In this session of The Engineering Career Coach (TECC) Podcast, Chris Knutson interviews John Tarnoff, a coach that works with baby boomer generation professionals in career transitions and career resiliency. Both skills that effective engineers wield and both skills that each of us must build to create a fulfilling engineering career.
Here are some of the key points Paul discussed in this episode:
- You are going to face a transition, planned or unplanned.
- Instead of following your bliss, follow your contribution. Find the area where your talent connects with making a contribution and making a difference.
- Think about the legacy that you want to leave.
- Following your bliss is great but it must be within reason, one in which you can provide value.
- When is a project worth pursuing? Make a decision based on the whole picture. Ask yourself: “Is this worth my time to go through all of the heartaches, challenges and at the end of the day, you can say to yourself, win lose or draw, was it worth it?”
For Gen X, Y, Millenials working with baby boomers:
- Leverage their experience. Baby boomers are untapped resource that is a question away.
- Be mindful of the language and cultural differences.
- Loosen up a little bit. Get over the initial hesitation in reaching out to baby boomers.
Benefits in bringing back baby boomers to workforce:
- Baby boomers are work-centric (lived to work).
- Baby boomers are very independent and self-reliant.
- Baby boomers are very goal-oriented.
- Baby boomers are pretty competitive.
Five Reinvention Steps:
- Reframing – questioning about everything that’s going on in your life (beliefs, attitudes, way you do things), openness to entertain other ideas
- Listening – in order to understand where you fit in, you need to receive constructive feedback on a regular basis (few people you consider mentors, close friends)
- Accepting – realize that you are the sum total of your choices, decisions, and actions. Accept those choices made and move on.
- Expressing – anchor in the vision of where you want to go, who you want to be, and what you want to do.
- Connecting – you are developing a network with people who are doing what you want to do, expressing yourself through this network, build links and opportunities through this network and turning them into a sustainable career.
How ready are you for your retirement?
Anthony Fasano, PE, author of Engineer Your Own Success, found success as an engineer at a very early age and now writes and podcasts to help other engineers do the same. Visit Anthony’s website at EngineeringCareerCoach.com to access all of the free engineering career resources he has created to help engineers succeed.