Some people want an encore career that combines combine income with personal meaning and also contributes to society. Others think that’s a pipe dream, and that simply making ends meet is going to be a challenge. And still others at the end of their midlife careers want nothing to do with work at all.

The Internet is abuzz with reactions to the MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures Career Survey, which found that an estimated 6 percent to 9.5 percent of Americans ages 44 to 70 are already working in encore careers. The survey also found that, among those people not already in encore careers, 50 percent said they want to have one.

Alice Waters wasn’t content to start a national revolution around organic and locally grown food. At age 64, she’s 12 years into an encore career to transform the way schoolchildren think about what they eat.

She spends the bulk of her time traveling, speaking and raising funds for her Edible Schoolyard project, which gives children the experience of planting, growing and preparing foods that they share together.

Numerous media outlets reported on the findings of the MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures Career Survey. Some of the major articles:

USA Today: “Boomers’ New Jobs Give Back,” by Janet Kornblum.

The New York Times: “Options for Those Nonretiring Boomers,” by Marci Alboher.

Los Angeles Times: “Encore Careers Give ‘Retirees’ Another Chance to Do Dream Jobs,” by Maria L. La Ganga.

The conventional wisdom about older workers is that they a) cost more; b) are absent more often; and c) have one foot out the door.

The truth is: not much, not at all and no way.

In ”Keep Pace with Older Workers” in the May 2008 issue of HR Magazine, Robert J. Grossman refutes some myths about older workers.

“Retailers like Target, Trader Joe’s, Wegman’s, Circuit City and IKEA are just a few examples of companies that offer their part-time employees health care options, 401(k) plans, paid vacation time and/or discounts on merchandise,” reports Mary Lorenz of CareerBuilder.com.

Jacksonville is working to become a model city for people seeking encore careers.

With more than 1 million residents, a quarter of them over age 50, the largest city in Florida has a wealth of older residents willing to share their talent and experience.

“We know there is a large, willing group of older adults in Jacksonville who would like to work, but work differently,” said Mark LeMaire, director of Life: Act 2, a partnership established by the United Way of Northeastern Florida. “We see our role as trying to soften up some of the area businesses to create ways they could accommodate them, by making the structure more flexible and making it easier to break in.”

Individuals and employers would get tax credits and other incentives to save money for the training and education needed to launch their encore careers under the Lifelong Learning Accounts Act of 2008, introduced by Reps. Rahm Emanuel and Jim Ramstad.

The bill, based on the “learning accounts” established last year by IBM to help its employees transition to their encores, differs from other federal education-financing programs in that it is specifically targeted to adults up to age 70.

“Between the ages of 18 and 65, you are effectively on your own when it comes to saving for additional education and training,” said Emanuel, a Democrat from Illinois. “401(k)s have clearly revolutionized the way that workers save for their retirement. Lifelong Learning Accounts will hopefully revolutionize the way workers invest in their education and training.”

Santa Fe Community College will train older nurses to become nursing instructors. Western Dakota Technical Institute will offer courses for boomers who want to become seasonal rangers and interpretative guides at national parks. And Community College of Spokane is launching an effort to match older adults with job vacancies in the region.

These innovative community colleges are among the 15 institutions designing programs to help older adults focus on new careers and continued engagement, thanks to a $3.2
million “Plus 50” grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies.

Have you switched — or do you want to — from business or government to a job at a nonprofit organization?

The Conference Board, a business research and membership group, wants to hear from experienced workers who have moved, or wish to move, from for-profit or government jobs into the nonprofit sector. It has extended the deadline for responses until May 21.

The goal is to better understand the key cultural, generational, intergenerational challenges they face, and which pathways they find most effective in moving to the nonprofit sector.

The retirement of aging baby boomers is creating a talent gap in the federal workforce, but also an opportunity to help fill that gap.

“Most people talk about the retirement loss as a problem for the future, and I would argue it is a problem of today. We are already seeing that exodus of talent,” said Max Stier, president of Partnership for Public Service, in a discussion organized by the Council for Excellence in Government.