What does it mean to be 50 in America—this monumental age where we’re no longer young but not yet old? For some, it means an empty nest (and not coincidentally a raft of tuition bills from the universities hosting our fledglings). For others, it means saying No More Excuses and starting the novel, taking the trip, or making the key career move that’s been a growing dream for years. And other feel it means reaching new heights on the corporate ladder.
It’s the beginning of a new and less desirable phase on the ladder for many. It’s the age at which our footing on the rungs can get a little shaky, that the structure itself starts creaking, that the weight of those climbing behind us starts to feel like it might force us off—or even topple the entire thing.
The fact is that as strong as you may feel and as on your game as you may be, being a corporate executive at 50 is risky business. According to a ProPublica/Urban Institute 2018 study, 50 or over is actually the riskiest stage of life to be in the corporate workforce.
In an alarming release, the long-term, large-scale study found that more than half of workers 50 and over were pushed out of their jobs before they were ready to retire.
Worse, of the 56 percent who were laid off, only 1 in 10 ever recaptured their peak salary. The financial fallout for these workers is devastating—wrecking retirement plans, squeezing assets, and even putting those tuition payments in jeopardy.
How do you guard against this all-too-common fate? For starters, be mindful of the sage observation radio host and author Earl Nightingale once shared with his listeners: “Jobs are owned by the company,” he said. “You own your career.”
In this advice, Nightingale, who wrote and broadcasted from the 50s to the 80s (surely the golden age of the Company Man career model) was ahead of his time. If he could see the corporate market now, with its far shorter average employee tenures and its trend away from long-term loyalty on either side of the HR desk—he’d know just how right he’d been.
Here at HIRE YOURSELF, we’ve learned through our experience and observations of thousands of middle-aged corporate execs that navigating this critical period of your career means assessing both your vulnerabilities and your strengths. Often, it’s even possible to turn the tables on the corporate assessment of your weaknesses and use them to your advantage.
Consider these 3 major risks of being a middle-aged exec and how they can be flipped to your benefit:
Risk #1: Perceived as Past Your Peak
The Problem:
As people try to stretch out the length of time they’re working with the goal of creating more security, a strange thing happens: they create more risk. The HIRE YOURSELF consultants frequently meet candidates who’ve gone as far as they will in the corporate world in terms of professional growth and interest.
Instead of looking to new horizons, though, they say things like, “I’m not ready to retire,” and “I don’t want to outlive my assets,” and stay in jobs that are no longer satisfying. They keep trudging. But in an all-too-common and ironic turn of events, sometimes the people around them pick up on that sense of riding a job past its useful period—and they, too, begin to see the 50-plus exec as past his or her peak.
These employees are bored in jobs that have run their course. They feel unappreciated. They resent the daily grind and how often they have to answer to people with less experience, less expertise, and less vision.
The Possibility:
It’s hard to imagine a scenario that’s more indicative that it’s time for a change.
If your heart’s not in it, and if your level of risk is increasing, it’s time to ask the obvious question: Why am I still clinging to this? Many times the answer is just that it’s too soon to retire—and that’s fair—but there are plenty of alternative paths that don’t involve putting yourself out to pasture.
Take a step back and look at what you’ve got. Chances are the list includes some capital, strong leadership skills, hard-earned business acumen, and a finely-tuned radar for BS. If so, you are eminently qualified to take control of your own destiny.
Many execs think this is an all-or-nothing venture, but there are countless business investment options that can be undertaken while you keep your day job until you feel confident to step away. In fact, semi-absentee franchise investments are custom-made for this scenario.
Risk #2: Earning the Lion’s Share
The Problem:
Even in a good economy, people still get laid off. It’s a reality, especially for mid- to high-level corporate executives in this age of acquisitions and mergers. And when the economy slows—as is roundly expected in the coming year—then those execs become all the more vulnerable.
The criteria for choosing who goes and who stays in these situations almost always ends up with 50-plus executives in the crosshairs. For starters, you make the most. Your 30-year-old counterpart not only makes a lower salary and has less paid time off, but he or she may also have agreed to a lesser pension plan (or even none at all).
Money is just the beginning of the justification for forcing out older workers. Besides being more expensive, you’re probably more of an independent thinker than many yes-men lower on the ladder. And you’re closer to retirement, which means the company can feel better about pushing you out than your younger co-workers.
Sometimes they’ll sweeten the deal with an incentive, but the chances that it’s enough to replace your lost income until you decide to retire are slim to none.
The Possibility:
The silver lining of this scenario is that you do make more money. You are an independent thinker. You can look at your options and walk away to pursue something else—a luxury your younger counterparts who are just getting their first financial footing in the world don’t have.
Why not leverage your skills and assets to create a framework within which you are indispensable—where you’re the boss? Strategic business investment is a scenario where you can flip the table on being beholden to a corporation and run your own show.
Risk #3: Having Less “Bounce”
The Problem:
In any lost-job scenario, displaced execs over 50 are at a profound disadvantage to get back in the saddle and recapture their previous corporate salary and perks. The HIRE YOURSELF consultants frequently speak with candidates who simply decide it’s not worth it for them to return to the corporate world after a separation—regardless of whether they chose it or not.
These are C-level execs weighing job offers for half their previous pay; directors and managers who are being courted by companies where 20-somethings with MBAs and zero professional experience are running the show. Remember, only 10% of the displaced workers over 50 in a study of some 20,000 candidates was able to recapture their previous salary. It’s not a worst-case scenario—it’s a fact of life.
The Possibility:
How about flipping this paradigm and instead of letting any corporation decide what you’re worth, choosing to invest in yourself? Think you’re too old to start a business? You’re not. In fact, the stats on 50-year-old business owners are basically the antithesis of those about 50-year-old corporate employees.
According to a 2018 report from the Census Bureau and an MIT team, 45-50 years old is the ideal age to start a business and the one with the greatest odds of success. Fact is, a 50-year-old starting a business is 2.2 times more likely to found a successful startup than a 30-year-old doing the same. Why not take the “bounce” out of the equation and start something new instead?
Thinking of taking the first step to HIRE YOURSELF? Contact us anytime for a consultation.
