Law And More

The Civil War in BigLaw - Dead Wringer for Global Generational Tensions

Media outfits, ranging from establishment Bloomberg Law to advocacy-oriented Abovethelaw, have picked up on the new conflict in BigLaw.

It's showcased in the sustained coverage of which law firms are awarding COVID-19 Appreciation Bonuses and which aren't. 

There is also the questioning of why and how BigLaw firms are representing controversial clients. Out the window is the fundamental that the accused deserve a defense. 

Essentially, it's a civil war.

On one side are the partners.

They control wealth and power - as well as the careers of non-partners. In addition, they could be pulling down annually five-million-plus dollars. That's more than the total compensation for the global general counsel at McDonald's in 2019.

On the other side are the associates and law students who represent cultural change.

Their position of strength (whether they admit it or not) is that within the large law firm they have, relatively speaking, little to lose. The odds are against making partner. Maybe they don't even want that anymore. They could be just playing the game for the experience. Also, their current compensation or what their future compensation as an associate is, compared with partners, peanuts.

Incidentally, the saga of Aaron Charney proved that lawyers can burn bridges and not only land on their feet. They can come out ahead financially. After settling with his former BigLaw employer for alleged sex-orientation bias, Charney could afford a condo in Manhattan. That's in addition to another plum job in BigLaw. 

Meanwhile, in the push-back process associates and law students are learning marketable skills. Those include organizing, looping in allies, assessing and implementing messaging tools and creating brandnames for themselves. About the latter, presence is almost everything in professional life.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama put together a personal brand as a community organizer.

Those kinds of abilities open the door to career paths in politics, leadership in nonprofits, the C-suite in non-traditional corporations and maverick law firms.

That squaring-off between partners and associates mirrors the global upheaval among generations. On an individual level climate change activist Greta Thunberg represents that. Between nations that played out when youth in Hong Kong opposed being controlled by the old guard in China. 

Not that such a conflict is new. There is a vivid visual memory of high noon in 1989 in China's Tiannanmen Square. Years earlier, there was the counterculture movement, symbolized by the British Invasion, that is, the Beatles. In America, that cultural disruption affected institutions ranging from the nuclear family to the academic-industrial complex. 

So?

It makes sense that the career-guidance departments in the T-14 law schools should develop a non-credit seminar titled "Reimagining the Law Firm."

At Harvard Law School, Assistant Dean for Career Services - Mark Webber - might consider piloting such an initiative.

The business reality is this: The law firm will mutate. It's in the self-interest of future lawyers to be thought leaders and/or actual foot soldiers in this civil war. During wars, names are made. Career mobility is extraordinary. To leverage that platitude: A war is a terrible thing to waste. 

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Law School Deans, Beware - America Could Be Breaking "Habit" of Higher Education

"Overall, undergraduate populations shrank by 4%, and first-year student counts fell by 16.1%, according to new data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center." - Melissa Korn, The Wall Street Journal, October 15th, 2020.

The fear among educators is that those deciding against attending college this year might not opt back in, when COVID-19 ends and the economy recovers. That is, the "habit" of higher education might be in the process of being broken. That trend, of course, can extend to attending law school. 

Usually, youth flocks to higher education during economic downturns.

What has been getting plenty of attention is the research by the Georgetown University Center for Education and the Workforce. 

Essentially the surprising finding was this: The less education, the higher the starting salary. For example, right out of the gate, those with associate degrees from community colleges earned $800 more a month than the median compensation of those receiving Master's degrees. Another eye-opener was that a degree from an Ivy doesn't necessarily result in a higher ROI than one from a state school.

The mindset about higher education in America could be shifting from The More Education The Better to Invest in The Least Amount of Higher Education as Possible. 

This is not new. The December 27, 2016 edition of The Economist threw shade on the doctoral degree. Not only may it not yield a satisfactory ROI. As the article points out, most of those matriculating are unhappy. Who doesn't know a Ph.D. who is employed for peanuts and no job security as adjunct professors?

Yes, some degrees at some prestigious universities provide a linear path to the overall good life. It was noted that Amy Coney Barrett was the only nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court who had not received a degree from an institution like Harvard Law School or Yale Law School. 

However, if Barrett gets to the High Court that pattern too could be in the process of being broken. The AmLaw 100 might look beyond the T-14 for recruiting. 

What is obvious in the help-wanted ads on Craigslist is this: Employers are more focused on documented experience and the existence of certifications than on degrees. It is well known that many corporations in BigTech no longer require the BA or the BS to apply for a job. 

That habit of the more education the better began with the GI Bill of 1944. By time our generation, born after World War II, was in high school, the "must" was already in-place to "go to college." Those in other tracks in high school, such as shop and secretarial, carried the Scarlet Lettering "NC," that is, Not College. 

Last night, my apartment flooded. The maintenance crew had to pull out all stops to have a plumber agree to come fix the underlying problem. He finally did at 10 P.M. I assume the property complex is paying him a king's ransom. Unlike so many of us white collars, he and other members of his trade can determine the terms and conditions of how they make a very good living.

Full Disclosure: My Ph.D. in linguistics and literation from an Ivy was not only not marketable. It was a liability. Unethical but necessary: I left it off my resume to be able to be hired so I could try out non-academic career paths. That took five long years.

The Future of Work. Ghostwriting on those issues and coaching for job search, transition, personal branding, re-entry after recovery and reputation restoration. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com).

Of Course, Lawyers/Staff Need Multiple Sources of Income - 5 Rules of the Game

In 2019, lawyer Kevin Ha made the news.

The coverage was in financial media - MarketWatch. Among the players in the money crowd there was a fascination with a lawyer who was employed full-time (his wife also worked) and who had 13 side hustles.

There was more in the Ha story. The gigs were, well, without status. They ranged from returning scooters to food delivery.

That was then.

Because of the actual employment carnage and the sustained uncertainty triggered by COVID-19, the Ha model of multiple sources of income is no longer news. It's an option lawyers and staff better take seriously.

No, you are not too busy to think of earning money beyond your day job. Recently, Bryan Cave laid off about 118 lawyers and staff. As the gallows humor goes: A crisis like the pandemic is a terrible ting to waste. I will be exploited by employers, across all sectors, to not only conduct RIFs. Also they will restructure to eliminate those positions forever.

The "barrier to entry" when it comes to establishing multiple sources of income is this: The brands have to managed so as not to put at risk your primary source of income. Sure, Ha could do offbeat hustles. But most lawyers and staff would lose credibility and damage their resume by too far a stretch from their core personal branding. 

In addition, in this unforgiving work environment lawyers and staff have to all-there for their jobs. Therefore, the how they earn funds on the side can't drain them. 

Here are the 5 fundamental rules of the multiple income game:

• Look for easy fits. That strategy will require less energy and time. For example, the lawyer can tutor LSAT test preparation part-time. On October 8th, there was a help-wanted on Craigslist for such service in Manhattan and online. The compensation is $180 an hour. Unless you excel in logistics, no, you don't want to loop into a manufacturing project with a global supply chain.

 

• Just as with introducing foods to a baby, take on new opportunities slowly. Monitor how much those take away from your day job. If it isn't a strain, then add on more of those kinds. For example, through Airbnb, you lease out a room in your primary residence. You seem to be skillful in screening potential renters. No trouble. So, you add on doing Airbnb for your getaway. Soon enough you purchase residential property to extend this tactic.

 

• Be circumspect. Given that the legal sector tends to a tradition-bound industry, incoming-producing side pursuits could be used against you. A middle manager in an equally conservative industry, whom I coached, learned that the hard way. He had been too open about operating a franchise. His objective in coaching was to restore his personal brand Download ReimaginingYourPersonalBrandwithJaneGenova

 

• Overall, keep the brands separate. The exception is when there is a natural fit. For example, lawyers teach business-law courses in an MBA program. Otherwise, create different resumes, cover letters and personas for each line of work you do. Here is my article on what I call "mutt branding."

 

• Approach all this as playing in a variety of spaces, one or more of which might turn out to be your day job or self-employment. When doing a side hustle, some discover their passion. They seek a full-time position in that or launch a business. During The Great Recession, when I was operating this blog (since it's syndicated it brings in income), there were requests for career coaching. First that was a side business. Now it's a core competence. Simultaneously, I also continue in content-creation, especially for businesses aligned with the career industry.

Takeaway: "They" can take away your job. But not your ability to make a very good living, through multiple sources. A free read is my book on parachuting out of your comfort zones. Behavior-change organization Dale Carnegie Systems had posted it on its website.

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Law Firm Staff Members Have to Reimagine How to Earn a Good Living - Baker Botts Laying Off 50 Staff

Baker Botts, like many law firms, is restructuring how it operates. Because of automation and what lawyers learned they could do working remotely, staff is less needed.

It's no surprise that Baker Botts made the decision, reports AbovetheLaw, to lay off 50 staff members in Office Services and  Secretarial Services.

October 15th will be the last day on the job.

Given that staff positions are being targeted for elimination throughout large law firms around the world, those who lose their jobs are unlikely to find comparable ones in the legal sector. Those who aren't laid off, probably should accept they are on short time.

A similar pattern of phasing out staff functions occurred in Corporate America when the word processor had been invented at Wang Laboratories. The bean counters kept spotting more and more opportunities for cost-efficiency.

Staff members who didn't embrace the reality that they would be forced out suffered mightily - emotionally, socially, spiritually and financially. They weren't up to the tough task of transition.

By that last day of work, the 50 at Baker Botts can speedcycle through all the phases of this loss. Those range from traditional grief to optimism about the future. 

That process requires this: shaking off what has been the routine. Here, a free read, is my book on finding the exit ramp out of your comfort zones. 

Meanwhile, track and list everything you do from the minute you start work to when you go off duty. Then break that into skills such as "customer service," "high proficiency in such and such software packages," project management," "negotiation," "training," "conflict resolution," "compliance," and so on.

Then, key in on a search engine "Craigslist - sites." Scroll to down your state. Then, click on each and every category be it "business" or "nonprofit." Open each help-wanted ads. Where are there possible matches between your skills and what it takes to get the job done? Don't back off from a force-fit. You can grow into the job.

For each kind of work opportunity create a pattern resume and cover letter. Customize to apply. Role play the best persona for that job. When I shifted from academia to corporate, you bet I had to develop a new personal brand. Then when I hung out a shingle, again there had to be another personal brand.

And, approach this transition recognizing this is your next job, not your last. It's merely a platform from which to reimagine your career. 

The work world has become unforgiving. You may be among those who have to reimagine your career. Affordable coaching.  Make an appointment for complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Law Firms with Tourist Practices - Probably 2 to 3 Years for Sector to Recover Fully

"With the virus still a significant risk, a feeling likely reinforced by President Trump’s diagnosis, it’s possible many tourist-dependent cities will see a second wave of economic damage this year, brought by the new rounds of job losses." Bloomberg BusinessWeek, October 7, 2020.

The tipping point in pessimism about the tourism sector has been Disney's 28,000 RIF. Along with that, of course, have been the massive layoffs conducted by tourism players ranging from casinos to transportation. 

There has been a confluence of 3 factors:

• Limits on the number of customers allowed into a tourist setting. Yes, social distancing.
• The public's fear of traveling by plane. There is a distrust of safety and health procedures for the close quarters of airplane interiors.
• Travel bans. They have halted the lucrative business of those from other nations touring the U.S.

At Moody's, economist Mark Zandi projects it will require 2 to 3 years for what is included under the umbrella of "tourism" to recover, fully. 

That means law firms with practices in that sector are being hit hard - with no light at the end of the tunnel. Optimism seems downright inappropriate.

Recently, a colleague in career coaching bluntly told students in hospitality degree programs to start redirecting their careers.

I call that "taking a skills/experience audit." Lawyers who depended on that sector might also have to engage in such a pivot.

The next step is this: After identifying what can be put out there to sell in the labor market, then do comprehensive research of what those specific jobs and gig assignments could be. An analysis of all the possible categories can be conducted on job-search platform Craigslist. Just key in "Craigslist - sites." See where there is a match. 

Then, create resumes and cover letters (yes, multiple) to apply for those opportunities. Custom-make each of those for each specific job or assignment. 

Role play the appropriate persona for the varieties of organizational cultures.

Soon, you will be doing your Next.

The work world has become unforgiving. You may be among those who have to reimagine your career. Affordable coaching.  Make an appointment for complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

 

Transcending Marketing & Its Discontents - Sales w/o Selling

The gameplan for marketing keeps mutating. And, during COVID-19 times, with so many businesses failing, survival of the fittest keeps requiring new plays.

While some law firms are engaged in the bonus wars others are still wobbly. 

Sure, for certain players, the tactics can still include publishing a book. Venture capitalist and co-founder of PayPal Peter Thiel put out there "Zero to One." That was in 2014. Currently it still ranks high on Amazon - 8,140. Expect an uptick.

In that guide for entrepreneurs, Thiel discusses applying to clerk for two justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, being rejected and lessons learned. Given the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, sales of any book reflecting on SCOTUS dynamics are bound to soar.

In addition, if layoffs become the norm should COVID-19 circle back or a contested election throws the world economy into disarray, those in the RIF loop will have to reflect on what Thiel had to find out. Namely that a setback can be opportunity. Those suffering that blow have upped the odds of winding up on their right career path. 

Here's another kind of lesson to learn. Public affairs Manhattan boutique owner Bob Dilenschneider published "Decisions" on December 31, 2019. Currently it ranks quite low on Amazon - 1,024,555. That makes publishing a book, at least for Dilenschneider, a - not a +. His shop does have a niche for the public opinion aspect of litigation as well as tort reform. The Dilenschneider Group helped promote Philip Howard's "The Death of Common Sense."

You bet, book publishing is risky for the non-Thiels as well as the non-Woodwards. Sales are made public on Amazon. That is information available to the author's competitors and enemies. Prospects for the author's services are also aware of the rankings. In America, we count. That's why resume experts hammer to quantify accomplishments. Your team's wins and settlements totaled X amount for 2019. 

What Dilenschneider ignored was this: All the other cool marketing tactics he could have invested his resources in. They include podcasting, YouTubing and Instagram. The content of those could have been entertaining. 

The essence of marketing is a distraction from the existential tragedy that is life. Ginsburg, like all human beings, really did die. 

The marketing message is supposed to lift the targeted demographics from focusing on what is to the promise of what could be. That ability characterized Don Draper's creative talent in AMC's programming "Mad Men."

Successful marketing is actually a process of not-marketing. The response is built-in. The targets respond, kind of on autopilot. And it transcends the inherent hatred of being sold to that iconic Harvard professor Ted Levitt warned about. He made famous the meme Marketing and Its Discontents. 

In constructing his gameplan for 2021, Dilenschneider can dismantle his in-place marketing machine and conjure up the voodoo of sales w/o selling. So can law firms. 

The genius in that category is chairman of law firm Paul, Weiss Brad Karp. Each and every outreach doesn't look, walk, talk or smell like marketing. Those range from social justice initiatives to acquiring brandname laterals from his competitors. There is no heavy-handed marketing imprint. 

When I consult with displaced lawyers for my career coaching services, early into the session it is usually appropriate to introduce the question: Have you considered experimenting with how you are marketing yourself? 

Their answer is always "yes." That is because the answers for our economic survival are always within us. Otherwise, caveman wouldn't have had endured long enough to produce the next generation of the human species.

If what's inside you is sending out signals to assess your marketing, then Stop, Listen, and experiment. Most things in business don't pan out. All that's needed are for a few to produce results. 

Small changes can have big impacts. Results-driven career coaching.  Affordable rates (sliding scale).  Make an appointment for complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com) Download UnleashingPossibilitywithJaneGenovaCareerCoaching

Law Firms - Succession Planning as Anachronism

The business platitude - the future is now - seems to dominate the law firm mindset.

Law.com observes that during this COVID-19 recession, law firms are veering away from long-term planning.

Therefore, their manpower policies entail what Law.com phrases as "eating their young."

Winston & Strawn had laid off 10% of associates.

The Major Lindsay & Africa survey found that equity partners are squeezing out profits at the expense of nonequity partners, females and professionals of color.

And, some firms seem to be neglecting associate development. Part of that, though, may be a result of operating remotely. Associates can no longer just pop their heads into the partners' offices to ask a question.

This focus on exploiting every bit of current opportunity versus a preoccupation with succession planning is one kind of business model.

It's not new. And it may become a best practice since volatility and uncertainty may have become embedded in the global and U.S. economy.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Corporate America got hit hard by international competition. No longer was it Top Dog.

To survive, Chrysler, for example, bypassed its succession planning and parachuted in an outsider Lee Iacocca.

In the early 1990s, upstart competitors such as Microsoft and Apple threatened IBM. It pivoted out of its traditional policies including lifetime employment and brought in outsider Lou Gerstner Jr. 

And all that systematic succession planning nurtured by the late Jack Welch at GE - smirk smirk. His decisions in that generated the downward trajectory which continues into 2020.

Maintaining a strong bench of brandname talent in the now seems to be the proven-out success formula for leading a law firm during aberrant conditions. That's exactly why the lateral market, at least in some categories, is brisk. That poaching, as by Paul, Weiss from Boies Schiller, receives plenty of media attention. Such coverage enhances the brand of both the law firm and its leadership.

What's being called "eating your young" is not only a model for law firm operations, though. In the book "Disrupted," Dan Lyons describes that MO as typical in startups. He calls it "burn and turn." That is, enthusiastic youth are onboarded, work hard, and when they can't endure that any more, are replaced like outdated inventory by other too-eager youth.

However, not all is lost. Entry-level employees, both lawyers and staff, can approach the job as a short-term opportunity. Sure, some will make partner or not be laid off as technology takes over more and more administrative functions.

Most will be forced out.

The objective is to learn as much as they can, both about themselves and about the mechanics and macro aspects of the job. The mindset is to be prepared to exit. The strategy is The Hedge, that is, continuing to research how to leverage those skills and experience to other jobs or self-employment. Part of that is creating resumes and cover letters which tell that story in the language of results. "Our team achieved verdicts and settlements totaling X billions in 3 years."

A useful briefing on how much the labor market has changed and how that influences being hired and working anywhere at anything for any period of time is "What Color Is Your Parachute?" by Richard N. Bolles.

Essentially, the reality, Bolles currently hammers, is that human beings will spend their entire lifetimes searching for work - or business for their own enterprises. Those who are most resourceful in that - and not necessarily the best qualified - will be the overall winners. Intelligence, talent and even a gold-plated network are all less important than job/business search know-how. 

Meanwhile organizations will burn and turn. The burden is on those being burned and turned to be totally strategic about what they have to derive from that situation for their Next. Then, move on to the next without bitterness. 

Those who make it to the top will do whatever it takes to stay there. Increasingly the route up the food chain is not linear. Lateral activity is demonstrating that. For big leaps forward those lawyers had to leave where they had started out. 

Small changes can have big impacts. Results-driven career coaching.  Affordable rates (sliding scale).  Make an appointment for complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com) Download UnleashingPossibilitywithJaneGenovaCareerCoaching

That Holy Sh*t Moment: Mark Read (unkowingly) Just Invited Plaintiff Lawyers to Descend on WPP

It got out: The glam world of advertising is riddled with ageism. 

LinkedIn reports that Mark Read, chief executive officer of giant ad firm WPP, noted that the average age of the employees was "less than 30." 

Read was crowing. This was intended to be a big + for WPP. Ah! So much youth at WPP!

Since ageism is heavily embedded in the American brand of capitalism, Read probably didn't realize what he was saying. 

Of course, that comment has triggered outrage. Read apologized. 

But, as they say in legal circles, the egg had been cracked. The bell had been rung. Plaintiff attorneys specializing in employment law have plenty of trolling to do. They can begin that search for alleged victims of age bias at WPP by keying in the right parameters on LinkedIn. But maybe they won't even have to do that. Those perceiving themselves treated illegally by WPP because of age could come to them. Sanford Heisler, the powerhouse in that category of law, could be receiving plenty of phone calls. Sure, anticipate class actions. 

The Read blooper made public that those over-30 were not welcome in the ad world, not in 2020. Come to think of it, Don Draper from "Mad Men," set in the 1960s, would probably have been pushed out because of his age. Draper made his creative mark in advertising in a pre-digital era.

Here's where things stand on September 2, 2020: Finally, the bias against aging workers is getting attention. Previously, it had been the one aspect of the campaigns for diversity that had little traction.

In fact, as MarketWatch hammered, COVID-19 has given employers "permission" to escalate forcing out older members of the workforce. 

However, even before the pandemic, ProPublica documented that more than half of employees over-50 would be leaving their job involuntarily. And of those fortunate enough to land new jobs only one out of 10 would earn comparable compensation.

The push-back unleashed by Read's disclosure will start the same kinds of movements against age bias as has caught fire for discrimination against race, gender and sexual orientation. 

Meanwhile, though, the aging men and women have to pay their bills, right. You need work. Right now.

Here, free to download, is my bible on how you can earn a living, no matter your age. Actually, there is still runway for upper mobility. The American Dream is not over. 

And, here is another free read on how to get out of your own way. So many of the over-50 I had coached had held themselves hostage to the past. Instead of searching for opportunities in the now they were struggling to replicate former success. I have labeled that syndrome Stuck More Stuck Most Stuck. 

I end each coaching session with a call to action. 

For those of you who have lost out on a promotion, plum assignment, being hired or holding onto a job because of ageism, figure out one thing you can do to neutralize that factor.

Suggestions:

• Go over your resume and lop off the work experience before the last 10 years. Not only does that baggage make you appear old. You come across as too-experienced. In the fast time of the digital era skills atrophy in a few years.

 

• Donate your television set to Goodwill or the Salvation Army. You can get needed news on the internet and sitting there watching the television siphons away time for exercise, reconfiguring job search materials, meditation, gig assignments and just being out there listening to what people are saying. For the aging, that box is not the one we should be playing around.

 

• Role play a job interview with a trusted friend. Practice, just as salespeople do, how to gain control of it without seeming to get control of it. The game is about getting across the message to those hiring: Here's what I can do for you. And I can do it better, faster and more affordably than anyone else. 

 

• Learn something new. It doesn't have to be work-related. You will have that Ah-Ha sensation that, yesyesyes, you are still an open system.

One more thing. Know that you're not alone in being thrown off balance by aging. 

Everyone over-50 who has come to me for coaching admits how difficult the transition has been. 

One made this analogy: "I thought it was the end of the world to go from college to the adult responsibility to having to support myself. But when I hit my mid 50s and I started being treated differently at work that was a harder situation to figure out and navigate." But figure out and navigate it she did.

Now, heck, she might decide to go to court. 

The answers about your professional life are inside you. You will learn through coaching how to open yourself up to them. And get unstuck. Soon enough you will be your own coach. Affordable rates (sliding scale). Make an appointment for complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com) Download PleaseMeetYourCareerCoachJaneGenova

 

Law Students/Associates - Of Course, You're Not Sending Generic Resumes

LinkedIn confirms what savvy law students and  associates always had down cold: You never send a generic resume. You custom-make the pattern resume for particular internships, assignments, jobs, promotions and awards.

Not doing that has become the biggest mistake people make in pursuing professional opportunities. 

This has been on the money forever. 

But, it's even more important currently.

The Wall Street Journal documents that business has embraced the reality that the global and U.S. economy will experience long-term fallout from COVID-19. Any recovery will be slow. A sign of the mindset of sustained woe is the ramp-up of layoffs. Ranging from Coca-Cola to American Airlines, recently there have been massive reductions in force. 

Those who can give you learning and/or earning opportunities expect you to present the data they are looking for prominently in the resume, as well as in the cover letter. No, you can't send them on a hunting expedition. 

In the resume, the key information should right upfront in the Summary. Then that should be reinforced throughout the rest of the document. Yes, you are telling a story about how you can be useful to those hiring.

All that should be highlighted in the cover letter. 

For example, for a summer in a law firm specializing in IP, you need to dig around your background for "evidence" of knowledge/experience in that niche. If you plan on pursuing that kind of summer, then you have to make it your business to acquire the knowledge/experience which will catch the attention of those in the loop. The search of opportunity, including unpaid, is strategic. 

Subcategories of information on the resume and cover letters would be the more generic. That includes awards which are not directly related to what specifically you're targeting. That might seem counterintuitive to you. You may be quite proud of receiving recognition for pro bono initiatives in family law. But that isn't directly aligned with your pursuit of a professional opportunity in IP. So, the item is not front-loaded. 

Takeaway: A resume tells those hiring the story they need to read in order to not rule you out. In this labor market, the game among those on the front lines of recruiting is to knock the majority of applicants out of the box. Your objective is make it to the short list. 

The answers about your professional life are inside you. You will learn through coaching how to open yourself up to them. And get unstuck. Soon enough you will be your own coach. Affordable rates (sliding scale). Make an appointment for complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

 

Age Bias in Firing/Hiring - It Escalates as Unemployment Increases

Age bias in the labor market is worse than many assumed.

MarketWatch reports on the new study by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

For each 1 percentage point of increase in the monthly state unemployment rate, the rise in discrimination in firing aging workers was 4.8 percent. The uptick in the bias in hiring was 3.4%.

Given the high unemployment generated by COVID-19, the current time is seen as ideal to purge organizations of expensive seasoned workers. Younger ones can be hired at about a third of their compensation. 

In the book "Disrupted," Dan Lyons recounts how, at age 50, he got the boot at Newsweek. He suspected the organization would simply fill his big job with several young people and the whole replacement dynamic costing way less than his salary and benefits.

The specific pickle he was in was that he needed employer covered medical insurance for his disabled wife and two young children.

In my coaching that's the usual point of extreme angst for those with families.

Even the single find themselves desperate for medical benefits. One 62-year-old former executive (pushed out in a merger) joked about marrying her sometimes boyfriend just to gain access to medical coverage.

Before a 59-year-old in-house lawyer landed a job after losing one in the financial sector he had to pony up $2,500 a month for COBRA for his family.

Fortunately, the Ok, Boomer who's been dealing for a while with ageism in trying to earn a living has developed some best practices.

Here are the ones I recommend to those I coach:

• Grab income. Any kind. It doesn't necessarily ruin your resume. Actually some employers salute your willingness to do whatever it takes to earn a buck to support yourself and any loved ones. Here, free to read, is my bible on getting, holding, and moving on to better work, at any age Download Outwitting ageism. Also, the old adage is true: Nothing gets you work like having work.
• Stop pitching yourself the traditional way - that is, through credentials and being polite. Those I coached who were hired into well-paying work took control of the process by letting employers and clients/customers know: This is what I can do for you. To do that you have to understand their business. And, you have to control the interview process without it appearing that you are controlling the interview process. After all, presenting yourself for work is a form of sales call. 
• Bypass age. Move the focus to specifics you can accomplish. This becomes more and more a winning strategy in the current economic downturn. If you ignore age, so will others.
• Embrace minimalism or radical frugality. That's even possible if you have a family. Members of Generation Z and Alpha are aware of how tough you got it. They might even enjoy the collective spirit of sacrifice. 
• Relocate, if possible, to where the cost of living is lower and there is less age bias. An example is Arizona. Can't sell the house for the price you want? Rent it. 
• Sell stuff you don't need. You can post for free those items on app Nextdoor and Craigslist. 
• Longer term, develop multiple sources of income. You learned the hard way you can't depend on a job or operating a business in a particular niche. 
• Put in play those necessary endings. That is, letting go of all people, places, material possessions and mindsets that are keeping you stuck. The best read on that is Henry Cloud's "Necessary Endings."

Lots of older men and women continue to earn income. It's usually, though, not in what they used to do or at the rate of compensation they had previously earned.

But it's more than enough to make ends meet. Once they are eligible for Social Security, they can even begin to sock some of those earnings away. One self-employed marketing expert I coached began investing again at age 70. She had "lost it all" back during The Great Recession. When she has $20k more in her portfolio she will semiretire.

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on human resources and careers.  

For individual coaching – sliding scale fees. Complimentary initial consultation. The special area of expertise is the displaced over-50 professional. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.