Posts Tagged “mature age jobs”

Don’t let age bias limit your opportunities!

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Beverly Jones

Age Discrimination Starts Early!

These Strategies Can Help.

While finishing her MBA at a top tier university, Sarah was enthusiastically recruited by a large company. She accepted their offer to join the marketing department. Once there, she connected with a powerful mentor who helped her snag plum assignments. For several years Sarah was the most junior professional in her group, and she enjoyed being treated like a young star.

After a few years, the growing company made a wave of new hires and Sarah began to feel neglected. She said she was stuck with routine workwhile the interesting new projects went to her younger colleagues.

Sarah was asked to supervise the internship program, but didn’t enjoy the work. She said the interns didn’t have the right work ethic and were obsessed by technology. One day as she entered the kitchen, she heard them making fun of her for being clueless about the power of social media.

When Sarah came to me for coaching, she complained that she was past her career peak. She felt like she was cut off from the company’s high potential challenges and might be too old to compete for another good job elsewhere. Sarah was 34 at the time.

Sarah felt she was the victim of age discrimination and to some degree her concerns were well founded. Ageism is rampant in the workplace and can be hard to fight. And even 30-something careerists like Sarah can find themselves sidelined by employers seeking fresh talent.

Sarah found ways to demonstrate her energy, talent and enthusiasm, and soon worked her way out of her slump. One thing that helped her was finding examples of older professionals whose age did need not seem to limit their success. She noticed that while some in her circle were dissed for being out of date, others seemed timeless despite their years.

If you’re facing a subtle age bias, a starting point for getting past it is to understand the negative stereotypes on which it’s based. Then make it clear that the stereotypes don’t fit you. Consider these strategies for minimizing the burden of ageism:

Be tech-savvy. You don’t have to enjoy Skyping, sharing on Instagram or building a Twitter community. But if those are the ways that your colleagues or customers communicate, you absolutely must know how to join in. If you want to stay in the game, keep up with the technology. Take classes or find help, buy the devices, and do whatever it takes to keep your skills current. And when you don’t understand the latest developments, avoid the temptation to indulge in a Luddite rant. Express an interest, ask for assistance and get on board.

Look and act fit. Some employers and younger workers believe that their older colleagues may have physical limitations that will prevent them from performing their fair share of the work. And your boss or clients won’t offer you new challenges if they think you are about to have a heart attack. If you want to maximize your career options, it is vital not only that you stay healthy but also that you look healthy and you exude energy.

Talk healthy. Most of us have health issues from time to time, but we can manage the way they impact us in the workplace. Beware of sabotaging yourself by talking too much about your symptoms or crises. If you endlessly discuss your health challenges, not only will you be boring, but people may start to think of you as frail and over the hill. Talk about the great hike you took last weekend, instead of how sore you felt on Monday morning.

Be stylish. Looking shabby may seem cool when you’re 27. But the older you get, the more important it is to look polished and up to date. If your clothes, hairdo or glasses seem out of style, you may seem like you are past your prime. That doesn’t mean you should dress like a kid, but you should aim for a look that feels current.

Don’t bring up your age. If you are older – or younger – than the people you work with, it is very tempting to keep mentioning that fact. But if you can refrain from alluding to the age difference, there is a good chance that other people will forget about it.

Build a varied network. If you are accustomed to hanging out with friends of all ages, you are more likely to blend easily into a group of younger or older people. If you don’t allow age to be a barrier in your social life, you will be more comfortable talking and keeping up with different age groups at work.

Listen to your colleagues. A great starting point for building strong relationships at work is to genuinely listen to what other people have to say. If you’re part of the older set, show an interest in what younger folks say and learn from their perspective.

If you put aside your own prejudices about age and look for opportunities to work on projects with people of all generations, you’ll become more skillful at avoiding the burden of age bias.

Older job seekers ‘remain unemployed for longer’

Date August 26, 2014

Natasha Boddy

Canberra Times

Older workers who find themselves out of work are likely to remain unemployed much longer than younger Australians and superannuation balances among those in their pre-retirement years are unevenly distributed.

Marcia Keegan, an associate with Curtin University and SGS Economics and Planning, said generous tax concessions for mature-age workers topping up their superannuation do not benefit people who find themselves out of work or underemployed in the latter half of their working lives.

Dr Keegan will give a talk about the option for sustaining workforce participation to retirement age and reducing superannuation gaps, at a forum at the Australian National University on Wednesday.

“Things have been getting a lot better for mature-age workers, those aged between 45 and 64, over the last 20 years or so; they’ve got higher rates of employment, lower rates of disability, they’ve got lower rates of unemployment and also their superannuation balances are growing on average,” she said.

However, Dr Keegan, said it still took much longer for older job seekers to find work compared to their younger counterparts. About a quarter of those aged 45 to 64 remained unemployed for more than a year; this was the case for only 15 per cent of people aged under 44.

This raised concerns about the impact of long-term unemployment on their the superannuation balances, she said.

Dr Keegan’s presentation will look at some of the difficulties facing older workers and discuss policy options that could increase employment for mature-age workers and boost the superannuation balances of those heading into retirement.

She said the government’s new Restart program should be “quite helpful” when it comes to encouraging the employment of older Australians. Under the program, employers will get subsidies of up to $10,000 for hiring mature-age job seekers.

“Older people have a greater risk of being long-term unemployed and they also run the risk of facing age discrimination in the workforce, so this will hopefully encourage some employers [to hire older workers],” she said.

Dr Keegan said changes that allowed older people to contribute extra to their superannuation could be quite helpful, but only to those who had employment.

“One of the things that was floated was getting rid of the low income superannuation contribution,” she said.

“Of all the ways the government can raise money from taxes, taking money from the retirement accounts of low income workers is probably not the first place you should be looking.”

Dr Keegan said moves to increase the pension age was a natural progression given life expectancies were increasing, “but that only helps if you’re able to work and able to find work”.

The Living to get the age pension and enjoy life in retirement: prospects and policy options forum will hear from several speakers discussing factors affecting the health and well-being of older Australians. It will also examine policy options that could address inequalities in retirement stemming from inequalities in earlier in life, particularly those associated with workforce participation and disability.

Richard Cumpston, director of Australian Projections, will also speak at the forum. He will discuss the topic of life expectancies, including the differences in people’s chances of dying, such as how married people are much less likely to die than unmarried people.

Dr Cumpston also said educated people tended to have lower disease risks, and people in high-grade occupations, such as professionals or managers, tended to have better life expectancies.

Special Report: Ageism in the Job Market

Ageism in the Job Market

Are we our own worst enemies? Part 1 of a series on ageism in the workplace.

FIND A JOB by Eilene Zimmerman on 4/7/14

“We’re looking for someone hungrier.”

“The right candidate is high energy.”

If you’re over 50 and job-hunting, chances are you’ve heard phrases like these. Or maybe you’ve been told you’re overqualified or too senior. These are code words for “too old” and they pepper the language of hiring managers nationwide. Jacquelyn James, director of research at the Sloan Center for Aging & Work at Boston College says when people are asked on surveys to rate others on the basis of age and corresponding characteristics, older people are associated with negative traits that include a lack of interest in growing and developing, inflexibility in thinking and an unwillingness to learn and adapt to new technology. “The data about those kinds of traits are very mixed and much of it is perception,” she says. And some weren’t negative. “Older people are seen as having a good work ethic, as working harder and being more comfortable with authority.”

Add to such negative stereotypes the mistaken perception that people working into their 60s and early 70s are taking jobs from younger workers. Although arecent Pew study soundly debunked that, as does Kevin Cahill, a research economist at the Sloan Center, the belief is pervasive. Cahill says although people are retiring later, the idea that older workers need to move out of the way for younger workers is a misperception. “The argument breaks down pretty rapidly if you look beyond individual firms and over time,” he says.

But prejudice of any type, of course, isn’t based on fact, and much of the age bias we see in hiring is unconscious, says Jacquelyn James. That’s due, at least in part, to the fact that ageism is the least studied or examined form of discrimination. A recent paper on ageism from psychologist Susan Fiske and Michael North at Princeton University, called ageism “the most socially condoned” form of prejudice. And it has intensified. By the time people reach their mid-60s, two out of three have retired, either voluntarily or because they weren’t able to keep or find a job, according to research from Gary Burtless, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. By age 75, nine out of ten are out of the workforce.

Among the long-term unemployed, the situation is most severe for those over 55, who face the longest period of unemployment. Carl Van Horn, director of the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, says although the number fluctuates, at least two million people over age 55 have been out of work more than six months and at least half of those for more than a year.

Because ageism is often unconscious it’s tough to disarm. With any bias, the key to mitigation is awareness, says James. Fact is, people generally don’t think of themselves as biased. In order to fight the stereotypes—say, that older workers don’t embrace new technology—James advises job candidates be explicit with interviewers that they are eager to learn, and have history of learning and embracing new technology.

With the right strategies, job seekers can combat age-related stereotypes rather than buying into them, says James, and take steps to adapt to the changing culture of the workplace.

Speak the Same Language

“People over 50 grew up talking about their accomplishments, about what they did and how well they did it,” says Gail Palubiak, owner of Interview Academy in Denver, a job search and interview consulting firm that specializes in over-50 job seekers. “But companies today speak the language of contribution. And this is critical—because you are likely interviewing with someone who isn’t the same generation. So talk about how you served a company, not how great you are.”

Palubiak says a candidate who gets an interview is close to getting the job; at that juncture, it’s primarily language that becomes the barrier—not age. “Rather than saying, ‘I was the number one sales rep in my division,’ say ‘The company encountered serious competitive challenges in my division. Through my actions, ultimately the company was able to…’ and then show the contribution you made.”

It may also help to simply swim in the same water as those under 40. On Facebook, impressions of older people among those in their 20s are very negative, according to a new study, “Facebook as a Site for Negative Age Stereotypes,” authored by Becca Levy, director of the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health, as well as researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, Hunter College and the Hopkins School. Levy’s research, which was published online in the journal The Gerentologist, found negative stereotypes of older people were rampant. “One of the conclusions we had from the research was that social networking could be a way to break down intergenerational barriers and a great resource for older adults,” she says, making connections that could help with their job search and illustrating publicly that they are comfortable with technology younger people use.

Present Well, in Real Life, on the Phone and Virtually

Nicole Williams, LinkedIn’s career expert, says midlife job seekers often think they need to look younger, when what they really need is to look relevant. “Get your hair cut so the style is modern, wear something that makes you feel confident. You want to convey vibrancy, passion and energy,” she says. That goes for the photo on your LinkedIn profile too.

Companies often do a screening interview by phone before deciding to meet a candidate. Stand up and use a headset during that call, suggests Dana Manciagli, a career consultant and author of Cut the Crap, Get a Job. Manciagli says when you stand up, you dial up your voice and energy level. On the phone, age bias occurs when a candidate sounds feeble. “Even if it’s a 22-year-old screening you, it’s an interview,” she says. “Stand up, gesture with your arms and be energetic.”

Show a Solution

Remember that behind every job description lies a problem. As a candidate your questions should come early—rather than at the end of the interview as is traditional—to unearth the problems a company is trying to overcome. “Too often older candidates are preoccupied with trying to sell themselves, rather than trying to understand the issues facing the company,” says Palubiak. By offering ways you can contribute, you become a problem solver, she says, and that’s when age doesn’t matter.

Another strategy older job candidates often stress their expertise in a variety of areas. “It’s far better to stick to what your specialization really is,” says Palubiak. “It’s counter-intuitive, but trying to be everything to everybody dilutes your value in the market.”

Never Sell Yourself Short

Williams says midlife job seekers on LinkedIn often under-chronicle their experience, playing it down to avoid being dismissed as overqualified or too old. “A lot of employers have young employees and need older workers for their experience and ability to mentor, so don’t think there aren’t opportunities,” she says. “There’s ageism, yes, but don’t dig into that self-fulfilling prophecy that it means there’s nothing out there. As a 50-plus, promote your experience, your great organizational and leadership skills, and that you have a breadth of experience in your industry that will benefit a company.”

She also suggests addressing the elephant in the virtual room—that you are a midlife worker—rather than dancing around it, by doctoring your photo and leaving dates and experience off your profile. Williams suggests stating in the summary section that in addition to your long history in the industry you have “an abundance of energy you want to share,” she says. “Make it clear you want to spend the rest of your career contributing to a company you feel passionate about.”

How to talk to your older workers

Posted by Judy Higgins on 30 July 2014

In workplaces all over the world, managers are for the first time dealing with the issues that arise when up to four generations work side by side.

Older workers stay on in employment for a variety of reasons. Some can’t afford to retire, others enjoy work and choose to continue, and in many cases mature employees want to build up their superannuation.

Organisations put themselves in a vulnerable position if they don’t have a profile of workers based on age and by section of the organisation. In an environment with an ageing population and ageing workforces, organisations need to be on the front foot. A profile of the age of your workers is essential, and a strategy to address retention and transition to retirement should now be part of any human resources strategy.

Talk to your older staff about their working plans. You will need to discuss:

How long they intend to continue working
Do they intend to keep working the same hours or slowly transition to retirement?
Will they be able to continue to do the same job for those years or will they need to re-train?
Developing an individual workplace plan

Critical to the effectiveness of this exercise is ensuring the discussion takes place in a non-threatening manner and that mature-age workers feel comfortable and confident to take part in the discussion. A carefully worded letter or memo should be sent to individuals from the Managing Director or CEO, advising them how valued they are and how serious the organisation is about retaining and working with employees who may be thinking about retiring.

Given that the age to access the age pension may rise to 70, considerations of older workers will be more important than ever. There are also many who will not want to work that long, and if they are some of your key people you need to know, and you need to have a strategy to address filling the gaps.

You must also make sure you have the policies and procedures in place to reflect that your company is sincere about valuing its older workers, and has the flexibility and trained managers to work in the best interests of all stakeholders. Companies that don’t do this well risk losing years of experience and knowledge that could be detrimental to their business.

Source: The Living Well Navigator

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