Baby boomers reinvent their careers in the art world

inS By Jennifer Forker Associated Press One was a stockbroker, another a computer whiz. There's a therapist and a small-business owner. Each retired from a traditional career and launched into another in the arts.  "Do I still have nightmares about the other (job)? Yes," says Bill Sanders, a Steamboat Springs, Colo., ceramics artist who is retired from the lumber and wood flooring business he owned for 20 years. He says he still wakes up sometimes in a cold sweat worrying about whether some shipment is making it to a job site on time. Then he realizes he doesn't need to worry about that anymore.  These days, Sanders, 64, keeps to the outdoors - he skis during the winter and volunteers for the U.S. Forest Service during the summer - and creates his artwork, which includes dishware, decorative pots and sculptured horses.  He learned the basics of ceramics as a teenager living in Southeast Asia. He kept at it while growing his Honolulu lumber and flooring business to include eight employees and more than $1 million in inventory by the time he sold the company in 1997.  Then, he and his wife, Barbara, also an artist, moved to Colorado, and he turned to his lifelong love of ceramics more intentionally.  "Clay is kind of cool. It's just dirt," says Sanders. "If you don't like what you did, you just throw it back in the bucket and then you can make something else."  Jennifer O'Day, 61, of Austin, Texas, is a former stockbroker who says her mixed-media artwork nourishes all her senses.  "It really sharpens my ability to see visually and perceptively and I think tactilely," says O'Day. "It's not just about my mind and my hand accomplishing something. It engages that whole mind-body-soul thing."  She was born into a business-oriented family, so that was in her blood, she says. The art she nurtured.  "I wanted to do something that was closer to the bone and less about the money," O'Day says about the portraits she now assembles.  It's not just about my mind and my hand accomplishing something. It engages that whole mind-body-soul thing," she says.  There's one aspect of her old stockbroker life that she sometimes misses: engaging with clients.  Geri deGruy, 59, also enjoyed her previous career, as a therapist in private practice, although it was emotionally gruelling working with many of her clients, who were abused women. "Toward the end of my practice, there was a feeling sort of like PTSD," she recalls. She turned from being a therapist to the textile arts, which required that she slow down.  "I started seeing form differently. I started seeing repetitive patterns," says deGruy, who creates small art quilts and mixed-media collages. "My eye was developing, my seeing was changing."  She still works every day.  "Always our time is short - we never know," deGruy says. "I have that urgency every day. I don't want to waste this moment. I don't want to miss this opportunity to play with color."  Judy Hoch, 72, of Salida, Colo., finds parallels between her former career, as a computer engineer, and her current one as a jewellery maker.  "Jewellery making is just engineering on a very small scale," she says.  Hoch spent a dozen years at IBM, where she became a senior engineer and earned two patents, then moved into a computer software job, from which she was laid off in the early 1990s.  "I had to do something after that," she recalls. "Going back to work in high tech when you're 50-something, it wasn't a real good idea. It wasn't going to work."  She took jewellery and metals classes at a Denver-area community college and got hooked. She relies on her mechanical engineering training when fusing metals or cutting stones.  "It's a lot of fairly sophisticated measurements," Hoch says. "There are so many technical things . Engineering is a very useful skill to have."  While she describes her years in high-tech as fun - "like working with puzzles" - jewellery-making taps her creative energy.  "You spend a week away from it and you get terrible withdrawal," she says.

This post originally appeared here: 

http://www.mercurynews.com/real-estate/ci_23387850/start-new-career-an-artist-these-baby-boomers

We should use, not lose, our senior brain power

By Harold Mitchell

There's a lot of talk these days about work/life balance and I think we have mostly got it all wrong. Work is life and life is work. It's not a choice between the two - it's about choosing to be happy and positive no matter what we are doing or how old we are. There's an old Zen Buddhist saying, "Before enlightenment - chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment - chop wood and carry water''. My 92-year-old dad lives this literally. Last weekend he told me how happy he is that winter is approaching up in the mountains where he lives. It means that he can get out his trusty axe and split wood for the fire. He's an expert and you need to be. The trick is to turn the axe head a millisecond before it hits the block of wood. Three kilos of fast-moving razor-sharp axe head in inexperienced hands can do a lot of damage. More than 80 years of log-splitting will probably ensure my dad makes 100. Age is no barrier to him keeping the home fires burning by working each day. The same is true for my once-a-year lunch partner, octogenarian Peter Clemenger, the former head of our greatest advertising agency. He is as active as ever and as sharp as my old man's axe. As is emeritus professor Derek Denton, founder of the Florey Institute, one of the world's greatest neuroscience facilities and located here in Australia. At 88, he is overflowing with ideas that people all over the world are still listening to. I had a cup of tea with him earlier this week and he told me about the latest experiments being undertaken by his research group, which includes brilliant scientists both here and in America. They are doing world-leading work on addiction, something that profoundly affects almost every aspect of our society. Passing the so-called age of retirement does not mean that we have to enter the age of uselessness or even idleness. Just have a look at the busy, creative and internationally important work of that great Australian Jim Wolfensohn. The former head of the World Bank is still on international boards and apart from his amazing business acumen, those who know Jim, marvel at the way he took up the cello at 51 - some 45 years after the brain cells were at their peak for picking up new things. At an earlier time, as part of the organising group of the outstanding Alfred Deakin Lecture Series just on a decade ago, I sat listening to Baroness Susan Greenfield, who at 62 is still one of the world's leading neuroscientists. She explained the functioning of the brain very simply - "use it or lose it". And that's the message for Australia - use the experienced brain power of our senior people or lose out on the essential ingredient that money and youth can't buy - wisdom. Too often, we hear younger people saying ''he's too old'', and in the advertising and marketing industry it's commonplace for the jeans clad, sneaker-wearing, ponytailed hipsters to try to rely on raw youthfulness to get them through. Sure we need the youth but we also need the wisdom of age. Some time ago I was a speaker at a conference in Sydney about China with the Chinese Minister for Propaganda and Bob Hawke. I felt like a youngster with a lot to learn as the 84-year-old former prime minister engaged with the 81-year-old Chinese leader, a member of the 18th Politburo Standing Committee. I can tell you without a doubt, Hawkie has not lost it. So with ANZAC Day just passed, we must continue to be mindful of all of those who gave their lives for this country. We need to remember that the purpose of their great sacrifice was to enable us to use our freedom well. And in my book, that means understanding and accepting that life is work and service. By the way, you might remember that $428 haircut I got in New York. Well, it didn't last, I had to get another one last week! Harold Mitchell is an executive director of Aegis. Source:The Age http://news.olderworkers.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=326:we-should-use-not-lose-our-senior-brain-power-&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=31

Is Ageism Getting Worse?

By Sarah Stevenson

 

A recent Princeton study on the causes of ageism reveals that we’ve still got a long way to go in the fight against age-related negative stereotypes.

Ageism against seniors can’t be defined simply as prejudice against older adults. Researchers are finding that ageism is a complex phenomenon consisting of a range of negative attitudes toward seniors. We may not like to think about it, but the effect of ageism is detectable throughout our society: in the family and home environment, in the media, in the working world, and even in the realm of government policy. And if we don’t address the issue openly, it’s bound to get a whole lot more complicated when the considerable population of baby boomers - the same ones who used to say “don’t trust anyone over thirty”- begins to reach their own golden years.

What Is Ageism?

The general definition of ageism is any sort of age-based prejudice. According to the Assisted Living Foundation of America, ageism against seniors occurs when “societal norms marginalize seniors, treat them with disrespect, make them feel unwelcome and otherwise generalize as if they were all the same.”

 

Negative stereotypes about older adults may be all too familiar: they are “slow,” they have poor memories, they’re afraid of the modern world. Researchers refer to these as “descriptive stereotypes,” or generalizations about the way seniors supposedly are - in contrast to “prescriptive stereotypes,” which generalize about how seniors should be, and often lead to discriminatory behaviors and practices.

In a recent study by psychologists at Princeton University, these prescriptive stereotypes were examined more closely and “unpacked” to see what more we can learn about how American society views the elderly. According to an article from Princeton’s Office of Communications, the scientists found that prescriptive stereotypes focus on three central issues:

• Succession: “the idea that older people should move aside from high-paying jobs and prominent social roles to make way for younger people.”
• Identity: “the idea that older people shouldn’t attempt to act younger than they are.”
• Consumption: “the idea that older people shouldn’t consume so many scarce resources such as health care.”

Why the Study of Ageism is Important

Studying ageism is about to become even more critical as we face the “graying” of our population; older adults are more numerous and visible than ever before, says the Princeton article. Ageism has far-reaching effects on the mental and emotional health of seniors and their dignity, and it can lead to discriminatory practices in housing and social policy, resulting in a negative impact on seniors’ quality of life. In extreme cases, notes ALFA, such attitudes about seniors can even result in elder abuse.

The Princeton researchers are well aware of the growing importance of the issue of ageism: “It’s not hard to read The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal and see that as the baby boomers are getting older, age-discrimination cases are on the rise and worries are growing about the long-term sustainability of Social Security and Medicare,” graduate student Michael North said. “The academic literature hasn’t really spoken to these questions.”

Debunking Stereotypes about Older Adults

Getting past our ingrained stereotypes about seniors, the researchers say, will help our society as a whole move past outdated ideas and social policies.

“Talking about these issues helps you find constructive ways to address them,” said North. One potentially productive avenue of research, for instance, relies on a crucial distinction between the “young-old” - those seniors who are still relatively healthy and who may still be working - and the “old-old,” who may be less healthy and more impaired. Learning more about the differences between these two subtypes can help us better serve the needs of a diverse and growing senior population.

http://www.aplaceformom.com/blog/2013-04-29-is-ageism-getting-worse/

New research proves ageism laws don’t protect older workers

Last week TAEN published the latest edition of its 50+ Jobseekers Survey. In some ways the results are predictable – surveys so often tell us things that we already know by instinct – but there are surprising insights too.

ONS figures show more older people in work and there is a general feeling that older people are doing reasonably well in the labour market.

The sad fact is however, that deeply embedded structural disadvantages and ingrained ageist attitudes bar hundreds of thousands of older people from returning to work. It is clear that older jobseekers struggle harder than most. Overwhelmingly they want to work because of financial need, a desire to feel valued and the social interaction work brings. Many are ‘worried’ or ‘desperate’ about not working.

They identify adverse attitudes by recruiters, mismatches of their own skills or qualifications with employers’ needs and the national focus on youth unemployment as being among the reasons for their problems.

These barriers faced by older jobseekers continue more than six years after age discrimination was outlawed by the 2006 Age Regulations and two years after the end of the Default Retirement Age (DRA), allowing people to be forcibly retired at 65.

Today, despite these reforming legal changes, the challenge of ending age discrimination is as relevant as ever. Only one in ten over 50s looking for work think age discrimination law had helped them.

47 per cent of our older jobseekers believed that the law had not had any benefit at all. One respondent, a former managing director seeking work, commented, “Age discrimination is rife in my view. Employers can work out your age with ease.”

Some respondents even volunteered the view that repeal of the DRA had made it harder to get work!

A former HR manager commented, “Given that compulsory retirement is now not available I suspect that many employers are reluctant to recruit older staff who, they fear, may present motivational and even attendance issues in future.”

One could argue that finding work has always been bad for older jobseekers. Blaming the end of the DRA on their current problems may be misreading the problem.

Moreover, those completing our survey as “older jobseekers” were by definition people who had not (so far) succeeded in getting work. Others who had been successful might have offered different views – if we had asked them.

Nonetheless, how do we respond to our respondents who claimed their problems could be explained by employers being charier about hiring people who want to work longer, now the DRA has been removed?

Perhaps they are right.

We have a labour market that is ambivalent in its attitudes to older people. Employers will allow them to work longer in the same jobs if they wish but they bottle out of offering them new jobs, believing they may want to work for ever.People are working longer in part because they can choose to remain in work longer but the lot of the older person who has left a job is problematic.

He or she is likely to fall outside the person specification offered by employers to recruitment agencies, simply on grounds of age. And there is significant evidence (anecdotal, of course) that some recruitment agencies connive with employers and fail to challenge ageist attitudes. (See Loughborough University’s Working Late project for example).

It seems clear that the law is being flouted with impunity and there is a presumption that, ‘of course employers will discriminate by age if they wish to so’. The eradication of age discrimination in employment is a far from complete.

The time has surely come to assess the effectiveness of the law against age discrimination in recruitment. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has the power to launch official enquiries and undertake formal investigations. What is stopping it?

http://taen.org.uk/blog/view/119

US: A Ray of Hope Amid a Grim Forecast for Mature Workers

WASHINGTON,  March 19, 2013  /PRNewswire-USNewswire/

The latest job statistics show a grim outlook for the nation's mature workers, but an initiative from the National Council on Aging (NCOA) aims to improve older adults' likelihood of securing training, jobs, and financial support.

The Bureau of Labor statistics latest figures indicate that 5.8% of workers aged 55+ were jobless and actively seeking employment in February. While this figure is lower than the national average of 7.7%, unemployed mature workers are more likely to be out of work longer than their younger counterparts. In 2012,adults aged 55-64, on average, were unemployed for 54.6 weeks, compared to 36.4 weeks for workers aged 25-34.

"Being age 55-64 and out of work is particularly difficult, because you're unable to tap into the traditional safety net programs like Medicare and Social Security," said Nora Dowd Eisenhower, senior vice president of economic security at NCOA. "But jobs still matter for this population. With years of life still ahead of them, mature workers need opportunities now for training or retraining that leverage their experience and give them marketable job skills."

NCOA, with support from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, is piloting one solution. Over the next year, NCOA will partner with agencies in  New Jersey,  New York,  San Francisco, and  Virginia  to help hundreds of low-income, older adults obtain work skills training along with services and benefits that maximize their budgets and help them get out of debt. 

Also, supported by the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, thousands more mature workers will benefit from JobSource, a soon to be launched website that will help older adults assess their job skills, conduct a job search, and find job training online.

"As high unemployment rates continue to hurt the economic health of communities large and small across the U.S., older adults have been impacted for longer durations in conjunction with reduced social safety nets," said  Kerry Sullivan, president of the Bank of America Charitable Foundation. "Connecting these mature workers with opportunities that help them secure training, jobs and financial support plays an important role in our broader efforts to connect individuals with meaningful employment that ultimately strengthens local economies."

About NCOA

The National Council on Aging is a nonprofit service and advocacy organization headquartered in Washington,DC. NCOA is a national voice for millions of older adults-especially those who are vulnerable and disadvantaged-and the community organizations that serve them. It brings together nonprofit organizations, businesses, and government to develop creative solutions that improve the lives of all older adults. NCOA works with thousands of organizations across the country to help seniors find jobs and benefits, improve their health, live independently, and remain active in their communities. For more information, please visit:

www.ncoa.org 

www.facebook.com/NCOAging

www.twitter.com/NCOAging

About Bank of America Charitable Foundation 

Bank of America's commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a strategic part of doing business globally. Our CSR efforts guide how we operate in a socially, economically, financially and environmentally responsible way around the world, to deliver for shareholders, customers, clients and employees.

Our goal is to help create economically vibrant regions and communities through lending, investing and giving. By partnering with our stakeholders, we create value that empowers individuals and communities to thrive and contributes to the long-term success of our business. We have several core areas of focus for our CSR, including responsible business practices; environmental sustainability; strengthening local communities with a focus on housing, hunger and jobs;investing in global leadership development; and engaging through arts andculture. As part of these efforts, employee volunteers across the company contribute their time, passion and expertise to address issues in communities where they live and work.

Learn more at:

www.bankofamerica.com/about

and follow us on Twitter at @BofA_Community

SOURCE: National Council on Aging

Paul DelPonte, Interim Director, Marketing & Communications, +1-202-609-6930,paul.delponte@ncoa.org

Why Post 50 Males Must Resist Becoming "Standardized Old Men"

By Brent Green

Two years ago I spoke at the Florida Boomer Lifestyle Conference in Clearwater, Florida. I entitled my presentation "The Mission, The Man, The Money: Marketing to Baby Boomer Men." My goal was to inspire this audience about business possibilities revolving around Boomer male aging in a society that has often marginalized aging men.

I wanted my audience to understand why and how Boomer men will challenge the stereotypes and social strictures of aging. This is a generation that has never settled for outdated traditions, and collectively men over 50 will create new images of male aging: concepts that are humanistic, individualistic and empowered. The sociology of Boomer male aging has vast implications for business, from edgy new products to inspired services.

On a concurrent track I happened to be reading Existentialism for Beginners, a concise book written by David Cogswell, one of my high school classmates and a friend from our college years. Although I once designed and taught a university course entitled "Topics and Problems on Humanistic and Existential Psychology," it is lamentable how much I had forgotten about existentialism and how extensively this philosophy pervades contemporary thinking and culture. It's a philosophy for today as all Americans struggle to discover how to redefine and reinvent themselves in a time of much economic uncertainty and global unrest, a time when traditional institutions seem to be faltering.

David Cogswell brilliantly grapples with the complexities of existential philosophy and all the major writers contributing to this revolution in thought that emerged into popular culture following dark years of fascism and World War II (although he correctly traces the roots of existentialism back to the mid-19th century).

As Cogswell writes, "Existentialism focuses attention and concern on the individual over the group..." And he conveys a liberating idea: "To achieve an authentic life, an individual must direct oneself and resist the pressure of mass society to create standardized human beings."

With Boomer men sensing the end of their primary careers and a future rife with uncertainties - economic, social and medical - many are now considering how to avoid becoming standardized aging humans. Many realize that to resist society's impositions - stereotypes of aging males, lack of clear purpose that can accompany retirement, and wrenching searches for deeper meaning, for relevance, for a sense of legacy - they must do as existentialists intone.

"There is not fixed definition of a human being," Cogswell clarifies. "We define ourselves through our choices and actions. We find ourselves in the world, existing in a particular situation, but must go forward from there to create ourselves."

This is the power and perplexity of a life-stage so bereft of clear-cut paths. Living beyond 50 and 60 compels most men to understand their fundamental values and then ascertain how those values can best be expressed for personal enrichment and enduring benefits for others.

In my Florida speech I presented some interesting new research about happiness. According to researchers, humans seem to find greatest happiness early in adulthood and then again late in life, beyond 50 and 60. Between those bookends looms a mid-life slump when we feel least happy with our situation.

For American men, that deep trough arrives around age 56, a chronological anniversary that so many men are now experiencing. The low point for American women arrives nearly a decade earlier, possibly in tandem with menopause and empty nesting.

Roughly 12,273,000 American men are now between 55 and 59, so, according to this research, millions are struggling with depression and futility that robs us of our sense of life satisfaction, our happiness. It's not too much of a leap to conclude that many of these men are grappling with the potential wasteland of an aging life, a sunset not fully validated with continuing engagement, enrichment and purpose.

Individual men may feel powerless against external forces of unemployment, layoffs, downsizing and chronic diseases. But when a generation of men known to challenge authority confronts this evolving life-stage, transformative beliefs and actions can emerge. A generation of men that embraced feminism and racial inclusiveness can create new constructs for male aging, conceptions that are engaging, uplifting and liberating.

Author Cogswell identifies Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900) as the "soul of existentialism," a thinker who has influenced contemporary psychology, literature, spirituality, art and music. Nietzsche wrote that "society everywhere is a conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members." And it seems true today that millions of Boomer men, vital and engaged as many now are, must nevertheless consider how traditional habits in western society could conspire to strip them of their opportunities to thrive beyond 60 and into bonus years promised to so many.

I concluded my Florida speech by resurrecting words written more than a century ago by Walt Whitman:

"I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
"And what I assume you shall assume,
"For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you."

"I too am not a bit tamed,
"I too am untranslatable,
"I sound my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world."

Whitman's thoughts are a metaphor, reflective of the heart of a generation of men looking into the mirror and seeing the face of male aging. They will not be tamed in the sense of outdated traditions around aging, and collectively they will bring new meaning to this life-stage while stimulating reinvention of the businesses and brands that serve them.

As the great writers about existentialism would urge, Boomer men must resist all forces compelling them to become standardized old men. YAWP!

Brent Green is the author of "Marketing to Leading-Edge Baby Boomers" and "Generation Reinvention," the founder of Brent Green & Associates Inc., a frequent keynote speaker and radio host

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brent-green/how-baby-boomer-males-wil_b_1326714.html?goback=.gde_4667519_member_221669684

Research proves older worker stereotypes are untrue

by inmyprime

A new academic study confirms that almost all negative generalizations about employees over the age of 40 are untrue.

A recently published article, Evaluating Six Common Stereotypes about Older Workers with Meta-Analytical Data by Thomas W.H. Ng (University of Hong Kong) and Daniel C. Feldman (University of Georgia) presents the findings of an analysis of around 400 studies of older workers’ performance.

The paper finds that nearly all negative stereotypes about this group are unfounded and suggests, as the number of older workers continues to increase, that managers should reconsider widely-held misconceptions that often lead to age discrimination.

The study examines six of the most common and damaging stereotypes: i.e. that, compared with younger workers, older employees are (1) less motivated, (2) less willing to engage in training and career development programs, (3) more resistant to change, (4) not as trusting, (5) more likely to experience health problems that affect their work, and (6) more vulnerable to work–family conflicts.

The authors found empirical support for only one of those stereotypes. Older workers, on average, are indeed less likely to engage in career development—an attitude that relates, at least in part, to training programs designed for younger employees. The five other stereotypes were unfounded.

For further information, see http://www.strategy-business.com/article/re00225?gko=70968

5 Job-Hunting Tips for Seniors

By Dave Bernard

The job market for those over 50 is especially challenging. As companies have downsized, merged, and reorganized, the casualties were often older employees. Long years spent with the company only count for so much when it comes down to dollars and cents.

Once older workers lose a job, they will typically spend more time than younger workers searching for their next gig. Those over 55 can expect to spend an average of 35 weeks looking for employment, while younger job seekers tend to find something within 26 weeks.

What can you do if, in spite of your best efforts and dedicated hard work, you find yourself unemployed? I recently found myself out of work due to my company being acquired by a larger entity. At age 54 I was less than excited about the prospect of having to once again market myself and my skills to new companies. But I have learned a thing or two over the years that helped in past job searches:

Networking, first and foremost. Many jobs are never advertised to the public. Availability of a new position is often shared with employees who then assess their network of contacts to see if there might be a good fit. You want to be in front of as many friends, family, and acquaintances as possible, because you never know what opportunities might arise. And when something does open up you want to be there right away. Take old co-workers out for coffee, have lunch with old bosses, reach out to contacts on LinkedIn to update your search status, and tell your story when you meet new people at events. Don’t keep it a secret that you are looking for a job.

Have your elevator pitch prepared. If you do run into someone who might be able to assist you, be ready with a short, precise description of what you have done in the past and what you are looking for. You will want to highlight significant accomplishments you achieved while also painting a picture of the ideal job you would like to find. Keep it brief, but remember you are selling your capabilities and worth. Practice your lines so you can recite them without effort, and continue to fine tune the message over time.

Become your own recruiter. You know what you are capable of doing and what you want to be doing. Who is better qualified to search for the best fit possible? Look for companies within your commute zone that do what interests you. Check out career listings on websites to see if there might be a position that matches your skills. If not, create a cover letter that sells you and will intrigue potential employers, something that allows you to rise above all of the other applicants. Include a resume and send it to the human resources department. You can take it one step further by finding the particular executive who manages the department you are interested in working for and sending him or her a powerful cover letter to pique interest. Just search under the "about" or "company" link on the website to get a listing of the management team. Chances are you will be routed back to HR, but you may catch their eye in the process. Realize that by approaching the company directly they will not have to pay a recruiting fee that can be 10 to 30 percent of your first year salary.

Be better prepared for the interview than the next person. Take your time before the interview to learn as much about the company as you can. Watch the videos on the website to become familiar with the positioning and messaging for services offered. Read the news releases to be familiar with recent significant activities. Research the history of your interviewers and potential boss on LinkedIn and Google. Know who the competition is. Have good questions to ask tailored for the different interviewers you are scheduled to meet. Practice your standard interview questions, and have quality answers ready on the tip of your tongue.

You only get one first impression. When you meet for your interview you will have a first impression of the interviewer, as they will of you. What you wear, your hair style, the firmness of your handshake, the eye contact you maintain, and even the shine on your shoes can be important. Don’t be guilty of wearing outdated clothes or hairstyles. Put a few eye drops in before your meeting since red or tired eyes are not a plus. Answer questions clearly and confidently. Don’t speak too fast, but remain confident. As an older worker, you should be confident that you know the skills you possess, you know the job requirements, and you know you can do the job. If you didn’t, you would not be here talking with these people.

Dave Bernard is the author of Are You Just Existing and Calling it a Life?, which offers guidelines to discover your personal passion and live a life of purpose. Not yet retired, Dave has begun his due diligence to plan for a fulfilling retirement. With a focus on the non-financial aspects of retiring, he shares his discoveries and insights on his blog Retirement–Only the Beginning.

http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/On-Retirement/2013/03/01/5-job-hunting-tips-for-seniors

2013: The Year of the Mature Worker

By Heidi Holmes, Managing Director of Adage.com.au – Australia’s leading job board for mature age workers.

Up until now, mature workers have not really been on the agenda for many employers, not only because of negative perceptions, but more so from a lack of leadership.

Australia’s Ageing Population

 

Over the past few years there has been no shortage of research or commentary on the implications of Australia’s ageing population and workforce. According to current predictions as cited by the Financial Services Council by 2050 there will only be 2.7 working Australians for every person over 65. To put this into context, in the 1970′s this ratio was 7.5. Successive editions of Treasury’s Intergenerational Reports have consistently acknowledged the need for our labour force participation rate to increase, particularly with regard to workers over the age of 50.

There is no denying that negative perceptions and stereotypes portraying ‘older workers’ as difficult, slow, expensive and not tech savvy have had an impact on the hiring intentions of employers and recruiters.

 

Despite research and case studies finding that mature workers actually offer in many cases a better return on investment for business, mature workers face an uphill battle in the recruitment process.

As the workforce ages, employee retention and knowledge management are becoming increasingly important for both the private and the public sectors. A recent survey of more than 1000 employers by the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) found that nearly half of them reported that the departure of older workers from their workplace in the last year had resulted in a loss of key knowledge and skills.

Still, it appears many are doing little to resolve it, with AIM’s ‘Skills Gap’ report finding that just 3% of organisations with a skills shortage are providing mentoring or coaching roles for retired or long-standing employees to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and skills to less experienced employees.

Make your workplace mature-age-worker friendly

 

If you are keen to make your organisation mature-age-worker friendly, but not exactly sure how to go about it, here are some tips to help you and your HR team get started, both in recruiting and retaining talented and experienced older employees.

·        Review job advertisements to ensure age-friendly content;

·        Avoid words such as dynamic, fast-paced, young;

·        Advertise where older people are more likely to see it, such as specialist job boards targeting mature workers;

·        Ensure hiring managers are educated on the benefits of hiring mature workers, removing any unconscious bias that may exist;

·        Formally acknowledge mature workers in your diversity policy.

·        Review your organisation’s workforce age profile; and

·        Implement an intergenerational mentor program between employees.

Creating Champions

 

This is not to say employers aren’t hiring mature age workers – many are, however it is often with little fanfare. Others may be aware of the value of this asset, but need assistance in deploying it.

That is why the Federal Government has recently committed to providing funding for employers to sign up to the revised Corporate Champions project.

The objective of the program is to build workplaces that value the experience of older Australians and increase the recruitment of mature age job seekers. This is to be achieved through the provision of advice and support to help individual employers realise the value of a diverse, flexible and loyal workforce. DEEWR

The Corporate Champions project represents a fantastic opportunity for employers to gain access to a professional assessment of their current workforce demographics and recruitment and retention practices leading to the development of a strategic action plan.

The Government funded consultation will also include assistance with developing strategies to address any areas for improvement as identified in the initial review. This could include updating recruitment processes, rolling out flexible working arrangements and implementing mentoring programs to improve retention.

The over-arching challenge lies in not only further educating employers on the benefits of hiring mature workers, but also creating a broader culture where employers actually aspire to being an ‘age-friendly’ employer, along the lines of what has been achieved with regard to gender and employers wanting to be an ‘employer of choice’ for women.

Through the Corporate Champions initiative, it is envisaged that more employers will see the benefits of recruiting mature workers whose skills, experience and diversity enhance workplaces and increase productivity.

In partnership with Sageco, Adage is thrilled to announce that we have been successful as a provider for the expansion of the Corporate Champions program for 2013 – 2016.

If you’d like to find out more about the program or to register your interest in becoming a Corporate Champion, contact Adage today.

Heidi Holmes is the managing director of Adage.com.au a mature age job search site and online community for jobseekers aged 45-plus. If you would like to find out more about the benefits of mature workers please contact Heidi directly at Heidi@adage.com.au.

6 job-hunting tips for older workers

By Art Koff

Whether it’s for personal satisfaction or financial need, many retirees and future retirees want to work in retirement. 

In a poll of over 3,000 business professionals conducted by RetiredBrains.com, more than 86% said they plan to continue working once they are retired. 

But employment for older workers isn’t easy to come by. Americans aged 55 and over, experience an average unemployment duration of 52.7 weeks, according to a survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s up over 160% since December 2007 when the average duration of unemployment for these workers was only 20.2 weeks.    

 

The job-hunting tips below were developed as a result of feedback from hundreds of older job seekers who helped RetiredBrains develop them. Try them. They work!   

1)      Look for temporary or project assignments as they are much more available than fulltime jobs.

Executives, managers and professionals can often use their current skill sets and experience to work on projects where their background works for them and also for the employers that hire them on this basis. There are many employers interested in hiring on a project basis as in most cases employers do not have to pay benefits for these kinds of jobs and even more importantly an employer can terminate a project based worker with little or no warning and little expense.

 

Register with temp firms in your local area as they are less concerned with age and are more interested in your skills and experience. Their interview process will give you interviewing experience. Also if you get work through a temp firm, even if it is not the kind of job you are seeking, it helps build your resume for future work assignments.

 

2) When applying for a job, tell the employer you are willing to work on a project or temporary basis. 

 

This often gives you a leg up on younger workers who are often unwilling to accept employment that does not include benefits. Temporary employment can lead to full-time work.

 

3) Volunteer with a charity or non-profit .

 

Although in most cases there is little or no monetary compensation it is good experience and can possibly lead to employment with a firm that is seeking that particular experience or appreciates your work ethic. It is also easier to find employment while you are working/volunteering as you have a better mind set during interviews. Looking for a job on a full-time basis is not a very rewarding experience and frame of mind is more important that you realize. 

 

4) Consider having your resume re-written or updated by an expert as the resume you used years ago is no longer appropriate. 

 

You should have your resume on your computer so you can modify it highlighting the experience most appropriate for the employer and job to which you are applying. A single general resume for all interviews is not the best way to get hired. Just as important is to ensure that you have a powerful presence on Linkedin, as today this is the default resource used by hiring firms, recruiters and headhunters.

 

5) Get information on the prospective employer prior to your interview. 

 

For example contact someone who works for this employer who attended the same school you went to saying, "Hi. You and I went to the same school but graduated at different times. I'm interviewing for a position with your firm later this week and, before I meet with the hiring manager, I would like to test out a couple questions I have about the firm on you and see what you think the answers might be.” Research the employer on Linkedin, Google or Yahoo

6) Search for a job on job boards that specifically connect older workers with employers seeking to hire them and post your resume on these sites. 

 

The search and resume posts are free. Set a job alert to notify you if a position is posted that matches your skills, experience and geographic preferences.

 

Some job boards specializing in older workers: 

·         RetiredBrains.com

·         RetirementJobs.com

·         Workforce50.com

·         SeniorJobBank.com

·         Seniors4Hire.com 

After "retiring" from a 40-year career in advertising, Art spent several years as a consultant working with employers involving the aging work force and with seniors addressing the challenges facing them as they prepared for retirement. In early 2003, he founded RetiredBrains.com, a site that has developed into a major destination for boomers, retirees and people planning retirement. RetiredBrains provides information on a wide variety of subjects and includes a free job board connecting employers looking to hire older workers.  Art can be reached via LinkedIn, Twitter: @artkoff and Facebook..