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Downshifting: Older boomers changing jobs to finally find fulfillment
Friday, January 15, 1999 By Joyce Gannon, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Today will be (Jan Cliff Stevenson's last day as a mortgage banker.
He's giving up a 20-year career to try his hand at something he's wanted to do since his undergraduate days: teach social studies to high school students.
For Stevenson, 44, it's part mid-life crisis, part job burnout. He said he's worn out by the grind of 12-hour workdays that leave him dissatisfied. So he's calling it quits at the mortgage banking firm Holiday, Fowler, Fenoglio to finish a master's degree, get his teaching certification and line up a student teaching position for the fall.
"I think you get on the other side of age 40 and realize you're on the back nine and maybe you want to give something back ... do something else with your life," Stevenson said. His wife is a regional merchandise manager for Lazarus.
Not everyone who reaches middle age and toys with the idea of a drastic career switch is really going to do it, unless, of course, they are laid off. But some career experts say it's not surprising to find 40- and 50-somethings searching for a change because, unlike past generations, baby boomers are more driven by self-fulfillment and don't necessarily believe in lifetime commitments to jobs and careers.
"A lot of them are looking out at the future and they don't see a lot of career years left so they're changing in hopes of living their dream," said Gerald Celente, director of the Trends Research Institute in Rhinebeck, N.Y.
For many who have seen friends and colleagues downsized in recent years, it doesn't make sense to "give their heart and soul [to a job] because they know that the bottom line dictates and corporations don't want to give anyone any guarantees," said Celente.
To pull off a dramatic career change at mid-life takes self-confidence as well as careful financial planning, since it's typically the time when many people in their 40s and 50s are paying for college educations and saving for their own retirement. Some still have mortgages or may be caring for elderly parents.
Stevenson, who's been attending night classes at Duquesne University for two years to earn his teaching degree, doesn't have to worry about the income reduction he'll take as he gives up his mortgage banking job to become a teacher. His wife has a good income, the couple have no children and, as part of their planning for his career move, the Stevensons sold their house and one acre in Osborne, near Sewickley, and downsized to a smaller residence on Washington's Landing. Now they don't have a mortgage.
Stevenson, who was a partner at his firm until last year when it was acquired by a larger company, said for him, it's not about making money anymore.
"Although I've been well-compensated, at some point that's not enough," he said.
Besides teaching, he'd like to do some volunteer work "that you can't always do when you're in the office from 7 to 7."
A Boston native, Stevenson enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania with the aim of becoming an education major. When he saw only a handful of would-be teachers in the upper classes getting jobs, he switched to economics. He worked a while for a bank in New York, then returned to Penn to earn a master's in business administration from Wharton. He landed in real estate finance and eventually took a job in Pittsburgh.
About 5 years ago, Stevenson's brother died at age 42 and then in 1996, a friend and business partner died at age 51 of cancer. He believes those deaths, added to his growing disenchantment with his career, spurred him to enroll in night school and act on his long-time desire to teach.
"Whether it's a mid-life crisis or just that I want to give something back because I'm healthy and my family is healthy, it's all those kind of reasons. The only thing I'm really losing out on is money."
It wasn't as much soul-searching as downsizing that led Paul McKosky, 55, to become a taxidermist after a 31-year career at Westinghouse Electric Corp.
McKosky was director of international treasury operations for the huge conglomerate when he was laid off in 1994 at age 51. He was based at the Downtown headquarters but traveled worldwide and managed 65 people at foreign operations.
McKosky had always figured he'd stay at Westinghouse until retirement, but when his pink slip came, he knew almost immediately that he didn't want a similar position with another company - even though he had a daughter in college, a son in high school, and a wife who did not work full-time.
"I knew I didn't want...to prove myself all over again. I didn't want to get back into the rat race and the politics of another company that might downsize me again in two years," he said.
After his layoff, McKosky spent about 18 months selling specialty coffees to restaurants but found he didn't like making sales calls during the odd hours when restaurateurs were free to see him.
And though he was willing to invest some money in his own start-up, he didn't want to use up all his savings because of concerns about retirement and his children's college educations.
So he turned to something he'd always loved as a hobby: stuffing and mounting wildlife, from birds to deer to coyotes.
Because he gets a pension from Westinghouse and buys benefits through the company at a discount, McKosky said he's not pressured to match his former salary through his taxidermy work. His wife, who does temporary work as a secretary and administrative assistant, has picked up more work, too.
If he works until 11 p.m. some nights, he doesn't mind. Since he's the boss, he can work a few hours on the weekend and take time on weekdays to play golf if he feels like it.
"It's very hard work and low pay, but I wanted to do it, " McKosky said. "This shows that there is life after companies like Westinghouse."
Betsy Taylor, executive director of the Center for a New American Dream in Tacoma Park, Md., calls the movement among some boomers to leave long-time careers for new pursuits, "downshifting."
"They're opting out of the upwardly mobile, high-pressure rat race and opting for jobs that are perhaps less lucrative but perhaps more meaningful," said Taylor, whose non-profit organization is a resource for people trying to reduce material consumption and improve their quality of life.
Baby boomers - generally described as individuals born between 1946 and 1964 - are more likely than their parents to seek a career change later in life, Taylor said.
"That whole generation is defined by a hungering for new values and the challenging of limits or convention," she said. "It's part of their identity." Taylor points to workplace innovations over the last decade or so such as flex-time and home offices as symbolic of the kind of changes baby boomers sought to balance career and the rest of life.
Some who can't find the right balance switch careers, she said, "because they're not happy. And baby boomers think they should be happy. It's not just about the standard of living. It's about finding some deeper meaning, some deeper fulfillment. And for some that means doing things differently ... finding a job that just makes your heart sing. Maybe you don't get the upscale house or the new car but you're happy every day."
That was largely the case for Dave Reese, 55, who in March left his job as vice president and manager of corporate compensation programs at PNC Bank to join a tiny Green Tree company, Reflex Services, that assists professionals and executives in finding new positions.
"I think more than anything else it was the blinding flash of realization when the alarm goes off at 5:30 a.m. and you realize you don't enjoy what you do ... It dawned on me that I had to do something different."
Reese spent 30 years in human resources, starting in 1969 at Pittsburgh National Bank and then working for Mobay Chemical Corp. (now Bayer) and Dollar Bank before he bounced back to Pittsburgh National's successor, PNC, in 1992.
During his last few years he spent at PNC, Reese said, "I no longer took any pleasure or satisfaction from work. It affected me mentally: I was tired all the time, lost the edge and didn't want to do things socially because I was totally washed out. ...The stock options, the bonus and the office on the 27th floor just weren't worth it."
During a beach vacation in August 1997, Reese said he was inspired to make a move. He quietly planned his exit from the bank and struck a deal with Reflex to join the four-person firm with an option to buy it by the end of this year.
Reese is thrilled to be working full-time at "the piece of human resources I felt I did best: matching people with jobs they like." Reese said his wife was enthusiastic and urged him to take the plunge because he might not get the opportunity to buy his own company again.
Even though their second child is still in college, the family could afford the risk, Reese said, because he saved enough for his children's education years ago.He also socked away plenty in a 401(k) retirement fund over the years and is vested in three pensions. Reese's wife, Marie, doesn't work full-time but earns a little income as a cheerleading coach.
"My wife and I always lived below our means," Reese said. "Some of the money that could've been spent on houses and cars went into the 401(k)."
The only major new expense in their monthly budget is medical insurance. "It's expensive but that's part of the gamble," said Reese.
Even for an individuals who assume they're content, a life-changing event can serve as a catalyst for a job change, said Gay Fogarty, who describes her job as "career catalyst."
"I don't call it a mid-life crisis. But it might be triggered by a downsizing, a divorce or a death in the family and it makes you reflect on where you've been and where you want to be."
Fogarty, who is based in Pittsburgh, cautions against making a change without some planning.
"You may find out you have to do something first," said Fogarty. "You might have to go get a degree. Or if you want to buy a bookstore you might need to go work in one first." The process also involves taking a careful assessment of how a job change will affect your whole life, Fogarty said.
"If you have an elderly parent to take care of, you can't go off right away to start a Bed & Breakfast business in the mountains. Often it takes a much longer-range plan than just saying, 'I'm going to drop out of the world and do something completely different.'"
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