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Secrets Finding Job When You Are Over 50 Bolles 010107

This document provides tips for job seekers over 50 to overcome employer concerns about hiring older workers. It suggests emphasizing transferable skills and enthusiasm during interviews. Additionally, it advises tapping into a large professional network built over decades and considering smaller companies where owners can be approached directly. Interviews should be treated like dates where the job seeker also evaluates the employer, and stereotypes around the dependability of older workers can be played up. Thank you notes should always be sent following interviews.

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46 views3 pages

Secrets Finding Job When You Are Over 50 Bolles 010107

This document provides tips for job seekers over 50 to overcome employer concerns about hiring older workers. It suggests emphasizing transferable skills and enthusiasm during interviews. Additionally, it advises tapping into a large professional network built over decades and considering smaller companies where owners can be approached directly. Interviews should be treated like dates where the job seeker also evaluates the employer, and stereotypes around the dependability of older workers can be played up. Thank you notes should always be sent following interviews.

Uploaded by

janegamble
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as RTF, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Secrets to Finding a Job When You’re Over 50

From the Author of “What Color Is Your Parachute?”

Richard Nelson Bolles

Published: January 1, 2007

inding a job is always a challenge -- a typical bout of unemployment lasts at least


four months. A job search can be particularly frustrating for those who are over
age 50. Some employers don’t like to hire older workers, for fear that they’ll lack
energy... retire soon... strain the company’s pension or health-care plan... or
demand hefty salaries. Laws designed to protect older job applicants from age-
based discrimination are relatively ineffective.

Older job hunters need not become discouraged, however. Though rejection
is an unavoidable part of the job-search process, there are plenty of employers
who are happy to hire workers of any age if they are qualified to do the work that
the employers need.

Job applicants over age 50 can learn to minimize the concerns that some
employers have about hiring older employees while emphasizing the advantages
of age. Smart ways to do this...

Show enthusiasm. Employers often worry that older hires have lost their
energy and enthusiasm for work. The best way to show that you are not the type
to coast through your remaining years until retirement is to display some passion
during the interview.

Review your skills and job-related interests prior to the interview. Make a list
of your “transferable skills” -- the abilities that would be useful in virtually any job.

Are you an expert at analyzing data? Gathering information? Leading teams?


Do you love solving problems? Helping people? Building things? Being creative?
Review this list immediately before your interview, and you’re more likely to
exude enthusiasm.

Also, lean forward slightly in your chair when the interviewer is speaking.
Respond with an intelligent question about some detail. Your age is irrelevant if
you convey energy and enthusiasm. Every employer is looking for someone like
that.

Take advantage of your large grapevine. Jobs generally aren’t found


through the want ads. They’re found by tapping our contacts -- the networks of
friends, acquaintances and colleagues who like and respect us.
Older workers have a major advantage here because after decades in the
workplace and community, there might be hundreds of people who know them
and their abilities. This grapevine might include business owners, division
presidents and others in a position to offer them work. Younger people typically
know mostly other young people in low-level jobs.

Even the contacts who are not in a position to offer work can open doors and
arrange meetings with those who can. At the very least, your contacts can
provide advice or background on a company or industry. Don’t underestimate the
value of background information -- the more you know, the more attractive a
candidate you become.

Don’t overlook small companies. If a firm has only a handful of employees,


it’s often possible to just walk in the door and chat with the owner -- this isn’t
feasible with large corporations.

Don’t immediately volunteer the fact that you’re looking for work. Instead, ask
intelligent questions about the industry or company. Take no more than 10
minutes of the owner’s time. He/she may even offer you a job out of the blue.

Example: I know a former librarian who walked into every business on a busy
commercial street and started a conversation with each business owner about
what his/her company did. These were mostly clothing stores, lawyers’ offices,
etc. By the time she reached the end of the street, she had three job offers.

Older people do particularly well with this walk-in-the-door strategy because


their curiosity is less likely to be viewed with suspicion -- and they’re more likely
to find common ground when they encounter older company owners.

Tell yourself this is just like dating. It’s easy to feel desperate when you’re
over 50 and out of work, but desperation makes job seekers feel like job beggars,
and that will hurt your chances of landing a job.

A job interview isn’t just a chance for an employer to size you up -- it’s also a
chance for you to size up the employer. Try to feel as though you’re on a first
date, and you’re trying to decide if you want to “go steady.” The final decision is
as much up to you as it is to the interviewer. Job applicants who adopt this
attitude have more confidence and a greater sense of self-worth, which vastly
improves their odds.

Watch to see the time frame of the questions the employer is asking. It is
very favorable to you if these questions are more and more about the present
and future (“How would you handle the following type of problem?”... “Where do
you see yourself three years from now?”) instead of the past (“What have you
done at previous jobs?”).
If the interview doesn’t seem to be progressing from questions about the past
to questions about the present and future, try to steer the discussion toward what
you intend to do for this company in the future.

Example: “Yes, I did help XYZ Corporation launch its Widget product line --
and I know that your company expects to start two new product lines in the next
18 months. Let me tell you how I might help with those new projects... ”

Don’t ramble. Older people sometimes speak for longer than they realize.
This will raise concerns that you might have trouble focusing on deadlines.

Keep each interview answer to between 20 seconds and two minutes in


length for each question the employer asks. Practice speaking in two-minute
stretches before the interview so that you get a good feel for how long this is. If
you have more to say after two minutes, conclude with, “I could say more if you
wish... ”

Play up the positive stereotypes. There always will be some employers


who judge job applicants based on age, perhaps without even realizing they’re
doing so. Play up the positive aspects of the older-employee stereotypes. Older
workers are generally considered loyal, responsible, hardworking and
dependable.

Demonstrate that you have these virtues by how you conduct the interview. If
you want to claim that you’re dependable, show up on time or ahead of time. If
you want to claim that you are thorough, be sure to find out as much as you can
about the company before you go into the interview.

Helpful: Always send a thank-you note. Ideally, it should be E-mailed


immediately, followed by a printed version sent through the mail. Most job
hunters ignore this advice, so you will stand out from the crowd if you send
thank-you notes to everyone you met that day.
Special from Bottom  Line/Personal

Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Richard Nelson Bolles, a leader in the field of career
development for more than 30 years. He is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
He is author of What Color Is Your Parachute? 2007 (Ten Speed). The book is in its 35th edition
and has sold more than nine million copies. www.jobhuntersbible.com

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