40+ of Southeast Wisconsin

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40Plus also known as 40Plus, 40+, Forty Plus, or FortyPlus is a United States based non-profit organization that helps professionals, managers and executives make career transitions and find employment. Historically, membership was limited to persons over 40, but chapters have opened their ranks to experienced professionals of all ages. 40Plus chapters provide job search training programs, networking opportunities, and other resources to members. Members come from all sectors of the economy, including private businesses, non-profit organizations, educational institutions and government. Many people with technical and professional expertise do not receive outplacement counseling when they lose their jobs, and 40Plus chapters have helped to fill that gap for many individuals.

40Plus is national organization, but each.^[1] Chapter is an independent, member-run, all-volunteer, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The Washington, D.C. Chapter alone claims to have been instrumental in getting jobs for over 8,000 of their members over the last fifty years. 40Plus provides hope, direction and support by helping people develop the skills needed to find meaningful work or make a successful job transition.

The mission of 40Plus “is to facilitate and support career transitions for people with substantial business or

professional experience through training and volunteer experience.”^[2] A secondary mission is “for educating the public and the business community on the value of maturity, experience, knowledge and judgment in the work place”. ^[3]

History

40Plus was established in 1939 by Henry Simler, an executive with Remington Rand ^[4]. He created a “40 Plus Committee” at New York City’s Sales Executive Club to help the many over-forty executives he knew who were having difficulties finding jobs. Serving as a job clearinghouse and mutual support group, the club soon became an independent organization, while the concept spread to cities throughout the U.S. The first chapter was organized in Boston, and the second in New York City. ^[5]

In the 1940s and 1950s, chapters were formed in more than 20 cities around the United States, as well as in Canada, Britain, France and southern Africa. Many of those chapters later went out of existence. ^[6]

Over the years, 40Plus chapters garnered lots of media attention, in part because they had the unusual mission of losing their members by helping them find full-time professional or executive jobs. ^[7][8]

In its early decades, 40Plus chapters tended to have only male members ^[9], but as more women entered the professional workforce that practice changed. An unusual feature of 40Plus is that chapters are run entirely or almost entirely on the donated labor of members rather than paid staff.

In 2008, chapters of 40Plus were active in Washington, D.C., New York City, Columbus, Ohio, and Milwaukee, WI. ^[10]

The New York organization’s first Advisory Board included well-know business and societal leaders of the period, including Thomas J. Watson, president and founder of IBM; James Cash Penney, founder of J.C. Penney & Co.; Arthur Godfrey, the radio and TV personality; and Norman Vincent Peale, a minister, inspirational speaker, and author of “The Power of Positive Thinking.”

Forty Plus supports the Dr. William J. Needler Job Forum, a Wednesday night program through which employment experts offer tips for the unemployed. Except for the day before Thanksgiving and the Wednesday between Christmas and New Year’s, the Needler Forum has met every week for more than 28 years. ^{[11] [12]}

The duration of 40+ and the Needler Forum, founded in 1976 is a testament to the fragile nature of employment – even among workers who went to college, played by the rules and worked their way up through organizations. In fact, for each of the last three years, there were more unemployed workers from professional and related occupations than from production occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2004, 801,000 professionals were jobless on average each month, compared with 714,000 production workers. 

Also, research from a number of labor economists suggests that statistically, older workers face longer periods without work after a job loss and suffer greater declines in wages when they work again – about twice the average wage loss of younger workers.

“Folks, this is a sales job,” the past executive director of 40 Plus Ron Mulvaney has told the Needler Forum. “And you only have to make one sale. You are the product.”

Dennis Cherne first met the trio of Bill Needler, Ron Kampwirth and Ron Mulvaney in 1987. Ron Mulvaney took over the Needler Forum in the late 1990s after its founder, a Milwaukee managing trainer, moved to California.  At first, Mulvaney ran the forum with Ron Kampwirth, a retired human resources professional. Kampwirth became ill and died in early 2004.  Ron Mulvaney retired as Executive Director after he had guided Dennis Cherne into the role of President.

The current board members offer a diverse expertise which has supported many other job seekers. ^[12]

^{[11]  Joel Dresang Milwaukee Journal; [12] Dennis R Cherne}