Posts Tagged “older workers”

Forum proving older workers’ worth

Posted at 8:59am Monday 08 Sep, 2014 | By Merle Foster merle@thesun.co.nz

Removing the stigma surrounding employing older people and making businesses realise the ageing population’s enormous opportunity is the aim of a city forum this month.

Tauranga’s older residents and business people are encouraged to attend the Older Workforce Forum, hosted by Age Concern Tauranga and Chamber of Commerce.

Mitre 10 MEGA Tauranga team members Noel Meredith, 70, Dave Watson, 71, and Dave Semple, 74, with general manager Wayne Mansell. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

Age Concern fundraising manager Michael Vujnovich says the forum will discuss the ‘why, how and spin-offs’ of workforce generation change.

“We’re trying to raise people’s awareness of the issue of an ageing workforce but enable them to realise there is an enormous opportunity here.

“If we continue with our old, outdated model of what it means to be getting old we’ll continue to fail to address the issues that confront older people and fail to address opportunities they present to employers and society as a whole.”

Guest speakerElders Forum chair Max Lewis says “65 is the new 45”. He believes older workers have as many benefits as others, just different.

“We need to lift the perception of age as being a positive. We’ve got to stop this perceived bias. We have so many talented people, and they want to be working.”

“If you can get them working where their strengths are, they can be offering advice and knowledge to younger staff, you’re getting 30 years of knowledge and experience.”

Max also sees Tauranga as the pace-setter for the whole country.

Mega Mitre 10 Tauranga general manager Wayne Mansell knows the benefits of older workers and will talk about his company’s diversity-friendly policies in action.

“The reason we look at employing people a bit older is simply experience – they have the knowledge and they also have the integrity of the work ethic.

“We have a number of retiree plumber and builders who’ve worked in the building game in the past and are looking to continue to stay in the workforce – and we’re happy to oblige.”

Wayne says older staff are also more flexible.

“They’re willing part-time or full-time hours, extra days don’t have issues around working weekends.”

An open floor discussion with the speaker panel will finish the forum on Thursday, September 18 from 8.30am-2.30pm at Mt Club, Totara St, Mount Maunganui.

– See more at: http://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/81916-forum-proving-older-workers-worth.html#sthash.i7Dgy7UT.dpuf

Call for broad policy approach to ageing

By Darragh O’Keeffe on September 4, 2014

Everald Compton launching the blueprint at the National Press Club

Undeterred by the Federal Government axing it last November, the Advisory Panel on Positive Ageing launched its Blueprint for an Ageing Australia on Wednesday, calling for wide-ranging policy changes in areas from retirement to technology.

Established by the previous Labor government, the panel was disbanded by the Abbott Government in November – months before it was to complete its blueprint. At the time, the panel’s chair, Everald Compton, appealed via Australian Ageing Agenda for support from organisations so it could complete its work. In February Per Capita announced its involvement and a campaign to raise the necessary funds to sustain the panel. Subsequently, National Seniors and National Australia Bank joined the cause.

The resulting blueprint is the product of extensive public consultations and discussions.

The document puts forward recommendations in a range of areas from housing and retirement to technology and workforce.

Specifically, it has called for:

A government Minister for Ageing, reporting to the Prime Minister
A Seniors Enterprise Institute, to facilitate entrepreneurialism and volunteering
Mandating the study of gerontology in all undergraduate healthcare courses
Increasing internet access for seniors; providing ICT training; and a national telehealth strategy
Design standards for an ageing population; and housing bonds for rentals

The panel called for new investment by federal education and employment departments, and vocational education and training (VET) providers, specifically TAFE colleges, for “re-skilling and workplace transitions” for workers aged over 50.

The blueprint also proposed that banks organise a Golden Givers Campaign over the next decade “by encouraging their clients to establish charitable trusts and foundations and offering them management services in investing and distributing funds.”

Elsewhere, it proposed that all three levels of government should “plan to vastly upgrade transport services by train and bus so that the use of public transport becomes the preferred mode of travel for seniors.”

Along with Mr Compton, the panel consisted of Helen Brady, National Australia Bank; David Hetherington, Per Capita; Professor Brian Howe; Professor Gill Lewin; Michael O’Neill, National Seniors; and, Neville Roach.

The Blueprint for an Ageing Australia was launched at the National Press Club on Wednesday.

Reaction

Adjunct Professor John Kelly, CEO, Aged & Community Services Australia, said the blueprint was a welcome addition to the conversation Australians needed to have about ageing and that Mr Compton and his fellow members of the Advisory Panel on Ageing should be congratulated on their leadership in continuing the work after funding was discontinued.

“There are many contributions Australians can make to their community and their nation throughout the whole of their life and we need to consider how best to enable people to live as productively and safely as possible and with the respect they deserve. The role played by aged care providers is an integral part of this. Governments must think beyond election cycles to ensure this happens,” Prof Kelly said.

Ian Yates, chief executive, COTA Australia highlighted the paper’s calls for a retirement incomes strategy comprehensive of all taxation, superannuation, transfer system and employment issues and renewed requests for the Federal Government to convene an independent retirement incomes review.

“Such papers continue to be produced due to the vacuum in quality policy discussion that exists at the federal government level on these important issues. Instead we have policy decisions being made in isolation, without proper consideration of their broader and interconnected impact or how they will or will not meet the future needs of the whole of Australia,” Mr Yates said.

Sarah Saunders, acting chief executive, National Seniors, said the project was refreshing in turning the rhetoric around and casting ageing as something positive.

“The document highlights that the $8 trillion spent by the over-60s globally will, by 2020, almost double to $15 trillion. If Australia embraces the business of ageing, and does it well, the potential to export and capitalize on our knowledge in this area is huge,” Ms Saunders said.

Patrick Reid, CEO, Leading Age Services Australia, said the need for a national conversation on ageing and intergenerational engagement was long overdue.

“Adoption of this blueprint will require some brave policy decisions from government,” Mr Reid said.

Mr Reid said he was looking forward to hearing more on the topic from Mr Compton at LASA’s National Congress in October.

The Federal Opposition also welcomed the blueprint and in a joint press release from shadow minister for ageing Shayne Neumann and shadow parliamentary secretary for aged care Helen Polley said that senior Australians were not a burden.

Labor will continue to work together with the panel members, seniors peak organisations, experts and senior Australians towards an Australia that valued senior Australians and gave them the support, certainty and opportunities they deserved, it said.

Related AAA coverage: ‘The hard work now begins’ writes Everald Compton

Positive ageing by numbers

It’s time to open your mind about ageing. Reshape attitudes, challenge stereotypes and celebrate the positives of the world’s ageing population with our handy infographic.

We’re living longer, we’re healthier and more active and the majority of us are continuing to live independently and contribute to the economy and society well into our third act.

Just ask Mick Jagger, 71, and Judi Dench, 79. Bust those stereotypes on ageing with these facts and figures.

Over the past 10 years, womens’ life expectancy has increased 33%, men by 28%.

Of Australians aged 55+ intend to beself-funded in retirement

Of Australians aged 65+ live independently.

Was contributed annually by Australians aged 65+ in unpaid caring and voluntary work

Will be the estimated age of over12,000 Australians by 2020.

Of Australians aged 55+ take fewer sick days than those aged 24-34.

Of Australians aged 55+ drive and have a licence.

Source Living Well Navigator

Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Sydney Centenarian Study, University of NSW, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Department of Health and Ageing, Australian Human Rights Commission.

Pollies play with your super, and it could get worse

Sept 3
BILL WATSON CEO, First Super

The Government’s decision to delay increases in the superannuation guarantee might be just the first salvo against workers, warns Bill Watson.

Clive Palmer — Superannuation remains the plaything of politicians.

Superannuation remains the plaything of politicians and there’s no sign that this will change in future.

The latest evidence is the deal between the Federal Government and the Palmer United Party to delay the 12 per cent target for superannuation contributions for seven years to 2025.

• Keating lashes Abbott over super
• Tax axed ‘for the nation’

It reminds Australian workers and retirees that, even three decades after the introduction of occupational superannuation, they have no certainty or security over their retirement savings.

Worryingly, there are more signs that it will become even harder for workers to get their hands on their super.

The recently announced increase of retirement age to 70 for workers born after 1965 gives Australia the world’s highest official retirement age.

It is hard to envisage Canberra, in future, not increasing the age at which workers can access their super. Currently, workers can retire once they’ve reached preservation age, receiving their super tax free in an allocated pension or for most workers a tax free, lump sum.

You can almost hear the Treasurer saying, “we’ve got a mismatch here – the retirement age is 70 but the preservation age for super is 60 – so today to protect the Budget, I’m announcing an increase in preservation age to 70.”

For many workers in physically demanding occupations, being able to work to 70 is just not possible and many unemployed people over 50 know that the jobs just aren’t there.

Increasing the preservation age is just not fair. All it will do, is force workers onto social security until they reach retirement age.

Even more worrying is the kite-flying by the Financial Services Council. The FSC represents banks and the profit superannuation sector and is encouraging a debate about denying workers from taking their lump sums upon retirement and instead forcing them to take a pension.

This debate provides Canberra with an opportunity to force workers to take a pension rather than a lump sum, again with the rationale of protecting the Budget and delivering a win to Australia’s banking sector.

Denying retirees the option of a lump sum and forcing them into pension or annuity products better serves banks than the interests of working people, as banks would be guaranteed an annuity-like income from people’s retirement savings.

Banks – through their distribution networks, conflicted remuneration arrangements and sale of products disguised as financial advice – have been very successful in attracting a disproportionate share of people’s retirement savings.

You have to ask, why should retirees have their income managed by those who have failed to demonstrate that they are able act in their clients’ and customers’ best interests?

There are currently very real tax incentives to encourage people to keep their retirement savings within the system.

Many superannuation fund members did not have the privilege of a university education, or the ability to amass significant retirement savings.

Proposals to force workers to take lump sums is tantamount to income management. It does not consider the implications for retirees – particularly those on lower than average incomes prior to retirement.

What we know is that many of our members don’t have the spare cash to prepare for retirement by paying down debts, repairing their houses and acquiring replacement white goods and cars. Accessing their super on retirement to do these things allows for a comfortable retirement.

The myth that working people waste their super on luxuries such as trips and boats is just that. There is no evidence to support this claim.

If Canberra wants to protect the Budget then meaningful reforms to the retirement system to sustain the tax base would include:

• Eliminating concessional treatment of superannuation contributions for people who have more than seven times the annual non-concessional contribution amount (presently $180,000) in their superannuation

• Taxing earnings on retirement accounts for any earnings on superannuation balances above this seven times amount

What Canberra should not do is force workers to wait until they are 70 to get their super and then only get it in the form of a pension.

Bill Watson is Chief Executive Officer of First Super, which is a shareholder in The New Daily

Equality and the entitlement of age

The Drum, 2 Septembert 2014

Emily Millane, Research Fellow

	The Drum Unleashed, 2 September 2014

Our retirement income system is now skewed so heavily towards the wealthy in our society that we’re not just at risk of going nowhere, we risk going backwards, writes Emily Millane.It’s always slightly unnerving when the airline you’re flying with says it needs to take some time to redistribute the weight on the aircraft before you take off. Visions of a plane dragging one wing along the runway with sparks flying everywhere tend to ensue.

The fact is, the distribution of an aircraft’s weight needs to be calibrated in such a way that the thing can get off the ground, and back onto it, safely. And so it is with our tax and transfer system.

Distribute it right and you’re off; get the distribution wrong and society is on a fast track to nowhere.

Per Capita’s recent report, The Entitlement of Age, argues that, together, increasing longevity and rising inequality are making Australia’s retirement income system unsustainable. The structure of the system, combined with the distribution of benefits, is skewed so heavily towards the wealthy in our society that we’re not just at risk of going nowhere, we risk going backwards.

Notwithstanding differences as a result of race, education and socio-economic status, on average Australians have very high life expectancies. Indigenous Australians are the notable exception to this average

Per Capita’s findings show that we are living longer than previously estimated, largely as a result of declining mortality rates. We need to plan for longer lives, and we need incomes to pay for them.

The current system will not deliver retirement security, even if Australians work until they are 70. Some Australians will move into older age well funded but women, the low-paid and those in insecure work will not.

Per Capita’s research, using four different scenarios, shows that a woman retiring in 2049 who has children and works a mix of full-time and part-time hours will have only 60 per cent of the superannuation balance of a man the same age as her, a deficit of $358,000.

The way in which superannuation is taxed compounds the income insecurity faced by vulnerable groups. The concessional rate of tax on superannuation income relative to ordinary income, known as “superannuation tax concessions”, favours those with higher incomes.

If the Government is successful in removing the Low Income Superannuation Contribution, people on low incomes will pay more on their superannuation contributions than they do on ordinary income.

More than 50 per cent of the superannuation tax concessions go to the wealthiest 20 per cent Australians. At the same time, Per Capita’s annual tax survey showed that 42 per cent of people on incomes of $200,000 and above consider that the best way to pay for longer lives is through further superannuation tax concessions.

As detailed by the ACTU recently, the IMF has found that Australia foregoes more through tax expenditures than all other advanced economies it analysed. The largest areas of expenditure are housing and superannuation tax concessions.

What does all of this tell us? It tells us that people on the highest incomes have come to see the beneficial tax treatment of their superannuation as an entitlement. It tells us that any effort to change the shape of tax on superannuation to make it fairer will require political courage. It also tells us that change is necessary.

The Government’s proposed alterations to the age pension, particularly in respect of indexation, will mean that it does not provide a safety net from poverty. It is those same groups that are disadvantaged by the superannuation system that will face further financial precariousness as a result of these changes – the women, the low-paid and those engaged in insecure work.

Australia’s spending on the age pension is going up; no one is arguing with that. However, as the Treasurer found out with his comments in respect of the fuel excise, it’s the proportion of income that matters. Australia spends about 3.5 per cent of its GDP on the age pension compared with an average spend by other wealthy counties of 7.8 per cent of GDP.

So what of it? What does it matter that some people will have overseas holidays and theatre shows to look forward to in later life, while others will sit at home watching daytime TV? Or that some people will see medical specialists while others will put off seeing the GP?

It matters because these questions go to the issue of human dignity. Australians are entitled to incomes sufficient for a dignified life.

More broadly, these questions go to the issue of what sort of society we understand Australia to be. Whether we are all on this journey together, or whether it is OK that there is an increasing distance between people in economy, and the class of people who haven’t seen the back of a plane in years.

Illawarra baby boomers battle to find work

By GLEN HUMPHRIES

Aug. 31, 2014, 10 p.m.

Brent Peppercorn and his grandmother Linda Goldsmith, at right, who have been touring NSW with the Living Well Navigator meet Wollongong’s Susan Barnett.

Almost half of NSW baby boomers have had to face age discrimination, according to an NRMA survey.

The survey was carried out as part of the research into a new website – Living Well Navigator – directed at the over 50s.

Forty per cent of the respondents said they have experienced age discrimination themselves or knew of someone who had.

In addition, 37 per cent of people over 50 have little confidence they would be treated fairly in a job interview.

Peter Khoury from the NRMA said this was concerning, especially given the federal government’s plan to push back the retirement age to 70.

Mr Khoury said businesses needed to adjust to the realities that come with the ageing baby boomer population.

“There’s a lot of debate about the working age being extended, which means a lot of Australian companies need to be prepared for the fact that their workforce is going to be older than it used to be,” Mr Khoury said.

With more than half of the NRMA’s membership over the age of 50, the Navigator site aims to provide support for those looking to get back into the workforce.

“The Living Well Navigator site assists older workers by providing information on how to get jobs and volunteering information as well as hosting a jobs board to connect older workers with age-friendly employers,” said NRMA local director Michael Tynan.

“The site aims to bust common myths and stereotypes on ageing. Those north of 50 have comprehensive knowledge, are highly skilled, active and make valuable contributions to our society.”

The website provides a wide range of information for the over-50s – including work, health, travel and supported and independent living.

Source: Illawarra Mercury

Department of Human Services removes diversity clause

Date : September 2, 2014

Phillip Thomson

Public Service Reporter at The Canberra Times.

The main union representing public servants says the Department of Human Services has removed a clause enshrining the employment of people from diverse backgrounds from its draft bargaining agreement.

The major department employing about 30,000 staff is being closely watched during negotiations because haggling over its future agreement, which was much further ahead than at many other Commonwealth employers, was expected to set at least part of the agenda across the federal bureaucracy.

The clause was one mechanism in the existing agreement to ensure the department enforced a separate plan, titled the Workplace Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.

The strategy has committed the department to employing more people with disabilities, mature age workers and staff from culturally and linguistically diverse background.

Its clearest goal was to make sure 5 per cent of its staff were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders by 2015, which would mean the department would have more than 1500 indigenous workers out of its 34,700-strong workforce in a little more than a year.

The department said it was on track to exceed the 5 per cent target

“As at July 2014, the percentage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees in the department was 4 per cent, well above the Australian Public Service average of 2.3 per cent as at June 2013,” a department spokeswoman said. “We are also a major employer of people with disability.

“As at July 2014, 4.9 per cent employees of the department identified as having a disability.

“We are a leader in workplace diversity in the Australian Public Service, and so we should be as a large department providing vital services to the community.

“Any suggestion that this is not the case is absolutely without substance.”

The Community and Public Sector Union’s log of claims for all its negotiations affecting 160,000 federal public servants said the union wanted to include a paragraph committing to diversity as well as recruitment and retention strategies.

The department spokeswoman said the public service bargaining framework, handed down by the Abbott government to set the boundaries for the bureaucracy’s managerial representatives during negotiations, clearly stated enterprise agreements should not include terms dealing with matters more properly dealt with by legislation.

“The department’s workplace diversity and inclusion strategy is in line with the legislative requirements set out in the Public Service Act 1999,” the spokeswoman said.

“This strategy is available on the department’s website and intranet.

“It is ingrained in our mandatory training schedule.

“This strategy is our formal commitment to a workplace culture that builds respects, fosters inclusiveness, promotes diversity and embraces the unique skills and qualities of all our employees.”

Source: Canberra Times

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.

Why some candidates just always get it right.

Posted on September 1, 2014

Some job applicants just always get it right. Here is why. You know… the type that gets it right from the moment the recruiter or hiring manager spots them for the first time. They simply get noticed.

I regularly remind my clients how important it is to get the basics right if you want to be considered as a suitable candidate. It doesn’t take much if you want to get noticed and, more importantly, be remembered for the right reasons.

Here are 13 tips that will make you stand out as a candidate so you can secure your next job.

If you want to get your application to the top of the pile and fast forward to the front of the interview queue then get your highlighter and mark some or all of these tips so you can secure your next job opportunity.

Keep hunting, there are good jobs out there, just don’t forget to hunt wisely!

Written By

Ulrich Schild – The Job Search Coach

Ulrich Schild, The founder of TheJobSearchCoach.net has actively scouted, interviewed and hired many talented candidates for a variety of employers in Australia and New Zealand while being exposed to some of the very best and worst HR and recruiting practises.Ulrich has always known that he can help and contribute his bit to make Job Search, Job Seeking and the recruiting process easier and better.

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.”

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