array(9) { [0]=> object(WP_Post)#2758 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(813) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "7" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2016-10-31 00:00:00" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2016-10-31 06:00:00" ["post_content"]=> string(6882) "The winners and losers in the U.S. economy have traditionally been easy to identify. If you had a full-time job, you won. A full-time job provided the steady income needed to support our traditional version of the American Dream: the highly leveraged, high-fixed-cost house; the cars; the latest consumer goods. A full-time job was also the only way to access important employer-provided benefits, such as health insurance and a pension, as well as protections against workplace injuries, discrimination, and harassment. Without a full-time job, a true sense of security was elusive, benefits were inaccessible, and you were more likely to be stranded on the fringes of the labor market, observing rather than living the American Dream. All of that is changing. Work is being disaggregated from jobs and reorganized into a variety of alternative arrangements, such as consulting projects, freelance assignments, and contract opportunities. Independent workers can obtain health insurance and save for retirement without an employer, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, individual 401(k)s, and individual retirement accounts. The American Dream is transforming to prioritize experiences over material goods and quality of life over quantity of stuff. Most important, the absence of job security opens up new possibilities for a portfolio of gigs to provide a more meaningful and robust sense of income security than any full-time job can. As the jobs-based economy gives way to the gig economy, winners and losers are determined by the type of worker you are — or can become. Workers with specialized skills, deep expertise, or in-demand experience win in the gig economy. They can command attractive compensation, garner challenging and interesting work, and secure the ability to structure their own working lives. Workers who possess strong technical, management, leadership, or creative abilities are best positioned to take advantage of the opportunity to create a working life that incorporates flexibility, autonomy, and meaning. Entrepreneurial workers also win. The gig economy rewards hustle. Workers entrenched in a passive, complacent employee mindset that relies on their employer to provide a sense of stability, career progression, and financial security will struggle. Independent workers who are comfortable with and excited about developing their own income streams, marketing themselves, and connecting with others are best positioned to take advantage of the many opportunities the gig economy offers. These skilled and entrepreneurial workers win in the gig economy by moving from good jobs to great work. On the other end of the spectrum, retail and service workers currently in low-skill, low-wage jobs can also win in the gig economy. In the jobs economy, these individuals work in what Zeynep Ton, an adjunct associate professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, refers to as “bad jobs” — poorly paid, not secure, part-time roles with limited or no benefits and no control over schedules. Their wages are stagnating or declining, and their jobs are at risk of being automated. In the gig economy these workers have the chance to gain more control and have more flexibility and autonomy in their working lives. Uber drivers work under similar economic circumstances as most taxi drivers: They are contractors with low pay and no benefits, no overtime or minimum wage, and no access to unemployment insurance. But there are many more people willing to be Uber drivers than taxi drivers, in part because they can control when and how much they work. Similarly, the economic plight of an on-demand worker for companies like Task Rabbit or Postmates is not materially different from that of a low-wage hourly worker in a fast-food restaurant or retail store. Both workers have low wages, no benefits, and limited rights and protections. The difference is that workers who wouldn’t dream of applying for a job in a fast-food restaurant are willing to bid for work on Task Rabbit or Postmates partly because they can do so when and to the extent that they choose. Bad jobs won’t disappear in the gig economy; they are the persistent bane of our economy and our society. But the gig economy gives low-skill workers a way to move from bad jobs to better work. It’s not a sufficient change, but it’s moving in the right direction. Among the biggest beneficiaries of the gig economy are workers who have been stuck on the margins of our traditional jobs economy. Stay-at-home parents, retired people, the elderly, students, and people with disabilities now have more options to work as much as they want, and when, where, and how they want, in order to generate income, develop skills, or pursue a passion. Because it is now so much easier to work and earn income from home, part-time, and on a flexible schedule, the gig economy can provide choice, dignity, and a measure of financial control and opportunity to workers who previously had little of those things. Formerly marginalized workers win because in the gig economy they can move from no job to some work. The people who struggle most in the gig economy are corporate workers whose skills are common, commoditized, or less in demand. Their jobs, including ones like midlevel and low-level managers, executive assistants, or bookkeepers, are most likely to be automated, eliminated, contracted out, or outsourced to cheaper labor. Their incomes are stagnating, their benefits are shrinking, and they are too slowly coming to terms with the reality that there is no longer any job security. If these workers lose their good jobs, they are the most likely to have difficulty finding good work. It’s clear that our current way of working isn’t working well for many Americans. The singular employee-in-a-job model isn’t the best option for everyone. Gallup reports that over 70% of workers aren’t engaged in their jobs, and many other studies reveal high levels of stress and dissatisfaction among employees. The gig economy offers a much-needed alternative model of work that can supplement or substitute for being a full-time employee in a full-time job. There’s no way to avoid the truth that fundamental changes in the ways we work are here to stay and are creating a new set of winners and losers. But the proliferation of new opportunities in the gig economy to choose how, how much, where, and when to work is one big win for all. Diane Mulcahy is the author of The Gig Economy: The Complete Guide to Getting Better Work, Taking More Time Off, and Financing the Life you Want. She is an Adjunct Lecturer at Babson College, where she created and teaches an MBA course on the Gig Economy, and a Senior Fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Learn more about Diane’s work at www.dianemulcahy.com." ["post_title"]=> string(42) "Who Wins in the Gig Economy, and Who Loses" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(41) "who-wins-in-the-gig-economy-and-who-loses" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2023-12-18 20:58:03" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2023-12-19 03:58:03" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(69) "https://canopyadvisory.com/who-wins-in-the-gig-economy-and-who-loses/" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [1]=> object(WP_Post)#2759 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(864) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "2" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2016-07-12 00:00:00" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2016-07-12 06:00:00" ["post_content"]=> string(4398) "There is a lot of chatter about the gig economy -- independent contractors, self-employed consultants, on-demand workers, e-lancers, high-lancers -- and whatever new terms come out tomorrow that describe this shift in the way people are earning a living. It is usually described in the context of highly capable people choosing a different path, intentionally blazing their own trail, and embracing the American entrepreneurial spirit. I have a confession. I’ve been an independent consultant for seven years now, and I feel like one day I tripped, tumbled down the proverbial rabbit hole, and ended up in freelance wonderland. Here is the ironic part. Most of the work I do involves advising clients on being intentional and structured in the way they drive their business forward. I help them create strategic business and marketing plans to grow in a deliberate and measurable way. But when it comes to my own consulting practice, it began a little less…deliberately. The truth is, I was once a manic, ahem, I mean ambitious company-side Vice President who bragged about the long hours I worked and cherished my corporate benefits like Paid Time Off and obligatory holiday parties. But something happened on my way up the traditional corporate ladder. That something, I have come to learn, is called life. First, I had a child. Then the financial crisis of 2008 eliminated thousands of jobs including my husband’s, so we relocated to Texas for a new opportunity. As I contemplated my professional prospects shortly after we settled into our new home, I realized that my daughter, my aging parents, and my own health were becoming increasingly demanding variables on my time. I wanted to be working, but I wanted flexibility and a reasonable number of hours -- like 40 hours per week. Honestly, I wasn’t really sure how to communicate these needs as I spoke with big firms about big jobs. I tried applying for jobs beneath my pay grade, but that resulted in hiring managers eying me skeptically when they saw my salary history, and dismissing my “this is a lifestyle choice” explanation all too quickly. I tried to pitch part-time or job-share alternatives, but without the benefit of having already proved my work ethic and myself, that was also a nonstarter. Finally, I did what anyone would do in my situation. I went to lunch. Actually, I went to a LOT of lunches. With everyone I could. And I started volunteering in resume-building positions (which is nice way of saying working for free). I met all sorts of smart interesting people doing smart interesting things. Then the work started to come. First a friend who landed in the marketing department of an oil company asked if I could write a product brochure about diamond impregnated drill bits. Uh….sure, that can’t be that different than writing about financial services, right? So I did it. And it was, dare I say, fascinating. Then I landed a project helping a serial entrepreneur who was creating cooking apps for the iPad, and then I helped a nonprofit launch a for-profit product as a new means to fundraise. The work kept coming and each new project stretched my mind and expanded my skill set. Independent Consulting is exactly the right fit for me. It is fun and engaging and rarely feels like work, but it has its challenges as well. My schedule is unpredictable and lumpy. Feast or famine as they say. Also, as an extrovert, I crave the energy of collaborating with others. As the workforce increasingly demands flexible work arrangements and on-demand labor, companies like Canopy Advisory Group are creating solutions for these challenges. Canopy, a portfolio of multi-disciplinary consultants, matches seasoned professionals with organizations looking to add talent but not full-time employees. According to co-founders Brooke Borgen and Griffen O’Shaughnessy, the business model was founded on the premise that not everyone wants to lean in or opt out – there is room for a third way. If there is anything I have learned over the past seven years, it is that “right place, right time” doesn’t just happen. You must put yourself in situations to interact with smart interesting people doing smart, interesting work. And if things get quiet, go to lunch. ### Traci Ayer is an independent strategy and marketing consultant living in Denver, Co." ["post_title"]=> string(39) "Confessions of an Accidental Free Agent" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(39) "confessions-of-an-accidental-free-agent" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2023-12-18 21:01:25" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2023-12-19 04:01:25" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(67) "https://canopyadvisory.com/confessions-of-an-accidental-free-agent/" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [2]=> object(WP_Post)#2763 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(812) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "7" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2016-06-23 00:00:00" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2016-06-23 06:00:00" ["post_content"]=> string(9743) "Did the people who met Steve Jobs in 1976 have any inkling that they were talking to the person whose name would for a generation be synonymous with “entrepreneur”? More often, people have believed to have found the next incarnation of Jobs only to be disappointed. Perhaps you can help me determine if the subject of this article could become the Steve Jobs of impact investing. From my perch in Salt Lake City on the west side of the Rockies, over the last few years I’ve been hearing rumblings from the other side of the mountains. In Denver, Dr. Stephanie Gripne has created one of the most dynamic centers of impact investing and social entrepreneurship in the world. With a goal to catalyze impact investments of over $1 trillion and a plan to get there, it is about time that people outside the Rocky Mountains took note. Dr. Gripne founded the Impact Finance Center as a partnership between the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business and the Sustainable Endowments Institute, a special project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.In 2014, the Center launched the CO Impact Days and Initiative with a three year goal to catalyze $100 million of impact investment in Colorado-based social ventures. The event has grown into a marketplace for impact investing. Wendi Burkhardt, co-founder and CEO of the Colorado-based social enterprise Silvernest was an early participant in CO Impact Days. She says, “I am inspired by the opportunities that Stephanie and IFC are creating to employ traditional philanthropic donations as capital investments that offer a substantial return and thereby further the impact and intention of the applied funds. I’m excited by this untapped opportunity to bring these worlds together.” Will Morgan, Director of Impact for Sonen Capital, has worked with Dr. Gripne for several years, providing grant funding for the Center. He sees the need for the infrastructure that the Center is working to create. “I think IFC’s work is great. Investors are searching for more meaning with their assets and resources. Social enterprises and private businesses that create positive impacts are starved for resources. It’s a natural thought that more infrastructure needs to be put into place so that both sides of the equation can get what they need,” he says. Jeramy Lund, Managing Director of the Sorenson Impact Center at University of Utah, agrees. He notes that she drove great collaboration. He says, the CO Impact Days event was a big success. “The way she was able to bring together the major foundations and get them to agree on collective impact was impressive heavy lifting. To pull it off on the first year was amazing.” Dr. Gripne isn’t working to create a marketplace for impact capital by leveraging her Wall Street experience. She doesn’t have any formal finance training or experience. Rejecting her father’s business career as path for her life, Dr. Gripne earned a PhD in Wildlife Conservation at the University of Montana. Her early career had working in academia, the Journal of Wildlife Management, the USDA Forest Service and the DOE Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It isn’t clear when she learned to calculate the present value of an investment. It was working with her father, however, that she learned about the power of doing good with investment dollars. “ Before my dad passed, we completed some of my first direct impact investment deals together. We partnered with families going through medical bankruptcy. We basically created an affordable housing model where my family would buy a house and give the families partial equity of their rent and all equity above a ten percent return. These were essentially people with good credit who were faced with a medical emergency and were struggling to make ends meet.” “That experience – the joy of philanthropy with a financial return — permanently changed my course,” she adds. Since then, her focus has been on impact investing, not for her own account so much as for her community, her country and the world. The Center operates its $700,000 annual budget largely through grants today, but Dr. Gripne plans to make it financially self-sustaining. Already, she says, the Center earns some revenue through research and development, thought leadership, education, marketplace Impact Days and sub-advisory services. She acknowledges that the Center is really just getting started and that it may be too soon to measure future results, but she is optimistic. “Having only just launched this catalytic concept this year, we are currently operating at a negative gross margin of -18%. A significant portion of our expenses come from the development of the intellectual property we’ll be bringing to market in the coming months and years. Once we can begin to generate revenue from that IP in the form of educational workshops and sub-advisory services, we aim to be self-sustaining within 18-24 months, and profitable by 2019.” Dr. Gripne’s early success comes from her passion. Burkhardt explains, “Stephanie is truly a force of nature and I am always amazed at her ability to produce the results that she does! In addition to her being an incredibly accomplished academic, [IFC] capitalizes on something much greater. It is a true labor of love for her – it is her deepest passion and that fuels her at the highest level of performance.” Her sense of the problem drives her. Rhetorically, she asks, “In [these] times of economic uncertainty, climate change, and social division, how do we increase the flow of resources to the ventures that will deliver positive impact on our economy, society, and environment?” To address the problem, the Center helps high-net-worth individuals and institutions with $10 million to $5 billion to invest to do it with more impact and lower fees. Dr. Gripne says, “We do this though outreach, education, and technical assistance that allows them to understand their objectives in terms of financial return, impact, risk, and liquidity and them help them find ways to make their philanthropy more efficient, their investments more effective, and in many cases start directly investing.” By way of sample case, she shared this:
For example, we recently assisted, Nicole Bagley, an individual philanthropist and trustee on multiple family foundations to make her first impact investment into Silvernest, a women led technology company working to help the aging population age in place by providing housemates for additional income, companionship, and help around the house. Not only is she looking for her next investment, she is exploring her first impact investment with one of her family foundations and has joined the Impact Finance Center as a Senior Advisor.Despite progress that some see as remarkable, Dr. Gripne is impatient. She sees building a critical mass of participating investors as her greatest challenge. She needs financial help to create the marketplace she envisions and needs more people to begin investing within that framework. For many, it will be their first impact investment. Dr. Gripne is all about rapid growth. “We have the research, educational curriculum, and statewide marketplace; we now are in a place of finding the catalytic philanthropic gifts and partners to allow us to scale,” she says. Morgan notes, “Steph is doing a lot. Frankly, I think she could or should slow down and focus on a few things deeply. She has tremendous potential, and has accomplished an enormous amount with IFC in the last two years. She’s stretched in many directions due to the potential of this burgeoning field of impact investing and she wants to do it all.” “I’m working on narrowing her focus, but I don’t carry much sway,” he added. Dr. Gripne sees potential for a multi-national scale to the Center’s work, helping to create a global marketplace for direct investments in social ventures. “ How do we move $1 trillion of investment into our communities? $1 billion a time. How do we move $1 billion into our communities over five years? By investing in the infrastructure to create a national impact investing marketplace,” she says, making the possibility of catalyzing massive amounts of investment capital sound perfectly reasonable. She concluded our online discussion with this:
Until we build the infrastructure for a national impact investing marketplace that syndicates 10 regional impact investing marketplaces we will not see institutional money flow into our communities at the scale that is needed to solve society’s most pressing problems that include supporting a diverse spectrum of social impact, including improved school readiness, education, accessible jobs, healthy homes and neighborhoods, family economic security, community development and revitalization, climate resilience and more." ["post_title"]=> string(69) "Is This Wildlife Conservation PhD The Steve Jobs Of Impact Investing?" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(68) "is-this-wildlife-conservation-phd-the-steve-jobs-of-impact-investing" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2023-12-19 14:57:07" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2023-12-19 21:57:07" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(96) "https://canopyadvisory.com/is-this-wildlife-conservation-phd-the-steve-jobs-of-impact-investing/" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [3]=> object(WP_Post)#2755 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(863) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "2" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2016-05-31 00:00:00" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2016-05-31 06:00:00" ["post_content"]=> string(2436) "I just completed the Intellectual Property LLM degree program at University of Washington School of Law…and the first question I get asked is always: Why aren’t you practicing law? It’s natural to think that after spending 3 or more years in law school, one would then go on to practice law, which I did for several years after receiving my JD from Northwestern University School of Law. But as most law graduates know (whether they practice or not), law school and practicing can lead to so many more opportunities. I’m excited that my next opportunity is Canopy Advisory Group Seattle! While living in the Seattle area as an attorney, I’ve come to understand and appreciate the well educated, highly experienced professional seeking efficiency and balance in life. Despite any stereotypes that Seattle is tech, coffee or bust, the city fosters talent across all industries and professions. Seattle is one of the most amenable cities for independent professionals. I am the lucky one that gets to meet them and provide a service to help not only advance their careers, but also bring a sense of professional community to their flexible work environment. In addition to the value I hope to bring to independent professionals, I plan on bringing this talent to companies to meet their flexible and fluid needs. Independent consultant staffing firms are not unknown to the Seattle area, so what distinguishes Canopy? In Denver, Canopy began with quality as its foundation. As it has grown year after year and the quantity of advisors has increased, the quality has always remained consistently excellent. Using a referral system and personal meetings, Canopy gets to know each and every consultant to understand his or her skills, talents and needs. Only then can a perfect match be made with a client seeking those skills and talents to meet its needs. Canopy is not about high volume, databases, resumes and turnover, it is about people, quality of professional life and community. I hope to continue that legacy in Seattle. Already, I have met amazingly talented individuals that have so much to offer and it’s been overwhelmingly inspirational to get to know these people. I’m proud to be a part of the professional community here and excited to tap into the unused resources and talent to help professionals and businesses thrive. - Carin Parcel, Managing Director - Canopy Advisory Group Seattle" ["post_title"]=> string(28) "But you have a law degree..." ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(25) "but-you-have-a-law-degree" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2023-12-19 18:45:48" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2023-12-20 01:45:48" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(53) "https://canopyadvisory.com/but-you-have-a-law-degree/" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [4]=> object(WP_Post)#2761 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(861) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "2" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2016-05-26 00:00:00" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2016-05-26 06:00:00" ["post_content"]=> string(2982) "In 2015, an impressive 88 percent of U.S. businesses of all sizes relied on on-demand workers as part of their workforce. More than 40 percent of these companies used on-demand professional as more than 30 percent of their overall workforce.
Not only are businesses planning to increase their use of independents in 2016, it appears many of them are already taking advantage of this new class of “free-agent” talent. This may suggest that these independents are proving their worth and are able to integrate well with their full-time counterparts.The most common reason the surveyed companies gave for using on-demand professionals was increased flexibility. Using on-demand professional talent allows businesses to respond to opportunities with more agility, scaling their workforces as conditions require. Other reasons for using on-demand professionals included lowering labor costs, supporting geographical expansion, generating additional revenue and improving work quality.
The results suggest that more businesses are looking to get smaller (with their workforce) in an effort to get bigger (with their growth). We expect this trend to continue well into 2016 as more businesses prove that they can increase the top line without having to increase their headcount.Many of the 1,000 surveyed companies plan to increase their use of on-demand professionals in 2016. In doing so, the major obstacle they cite is the quality of available talent. That’s one reason why we vet our Canopy professional consultants so carefully – to make sure that our business clients have access to all of the flexible, high-quality talent that they need.
Seventy-four percent of surveyed businesses require a skills assessment before engaging an on-demand professional. The second most common requirement was a background check (56 percent) followed by validation of required licenses and certifications (44 percent).Other reasons cited for not using more on-demand talent are budget and cost limitations, concern over sensitive data/information, lack of need, lack of awareness, lack of compliance tools and the time requirement of managing on-demand workers. Canopy helps clients address many of these objections. We excerpted these results from the 2016 Corporate On-Demand Talent Report, a comprehensive study of corporate use of on-demand talent in a new economy published by Work Market. A previous post based on this report was Increasingly, companies use independent professionals for longer projects." ["post_title"]=> string(56) "Nearly all U.S. companies use flexible, on-demand talent" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(54) "nearly-all-u-s-companies-use-flexible-on-demand-talent" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2023-12-18 21:04:07" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2023-12-19 04:04:07" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(82) "https://canopyadvisory.com/nearly-all-u-s-companies-use-flexible-on-demand-talent/" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [5]=> object(WP_Post)#2764 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(811) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "7" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2016-05-05 00:00:00" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2016-05-05 06:00:00" ["post_content"]=> string(9683) "
“Let’s take some time off.” That’s how Susan Corvino of Pasadena, Calif., remembers her husband’s reaction when her communications job was eliminated four years ago. At the time, her husband was working long hours, so they agreed she would stay home with their three young children.
But returning to work two years later when her youngest daughter began preschool wasn’t so easy. Interviews in her field led nowhere, particularly when she asked for a flexible schedule.
So she tried a different approach, thinking less like a midlife professional, and more like a midlife intern. Creating her own series of “returnships,” Ms. Corvino took on a project for a friend who ran a non-profit. Later she found a temporary contract position at a university. These stints helped her find her current role in communications and development for an independent school.
Those short-term roles “bolster your résumé,” she said. “Everyone says, ‘Oh, do some volunteer work,’ and I did that, but it really helped to have some paid gigs.”
Ms. Corvino is not alone. Nearly one-third of college-educated women have taken time off to serve as caregivers to children or aging family members, according to an analysis by the Center for Talent Innovation. The majority of these workers are women, and while most of them plan to return to work eventually, they often find it difficult to navigate their way back into the work force.
That’s changing. A growing number of businesses are now targeting this pool of educated workers with temporary intern-style jobs or more formal “returnships” – essentially midlife internships to help workers rebuild their résumés.
In March, the data solutions provider Return Path announced it will spin off its own 20-week paid “returnship” program into a nonprofit, Path Forward, which works to help companies create similar programs. A new website, Après, just this week began targeting workers like Ms. Corvino who have taken career breaks in hopes of matching them with employers. And last year, the Society for Women Engineers announced the STEM Re-Entry Task Force, which worked with seven companies to create mid-career internships for 2015 and 2016, with plans to expand. The OnRamp Fellowship offers similar opportunities at Baker Botts and in Amazon’s legal department; others are offered at JPMorgan, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs, which pioneered (and even trademarked) the “returnship” in 2008.
Returning professionals have something unique to offer the employer who understands their value, said Carol Fishman Cohen, the chief executive and co-founder of iRelaunch, which works with both professionals seeking to return to work after a hiatus and employers interested in hiring them. While they’re often as eager as the just-out-of-college new hire, they bring more workplace experience, and they often have moved past the stage of needing future career breaks, unlike their younger counterparts.
“These are experienced employees, but also fast learners who are really ready to prove themselves,” Ms. Cohen said.
The Après site aims to connect experienced but out-of-the-work-force employees with employers who are looking for both gender diversity and seasoned mid-career professionals. In addition to traditional positions, it offers options that can help people transition back to work including contract consulting projects, temporary jobs and unpaid pro bono work.
The site was co-founded by Jennifer Gefsky, former deputy general counsel for Major League Baseball, who struggled to return to work after an eight-year career break, and Niccole Kroll, who had left her job as a New York University dietitian and researcher. Both had stepped out of the work force to raise their children.
“We were both surrounded by all these friends in that same category — educated, previously successful women looking to re-enter the work force — and no one knowing how to do it,” Ms. Gefsky said. “Then there were all these companies worried that their mid- and senior-level executives were all men.”
One advantage of working with a company with a returnship-style program, or one that has otherwise expressed an interest in welcoming caregivers back to the workforce, is that those companies are effectively saying, “we know we are going to see résumés with a gap and we’re O.K. with that,” Ms. Gefsky said. These are companies that understand that there are many reasons, economic and personal, for stepping out of the work force — and for returning. “Some women are financially motivated, and some are personally motivated, and both make good employees,” she said.
Workers who can’t find a formal midlife internship can still create their own internship-style path back to work. Erin Gibson Allen, a lawyer in Pittsburgh, created an unpaid internship with Judge Lisa Lenihan, a magistrate judge for the United States District Court in the Western District of Pennsylvania. After spending six months looking to re-enter the legal profession and with no formal re-entry programs in Pittsburgh, her plan was to get work experience and network in the legal community, rather than to find permanent employment with her judicial boss.
Her efforts paid of: After nine months with the judge she accepted a job at a law firm, and then moved to a Pittsburgh firm, Marcus & Shapira, where she now works in the area of competition law. She chose her internship experience wisely: Ms. Allen said the judge, a mother herself, appreciated the challenges of managing both a family and a legal career.
“The judge was my biggest advocate,” she said. “She introduced me to attorneys around town and included me in as many legal events as possible. My time with her was priceless.”
Helen Wolter of Mountain View, Calif, describes her career path before having children as “typical liberal arts major.” She taught high school, she did outdoor education, she worked in film and video. When her son was born, she was a high school social studies teacher. She made it work for a year, but went through “three nannies and a day care” trying to find an affordable and flexible fit.
Ms. Wolter began her journey back to work by pursing a master’s degree in public administration. To keep it affordable, avoid the need to hire babysitters in order to attend classes and maintain the flexibility she needed, she completed an online program through the University of Colorado. Now a graduate, with a son in first grade, she’s taken an internship approach – opting for a six-month contract position with a political re-election campaign as her first job after seven years as a caregiver. She hopes it will lead to permanent work. “I checked with a career counselor to ask if I should take that, or wait for something more permanent,” Ms. Wolter said, “and she told me, ‘Grab it. It’s so much easier to find a job if you have a job.’”
How do you create your own midlife internship? Those returning to work without the benefit of an organized program can use such internships as a model for both how they approach and talk to potential employers, look for the support they need, and find ways to expand their skills. Career counselors offer the following advice.
Keep networking from home: Even if your focus is on caregiving, you can still keep in touch with former bosses and co-workers. You might connect with someone on a soccer field who can help you. And you can revive a connection even if you’ve let links slide, said Cheryl Casone, author of “The Comeback: How Today’s Moms Reenter the Workplace Successfully.” “Comment on Facebook posts, send an interesting article, reconnect first,” she said.
Think about professional development: Even before you return to work, you can rejoin professional organizations, who can often connect you with internship programs. Like Ms. Wolter, you can build your résumé with online professional development courses or a new online degree program.
Don’t shy away from a temporary job: These can be “win-win,” said Ms. Gefsky. “Say, ‘let’s try this. I want to brush up my résumé, and I’ll work for a trial period at something less than the market rate.’ Or take something knowing it’s temporary in order to gain experience and add to your résumé.” Own your career break: Own your choices, and emphasize your readiness to return. “Don’t be afraid to say you wanted, or needed, to be home with your family,” said Ms. Gefsky. “This is only going to become more common, and employers are becoming more and more used to it.”
" ["post_title"]=> string(36) "Starting Your Own Midlife Internship" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(36) "starting-your-own-midlife-internship" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2023-11-08 00:01:05" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2023-11-08 07:01:05" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(64) "https://canopyadvisory.com/starting-your-own-midlife-internship/" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [6]=> object(WP_Post)#2765 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(859) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "2" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2016-03-23 00:00:00" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2016-03-23 06:00:00" ["post_content"]=> string(2867) "If you suspect that the traditional workforce is more stressful than ever before -- especially for women -- you are right. In January, The Huffington Post discussed constantly increasing workplace stress in an article titled The American Workplace Is Broken. Here’s How We Can Start Fixing It. Here are a few excerpts we thought you might find relevant:Americans are working longer and harder hours than ever before. Eighty-three percent of workers say they’re stressed about their jobs, nearly 50 percent say work-related stress is interfering with their sleep, and 60 percent use their smartphones to check in with work outside of normal working hours. It’s no wonder that only 13 percent of employees worldwide feel engaged in their occupations. The modern work world is a “broken and antiquated system,” according to Anne-Marie Slaughter, author of Unfinished Business: Men Women Work Family. Stress is taking a significant toll on our health, and the collective public health cost may be enormous. Occupational stress increases the risk of heart attack and diabetes, accelerates the aging process, decreases longevity, and contributes to depression and anxiety. It’s also hurting our relationships. Working parents say they feel stressed tired, rushed and short on quality time with their children, friends and partners. We are reaching our limits. People working with big corporations can’t stand their jobs.As active participants in the non-traditional workforce, we at Canopy believe that the best cure for stress (including its negative effects on health and family relationships) is a feeling of control and flexibility – the ability to choose the work you want to do as well as when and where you want to do it. A lot of objective research supports this opinion. Control and flexibility allow you to accept the professional projects you enjoy and reject those you don’t -- on your own terms. It allows you to take on fewer projects in the summer or over the holidays, when your children are home from school. And while certain projects will always require phone calls and texts outside of a consultant’s self-determined business hours, knowing that you can scale back on the next project or take some time off altogether creates a feeling of space, energy, health and sanity in an otherwise stressed-out world. We created Canopy to offer our professional consultants a solid and respectable alternative to the stressful traditional workforce. At the same time, our business clients are able to take advantage of fresh professionals who are not hampered by the stress and burnout of the traditional workplace." ["post_title"]=> string(39) "Stress Rampant in Traditional Workforce" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(39) "stress-rampant-in-traditional-workforce" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2023-12-19 18:46:49" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2023-12-20 01:46:49" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(67) "https://canopyadvisory.com/stress-rampant-in-traditional-workforce/" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [7]=> object(WP_Post)#2766 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(810) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "7" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2016-03-09 00:00:00" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2016-03-09 07:00:00" ["post_content"]=> string(5568) "
Technology has upended where we work. The line between work and play has been blurred, and the difference between the office and home has all but disappeared. As a result, there’s a new class of white-collar workers (or no-collar, to be precise) who roam the earth looking for places to get their jobs done. Some of them work from home, curled up on the couch on in a home office. Others camp out at expensive cafes, refilling their mugs of fancy coffee throughout the day. But increasingly, these untethered employees are gathering in a new kind of office known as the co-working space.The large number of co-working spaces popping up around the country addresses many of the “down” sides of contingent work. They offer desk space, fast Internet, office supplies and meeting rooms. On the softer side, they offer social connections and a peer group – something many independents crave after leaving big firm life. In WeWork Shoots the Works With Expansion Plans, The Wall Street Journal concludes:
This business is a ‘when’ business, not an ‘if’ business. Fueling this feeling of certainly is a belief that generational and cultural shifts are fueling a desire for more interaction and communal spaces, which in turn will lead more people to WeWork.So move on over Google, AirBnb and Facebook. As more and more professionals get a taste of independence, the number-one place to work may end up being wherever your laptop or table happens to be --at home, a great espresso bar or well-designed co-working space." ["post_title"]=> string(63) "By 2025, the #1 place to work could be wherever you are sitting" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(61) "by-2025-the-1-place-to-work-could-be-wherever-you-are-sitting" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2023-12-19 14:07:31" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2023-12-19 21:07:31" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(89) "https://canopyadvisory.com/by-2025-the-1-place-to-work-could-be-wherever-you-are-sitting/" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } }