Website Launched to Help Boomers Interested in Career Change

PRLog (Press Release) - Jun 04, 2009 -
What’s Next Media, LLC, today announces the launch of WhatsNext.com, a site created to help men and women change careers, find more fulfilling work, or improve their work-life balance. The site will also help consumers achieve improved financial security as they manage lifestyle transitions. While much of the content on the site will have relevance to a broad audience, the focus will be on those aged 40 and over who are facing the personal and professional challenges of midlife career change or retirement transition.

“In these tough economic times, a growing number of successful men and women in mid-career are reassessing the way they live and work,” says Founder and Chairman Jeremy Koch. “They may be motivated by external forces—such as having lost a job—or they may be driven by an internal need to create a life with a greater sense of meaning or purpose. But whatever the underlying reasons, many people are questioning their fundamental priorities and are thinking hard about what they want to do with the rest of their lives.”

Today, millions of Americans are experiencing these “what’s next” moments. The combination of baby boomers approaching retirement age and the workplace disruptions associated with the current recession has resulted in an unprecedented number of people dealing with some form of career transition or personal reinvention. According to recent research from McKinsey and Co., Harris Interactive and others, over 65 million Americans between the ages of 40 and 65 now expect to work in retirement; of particular note, two thirds of these individuals expect to change their line of work after they turn 50.

“There is a huge market of men and women who are in the process of shifting the direction of their working lives as they deal with a rapidly changing workplace or approach traditional retirement age," says President Mark Gleason. "Our mission is to help them accomplish this transition in the most productive, satisfying, and meaningful way possible.”

Information, Inspiration, and Advice
To help achieve these goals, WhatsNext.com is will provide consumers with three elements critical to successful career transition: inspiration, information, and professional advice.

Inspiration
The personal experiences of others can play a crucial role in motivating people to embrace change in their own lives.  Accordingly, WhatsNext.com provides a collection of compelling real-life stories of personal and professional reinvention. Dozens of stories can currently be found in the http://www.whatsnext.com/content/careers-20 section of the site, and more will be continually added. In DreamBlogs, individuals in the midst of career change will tell their personal stories in real time, blogging on an ongoing basis as they move through major life transitions. One of these bloggers, John Stephano, is a 41 year-old former investment advisor who is chronicling the experiences of his new life as a full-time student at the Culinary Institute of America. Richard Lawton, a 50 year-old publishing executive, is blogging about the challenges of scaling back his more traditional work responsibilities as he makes an increasing commitment to volunteering at a Zen monastery near his home in the Catskills. Users of the site will be invited to establish their own blogs and share their experiences as they navigate their own personal transitions.  

Information
WhatsNext.com also offers extensive how-to content tailored specifically to the interests of boomers in transition. A centerpiece of the site will be a series of in-depth How-to Guides that are being developed for sale as downloadable PDFs. The first of these—How to Become a Teacher, http://www.whatsnext.com/content/become-teacher —offers detailed background and step-by-step advice for those thinking about embarking on a midlife career shift to teaching. Other guides are scheduled to be added throughout 2009. In the Your Financial Plan section of the site, WhatsNext.com will provide articles and links to useful information specifically tailored to the needs of those considering a career change or retirement transition. And in Ask The Advisor, experts will be available to answer users’ online questions about making a career change, finding a professional advisor, developing a sound retirement plan and more.

Advice
Sound professional advice can make a critical difference in effectively managing a major life change. For this reason, a critical element of WhatsNext.com will be Find an Advisor, a directory of financial advisors, career coaches and life coaches. Each of these directories will be searchable by name, geography, specialty and certification. In addition, the Tools area of WhatsNext.com offers a carefully selected collection of financial-planning calculators, self-assessment tests, and targeted job listings—such as six-figure executive jobs and positions in the nonprofit sector.


For More Information
Visit http://www.WhatsNext.com or contact Mark Gleason: (908) 612-9108 or mgleason at whatsnext dot com.