When the Flames Go Up
When the Flames Go Up
Episode 24: "Getting a new business card is not a career change."
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Episode 24: "Getting a new business card is not a career change."

Emily Benson PhD knows firsthand that setting aside your professional identity and finding a new career in midlife can be daunting and disorienting. She advises clients to remember it's exciting, too.

Breaking up with academia felt a lot like a messy divorce for Emily Benson, PhD, who needed a career change after 11 years as a management professor. Throughout that time, she helped hundreds of students assess their skill sets and build the narratives that would secure the jobs that best matched their abilities and ambitions.

After her own successful career shift, however, she has pivoted to help more seasoned professionals defy the ageism and self-doubt associated with changing careers in midlife.

Job searching after a few decades in the workforce can seem like a high-stakes effort, but it doesn’t have to be. You have a record of achievement, a perspective borne from overcoming adversity, and a ton of life experience that the best employers will not ignore. You can decide what success looks like to you now, and you don’t have to take a pay cut to find it.

Thanks for listening to When the Flames Go Up! Please consider a paid subscription to support our writing and podcasting and ambivalence toward higher education.

We also talk about how to get outside your head before you compose your professional story, why working with your ex can be great, and why A.I. and COVID make excellent scapegoats.

Questions for Emily? Join us in our Facebook group on Monday, Nov. 20, from 12-1pm ET, for an exclusive Q&A with her about how to make you next professional leap.

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