AARP® Crash Course in Finding the Work You Love The Essential Guide to Reinventing Your Life

by Greengard, Samuel

• ISBN13: 9781402752407
• ISBN10: 1402752407
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-10-07
• Publisher: Sterling

Summary

Whether you've toiled in the trenches of bureaucracy or blazed an entrepreneurial trail, heeding the urge to change careers can fulfill a passion you've always harbored-but never acted upon.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Making Sense of Today's Working World
A New Attitude	p. 3
Understanding the New Order
Career-Change Checklist
What Is Recareering?
Find Your Work Style
Longer Lives=Richer Careers
The Workforce Redefined
Generations at Work
Stepping Back to Move Forward
A New Mindset Takes Hold
Myths Be Damned!
Key Questions
Career Resources	p. 19
Navigating the World of Work	p. 21
Set Your Sites on Making a Change
Retirement Redefined
America's Fastest-Growing Occupations
Boost Your KQ
Working for Life
Boomers in Demand
Second Acts: Still Flying High
Where Gray Matters
Key Questions
Career Resources	p. 35
Are You Ready to Change Careers?	p. 37
Motive: To See the Big Picture
Putting Career Matters into Perspective
Dealing with Depression
Career Tracks
A Mental Makeover
Fighting the Resistance
Are You Ready to Change Careers?
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Second Acts: The Ingredients of Change
An Age-Old Problem
Have You Faced Age Discrimination?
All in the Family
Key Questions
Acclimating to a Geographic Move
Dreams & Realities
Worksheet: Gauge Your Goals
Career Resources	p. 63
Finding Your Rainbow
What Is Your Recareering Style?	p. 67
Adapters
Opportunists
Key Questions
Change Agents
Reinventors
Active Retirees
Fantasy Seekers
Recareering with Style
Worksheets: Discovering Your Style
Career Resources	p. 87
Discovering Your Ideal Career	p. 89
Career & Personality Tests
How to Gauge Your Interests Online
Career Counseling Comes of Age
Is Counseling for You?
What About Online Counseling?
Does Your Employer Offer Counseling?
Key Questions
Does a Career Coach Make Sense for You?
Transforming Skills into an Occupation
Coaching Qualifications
Second Acts: Of Blueprints & Bedpans
Self-Assessment Can Trigger Change
Finding a Career You Admire
Focus on the Future
Worksheets: Self-Assessment
Assessing Careers
Pulling It All Together
Career Resources	p. 109
What Are My Options?	p. 111
Understanding Your Work Personality
Know Thy Skills
Key Questions
10 Careers Ideally Suited for Recareering Boomers
10 Other Careers to Consider
Career Options by the Numbers
Make a Federal Case of It
Career Resources	p. 139
Building a Foundation for Your Future
Back to School, Forward to Work	p. 143
Laying the Groundwork for a Career Move
Key Questions
Explore Your Options
Cultivate Lifelong Learning
Out of the Cube and into the Class
Extend Your Education
Learning to Change
Get Schooled
Second Acts: Helping Others Attain "Aha!"
Career Resources	p. 161
Money Matters	p. 163
Making Social Security Count
Assessing Your Situation
Expected & Actual Sources of Income in Retirement
Understanding Your Assets & Borrowing Options
Factor in Your
Financing Choices
How to Make a Severance or Buyout Work for You
Explore an Alternative Lifestyle
Making Things Compute
A New Career Changes the Equation
Second Acts: Learning to Feel
Addressing Healthcare-Coverage Risks
The Challenge for Women
Retirement: The End Game
Key Questions
Worksheets: Calculate Career-Change Costs
Estimate Your Net Worth
Track Income & Expenses
Career Resources	p. 189
A Question of Balance	p. 191
Flextime
How to Sell an Employer on a Flex-Work Format
Job Sharing
Telecommuting & the Virtual Office
Key Variables in the Motivation Equation
Contract Work
Second Acts: Cultural Immersion
Sabbaticals
By Your Leave-of Absence, That Is
Phased Retirement
Taking the Bite out of the Generational Sandwich
A New Generation of Perks
Thinking Big, Working Small
7 Steps to Breaking Away
Key Questions
Making Sense of the Change
Career Resources	p. 215
Higher Callings	p. 217
Embracing the New Activism
Clarity via Charity
Volunteering Checklist
Volunteer Careers
Beyond Volunteering: Taking Activism to the Next Level
Social Responsibility Means Business
Second Acts: Putting Street Smarts to Work
From Plan to Action
Career Resources	p. 231
Putting Your Plan Into Action
A Tool Kit for Trading Places	p. 235
How to Locate Possible Employers
Where the Bosses Are
Saw Your Blog-Want a Job?
Job Fairs
Social-Networking Sites
Virtually Connected
Minding Your Business
Crafting a Business Plan
Buying into a Franchise
Second Acts: Nursing a Passion for Change
5 Myths of Entrepreneurial Success
Before You Buy a Franchise
Basic Business Structures
Career Resources	p. 255
Make Your Presence Known	p. 263
Applying for a Job
Key Questions
Internship, Not Intern-ment
How to Whip the Waiting Game
Make Yourself Available
Resume Rules
10 Steps to a Winning Resume
Second Acts: A Reckoning with Reality
When Keywords Matter
Resume Realities: Making Your Mark
Some Dos, Some Don'ts
Understanding Search Firms
You on the Tube?
6 Steps to an Effective Cover Letter
A Cover Letter to Cover Your Bases
Sample Resume & Cover Letter
Career Resources	p. 287
Mastering the Art of the Interview	p. 289
Channel Your Energies
Build a Business Case-for You
6 Questions to Ask in Any Interview
Know Thy Target
Make Every Word Count
Key Questions
Dealing with Tough Questions
Keep Cool Under Fire
Be Ready for Your Closeup
Stay on Message
Dress to Impress
Tame the Time
Second Acts: Perm Peaks and Silicon Valleys
Staying Balanced During a Job Search
Negotiation Is a Walk in the Perks
When Mr. Smithers Works for Dagwood
Terms of Engagement
Worksheet: Post-Interview Inventory
Career Resources	p. 309
You've Changed Careers: Now What?	p. 311
Key Questions
Starting All Over Again Is Gonna Be Rough
Making It All Work
Navigating a New Workplace
Getting Down to Business
Exit Strategy: Walk, Do Not Run
Home Is Where the Office Is
Tales from the Far Side-of Recareering
"I Needed a Change"
Assembling the Jigsaw
Worksheet: Discovering Your Style
Career Resources	p. 327
Acknowledgments	p. 328
Index	p. 330
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