56: Temping your way to a new career (over age 60)

When her longtime boss passed away in 2022, Lisa Pollione found herself at a crossroads with her career—in her 60s. 

In this episode, Lisa shares how she reinvented her professional life after two decades as a trusted chief of staff and executive assistant to a pharmaceutical advertising executive.

Lisa recalls the actions she took: signing up with temp agencies, exploring new paths, and staying open to opportunities. After trying out a few different roles as a temp, she’s now thriving in a new career as a compliance officer.

If you're wondering, "what's next for me?", maybe temping is the way to go. Lisa offers honesty, humor, and practical advice for all career changers, especially those over 60.

Episode Highlights:

• Having a stressful job as the right hand to a busy executive

• Facing a crossroads after losing a longtime employer

• Why temp agencies can help you explore different paths

• Learning new skills while working as a temp

• Taking on responsibilities beyond the job description 

• Why being proactive and flexible wins out over credentials  

• What to look for in company culture before committing full-time

• What to tell temp agencies when you’re not sure what you want

Resources:

Top 10 U.S. Temp Staffing Firms:

Manpower: https://www.manpower.com/

Kelly: https://www.kellyservices.com/

Robert Half: https://www.roberthalf.com/us/en

Adecco: https://www.adecco.com/en-us

Randstad: https://www.randstadusa.com/

Express Employment Professionals: https://www.expresspros.com/

Aerotek: https://www.aerotek.com/en

PeopleReady: https://www.peopleready.com/

MRINetwork: https://mrinetwork.com/

Staffmark: https://staffmark.com/

More temp agencies:

2025 America's Best Temp Staffing Firms by Forbes Magazine

Want more advice? Check out these additional episodes: 

Ep 4: Aged out: Making a career switch at over 50

Ep 16: Breaking into a new industry in your 50s

Ep 18: The pros and cons of being a full-time author

Ep 21: From side hustle to a new career

Ep 23: How being bilingual helps your new career

Ep 32: How to make a career change after 50

Ep 41: Pursuing your passion at any age

Ep 48: Tuning into your younger self

Music credit: TimMoor from Pixabay

Podcast info:
What's your career switch? What do you think about this episode and the show? Tell us at careerswitchpod.com. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Transcript

Lixandra: Hi, everyone. I'm Lixandra Urresta, and this is Career Switch Podcast. This show is here to encourage you to take action with whatever career change you're considering or working on. Maybe you're trying to switch industries or professions or break out on your own and start a business. In some episodes, I talk to people who've made their own career switch, whether by choice or circumstance. They share the good, the bad, and the truth about their journey, including what worked for them and what didn't. In other episodes, I speak with experts who offer their best career advice on challenges that can come up during the process of making a career change. After all, it takes guts to switch things up, and it's not easy. However, it is possible. So I hope you hear something in this episode, an idea, a suggestion, a piece of advice that'll spur you into action with your own career switch, whether it's taking that first bold step or trying something new. Welcome. I'm glad you're here. 

My guest today is Lisa Pollione. Lisa reinvented her professional life after 26 years as a trusted chief of staff and executive assistant to a pharmaceutical advertising executive. When her longtime boss passed away in 2022, Lisa was in her 60s and found herself at a crossroads with her career. In this episode, Lisa shares how she turned to temp agencies to explore what to do next. After trying out a few different roles as a temp, she eventually landed a position that led to an entirely new career as a compliance officer, a job she truly enjoys. If you're considering a career change later in life, you'll surely be inspired by Lisa's honesty, grit, and energy. Hi, Lisa. Thanks for joining us today. Let's dive in. What were you doing before your career switch?

Lisa: Well, I started off as an executive assistant to C-suite executives, executive vice presidents, presidents, things like that. And then I eventually got an opportunity to work for the chairman of the company for an advertising firm in the pharmaceutical industry. And what was that like? It was crazy because it was a lot of stress. And he did have a stressful job. He's responsible for keeping 300 people employed. and growing it. And that's by getting new clients who will hire our company to promote their products. We helped companies advertise their new products that just got approved off the FDA or even products that were old and just not selling. So that was their kind of thing. Mine was, my job was to take care of him and him only. You can have 100 people in there, I would not know one of them. The only one is my boss. And that was my job was just to focus on him. That means his calendar was ready to go from 6 a.m. till 10 p.m. at night, every day, seven days a week, including the weekend. It was a lot of work. I had to be on call, even on vacation. Not every time when I was away, but I didn't take many vacations. I only took one when he's away. So it was very stressful for me. It was very stressful to make sure everything was right. But I took the bit in my mouth and I ran with it. And I said, you know something? Step up, Lisa. Grow up, step up. Because this is your life now. And the money afforded me a nicer lifestyle. And I didn't want to give that up. So there was a big incentive to do the right thing. Even though there were days I wanted to strangle him. And what was your title? Started out as an EA and then became chief of staff. And so we were very, very successful. We became agency of the year, and my boss was man of the year at the advertising industry, in the advertising industry one year. So we did very, very well. And he thanked me in his speeches for helping him, asked me to take a bow. I'm like, are you kidding? So it was really, it was kind of nice.

Lixandra: Yeah. And just so listeners know, your boss's name was Sander. So what happened in the early 2000s?

Lisa: My boss, he decided to retire as a chairman from the company. And I stayed on. So I went on to work for the next president of the company. And then Sander called me and said, when are you ready to get back to work? I mean, I have been working. He goes, no, the only boss you ever had was me. You haven't worked since I left. OK. So I wound up going back to work for him at his new company, which was just a pharmaceutical consulting firm where I was no longer the chief of staff. I was now executive assistant to him. And we, together with my other colleagues, we ran his company. The job was basically the same job. I would get appointments for him as a consultant in the medical field, the pharmaceutical field rather, to CEOs, chairmen, and discuss how we can help them. They were struggling. Some of them were struggling with certain products. So we would help them. We stayed doing that, gosh, for 15 years. So we were very successful. And towards the end, he started to get very ill. He's kind of stepped back a little bit and let us run the company and he wrote books instead. He wrote seven books. He dedicated a couple of them to me. It was very sweet.

Lixandra: So how long did you work for him altogether?

Lisa: 26 years. I wound up working for him. I never thought in a million years.

Lixandra: Wow. 26 years. And he passed in 2022? He did. We were good partners.

Lisa: I was a very proactive individual, which he appreciated, because he grew to trust me, which I was very flattered. And I just did my best for him. But after that happened, we still continued working at his firm, which is a consulting firm. We continued on until we shut it down in May of 2023. We finished with the last client, got all of the projects done for that client, and then we shut the doors in May of 23. And then after that, I was out of work.

Lixandra: Oh my gosh, Lisa, what were you thinking when that happened?

Lisa: I knew I didn't want to do the same thing anymore. I was a lot older, but I knew I, I didn't want to, you know, use all of my savings, you know, it's part of my retirement. So I said, you know, I didn't want to do that. So I registered with agencies who find jobs and I sent over my resume. They were like, Oh, we're very impressed with your resume. Well, what would you like to do? And I said, well, I don't know if I want to do what's on my resume, but I, you know, I've developed different responsibilities. I took on a lot of different responsibilities when I was working for Sander, whatever it needed to be done, you do it. God, there was so many different things that we had to learn. And then going into chairman meetings and speaking about, uh, one of the products that we had one person who couldn't show for the meeting. So I had to stand in and do her part.

Lixandra: So the temp agencies were open to you not knowing what you wanted to do? I always thought that temp agencies want to book you somewhere and start collecting.

Lisa: Absolutely, they were open. And this is the reason why. They make their money by putting somebody in the seat. So when I said I'm open to anything, because I'm not so sure I want to go back to being an EA to a chairman, I said, because that's a lot of work. It's a lot of stress. I'm a lot older. They knew I was older. I said, I'm in my 60s, but I want to work. I still want to work and do whatever, but I don't want to, don't laugh, I don't want to work as hard. But that sounds terrible. Of course I would work. I would work hard, but just at something else. So I kept it open. I said, but, you know, I'm interested more in something that I can be a part of, you know, like, could I be more helpful? I want to feel productive and helpful, but not something that was going to kill me because I can't do that again. So how did the temping work out for you? It was okay because the job that I wound up getting, they brought me in as office manager. I said, okay, I've never been an office manager, but I've been chief of staff and that's what caught their eye.

Lixandra: What did they tell you about the job?

Lisa: Our office manager, she took care of all the licenses and things like that, you know, compliance and blah, blah, blah. Well, she's retiring. She's 73 and she's leaving at the end of the year. So I said, okay, I'll be happy to start. I said, but I want to do as a temp. So I get, make sure that we both get along the same way because the instruction that I was given was not, not that I did too much training in any job. Most of my jobs I've always learned by calling the person That I work with, I said, what do we do for you or what do you do for us? So I know because nobody in my jobs ever trained me. Well, I couldn't do that with this 1 because we work with the. And I'm like, well, who am I supposed to call? Hi, I'm sorry. We're not allowed to talk to you unless you are authorized by the owner of the company. Well, how do I get that? So I had to go back and they wouldn't give it to me because I'm a temp. And I said, don't blame you. I'm a temp. I'm not an employee. Why would you give me authorization to do things when I'm a temporary person? I don't know that I'm staying.

Lixandra: Now, what kind of company was this since they had to deal with the DEA, which is the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration?

Lisa: We are a wholesale distributor of controlled substances for clients that are doing clinical trials and biologics. and they can't get those drugs on their own. We are authorized and licensed within the United States, as well as our own state of New York, to get these drugs for them. And that's anything controlled substance would be, that's, you know, painkillers, any cancer drugs, anything that has a lot of ingredients in it that could be dangerous to someone's health if they abused it. That's where I worked with the DEA. to make sure the permits are correct from the client. If they have one thing wrong, nope, sorry, it's not going to go through. The number is wrong, you have to reissue the permit. And that means China has to reissue the import permit with the correct dosage on it, and then they send it. And then I can do their permit.

Lixandra: And this was your job as office manager?

Lisa: No, this is what I took on while I was training for the office manager job. I started doing compliance, which is the licenses. No one else was doing them. She used to do them, the girl I was replacing. Are you referring to the office manager who was retiring? She did both. She was the office manager and the compliance officer. She was leaving at the end of the year. She left a month and a half, almost two months after I started. But we fixed it all. But it took a while. They don't answer you right away. So it was a very new experience for me.

Lixandra: So how did you deal with working with the DEA, a government agency?

Lisa: Relationship building came in where I had to build a relationship with the ladies on the other end. They just do their job. They don't care about my job. They care about their job. We will get you back to you. Yes, we have your paperwork and we will get back to you. When? We will get back to you. You have a nice day now. Okay. So that could be six months or six days. You just sat there and waited. It was really quite frustrating. But you learn. I had to learn how to deal and I had a whole new view and approach to this job that I did the other job, my other position with Sander. So it was a learning experience and it was all on my own. So I had to figure out who to call. Again, this is what I had to do. And that instead of relying on people at the office, I called the DEA's office and they have a thousand different divisions. And I would just go, hi, my name is Lee. And I'm doing this and blah, blah, blah. Can you help me direct me to where I should go to get blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'd have to wait two or three days. Then I would get a response with a number and an email. We would email them, wait two or three days, get a response. It took me forever to get anything done, but now, All done.

Lixandra: So when you were hired through the temp agency to be the office manager, did you know you were going to have to do this compliance work? No, I had no idea. So how did you feel about it when they asked you to do it?

Lisa: Oh, I loved it. I'd love any opportunity to do anything. I said, I'll do it. Absolutely. I couldn't wait to get started. I loved it because it was something new. It was something I'd never done before. I had no idea what I needed to learn or know. The closest I would ever work with the government was we worked with the FDA. when we were looking to talk to them about certain products that were becoming approved.

Lixandra: And this was when you worked for Sander, right?

Lisa: Yep. We worked with the FDA division on certain pharmaceuticals that were being approved or studied. So that was the closest I ever came to anything to do with pharmaceuticals and getting them approved. This job that I'm on, we're on the total other end of the spectrum. where now these drugs are already on the market, but we're using them in an entirely different way. With the pharmaceutical houses, some of which were my clients in my other job, they are now doing clinical trials and need these drugs that now my job is to get them purchased from the manufacturer and over to them so they can do their trials. Solely that's what our job is. We just make sure that all the permits are in place and everything is where it's gotta be.

Lixandra: So Lisa, you started off as a temp and were hired full-time in August 2024. How's it going? It sounds a little intense.

Lisa: God bless my boss, my new boss. He's a doll. He's a really wonderful man. So is the chairman. The young guys, they're both, one's in his late 40s, the other one's in his mid-50s. I'm the oldest person there in the company. Everything is very, very exact. Whereas when I was in advertising, it's like, well, it's not my job. You do that, you know, because it wasn't my job was just to get the product. Now you do what you need to do with it. Everybody had their role. And my role was to do one thing. Now I'm on the other end. I'm doing the boom. I'm the one that's doing, okay, we got it. Let's go get it out. We can't hold it. When do they need it? Well, they want to.

Lixandra: Interesting. You said you're the oldest person at the office. How do you feel about that?

Lisa: I'm 67. How I feel about it? I don't, I don't think about it. You know, we all get along really well. Even the chairman told me that you fit in really well, you're doing very, very well. You know, it's nice to have you aboard.

Lixandra: Oh, thank you. Yeah. Yeah, that's great. Let's go back to when you registered with the temp agencies. What do you think made you stand out?

Lisa: I wanted to do more than what I was hired for. I was open to any opportunity. I answered the phones because nobody was there, or I cleaned the dishes in the sink because the girl was out and I said, we can't leave these things here. It's not that I wanted to do them, you just do them. It was just part of who I am, though. You know, do I love doing these things? No, but it needs to be done. So I'm there, I do it. I actually took classes in proofreading because I found that it would be helpful. So I added that to my resume, a proofreader, you know, things like that. So they knew it. These are things that I was not hired to do. I was not hired to proofread. But sometimes, you know, people need help. These are things that I went ahead and did, but these are also things that you always add to your resume. It shows that you're open to other things. You've got to be open to doing work in addition to what you're hired to do.

Lixandra: Like what? What's an example of something you did?

Lisa: One of them was holding a workshop with other assistants at the agency to show them how to approach your clients, make friends with their assistants. If you do that, you're in. Oh, hi, Lisa. Sure. No problem. When do you want, when is Sandra coming in? Well, when can he come in? You tell me, I'm kind of open. And they say, let me hold on a second. Let me see what I can get, how I can get you in. So they said, we would like for you to hold a workshop with all the assistants and show them what you can do and what you've done in the past. They wanted me to do that because, yeah, Lisa can do that. Get her in to do that. My boss recommended me for that workshop because he saw what I was able to do and what I was willing to do. These are the things that you want to be known for because how it reacts, you put it on your resume, held a workshop, da, da, da, da, but I wasn't hired to do a workshop. They didn't know that I was going to be able to do that.

Lixandra: So are these the kind of things that the temp agencies took notice of?

Lisa: That's what they drew on. Not what I was hired as an EA, but I did this and this. Would you be interested in something in that realm? I said, absolutely, absolutely. So those are the things they called me on, the agencies called me on, and I would get work through the temp agency and work with them. I would decide whether or not I wanted to stay. The job maybe didn't pay enough, or I just didn't like the vibe. I went to one company, I didn't like the vibe at all, it was like working in a morgue. I can see it now, one month from now they'll fire me. Why? Because she's too loud. I said, this is not for me.

Lixandra: I went on and that was fine, but you learn. Would you recommend working as a temp when making a career change? Yes. because there are different types of agencies, right? There's CountTemps for accounting. I know there's one for the tech industry. Robert Half covers a variety of fields and there are also agencies for creatives.

Lisa: Absolutely. Yes. I have to focus on finding those.

Lixandra: Yeah. So Lisa, you obviously recommend temping, right? Best thing ever. What would you say are the benefits of temping?

Lisa: It's a level playing field. You can make a decision as well as they can. Usually when you're temping, they're on their best behavior. People are on their best behavior and also is the company you're working for because they want you to be interested in them. And they haven't made a decision yet, but they will kind of try you out to see if you fit in. Very important that you fit into the culture because the culture is not going to change for you. You have to go into that culture. So you have to, again, being open. and be at the ready. Develop a relationship with a hierarchy, but also get along with your coworkers. If they like you and they see that you're working and you're trying and you're fitting in, you're asking questions, within 90 days, most companies will know one way or another after 30 to 45 days whether or not you're going to stay. But they do wait for 90 days, because it is important, especially if the job is more difficult. If there's like processes that you need to learn and know along the way to get something done, do you pick up on it?

Lixandra: And Temping doesn't just allow the company to get to know you. You get to know the company too, and you can decide if you want to be part of that culture.

Lisa: You want to be part of that culture, and there's no harm, no foul. In the end, he goes, all you were were attempts. And tell the agency what you don't like. Well, this and that and blah, blah, blah. Make them work. Make them work. That's their job, not yours.

Lixandra: OK, Lisa. As we wrap up, you're now a compliance officer. How do you like your new career?

Lisa: Very interesting. I want to do more because there's this medium amount of work. I'm used to having a lot of work. I applied for a license in North Carolina for our company to do business there. So I'm waiting to get the FBI background check and I'm going to send that in and we good. So it's fun that way. So I like what I'm doing. It's fun. I'm learning something new and the people are great.

Lixandra: Wonderful. So good to hear. One last question. What's your advice for other career changers, especially those in their sixties?

Lisa: It's all in your attitude. If you have an attitude problem, then pull it off, it's over. But if you adjust your attitude, you know, get up and go do something. Do something that's productive, but it also gives you a purpose until you want to change your purpose again. In five years or three years, four years maybe, I'm thinking of retiring, but I'm going to be doing something else. I don't know, but I'll be preparing for that before I retire.

Lixandra: Thanks to Lisa Pollione for being our guest today. Check out the show notes for more episodes on how to change careers when you're older. You can find links to the resources mentioned in this episode and more helpful information in the show notes and on our website, careerswitchpod.com. 

So what's your career switch? Are you motivated to take action after listening to this episode? Tell us at careerswitchpod.com. We'd love to know, along with any feedback you have about the show. Let us know too if you'd like to be a guest. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn at careerswitchpod. And please rate, review, and share with your friends and colleagues. It'll help get the show out there. Thanks for listening today. Till next time.