Dear J.T. & Dale: I am a long-term agent with a big insurance company. I am 67 years old. A few years ago, the company placed more emphasis on financial products. These I have not embraced very well. They gave me a “job in jeopardy” warning last week. These are some of my thoughts:

1. Buy my job … yuck … by purchasing annuities.

2. Quit and try to get a part-time job somewhere.

3. Drastically cut back on my expenses and retire.

What’s your take? — Allen

J.T.: I don’t like the idea of you buying your job, because you’d be buying something you don’t like. And I don’t get the sense you’re emotionally or financially ready to retire. So, trying to find a part-time job makes the most sense. You are a 67-year-old professional with lots of knowledge. The key is to leverage yourself as an expert who is willing to work part time and doesn’t need benefits.

Dale: How about looking behind door No. 4, which would be to actually turn around the agency by embracing the new products? Go to an agent or two in another city and ask for suggestions, then prove to the company that you’re rising up to meet the new challenge.

J.T.: Then again, Allen has earned this time to explore and find a place that would let him use his strengths, without the pressure of meeting quotas.

Dale: But no one wants to hire, even part time, someone who’s looking to ease back. If you want to work, you need to learn and grow, and why not try it where you are? It would be easier to reinvigorate your old job than to find a new one. Either way, Allen, please let us know what you end up doing.

Jeanine “J.T.” Tanner O’Donnell is a professional development specialist and founder of the consulting firm jtodonnell.com. Dale Dauten’s latest book is “(Great) Employees Only: How Gifted Bosses Hire and De-Hire Their Way to Success” (John Wiley & Sons). Please visit them at jtanddale.com, where you can send questions via e-mail, or write to them in care of King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10019.

© 2008 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.