John Kostibas Engineer ; Math Teacher

Those who have found work that matters in the second half of life are creating a distinct new category: the encore career.

Already, as many as eight million Americans between the ages of 44 and 70 are in their encore careers. Their ranks are expected to grow, as fully 50 percent of those between 44 and 50 say they are looking forward to their own encore careers. (See the 2008 MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures Encore Career Survey for more details.)

There’s strength in these numbers. Those already in encore careers can help each other in their work, and serve as mentors to others looking for ways to make a difference as well as a living. And there’s more to be done to remove old obstacles and create new pathways.

The new Encore.org is part of a campaign to make it easier for millions of individuals to find their encore careers and thus deploy their tremendous store of time, talent and experience in areas such as education, health care, poverty and the environment.

Join. By joining Encore.org, you are helping build a constituency for the encore career, demonstrating both the potential of the encore career movement.

Share. When you complete your profile by sharing your encore story, adding a photo and identifying your interests, you make it possible for others to find you. (You have control over whether people can contact you; in any event, your email address will not be visible.)

Connect. The improved Community section of Encore.org (coming soon!) provides tools to form a group around a specific field or interest, seek out individuals in your geographic area, or start a discussion around a specific topic. The new Encore Answers feature provides an opportunity for you to pose questions to others in the encore community – or share your experience with an answer.

Advocate. This is the age of innovation. The door is open for new ideas for tackling big challenges. Local, state and national policies to support encore careers are only the beginning. By working together, we can help bring world-changing ideas to scale.