Mike Mansfield became CEO of charity Pro Age after being made redundant from his corporate research role after 17 years. Mike shares how he is now doing something he loves…
Name
Mike Mansfield
Old Position
Director for Aegon retirement research programme
New Career
CEO of a charity called Pro Age
Can you tell us about your current role?
I’m CEO of a charity called Pro Age which aims to create more inclusive workplaces. I’m doing something I believe in and can see we are already making a difference to helping people live better, healthier, longer lives so I hope to be doing this for at least the next decade and beyond!
I am also CEO at Halixia. This is a startup, helping people lead a better, longer life. I work three plus days a week with ProAge. In many ways, I have moved from a full-time career with a single employer to a portfolio career, where I work on the things that are important to me and still have time to work in a volunteer capacity with Brave Starts.
What was your previous role?
I previously worked at the pensions group, Aegon, where I was director for their retirement research programme.
I’m doing something I believe in and can see we are already making a difference to helping people live better healthier longer lives so I hope to be doing this for at least the next decade and beyond!
How did your career change come about?
I lost my job through a re-organisation and was made redundant. I knew I really wanted to stay working in the area of helping people make the most of their latter working lives. I was looking for a coach or someone who could help me think through my next step because what I do wasn’t straightforward: it’s not like an accountant where you can easily move from one job to another. I recognised the next job was likely to be one I’d have to make myself and I really wanted a partner to help me think through that issue.
How did you feel when you were made redundant?
I experienced a lot of different emotions when I was made redundant. It may sound naïve but the first was surprised! I had been with my previous employer for 17 years and changed jobs within the organisation several times. I had started as head of audit, then moved to sustainability, before landing a job I loved, doing retirement research.
Having quickly accepted reality, I started thinking about what compromises I was prepared to make. If I went back to audit or sustainability, I would likely find a job a lot quicker than staying in my chosen field, longevity research and facilitating longer, more productive lives. I decided not to compromise too soon and see what was out there.
I experienced a lot of different emotions when I was made redundant.
How did you go about finding your next role?
I joined Brave Starts, worked on my CV, and put feelers out to all my contacts. I applied for a lot of different jobs that in the field of inclusion and diversity (DEI) to see if I could join a company and make a difference from the inside. I lost count of how many CVs I sent out but did not get called for a single interview.
I quickly realised that I had a few things going against me: the field I wanted to work in was very specific, I had previously held a senior position and may be perceived to be expensive, and I was OLD. Having a handful of lemons, I needed to find a way to make lemonade, so doubled down on the age inclusion aspect of the DEI jobs I was looking for and gave myself a couple of months to see if my bet paid off. Thankfully it did and the opportunity with ProAge came along.
How did you go about managing your transition?
Brave Starts helped me in several ways. It introduced me to some wonderful people who helped with practical things like improving my CV, but also with my thinking about what I wanted to do.
Their work is closely related to my interests, so I started to volunteer with them and that got me attending all their workshops and events and I was learning about all the different opportunities there are out there. One of the best things however was meeting people from a range of different backgrounds but who were all dealing with the same issue.
In many ways, I have moved from a full-time career with a single employer to a portfolio career, where I work on the things that are important to me.
