Many professionals who worked hard, built careers and thought they had a secure hold on the American Dream have suddenly found themselves in a position they never imagined.
They’re the baby boomers, the post-World War II babies born during the prosperous years from 1946 to 1964, and they seemed destined to break new ground from the beginning. They became the largest generation in American history, numbering more than 77 million. They were at the forefront of new music and the trendy fashions of the 1960s when they were teenagers. As young adults, they were passionate demonstrators in protests against the Vietnam War and for Civil Rights, and they went on to become a dominant force in business, the arts and politics.
Their next frontier is retirement, and it appears they’re intent on doing that differently, too. As the first wave of boomers reaches the traditional age for retreating from the workplace, increasing numbers are giving retirement a pass and opting to continue working.
The reason is most often financial—although healthy retirement funds and savings give some boomers the opportunity to travel, indulge their passions or pursue new interests, those are luxuries others simply can’t afford. For them, working is part of an ongoing plan to meet their current obligations and build up their resources.
Making part-time work
A career change and a faltering economy led Napa resident Cynthia Ripley to her current position—and a long commute.
Ripley and her husband, Jim Scoggin, both architects with master’s degrees, moved to Napa from Marin County in 2001. They had a successful practice in San Francisco, Ripley Scoggin Partners, and lived in Mill Valley because they liked the schools, but they never intended to stay there. In 2001, they lost the lease on their office space in the city, and since their twin sons had left home for college, it was an opportune time to move; they decided to give Napa a try. They already owned an income property there, so they made it their primary residence and downsized the architecture practice to move it to Napa, too.
Initially, they didn’t expect the city to become their permanent home, but after a couple of years, they decided to build a new house and stay. They changed direction somewhat when they found an old house with a historic designation, which prevented the owner from tearing it down. Instead of building a new house, “We found an old wreck of a historic house that we could buy for $1,” she says. They moved it to another lot and began restoration.
Then, because their architecture firm was bringing in less work, Ripley began contemplating a career change. In 2006, she went to work for the city of American Canyon as a capital projects manager. In her career as an architect doing public buildings, she had worked with municipalities, so her new role was comparable to that of her former clients. “It was parallel to what I’d done,” she says. Now, though, instead of working on buildings, she was developing parks and trails, and she discovered she really enjoyed the work. “I loved it. It was a fabulous job,” she says. “I’ve always wanted to do projects that improve people’s lives.”
Ripley was making more money in American Canyon than she had in private practice and planned to put funds into her retirement account. But the economy took a dive, and in response to the recession, the city eliminated her position and several others; she became what she describes as a victim of the changed economy. “We didn’t see the downturn coming,” she says.
Meanwhile, the house wasn’t finished, and she and Scoggin were faced with completing it in a changed economy that had had a negative impact on the construction industry and, consequently, architecture.
“The downturn deprived us of revenue,” she says. Still, she needed to work and began looking for another job. She found one in Burlingame, but without benefits and in a CalPERS category that limits her work to 1,000 hours per fiscal year. “Cities use it to hire part-time people,” she says. These days, she makes the long trek to the San Francisco Peninsula three days per week and works on small projects such as energy retrofits and changing the city’s street lighting grid to LED fixtures to improve efficiency. She’s done it for two years and is committed for a third.
Ripley and her husband are feeling nervous about finances and plan to continue working for the foreseeable future. When she went to work for American Canyon, she says, “I was just working because I wanted to.” Now, she’s doing it to service a project—their house—but even without the need, she says she’d continue to work. “I like being involved in projects very much. I like being an employee instead of having to market myself,” she says.
She and Scoggin, who serves on the city of Napa’s planning commission, plan to keep their architecture practice open, because it’s useful and gives them a base—and if things pick up, they’ll have an alternative. “Working and the need to work has made us stick it out,” she says.
At the beginning of her career, “I was of an age that, in pursuing my professional career, I always seemed to be leading an experiment—getting a degree in architecture when there were few women, opening my own practice when there were few women owners, working and raising kids. It felt scary not to have models to follow,” she says. Now, as one of the first wave of boomers staying in the workplace, she’s still at the head of the line.
A changing environment
A shortage of funds is frequently the motivation driving boomers to stay in the workplace. “I took a few baths on investments,” says one Marin County boomer, who asked not to be identified because she’s currently seeking work and going through the interview process. She was the sole source of support for her three children from the time they were young, and it was expensive to pay for private schools and put them through college, but she did it because she believes in education. It meant, however, “I was short in the savings department for a long time,” she says.
She’s had a career in information technology and has been doing contract work, but her most recent job ended several months ago, and with new parameters in play, she’s found it difficult to find a new position. “In the last five years, it’s a whole new ballgame,” she says. “It’s very, very hard out there. And being a contractor is even more difficult.” She’d prefer a long-term, salaried position, because contracts usually last only four to six months and, she adds, “You’re truly a contingent worker. You’re not treated the same way.”
She currently finds jobs through headhunters or deals with businesses directly and says, “It helps if you know someone.” She then describes the search for work as daunting and says, “As a baby boomer, age is a complete factor.” And she adds that, with more people competing for fewer jobs, “Employers want people with good qualifications, but they don’t want to pay. They’re taking advantage of the labor pool.” Although she’s well-educated and good at her job, to stay competitive, she recently cut her rates in half.
As well as preconceptions about age, she believes the influx of foreign workers with H1-B visas has impacted the job search in the technology industry. In her experience, if the individual doing the hiring is from India, for example, he or she is most likely to hire another Indian. “People like to work with people who are like themselves. I understand it,” she says.
But in her opinion, boomers have a place in the workforce and contribute valuable assets such as experience, maturity, the ability to mentor and a good work ethic. They also offer undivided attention. “We’re not going to be texting in a meeting. We offer face time more frequently,” she says.
She’s realistic, however, and concludes, sadly, “America isn’t the America of our dreams anymore.”
The job search
Many professionals who worked hard, built careers and thought they had a secure hold on the American dream have suddenly found themselves in a position they never imagined when the recession caused them to lose their jobs and depleted the funds they were depending on for retirement.
Racy Ming, director of the Workforce Investment Board and manager of the Employment and Training Branch of Marin County’s Health and Human Services Department, which includes the Marin Employment Connection (MEC), a career one-stop that offers services for all job seekers, says she definitely saw more older workers needing help after the recession set in and the economy worsened. “They thought they could retire, and then their 401(k)s tanked,” she says. “They’d been laid-off from well-paying jobs, and they were shell-shocked.”
She acknowledges that baby boomers seeking employment face challenges, listing the perception that they’re more expensive (both in salary and insurance) and the belief that they’re not as adept at using technology as factors working against them—even though those notions are frequently untrue. “They’re good workers,” she says, and she believes they add assets such as experience and reliability to the workplace.
And because self-assurance is another important asset in a job search, she suggests that boomers who are in the market for work ask themselves, “Do I present myself positively?” In addition, she advises, “Don’t struggle to do your job search alone.” Help is available, and she urges people to take advantage of it. MEC offers a career center and workshops for adults, and a broad spectrum of people, from minimum-wage earners to those who were earning six-figure incomes, take advantage of its services. Ming suggests that women also make use of the programs the YWCA offers.
As well as taking classes at the YWCA, which range from upgrading résumés to developing strategies for making age an asset, Betty Szudy, program director of the YWCA San Francisco & Marin’s 50Plus Employment Support Program for women (which offers job search workshops, one-on-one career guidance and computer technology courses), advises people to make connections with other job seekers and emphasizes diversifying the job search rather than simply relying on craigslist. She also suggests connecting with others in programs, such as Marin Professionals, a peer-support organization for professionals 40 and older who have a college degree and at least 10 years experience and are looking for new jobs. In addition, volunteering with nonprofits in Marin can help job seekers get more experience, which gives them something new to add to their résumé.
The YWCA receives major funding for its programs from the Marin Community Foundation, which means it has to limit some of its services to residents of Marin County; however, Szudy says men and women in Napa and Sonoma counties can take advantage of the California Department of Aging’s Senior Community Service Employment Program. “We’d love it if we could find additional funding,” she says. “We’d definitely be interested in expanding our services.” She suggests job seekers in other counties contact the Employment Development Department, and further says the American Association of Retired People (AARP) has excellent online resources for job seekers.
Although retirement has become an expectation, Szudy points out that the concept is relatively new and that, in the even recent past, as people aged, they continued working but did different kinds of jobs. Pension plans and programs such as Social Security and Medicare, which came into existence in the 20th century, altered views on working by creating the idea that people retired at age 65—and it’s happening again. With the downturn in the economy and rising cost of living, many older job seekers are working longer than they had expected to—sometimes well beyond traditional retirement age. While some members of the baby boomer generation are strongly motivated to keep working, others feel their dream of retirement is unachievable.
“The culture is changing,” says Szudy, who observes that many members of the baby boomer generation believe their work defines them, and as a result, they’re strongly motivated to keep working. “The time is ripe for new approaches to aging and work.”
All in the family
In family businesses, working past 65 is often part of the culture, so retirement isn’t an issue. Santa Rosa resident Jim Allen is the third generation of his family to serve as president of the Belvedere Land Company, which owns and manages commercial and residential property in Belvedere, Tiburon and San Francisco. He has no specific plans for retirement, and whatever route he takes will depend on business decisions that affect the company’s future.
Remaining active in the business, however, is something of a family tradition. His grandfather worked past 70, and his father continued working until his death at the age of 78. His uncle, Howard Allen, who’s still involved in another family business (working with his son), turned 90 in April. Allen describes him as “semi-working” (as opposed to “semi-retired”) and says, “He’s there every day at 9 a.m.”
Allen values the skills and experience of the boomer employees in his company’s ranks and describes property manager Cathy Larson, one of his contemporaries, as someone with “tremendous background and experience in looking after people.” He adds that she’s particularly adept at having difficult conversations with tenants, who include long-time residents of the community who’ve given up larger homes and downsized.
Although the world is changing, the company’s approach is still personal: “Our local residents are very familiar to us,” he says.
A new chapter
Baby boomers count plenty of innovators among their numbers—think Bill Gates and Steve Jobs—so resourcefulness and creative thinking are likely to enter the job-seeking picture.
United Airlines Captain Barry Wilson of Tiburon sees the end of his airline career on the horizon. Although mandatory retirement is long gone in most industries, governmental regulations preclude commercial pilots from keeping medical certification once they reach 65, so he’ll be out of a job in a year or so. Money isn’t a major consideration, so he’s not worried, but he’s not ready to stop working, either. “I’m exploring the options,” he says. “I’d like to have a less intrusive work life.”
Recently, he visited the Apple Store at the Village in Corte Madera and suggested to the manager that he’d make a good employee. He’s had a career in an industry with many high-tech advances and believes he could put his aptitude for technology to a different use. “I could talk to more mature customers,” he says. “I’ve watched this computer revolution from the sidelines,” he adds, and now he’d like to be part of it. Wilson isn’t actively seeking a job yet, so only time will tell where his approach might lead, but he says the manager seemed intrigued.
It’s a new chapter, and the story is still evolving, but whatever they do, it seems clear that retirement is something boomers are going to do their own way and in their own time. They’re bound to have an impact, and we’ll just have to wait to see what it is.
Start a new career
Encore Careers provides opportunities for boomers to launch new, meaningful careers in the second half of their lives. Learn more at www.encore.org.
Get help
Marin Employment Connection (MEC) offers education and training to all job seekers in Marin County, including older workers. Workshop topics include interviewing techniques, résumés and upgrading computer skills. Find out more at www.marinemployment.org or call (415) 473-3300.
The YWCA of San Francisco-Marin works in partnership with Marin Employment Connection to offer programs that support older workers. Go to www.ywcasf-marin.org to find out more about the FiftyPlus Employment Support Program or call (415) 479-9992.
The Sonoma County Workforce Investment Board, in partnership with the Economic Development Board, began an Aging Workforce Initiative to address the issues of older workers in 2008. For help with a job search in Sonoma County, see www.sonomaworks.org or call SonomaWorks at (707) 565-5500.
The Napa Workforce Investment Board offers services in Napa County. For more information, go to www.workforcenapa.org or call (707) 259-8786.
Fill the gap
The Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership of Marin offers the opportunity for people between jobs to take on one-time assignments that help local nonprofits. Go to www.cvnl.org or call (415) 479-5710 to find out more about the organization.
Network
Marin Professionals is a chapter of Experience Unlimited, which the California Employment Development Department sponsors. Among its services, it holds meetings every Monday morning at Marin Employment Connection, which lets professionals who are at least 40 and have 10 years’ experience hear a speaker and network with others. For more information, go to www.marinprofessionals.org or call (415) 507-2140. This is a state-funded program that serves residents of all North Bay counties.
