October

FIFTY IS THE
NEW
FORTY
By Nicky Smith, Career Directed Solutions
If Fifty is the new forty, why do so many of us have a ‘career crisis’ when
faced with job hunting in the prime of our lives? And, will our ‘millennial’
colleagues face the same challenges when they reach the ripe old age of
fifty? More importantly, what can we do about it?
Those born today in the UK have a life expectancy of 107, their working
lives will be long (around 60 years) and varied (at least 3 distinct careers),
starting a new career at 50 won’t be unusual, neither will taking a career
break to retrain or even recharge and thoughts of retirement will, most
likely, be reserved for octogenarians.
Organisations will need to think differently in the future about ‘career
management’, age and life-stage will no longer be synonymous and
managers will need to tune-in to their individual team members, with
greater emphasis on individual career drivers and work/life planning.
Some things we do right now;
Don’t make assumptions: it’s easy to fall prey to our unconscious bias and
make assumptions based on current societal norms (age and life-stage), we
are already seeing people working and adding significant value well into
their 70’s, so don’t assume someone in their fifties is hankering after
retirement.
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