I’ve had many mature executive clients tell me they have experienced some form of age discrimination in their careers. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission stated that record levels of age-discrimination lawsuits have been filed in the last five years.One contributing factor: millennials are moving into junior executive or executive positions and some may not recognize an older worker’s value to an organization. Thei...

I've observed an interesting phenomenon. Condo sales in the town where my in laws live, West Palm Beach, were picking up. As someone who studies workforce trends, this is the opposite of what I expected to happen. The baby boomer generation, I thought, does not want to retire to Florida and play golf and mahjong all day. They want to stick around and keep contributing.It turns out I had only part of that right. Boomers want...

Whether you’re in the 55+ job seeker category yet or not, the job search and career resources available for that group will undoubtedly become important to you at some point. That’s especially true if the tendency of too many companies to base their hiring decisions on perceived age-related drawbacks stays as active as it has been in the past.Job Search Challenges for 55+ Job SeekersAccording to Experience Works (formerly G...

In a world where young people suffer from FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) on social media, somehow that doesn’t apply to in-person events. Event planners frequently tell me how hard it is to get millennials to show up for events like conferences or resume workshops.While I hear this complaint about Millennials, the truth is it’s a multigenerational audience issue: It’s amazing how many people now sign up for something but don’t...

Let’s face it: The traditional 9-to-5 work lifestyle is long gone.For many of us, it’s not unusual to stay at the office until 7 or 8, or to burn the midnight oil working on a freelance gig, startup idea, or extra project to get ahead at work.Even if your company promotes a healthy work-life balance, your workload may get out-of-control busy at some point and you’ll simply need to bring work home in the evenings or over the...

On Halloween, you get permission to be something that you’re not, surprising the world with a big reveal.I’ve found something similar in my work with millennials: Many people have specific, often negative stereotypes about this generation. They’re surprised when they find someone behind the “millennial mask” with traits they weren’t expecting: hardworking, humble, inquisitive, to name a few.When I talk to people about my wo...

A study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation reported that the highest rate of entrepreneurial activity over the last few years is not Gen-Y upstarts, but Baby Boomers in the 55-64 year age group. In fact, Boomers are actually driving a new entrepreneurship boom as they retire from their traditional corporate jobs and seek more meaningful sources of work.According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 60 percent of the...

I’ll admit it — I am a sucker for “secret hack” posts. Although typically they build the anticipation up to the big reveal at the end, I’m going to give you the good stuff right away in this post, because it’s so simple and easy.Here’s the “secret” hack to marketing to millennials: Include a millennial in every meeting about marketing to millennials. If you’re not doing this, you’re missing out on the easiest, most effectiv...

Get ready.I'm going to vent.Some of you may even remove me as a LinkedIn connection. I'm ok with that. I'm annoyed at the delusional expectations of some executive job seekers and the infectious negativity they spread by not accepting job-seeking life for what it is.The executive job search is a sales process. It's not an entitlement program.I get it. It's hard. And you think it shouldn't be this hard after you have worked...

How do you react when someone tells you that you need to be networking to have a productive job search? Do you say, “Network? Oh, no, I can’t do that!” or just throw up your hands in horror? With all the technology-fueled job search trends around these days, you might think, “Hey, I don’t need to network. I can just put my resume online and email it to people.”Sorry, but you can’t get out of it that easily. Technology can s...