year ago. And it’s been sitting on the corner of my desk for quite some time.

I finally started digging into the book and realized that understanding Social Security is going to take some time. And it’s possible that one book isn’t going to answer all of my questions. So instead of rushing to learn Social Security when I’m in my 60’s, maybe it makes sense to start learning about it when I’m younger.

While I’m sure that I don’t know everything that I need to know about Social Security, I did learn a few things from reading about it. The book authors also have a website with additional information. Here are my takeaways:

Social Security benefits are driven by age. I’m sure most of you already knew that. But it appears that for some individuals, the date when you can collect benefits is changing. For example, if you’re turning 62 in 2019, your full retirement age is 66 years, 6 months (that’s a two-month increase from last year).
You will want to discuss Social Security strategies with your spouse or significant other. While many benefits are focused on the individual, the amount of your Social Security benefit can change depending on your marital status. You’ll want to decide as a family when each person might want to consider taking their benefit.
You will want to plan your filing strategy years in advance. There’s a lot of writing about getting the greatest monthly benefit when you wait until you’re 70 to file for Social Security. But if your goal with Social Security is to draw as much money as possible, then it could make more financial sense to draw early and collect longer.
If you don’t know how to manage cash flow, you’ll want to learn. Collecting Social Security means living on a budget. And budgets mean understanding cash flow. It’s about having money when you need it, and that includes for emergencies.
You’ll want to monitor your estimated benefits. And start thinking about living within that budget. Speaking of budgets, another aspect of finances to think about is changing your lifestyle to live within your means. It’s possible that all of the things that are necessary right now, we won’t need to purchase in the future.
If you’re planning to work while drawing benefits, you’ll want to understand the impact. If you’re planning to freelance or consult during retirement, you’ll want to think about how much money you’re trying to make while collecting Social Security. Because…see #7.
Social Security doesn’t mean you’re no longer paying any taxes. There are limits on how much money you can make without incurring tax penalties. You’ll want to know what those numbers are because it will drive your unretirement strategy.
Finally, you’ll want to know how to apply. And the necessary paperwork to bring. Don’t wait until the last minute to figure out how to apply. Can you apply online? Is it better to apply in person? What paperwork do you need to bring with you?

Regardless of your financial position, chances are Social Security is a part of your retirement plan. Don’t wait until the last minute to start learning about it. And one other thing…if you’re thinking that you will need Social Security someday, then don’t ignore the conversations happening within government. I’m not here to tell you what to think. But if you don’t want someone to mess with your retirement without you getting a say…then learning about Social Security sooner (versus later) makes sense.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby at Lucky’s Lunch Counter in San Diego, CA

5 Steps for Finding Your Encore Career – #Unretirement Answers

January 30, 2019 by Sharlyn Lauby Leave a Comment

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We recently received a question from a reader about encore (or second) careers. Regardless of your age, it’s good to start thinking about what a career change might look like.

My husband is over 50 and looking to change careers and industries from entertainment publicity to something totally different. Do you have any recommendations? We recently relocated to Colorado, but I don’t think location matters.

First of all, thank you so much for this note. I must admit, this is the first reader note we’ve received. I love answering reader questions, so I hope I’ll get some more.

I’ve written about changing careers a couple of times over on HR Bartender. I don’t want to republish those posts here, so I hope you’ll check these out.

Are you too old for a second career?

Dual careers on your resume and LinkedIn profile

Regarding the reader note, I recently listened to a LinkedIn Learning session from Marci Alboher, vice president of Encore.org and author of “The Encore Career Handbook” about (you guessed it) encore careers. The session is less than an hour long and provides a high-level overview of considerations for finding encore careers. If someone is looking for a place to start, Alboher’s session might be the way to go. In addition to her session, here are five other steps to consider:

Check out Encore.org and join their LinkedIn group. This was one of my big takeaways from Alboher’s session – that there’s an organization and group we can explore and learn from. I didn’t know they existed. But I’m paying attention to them now.
Get your resume and LinkedIn profile in order. Whether you decide to change professions, industries, or go out on your own, you’ll want to do this. And the process takes time. I recently wrote a post on “5 Tips for Age Proofing Your Resume”. Check it out when you have a moment. Use the same philosophy for your LinkedIn profile.
Start developing your social media platforms. Speaking of LinkedIn, we’ve published a couple of posts about working your LinkedIn and Facebook networks. Many organizations post openings online, so you’ll want to know these platforms.
Think about what you want to do. And where you want to do it. I can’t tell anyone what job to take. You have to figure that out on your own. Which means spending some time thinking about what interests you, how much money to you need to make, etc.

There’s one other thing (#5) that I want to address when it comes to second careers. Or first careers for that matter. I’ve always felt that the person getting the job needs to want the job. And part of wanting the job is showing interest. Now it’s possible that the “my husband” reference in this note is because the reader was legitimately asked to write the note. But at some point, “my husband” has to take over this research. Otherwise, this situation will probably not turn out well. I’m dishing out this tough love from the standpoint of a recruiter who has seen moms, dads, husbands, wives, and partners get involved in their loved one’s job search.

An encore career is definitely something to consider when it comes to your retirement strategy. And this person is doing the right thing by starting the conversation early.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby after speaking at the MBTI Users Conference in San Francisco, CA

Your 5-Day Plan to Using LinkedIn In Your Unretirement

January 16, 2019 by Keith Lauby Leave a Comment

A little while ago, I wrote about using social media to help grow your messaging as an independent contractor during retirement. By now, you know that you can use social sites to gain practical experience that will help in unretirement. The first article was about Facebook. Today, let’s talk about LinkedIn.

What is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 562 million members in over 200 countries. Most of us have LinkedIn profiles and know how to connect with people. But did you know:

Over 20,000 companies post 3 million jobs on LinkedIn.
80% of the 146 million U.S. LinkedIn members want to have a mentor or be one to others.

Maybe you’re not officially looking for your dream job, but do you really want opportunities to pass you by? Even in unretirement, you want people to find you on LinkedIn.

How do you create (or update) your LinkedIn profile?

There are hundreds of articles that share great ways to structure your LinkedIn profile. Check out some of the best on the LinkedIn blog. If you want a couple posts that can help optimize your profile, check these out:

Creating a Killer LinkedIn Profile [INFOGRAPHIC]

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, Make Your LinkedIn Profile Shine [SLIDESHOW]

Your 5-day Plan for Learning More about LinkedIn

DAY 1 – Read articles of interest. Your home page will have articles that your connections are posting. This will give you a good sense of what your connections find interesting. Try to find content that both you and your contacts will enjoy. Because a little later on, you will want to share articles with your connections.

DAY 2 – Add to Your Feed. LinkedIn isn’t shy about making recommendations and you will find a few along the right side of your homepage. Trending topics are first, followed by recommendations of people or companies to follow (yes, you can follow companies). It’s a great way to expand your LinkedIn community.

DAY 3 – Check Out Suggested Features. Along the left side of your homepage you will see even more recommendations for LinkedIn Groups and hashtags. LinkedIn is trying to expand the use of hashtags so find a few that interest you – like maybe #unretirement and #retirement.

DAY 4 – Get to Know Your Dashboard. Your Dashboard can be found in your profile, right under your profile section. It offers a quick and easy way to understand who is paying attention to you. It also gives recommendations on ways to expand your interactions on LinkedIn.

DAY 5 – Write a Post. At the top of your feed is a box that says, “Start a post”. Since you’ve found articles in #1 above, share them with your connections. Please remember – LinkedIn has a business focus so save those vacation or adorable pet posts for Facebook.

BONUS! Publish an Article. That’s right, LinkedIn lets users publish their own articles. At the bottom of your new post box you will see a link to “Write an article”. This is your opportunity to share your expertise with the world! Once you do that, LinkedIn will create a page with all of your articles that everyone can follow.

There are a lot of things you can learn using LinkedIn and connections can be valuable. It should definitely be a part of your social media activity in unretirement. So go have some fun growing your community!

Retirement Success: We Need to Learn About Happiness

January 9, 2019 by Sharlyn Lauby Leave a Comment

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Yale University’s most popular class ever is called “The Science of Well-Being”. The good news is you can take it for FREE on Coursera. And, just out of curiosity, I did. I could see how it might make sense to incorporate this program (or something like it) as part of an individual’s planning and preparation for retirement. Here are a couple of reasons why:

Happiness is about judgment and decision-making. The professor for this course, Laurie Santos PhD, started the course sharing the G.I. Joe fallacy, which is that the age-old mantra of “knowing is half the battle” really doesn’t help when it comes to making real-world decisions. So, if we want to be happy and satisfied during our retirement, then we need to *retire* the idea that just giving people information is enough. (No pun intended.)

Happiness means knowing what will make us happy. Santos also talks about the concept of “miswanting”. This is the idea that individuals think they want something a lot more than they do or that they believe they will like something a lot more than they actually will. An example might be the person who thinks they’re ready to quit working and travel the world, then once they officially retire, there’s a bit of remorse.

I’m bringing this up because, in our retirement life, we will often have to deal with trade-offs. For example, we can travel often but our accommodations might be economy. Versus traveling less but more luxuriously. Or we can retire earlier but it means downsizing and paying off a mortgage. Or we can work longer, but it means becoming a freelancer or contractor without healthcare insurance. For us to make good decisions, we need to truly understand what makes us happy. In addition, we need to have a greater understanding of how to make the decision, not just have the information but have enough self-awareness to know the conditions that are right for us.

The last thing anyone wants is to make wrong decisions where their retirement is concerned. I remember years ago meeting someone who was approaching their retirement based on what they read in a book. The book said they needed to retire at XX age. So, they did. And they were unhappy. The book told them they should do XX. So, they did. And they were unhappy. Of course, their unhappiness spread to their spouse. It wasn’t until they said, “I’m just going to retire my way.” that they found their retirement happiness.

Santos suggested a catchy acronym that individuals could use in evaluating decisions and taking action. It’s called WOOP:

W = wish for what you want

O = outcomes are defined

O = obstacles are identified

P = plan your strategy

For me the real success in the WOOP method is in the W. Wishing for what you want means understanding what makes you happy. I don’t know about you, but no one ever talked about this in school or college or at work. I’ve learned what makes me happy over lots of years and many mistakes. “The Science of Well-Being” could be one of those courses that helps individuals focus on happiness. And hopefully not use trial and error as the way to reach it.

There’s an increasing conversation about money not buying happiness and how happiness impacts personal well-being. But it only works if you know what your happiness is. Maybe it’s time to start finding out. That way you can create a successful retirement plan.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while happily exploring Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, HI

Inspiration: The Best Thing To Do With Success Lists

December 12, 2018 by Keith Lauby 1 Comment

success list, inspiration, rules for success, business, business success

We’ve all seen inspiration lists that feature a wildly prosperous person (like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, or Steve Jobs) under a catchy headline telling us how to be successful – either in business or life in general. It’s followed by a number of things we should all do to achieve that success. The idea, of course, is that it worked for this person, so it should work for us too.

It’s easy to dismiss these offhand – – I’m never going to be a billionaire entrepreneur so just forget it. Early in my business life I did that all the time. At some point, though, I started to pay attention to some of the inspiration lists. And this is what I decided to do with them:

Look for things you are doing already. Okay, we all work hard. We all read and try to learn things that will make us more effective and productive. We try our hardest to achieve without giving up. These are affirmations of the great job we are doing every day. Look for them in inspiration lists and celebrate them! Then think of ways to do even more of them.

Cross off things that are beyond your control. This one will take some soul searching because it’s easy to dismiss a lot. You don’t make the company’s products, or you don’t have any input on who gets hired or who you get to work with. But you can offer great service, whether it’s to the general public or coworkers. And you can always help others improve. Make better the things you can and don’t worry about the rest.

Look for things you can start doing. Whether it’s focusing on your well-being or taking more risks, there is almost always something in an inspiration list that you could do better. And avoid the temptation to feel you have to do it on a grand scale. If organization is a problem, schedule a little time to organize something small. Too many distractions? Develop a morning routine and stick with it! That will help you focus for the rest of every day.

The best way to be successful is to know yourself. Know what you do well and find ways to do more of it. Regardless of where you are in your career, we all have areas we can improve so make that a priority. Learning resources are abundant so take advantage of them.

In the end, we all make our own success. Our stories can be an inspiration to others. But everyone has to find ways to make it on their own. In the year ahead, be your own inspiration and create your success story.

Do Not Be a Pest In Your Job Search, Do This Instead

December 5, 2018 by Sharlyn Lauby 2 Comments

I recently ran across an article on the site Career Pivot about following up to get a job. There was a sentence in the post that said, “If you want to get the attention of a prospective employer, you may very well have to be a pest, a nice persistent pest but a pest none the less.” I get it and I completely understand why Career Pivot wrote it. Candidates want the job. So, they’re anxious and excited.

As a human resources professional, let me offer some advice. Don’t be a pest. Not even a “nice pest”. What you do want to do is be effective, efficient, and a good communicator in your job search. You want to follow-up and try to connect. But do not be a pest.

That being said, how do you follow-up and not step over the line to “pest” status? Well, here are a few considerations.

Remember the goal of job search. I worked for an outplacement firm many years ago and we always told candidates the goal of a job search was to receive multiple offers. The key word being “multiple”. That means job seekers should be constantly working leads – multiple leads – in the hopes there will be multiple offers. I’m bringing this up because…

Don’t put all of your efforts in one basket. If the goal is to get multiple offers, then candidates shouldn’t be focused on one company or one job. Yes, I’m sure there are jobs that you really like. But if a company isn’t responding, there are other opportunities available. Especially in today’s job market with record low unemployment.

When you go to an interview, find out next steps. Then follow them. I tell recruiters that a candidate should never leave an interview not knowing 1) when the company is going to make a decision and 2) who to contact with follow-up questions. If the recruiter doesn’t automatically tell you, ask the question. Then, once you know, do what the company asks.

Now, if all of these considerations haven’t convinced you that “being a pest” may not be the best approach in your job search, let me toss out one more thing. Do you really want to work for a company where you had to become a “pest” to get the job? Even a “nice pest” to get the job? When it comes to new opportunities, you should be interviewing the company as much as they are interviewing you. And if it takes pesky behavior to land a new job, just imagine what your career will be like. Enough said.

Maybe it’s just my perception of the word pest, but when you cross over to the pest category, you run the risk of organizations questioning your ability to follow the rules. This doesn’t mean you can’t contact the company or send a follow-up note. (You absolutely should.) Just be careful about going from appropriate job seeker follow-up to pesky candidate.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the streets of Austin, TX

What We Are UP To in November 2018

November 28, 2018 by Sharlyn Lauby Leave a Comment

Watching| Hidden Figures

> I know I’m really behind in watching this one and just caught it while traveling in November. It’s a great movie about three African-American women mathematicians working at NASA during the space race back in the 1960’s. What a wonderful story about history and the people who made it happen!

Reading| Be Internet Awesome

> I recently discovered a project from Google called “Be Internet Awesome”. It’s a program for kids about how to use the internet in a responsible way. But I’m not so sure about the kids’ part. While there are lots of guides about conducting business on the internet, there are very few about being a good internet citizen. If you’re turned off by the crazy on the internet, but know you need to be there, maybe a dose of internet awesome is for you.

Remembering|Nostalgia

> I ran across an article earlier in November on The Conversation about how nostalgia can be helpful and positive. I can see how it’s importance to have balance. On one hand, I love 80’s music and old cheesy movies. But I need to embrace current technology and processes.

Working On| Catch-up days

> This was one of my goals in 2018 and sadly, I was terrible at it. So, I’m going to try again in 2019. I need to block off a day for catching up around the house and office after a trip. There are emails to answer, laundry to do, grocery shopping, etc. Here’s hoping I get better about this one next year.

Feeling| In it for the long haul

> Based on the comments I read on my Facebook page, the midterm elections wore people out. Me too. I get it. Whether you’re an R or a D, there was plenty to go around. But I’m trying to look on the bright side. Hopefully, people understand the importance of being an educated voter. Get ready because 2020 is starting right now. And when you need to take a break from politics, do it. Then come back, read up on the issues, and make sure you vote.

Planning| 2019 Goals

> Am I the only person saying, “I can’t believe it’s almost the New Year?!” How time flies! Anyway, with the new year, Keith and I will be carving out time to reflect on our accomplishments for 2018 and discuss what we’d like to do next year. In November, I wrote a post over on HR Bartender about the planning tools I use most often. We will definitely be pulling these out for our planning session!

Loving| Cooler weather

> South Florida never really had a change in seasons. We laugh that we didn’t turn the heat on for three years. Something tells me that’s going to change in Gainesville. LOL! It’s not too cold right now, but we are noticing a change in the weather (obviously, I wrote this before it got down to the 20s here in November). I have to admit, it will be nice to have seasons again.

Geeking| Google Titan Key

> I will admit that I’m still trying to figure this one out. I’ve read some articles that this security key is excellent and is used by Google employees to keep their files secure. But I haven’t found setting it up very intuitive. Tech security is important, so I will keep trying to develop a new routine with this device.

What’s UP with you?