If you're over 40 and unemployed, don't despair. Try these tactics:
Keep your skills current. Computer skills are especially
important. Depending on what type of job you seek, be sure you are
savvy on the Internet and with Windows-based programs, such as
word-processing, spreadsheet, database, and presentation
applications. Microsoft offers training programs though such
organizations such as the AARP.
If you've been downsized, look for new work as soon as you can.
The longer you're out of work, the harder it will be to land a new
position.
Seek out companies that embrace older workers: The CVS drugstore
chain is one example, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The
paper reports that, like many other companies, CVS Corp. is courting
older workers and positioning themselves to attract Baby Boomers who
plan to work in retirement. A decade ago, employees 50 and older made
up about 7 percent of the CVS work force; now they make up 14
percent. The Post-Gazette quotes Stephen Wing, a director for the
Woonsocket, RI-based drugstore chain: "Older workers are very
responsible. They care about the customers. They're good examples to
our younger employees." The Post-Gazette also cited Deloitte
Consulting's Senior Partner Program. Noted the paper, quoting Karen
Morrell, managing director of human resources at New York-based
Deloitte: "We ran the numbers and found that in five to 10 years, a
pretty large bubble of experienced partners would be retiring. We
wanted a way to keep some of that experience. To do that, we had to
have a tailored program that would allow them to do their most
passionate tasks."
Networking is especially important for older workers because
jobs at the senior levels are the least likely to be advertised. It's
important to fight the perception that your skills and knowledge
might not be on the cutting edge. Stay up to date with technological
trends and be sure to demonstrate your savvy when you converse with
network contacts. See:
Use networking venues as opportunities to show what you can do.
Get involved with professional
associations, volunteering or
consulting. Advises
Janet Scarborough of Bridgeway Career Development in Seattle: "If
you are an older job seeker and you are concerned that your age is
working against you in your job search, find ways to shift the
emphasis away from your age and toward your ability to make tangible
contributions. Perhaps join the board of a professional association
and then work to demonstrate your skills to the membership. Or seek a
consulting or volunteer role that will afford the opportunity to
achieve measurable results and will enable you to build relationships
with a wider network of people. As you become perceived as a valuable
team member, your age will seem less relevant. You will be thought of
as John, the person who designed a new sales process that increased
revenue, rather than John, the older worker in search of a job."
Broaden your pool of targeted employers. In the syndicated
column he writes with Kate Wendleton, Dale Dauten suggests looking at
the pool of prospective employers this way: "Say that at age 40, 40
percent of employers won't consider you; at age 50, it's 60 percent;
and at age 60, it's 80 percent. Those are grim numbers -- too high --
but I want to illustrate a point. If at age 40, you picked 10
companies you wanted to work for, four wouldn't even consider you,
leaving six. At age 58, and wiser, you know to broaden the search to
identify 30 target companies. Guess what? That leaves six who would
consider you, the same number as at 40 years."
Consider starting your own business -- and in the ultimate twist
-- think about starting a business that targets other older workers
as customers or employees. The SCORE Association
(Service Corps of Retired Executives) is an appropriate source
for assistance to prospective older entrepreneurs since it is a
nonprofit association in which working and retired executives and
business owners donate their time and expertise as volunteer business
counselors and provide confidential counseling and mentoring free of
charge.
If you're retired and already have a pension and health benefits
from your old employer, consider working for salary only. If being
productive means more to you than additional benefits, consider
companies with programs in which workers in their 50's who would
otherwise take advantage of early retirement provisions in their
pensions are offered the chance to work reduced hours and supplement
their reduced incomes by tapping those pensions. IBM in Canada, for
example, has a retiree-on-call program for those willing to come out
of retirement and work up to 1,000 hours a year. Similarly, GE's
information unit in Rockville, MD, has a Golden Opportunity Program.
Other companies with this type of program for retirees include Avaya,
Monsanto, PepsiCo, and Lockheed Martin, reports the New York Times.
Consider flexible options that may be advantageous to both you
and the employer, such as a compressed work week, flextime, job
reassignment, job redesign, part-time work, job sharing, phased
retirement, or telecommuting. See more details about these options in
AARP's article, Flexible Ways of Working.
Consider offering to put in odd hours that younger workers with
family obligations might not be able to work.
Register with a temp agency so you can generate some income,
update your skills, and build your resume while waiting for the
perfect job. Some temp agencies even specialize in older workers. See
our article, Temping
Offers a Way to Build Your Resume -- and Much More.
The AARP, formerly the American Association for Retired Persons,
offers seminars on post-career planning, workforce re-entry, and
resume writing. The seminars provide not only information but
networking opportunities. Call the national headquarters at
800-424-3410 (on the Web at http://www.aarp.org/)
to find out about sessions near you. See also AARP's
Working Options page.
AARP's Career
Services for AARP member seniors through Drake Beam Morin.
Exec-U-Net, Inc.
25 Van Zant St.
Norwalk, CT 06855
Phone: 800-637-3126
Fax: 203-851-5177
Web address: http://www.clickit.com/touch/execnet/hidden/senior.htm
E-mail: execunet@execunet.com
Exec-U-Net is a career management information service and career
advancement networking organization exclusively for executives and
senior professionals with salaries in excess of $75,000. Started in
1988, it is a membership organization that helps executives leverage
their networking and take control of their careers.
Five O'Clock Club
300 E. 40 St. - 6L
New York, NY 10016
Phone: 212-286-4500
Web address: http://www.fiveoclockclub.com/
A national career counseling network with certified career counselors
across the United States.
Forty Plus
Web address: http://www.fortyplus.org/chapters.html
(Forty Plus apparently does not have a national Web site, but this
California site lists local chapters around the country.)
A nonprofit organization that provides professional job search
programs, networking opportunities, and a wide variety of resources
to members, who are executives, managers, and professionals.
Books:
Job and Career Books for Mature Workers --
a growing collection of books about the older worker, including resume and job-search strategies, as
well as other issues facing the mature job-seeker, such as dealing with age discrimination.
Questions about some of the terminology used in this article? Get more information (definitions and links) on key college, career, and job-search
terms by going to our Job-Seeker's Glossary of Job-Hunting Terms.
Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., creative director and associate
publisher of Quintessential Careers, is an educator, author,
and blogger who provides content for Quintessential Careers,
edits QuintZine,
an electronic newsletter for jobseekers, and blogs about storytelling
in the job search at A Storied
Career. Katharine, who earned her PhD in organizational behavior
from Union Institute & University, Cincinnati, OH, is author of Dynamic
Cover Letters for New Graduates and A Foot in the Door: Networking
Your Way into the Hidden Job Market (both published by Ten Speed Press),
as well as Top Notch Executive Resumes (Career Press); and with
Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D., Dynamic Cover Letters, Write Your
Way to a Higher GPA (Ten Speed), and The Complete Idiot's Guide
to Study Skills (Alpha). Visit her
personal Website
or reach her by e-mail at
kathy(at)quintcareers.com.
