Exploring Their Options

The oldest of the boomer generation - the 78.2 million people alive now who were born between 1946 and 1965 - will turn 60 this year.

But in a group where many are contemplating retirement, some are changing careers. And the changes are coming for a variety of reasons.

Head of the class

Dr. Jim Crooke, 50, was looking for something more interesting when he sold his 25-year veterinary practice this month. Now Crooke is taking his knowledge to the classroom as a ninth-grade science teacher at Kickapoo High School.

The course he teaches, applied science, combines his college physics major with the biology he learned in his trade.

Crooke said the fact that he's “an older fellow with gray hair” offers him an advantage.

“I think the nice thing about going into it with a little bit of maturity is that I'm not flustered by the kids,” he said. “The first few weeks of school, all the teachers were saying 'How're you doing? How're you doing?' And I was having a blast. I wasn't intimidated. The kids didn't seem ruffled by me, and I wasn't ruffled by them, so it's been a very enjoyable experience.”

Ready resource

Others, like Jan Robbins are hoping to get closer to retirement.

At age 52, she decided to leave her “comfort zone,” her job as John Q. Hammons' assistant with Hammons Hotels Inc., a company she had been with for 24 years.

She said that while the people and the experiences with the company were great, she was ready to make a change that would allow her to get to her Arizona retirement home sooner.

So she made the move to Mid-Missouri Mortgage Co. in early 2005, where she serves as a company vice president. She said her new job put her in a position where she had to do something she never had to do with Hammons: ask for help.

“I had always been in a position where I was the person who knew how to get things done. If I couldn't do it, I knew how to get it,” she said.

“My biggest struggle here has been asking people for help. Once I got over that, and realized that if they're helping me we're all winning, then I became a resource again.”

Camera angles

Not every boomer changes jobs by choice.

Joe Daues, 43, may be best known as the former anchor for KOLR-10 news. He left the station in late 2003 when he and station management were unable to reach a salary agreement. After working nine months at the Fox affiliate in Tulsa, he was fired in a downsizing effort.

Now Daues is on both sides of the camera, doing marketing and directing production for Springfield-based Opfer Communications. He said he's in a unique position, as his wife, former TV news reporter Christine Bielawski, also recently left the TV news business to jump into marketing with Noble & Associates.

“We're both very professionally matched - we're sounding boards for each other,” Daues said. “It's nice to have someone that you're close to but isn't in your work environment. There have been new challenges, but it's (also) been a huge benefit.”

Free spirits, longer careers

Those three boomers are not alone. A recent U.S. News and World Report study shows that the 78.2 million people ages 40 to 60 may have to work longer; less than half of 45-to-54-year-olds have saved at least $50,000 for retirement.

The boomers also have an independent spirit.

Data from the U.S. Bureau of LaborStatistics say the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the country is boomers - 86.6 percent of people who started a new business in the second quarter of 2005 were over age 40.

Deborah Russell, director of work force issues for AARP, said age and experience are advantages, despite the perception that older workers may not be as engaged in their work as their younger counterparts.

“(Human resource firm) Towers Perrin completed a study that found that older workers are more engaged than younger workers, debunking the myth that once people get closer to retirement they just sort of check out and ride the wave to retirement,” Russell said. “That's not the case - they feel more personally invested in the success of the company.”

Even though she had no work experience in the mortgage field before joining Mid-Missouri, Robbins said her willingness to try something new made the change possible.

“I have a huge amount of faith in my ability to learn. That's always been one of the pluses in my personality - I've always faced a challenge head-on,” Robbins said. “The mortgage business is not easy to break into. But what I did bring was a wealth of contacts. My comfort level was with my relationships, and that's what this business is all about. You can learn the book part, but if you have strong relationships you can survive in just about anything.”

And for any boomer contemplating changing careers, have no fear - AARP's Russell said companies are more willing than ever to hire older workers.

“We're seeing more and more employers coming forward wanting to work with AARP to reach out to that generation, especially in industries where there are labor shortages or they foresee labor shortages in the near future,” she said. “Clearly what they will bring is overall experience of being in a workplace setting.”

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