Barbara Markoff's optimism is growing as her bank account
shrinks.
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Her job search has been invigorated, and she looks at the expense involved
as an investment.
The 53-year-old single mother
from Shorewood was introduced to Journal Sentinel
readers in March when she told her story of wanting to change her life and
career after the death of her mother.
Since then, she has been working
with career and financial planners who volunteered their time to test a new
system integrating their advice.
The idea behind the system,
developed by
"We, too, have found that our
clients hesitate in making the type of career changes they would love to make
because of insecurity about personal finance," said Pauline Foster, a partner in
the Lindisfarne Group in
When Markoff began the process, her goal was to end a 20-year
career as a self-employed consultant on community relations and instead find a
job with a company doing the same things. She also wanted to ensure she had time
to spend with her 8-year-old daughter and to do volunteer work - both freedoms
that her work as a self-employed consultant had allowed.
Everything she has discovered
since then has reinforced her judgments.
Foster and her partner, Jane
Schroeder, administered a series of tests, conducted interviews and came away
convinced that Markoff had correctly understood her
needs - and that her goals were reasonable.
"She is very perceptive about
herself," Foster said. "She needs to be working in a corporate environment
because she has worked so long alone, she misses the
companionship."
However, there are only a limited
number of such opportunities in the
So Team Markoff has
developed two additional strategies: She could work as a permanent part-time
employee for two or more organizations, or join a public relations firm that
would offer her talents in community relations as an extra service for
clients.
Foster and Schroeder have helped
with leads and tips on interviewing and résumé writing. They and Markoff keep in frequent touch and are constantly tweaking
the approach.
"We have gotten her much more
focused and organized," Foster said.
And they have affected the search in more subtle
ways.
"On the front end of this I was
thinking I was willing to sacrifice everything; just give me a great job," Markoff said.
Now, the integrated approach is
beginning to tell. For instance, Markoff knows she
will need to work in a "family friendly" environment.
She concedes that with a
full-time job, she will not be able to continue to meet her daughter after
school at 3 p.m. But she is placing great emphasis on a
workplace that has enough flexibility to allow her time to take the girl to a
doctor's appointment and be home at night to help with
schoolwork.
And she has increased her financial
goals.
"What I was doing on my own - I
was simply looking to find fulfilling work that would allow me to make enough
money to meet my current needs," she said.
However, after sitting down with
Haubrich, she knows that is not enough. "I now factor in the additional amount
of money I need to earn for my future. I need to earn more than I thought," she
said.
Her new goal:
between $75,000 and $85,000 a year. That would enable her to save for retirement and
her daughter's education.
In the meantime, Markoff should be able to spend as much as $50,000
supporting herself and daughter for up to eight months as she searches for a
job, Haubrich said. The money comes from an inheritance of about $400,000 from
her mother, and some might be spent getting a
certificate in public relations.
"I use the metaphor of a rental
property that we are rehabbing," Haubrich said. "We are rehabbing her career
asset. I keep hammering on that, so spending the money does not become
emotionally debilitating. When rehabbing, you can't have a tenant and are
spending money, but in the long run the property will be worth
more."
Markoff has heard him. "This is my investment in my
transition time," she said. "I don't have to worry about
money."
All involved share Markoff's optimism that she will be able to find a job that
fulfills her needs and goals before the $50,000 runs out.
But there is a fallback plan should that not occur.
Markoff believes she could become the executive
director of a non-profit organization. She has had offers but turned them down.
"That is not the work situation I
want," she said. "I am not exactly sure why that doesn't sing for me right now,
but it just doesn't."
Foster offers a possible reason;
Haubrich two others.
"She is very goal-oriented, very
energetic," Foster said. "She is going to be frustrated because things are much
slower in the non-profit environment."
"In the non-profit arena
executive directors don't pull down salaries at the level she would have to pull
down," Haubrich said. "And that is not what she wants to do
anyway."
The last of his reasons is as
important as the first, Haubrich said.
"Grabbing a job from desperation
is not going to be necessarily a good fit," he said. "That can lead to today's
solution being tomorrow's problem."
From the May 21, 2006 editions of the
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