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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Mid-Life Career Changes Yield Unexpected Benefits

Being a successful lawyer wasn’t enough for Marla Feinberg. At an age when most people settle into the daily grind, convinced they’re too old or too unmotivated to try something new, Feinberg walked away from the money and prestige of her law practice to do something she felt would be more fulfilling. In 2003, at age 47, she finished her MBA in nonprofit management at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles. Eighteen months later, the Van Nuys resident was named program director of Girl Scouts of the San Fernando Valley in Chatsworth. Her mid-life career switch perplexed many friends and colleagues. But she hasn’t looked back. “I love what I do,” Feinberg said. “I feel like I’m making a difference. What I do here is create the future by making sure the future will have strong leaders.” Be it by choice or necessity, workers are stepping out into new vocational territory while in their 40s, 50s and even 60s. Many companies are restructuring or eliminating departments and forcing out workers. There’s also less incentive for workers to stay with one company all their lives since nowadays company retirement plans and pensions are the exception rather than the rule. Moreover, people are living longer, more active lives than at any other time in human history. These factors and more have brought about a cultural shift in America that has workers in mid-life feeling hopeful about transitioning into a fresh occupation. Legal eagle becomes nonprofit leader For Feinberg, the long hours of the legal profession were not compatible with her wanting to raise a family and live a balanced life. Her transition from law to nonprofit work wasn’t easy. While in her 30s, she spent five years doing menial data entry work. After getting her MBA, Feinberg initially couldn’t find employment. “I interviewed and they couldn’t relate to me,” she said. “I wasn’t young and I was a mom.” After a year-and-a-half of rejections, Feinberg was hired at Girl Scouts of the San Fernando Valley. The experience taught her a lot about herself. “I learned that I can do whatever I want to do if it’s important to me,” said Feinberg, a wife and mother of two teenage boys. “I can go against the trend. I’ve gained a lot of self-confidence.” Those unhappy in their occupation need to take action, no matter their age, Feinberg said. “The worst thing in life is to have to get up in the morning and go to a job you don’t want to go to.” Joking about her “schizophrenic life,” Feinberg said, “I spend my nights at home with two teenage boys and my days at work around young girls.” You’ve got to have a sense of humor <!– Booking agent: Don Sweeney –> Booking agent: Don Sweeney Given his quick wit, cleanly shaven head and crisp attire, Don Sweeney looks as though he’s in show business. He’s not now, but he once was. For 16 & #733; years, Sweeney, now 55, was music supervisor for the “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.” He rubbed shoulders with Johnny, Doc Severinsen and Johnny’s regular musical guests, like Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. When Jay Leno took over, he stayed on until his contract ran out in 1995. At that time, he was 43 and unemployed, with a wife and son to support. After a stint in 1998 on “The Howie Mandel Show,” which was canceled after one season, Sweeney was unable to get work in the entertainment industry because, he said, he was too old in a business that covets youth and he was viewed as overqualified. “I had to reinvent myself,” he said. But the task was difficult. Sweeney studied video editing and computer programming, but both careers sputtered. He even drove a limousine for a while. Finally, in 2001, a friend offered Sweeney a job at the Valley Cultural Center. The pay was low but the Woodland Hills center was close to his home. After six years of scrambling for decent work, Sweeney was employed. “It’s not the glamorous life I had,” said Sweeney, who books musical acts for Valley Cultural Center events. “Yet it combines all the things I love to do play music, be around it and book acts. It’s like booking a variety show.” “I love calling the out-of-work musician and saying we have a gig for him,” Sweeney said. Scraping for work when you’re in your 40s and 50s is pretty humbling, Sweeney said. “You start to feel like a has-been. At parties people ask you what you do, and you say you’re out of work. You feel as though you’ve lost your character. You second-guess your ability.” How did he get through it? “My sense of humor,” he said. “If you lose your sense of humor, you get bitter. I didn’t want to be bitter.” In 2006, Sweeney added another hat to the many he has worn over the years that of published author. His book “Backstage at the Tonight Show” was published in June 2006 by Taylor Trade Publishing. <!– Librarian: Denise Dobbs –> Librarian: Denise Dobbs TV writer pursues a quieter path Denise Dobbs, 56, is another worker who transitioned out of the entertainment industry. For 20 years she worked on television shows like “The Love Boat,” “Northern Exposure” and “Dead Like Me” as a script coordinator and writer. She got tired of the layoffs, low pay, long hours and entertainment culture. “It’s really a business for young, white males,” Dobbs said. In 2002, at age 51, Dobbs decided to do something she always wanted: become a librarian. She enrolled in an online program offered b y San Jose State University called the School of Library and Information. In 2004, she began working at the Huntington Library in San Marino cataloging, sorting and organizing material, as well as occasionally donning goggles, a shower cap, a lab coat and a mask to steam away mold residue from old books. The Sherman Oaks resident graduated in May and is seeking employment in her field. “To make a change at that age, you have to be really enthusiastic,” Dobbs said. “It’s like starting out all over again.” Dobbs is excited about her new vocation. “It encompasses so much,” she said. “There are so many avenues to go down.” Listen and learn At 74, Jerry Rogoway is no longer middle-aged. But that didn’t stop him from changing careers at the tender age of 62. Rogoway had been president of a number of companies, helping them become successful entities. But when the clothing retail outlet he had been in charge of for eight years sold, he was suddenly out of a job. Never mind. Rogoway soon was working as a marketer for Dynamic Nursing Inc. in Sherman Oaks. “It was a whole change from what I was doing,” the Tarzana resident said. “But from the first day, I knew I was going to like it. It combined my ability to be a leader and my desire to really help people,” he said. Dynamic Nursing provides caregivers to seniors in their homes. Rogoway has been with the company for more than 11 years, helping the company grow its revenue to nine times what it was when he started. “It was amazing to me how quickly I learned the business,” Rogoway said. “A lot of people are finding out today that there is a whole new life after 60 or 65 and employers are recognizing that,” he said. “You have to keep an open mind,” Rogoway said of late-life career changes. “You listen a lot and learn. If your mind is open, it’s amazing how much you can grasp and retain.” <!– Banker: Don Condon –> Banker: Don Condon Sheriff’s deputy turned banker “It’s not that glamorous, but I haven’t been shot at,” said Dennis Condon of his second career in banking. In 1998, Condon was a sheriff’s deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department when an auto accident forced him into early retirement after 15 years of service. He was 37 years old with a pension that wasn’t enough to support him and his family. So he went back to school, getting a B.A. in business administration and finishing his MBA in 2000. Soon after graduation, Condon got his first job in banking as a credit officer with Irish Bank. Recently he became vice president of Bank of the West in Sherman Oaks. The transition wasn’t easy. “I had a relatively successful career (in the sheriff’s department),” Condon said. “I was in charge of things. “Then I had to start over in things I wasn’t confident in, and I was competing with youngsters, and here I was a father and husband,” he said. “It was challenging.” Condon uses skills he learned in law enforcement in the world of banking. Not, of course, the skills of how to handle a gun or chase down a suspect, but rather how to communicate and socialize effectively. As a deputy he developed the “ability to talk to anybody about anything,” Condon said. “I developed interpersonal communication skills to get the information I needed despite the circumstances.” Other skills he’s developed are stress management, conflict resolution and multicultural interaction. Condon offers straightforward advice about how to make a mid-life career change. “Understand why you want to change and what you want,” he said, “then develop a plan that leads in a logical progression.”

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