Career Comebackers

 Career Comebackers

By VICKI SALEMI

Boundless aspirations, brand-new careers, newly educated: These descriptions don't just refer to recent college graduates. The current job generation is composed of spry, goal-oriented and ambitious professionals, who, although eligible for retirement, are more often than not career comebackers.

Forget the "golden years." The ideal retirement activity for 71 percent of adults surveyed is to work in some capacity, according to a recently released Merrill Lynch New Retirement Study. In fact, almost half of all adults who plan to work during retirement say they do not plan to ever stop working completely. Add to that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data that baby boomers are reaching the age of 60 at the rate of one every seven seconds, and one can certainly expect a new wave of career comebackers entering the workforce, or looking for new skills to explore the fields they always wanted to but never did -- until now.

Monster.com founder Jeff Taylor knows this all too well. Having left his post as CEO of the online job search community and becoming the founder of Eons, Inc., a new media company focused on baby boomers and seniors, he's keen to his target audience's aspirations.

"In tracking the top goals boomers and seniors want to accomplish before they are 100, we've learned that there is a big appetite for learning, not only as it relates to the traditional setting of schools," he says, "but truly using the world as their classroom, such as picking up new skills through their interests and hobbies."

In fact, his goal is for Eons.com to become a community where people can discuss such life transitions amongst themselves and with experts. "As it turns out, learning -- that is exercising your brain -- is an important key to longevity," he adds.

Retirement and exercising one's brain seem to go hand in hand these days for students like 65-year-old Lewis Sprague, a recent graduate of University of Phoenix's online master's degree in teaching. For the past eight years, he has been an engineer at Boeing, the world's leading aerospace company and the manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircrafts. He recently applied to Oxford University in England to earn his Ph.D.

This motivated father of four sons ages 22 through 28 explains, "I look forward to living, not dying." The secret to his drive? Creating his own opportunities and realizing that anything is possible as long as he targets specific goals. "I have more opportunities now than I ever did when I was younger." For Sprague, continuing his own education in order to someday create a spark for students’ interests in math and science helps him flex his academic muscles.

Although the Auburn, Wash. resident will soon be eligible for retirement at Boeing, he is instead setting his sights on more education ... and more work.

This young-at-heart attitude is no surprise to Eon's Taylor, who notes that the description was coined years ago, and the traditional definition doesn’t quite resonate the way it once did. "Most of the statistics are showing that today's 50+ generation intends to continue working in some form, shaping and contributing to society as they always have," he says.

Mary Louise Floyd, author of 'Retired with Husband: Superwoman's New Challenge' (Vanderwyk & Burnham, 2006), adds that the changing landscape of employment has helped redefine retirement. Whether it's flexible work arrangements, job sharing, part-time or seasonal work, or working from home, baby boomers and retirees know there are more options for them now than there was when they joined the workforce some decades ago.

The key, says Floyd, is to stay abreast of state-of-the-art skills to remain employable. "With long, healthy and well-educated second adulthoods ahead of us, we realize we have a mission yet unfulfilled," she explains. "We realize we have been given a gift that affords us the opportunity to change our me-generation label to the re-generation."

Floyd knows this from experience. Since retiring in 1999 as a high school English teacher and library media specialist, she has immersed herself in community service, and cites her cyber-connections as a proponent of that. "Online access to degree programs, volunteer opportunities, lifestyle trends, and government and scholarly research is indispensable in the retiree’s new second adulthood," she says. "Never before has a generation retired into a virtual global village. The possibilities are infinite … with the blessing of second adulthood, we can say, 'Been there, done that.' Now I’m going to work on my true legacy and pursue my passion."

"Wear out, don't rust out," is the mantra of Thomas J. Tomai, managing director of the New England Region of Lee Hecht Harrison, a global career management services company, as he believes staying active and engaged enhances one's quality of life. For many, working is an important driver of happiness and life satisfaction. "Work, whether it's paid or volunteer, provides a sense of purpose and self-worth," he explains. "Engagement means staying active physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually," he says.

And especially for retirees, staying active boasts more than just physical and mental benefits. "Individuals, organizations and society all win when seniors or retirees remain active and engaged in the world of work," he says. "The seniors benefit themselves by enriching their 'golden years'."

His advice? Take the time for self-reflection and assessment. "Leverage your accumulated life experiences and personal insights," he recommends. "The idea is to find an opportunity that lies at the intersection of what you do best, what you like to do and what needs to get done. Think about what makes your heart sing, and have fun."