Compensation
Money is another vital consideration when switching careers, and can present problems, depending on your particular needs. Here is what University of Massachusetts - Amherst Neil Yeager has to say on the subject: "When changing careers, it is sometimes easier to take a pay cut by taking a job with the potential to rise to your former level. Many over-50 people today don't want to be dependent on a job for all their income. In such cases they may be willing to take a cut in salary."
Yeager also points out that there are not that many plum jobs available today. "Sometimes," he says, "you may have to settle for less. If you are not willing to take less money, you may be unemployable. For example, you may have to take $50,000 rather than $70,000. It's a tradeoff. Are you willing to be unemployed for a year instead of finding something in six months at a lower income? Money is one of the toughest questions you have to deal with.
"On the other hand, it is a myth that you need to accept low pay. Many people switch careers with the wrong mentality, because they have unique qualities that can help them achieve higher levels."
And a greater number of new jobs will be created in the 1990s by smaller firms, not by Fortune 500 companies, says Yeager, with obvious advantages for the over-50 career changer.
Moe Mozier had a long, successful, and peripatetic career in the restaurant business that permitted him to switch to commercial real estate where he handles hospitality sales.
Mozier, now in his late fifties, was attending premedical school at the University of New Hampshire, paying his way by working in restaurants, cleaning pots and pans, washing dishes, waiting on tables, all "general gamut restaurant jobs," he says. During this time Mozier's education was interrupted by the Korean War.
When he returned he decided to postpone his premed studies and work for a year. He taught fifth grade and coached three sports at Cardinal Gushing Academy outside of Newburyport, Massachusetts. At the end of the year he had bought a car and a sports coat and had less money than when he started. He went to work for an insurance company in Vermont and stayed four years. He woke up one morning and decided he didn't want to continue working in insurance, even though he had been promoted to state manager.
It was back to the restaurant business. Over the years Mozier has held a variety of jobs in this business as a consultant, manager, and owner, which eventually landed him in Keene, New Hampshire, where he purchased an old building that had been built by Henry David Thoreau's grandfather. Mozier remodeled it and turned it into a restaurant. It grossed more than $2 million before he sold it for $1.65 million.
This became Mozier's stepping-stone to his new career.
During this period Mozier had been named "restaurateur of the year" in New Hampshire. He also served as president of the New Hampshire Hospitality Association, where he is still on the board of directors.
What made him sell his restaurant and leave the business? Mozier says, "The labor shortage had become acute." In previous years, he said, he had a huge labor pool consisting of young, motivated people in their twenties. Today, says Mozier, there is a lack of young motivated people and it is difficult to find competent help in the restaurant business.
The result: Mozier went into a new occupation - commercial real estate. In 1989 he got his real estate license and went to work for Curran-Fosket & Company in Keene, where he is responsible for hospitality sales. According to Mozier, "They are two capable and versatile realtors who specialize in commercial real estate. There are eight people in the office. We have more than $50 million in listings, including $13 million in restaurants."
Mozier claims that "Although the commercial realty market at this time is at an all-time low, we're experiencing what we feel is a comfortable success. I'm anxious to see what good times are, because there are still people who want to own restaurants.
"Ninety-two percent of people who start a restaurant - not a chain - for the first time fail within the first five years," he says. "No other occupation has a mortality rate like that." Mozier says he relies on his expertise, contacts, and knowledge acquired from owning and managing restaurants over the years. He puts in long hours working as a commercial realtor, but likes being an "independent contractor." He says, "You never become a success working a forty-hour week."
Mozier claims he was burned out in the restaurant business and revitalized by commercial real estate. The contacts he made during the years in the restaurant business served as a springboard for his new career. Married, with two grown children - a daughter and son - Mozier says he still has a lot to learn about "this complicated business, including developing more contacts." When he does, he plans to take some time to "slack off."
That's one successful account of switching careers. It's not something that everyone can and should do. But if it is your choice, know what you want to do, put your plan on paper, and go for it!
The responsibility for deciding what you want to do whether it's looking for a new job or switching careers-rests squarely on your shoulders. No one else can make the decision for you. You can solicit advice and help from friends and relatives and even pay a professional career counselor to help, but eventually you have to make the decision that will affect the rest of your life. The time to start is now.
