Read the empowering story of a baby boomer with a millennial mindset. Also included are the suggestions and resources from the Quintessential Careers team -- for this job-seeker and any other job-seeker facing a similar situation.

by Cindy Price Verduce, as told to Katharine Hansen, Ph.D.

Cindy Verduce

Cindy Price Verduce thinks of herself as having a millennial mind inside a baby-boomer body. The 46-year-old mother of five explains how she's a millennial thinker: "I multi-task and can accomplish a great deal in a short period of time," she says. "When given assignments I complete them in a creative manner. I desire flexibility and creativity in my job while I enjoy being challenged with meaningful work. Sometimes I feel younger folks assume much about me before they hear my thoughts. I hope I won't be judged before co-workers hear my thoughts and ideas.

"I'm definitely into a balanced lifestyle, desire a flexible work environment and am driven more by people and my relationships with them versus an attachment to institutions," Verduce continues. I'm definitely bright, cheery, and well adjusted. I love working in a social environment and having five kids at home, and love living and working in a high-energy, though chaotic, environments."

Verduce, who after 18 years at home raising a family recently rejoined the workforce as a Career Advisor/Internship Coordinator at Indiana Tech, Fort Wayne, IN, suggests that her millennial mindset is an advantage in her work: "I love working with college students and could do that in a multitude of places here in Fort Wayne," she says, "but it's important to me to feel connected to the people and the work we're doing, and I definitely feel that way here at Indiana Tech."

Born in Camden, SC, Verduce first imagined becoming a lawyer, "but that was because I liked to talk and was smart," she says. "Everyone told me that's what I should do." Verduce credits her father as the single biggest influence on career. "He was a very bright man but didn't have the opportunity to go to college," she explains. "He made sure I got there and succeeded. He gave me unconditional support. He did the same for my brother and sister, also."

During college as a history major at the University of South Carolina, Verduce worked in the South Carolina State Senate for Senator Donald Holland, who was a friend of her father. "Holland hired me to be page in the Senate, normally couple-of-month position," Verduce says. "I made sure I did good work, went the extra mile and ended up staying in the position and was eventually promoted to committee assistant."

At USC where Verduce was Panhellenic President for the Greek system, Sorority Woman of the Year, and Outstanding Senior, she had a supervisor, Julie Busch Jones, whom she describes as the best boss she ever had. "Unfortunately for higher ed," Verduce says, "Julie is no longer in the field, but she was extremely challenging, but yet supportive. I learned so much just by watching how she handled situations, people and her own time. Later, Julie became my boss at Albion College in Michigan, but has continued to be a mentor and life-long friend."

In graduate school while pursuing her master of education degree (also at the University of South Carolina), Verduce worked as the graduate assistant in the Carolina Leadership Program. After graduation, Verduce was hired as the assistant director of Small Group Housing and Greek Life and Interfraternity Council advisor at Bowling Green State University.

A Personal Glimpse FAVORITE MOVIES The Big Chill, Ferris Bueller's Day Off LATEST BOOK READ Getting from College to Career: 90 Things to do Before you Graduate, by Lindsey Pollak. ("I love this book!" Verduce says. "I'm trying to arrange for Lindsey to speak at Tech!") FAVORITE BOOKS Breakfast at Tiffany's, by Truman Capote; The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien; And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie INTERESTS/ HOBBIES Cooking, gardening FAVORITE TV SHOWS Anything on the cooking channel FAVORITE FOOD Shrimp FAVORITE WEBSITE Cooking Light FAVORITE MAGAZINE Cooking Light BIGGEST THRILL My children PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY The Golden Rule: "Treat People the way you want to be treated."

It was at Bowling Green that Verduce feels she made the biggest mistake in her career -- "not taking enough time ... to really understand how things worked. I stuck my foot in my mouth more than once because I was impatient," she says. "My boss, Wayne Colvin, was really patient with me. I had a tendency to speak up or criticize programs before knowing how things work. I now try and listen more than I talk in new situations. My suggestion to new hires is to look and listen for the first year, you can offer your suggestions once you have a better idea of office politics and the players involved in the decision-making process."

After several years at Bowling Green, she went on to become the recruiter for St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Youngstown, OH, a position Verduce says, "I loved and learned so much from." In fact, Verduce cites her recruiting position as the turning point in her career. "While I didn't recognize it at the time, this position has given me a wealth of knowledge and perspective to share with my students, a view that is somewhat unique to Career Services. By combining my cognate [related area of study] in employee relations and personnel with my master's degree in education [and a concentration in] student personnel services, I have a unique educational background coupling real-world recruiter experience with a student-personnel philosophy.

Years later her husband's transfer necessitated relocation to Knoxville, TN, where Verduce started a career as a freelance writer and editor, a position she continued for several more years in Indianapolis and South Bend.

"In addition, while raising my five children," Verduce says, "I was also very active in the community, our church, and our children's parochial schools.

After 18 years, Verduce returned to the paid work force. To persuade her current boss to take a chance on her after 18 years out of the workforce would not seem like an easy feat. Verduce explains how she did it: "I led with my education on my resume; having a master's degree in student personnel is fairly specific," she says. "I also highlighted my experience as a recruiter in addition to my extensive background as a volunteer with non-profits, most notably the Junior League of South Bend -- all things I thought would get the attention of the department chair, if not HR."

It is in her job at Indiana Tech that Verduce is most profoundly confronted with her mix of baby-boomer and millennial sensibilities. In addition, of course, to Generation Y students, she has a millennial-age boss from whom she says she's learned a lot, as she has from all her bosses. Only occasionally does her boomer background present obstacles, but her millennial mindset gets her past them quickly.

"Some of the dilemmas I faced," Verduce explains, "dealt with technology and keeping pace with skills that are needed in the work place. Because I was an active volunteer and freelance writer, I was in pretty good shape, but, for example, I had never used Outlook, something that is essential in my current position -- and probably every other job out there! Being 'millennial-ish' in my thinking, I just jumped right in and played around with the system, asked questions, and picked it up very quickly. I wasn't afraid of the technology; I just had never used it -- but was excited to see how it made my life easier and more efficient."

Learning from bosses and colleagues also has been a hallmark of Verduce's career, and she says, the biggest factor in her career success. "I've worked with some great people who shared so much with me," Verduce notes. "I've also never been afraid to try new thing/ideas. I utilize my creativity to come up with new and inventive ways to solve problems."

In her current job, for example, she says, "Due to the restructuring of my position here at Tech, I needed to come up with a simple, yet non-time-consuming approach to tracking student internships. I devised a new program, 'Internship Round Up,' where students complete a simple form telling us where they've had internships, or where they'd like to have an internship. It's a quick, efficient method to gather information and target students who need our services."

Creatively finding efficient solutions has also helped Verduce integrate her family life with her worklife. "As the mother of five children, my house has to run pretty efficiently," Verduce says. "Some say I'm somewhat of a army sergeant. I say, 'well, if that's what it takes!"'

Verduce's current project at work is revamping her office's website content and "preparing for a new direction with our website." Verduce notes that she is "having fun learning how to blog and use technology to reach our students."

Successfully reaching students is what instills the greatest pride in her. "When a student stops in to tell me they landed the internship or job and to thank me for all my help -- there's nothing better."

Given that Verduce has no career regrets and says of her work, "I'm blessed; I absolutely love what I do!", it's not surprising that she quotes Confucius in her career advice to others: "Find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life."

As for the future, Verduce says, "it's not so much where I see myself going. I love working with the students at Indiana Tech! I look forward to finding new and creative ways to engage and prepare students for the world and their careers."

Verduce's desire to ready students for the real world springs from "some of the recurrent issues" she observes, such as "lack of preparation and direction." Verduce notes that "too many times, students come into my office and say, 'I'll do anything' and take a shotgun approach. I encourage them to take a hard look' at what they like, what they don't like, what they're good at and what they're not and use that information to form a direction they'd like to take. More and more, students return from their internships and tell me they now know what they don't want to do. Those are the students who really reflected on their skills and desires to find the right job. Every one of them is happy with where they are now."

Her observations of some of the initial struggles her students' experience has inspired Verduce's ambition to write a book. "Actually, I have several in mind, but my first would be a book for parents of middle-school and high-school students on how to prepare their kids for getting into and being successful in college -- sort of a 'what to expect/how to prepare your child for college.' Right now, we're having to teach students simple manners, etiquette, and professionalism -- things folks of my generation were taught at home and comfortable with by time they went to college. I'd also like to write a book for parents/students in middle school and high school on career exploration and job-search strategies they can do now. All my kids, even my 9 year old, are volunteering their time this summer in areas where they have a career interest."

Suggestions and Resources for Verduce and Others in Similar Situations

We suggest that Verduce:

• Keep doing what she's doing! She's delighted with her career and loves what she does.
• Continue to understand and learn about the millennial mindset, both so she can keep helping her students and so she can cope with her own intergenerational interactions and those that her students will face. Two good resources for those facing these intergenerational issues are our articles, Perception vs. Reality: 10 Truths About the Generation Y Workforce and How to Recruit, Hire, and Retain the Best of Generation Y: 10 Workplace Issues Most Important to Gen Y.
• Continue to encourage her students to find what they love to do and to plan their careers. She could refer them to our Finding Your Career Passion Tutorial and the material in in our section of Career Planning and Guidance Articles for Job-Seekers.
• Go ahead and write those books, possibly using as inspiration our College Planning Tutorial, our Answers to Common College Admissions Questions, our section, College Planning Resources for Teens, and our Teen College, Career, and Job-Related Articles.
• Spread the wealth to other boomers. Since Verduce is well connected in her community through all her volunteer work and clearly knows how to get a job as a mature worker after 18 years out of the paid workforce, she can be a good resource to others in her community seeking to advance their careers. She might refer them to our section, Job and Career Resources for Mature and Older Job-Seekers -- Including the Baby Boomers.