Finding a job when you're over 50 is difficult

I watched an interesting episode of Panorama last night all about finding a job when you're over 50 and how difficult it actually was. This programme struck a chord with me, because although I'm not quite 50, I've been out of the rat race long enough to have probably damaged my ability to rejoin it should I wish to. I'm 42 by the way, but the thing that struck me the most wasn't the whole age discrimination thing which I think is wrong, it was the attitudes of some of the over 50s who are looking for work. I seriously hope that I don't become like them as I get closer to 50, although I'd like to hope that as it's actually not that far away I wont change to much between now and then.

These people come from good jobs, having risen through the ranks to suddenly find themselves made redundant. It's a very sad thing and at any age never mind 50 plus, it will tend to give the self confidence a bit of a knock when youre made redundant. Putting age discrimination and the current economic climate to one side, one thing that I couldn't ignore was the fact that they all pretty much expected to jump into the same type of job and at the same level as they had been in previously. This is totally unrealistic in my opinion. I believe your future and your well-being, your own destiny if you like is in your own hands, and that you have to accept change. This may mean doing things that you never thought you would do, including taking a lower paid job.

Getting ready for a job interview It would appear that some of the people in this age range baulk at the prospect of learning new skills and of taking their career in a new direction. For me, the day I give up learning stuff and the day I don't consider other opportunities, is the day I hope someone will turn off the machine that keeps me alive. I've fallen from a rung on the ladder much further up myself. Actually I jumped to go self-employed and I dont regret that decision. But I'm happy enough with where I sit today (a couple of feet from the bottom of the pile). If it came to it though I'd take absolutely any job going to pay the bills.

I'm sure there ARE unemployed people over 50 out there that think the same and who are prepared to knuckle down and take a minimum wage job or two to put food on the table and pay the mortgage, but for some this is apparently beneath them and these are the ones I don't have any sympathy for. Perhaps the further up the ladder you are, if (or when) you do fall, the louder you complain about the injustice of it all? Thats certainly the way it seems to me.

To my mind, it's the young ones leaving school and college that deserve the help. Theyre the ones the government should be pulling out all the stops for. I think I got lucky when I was eighteen and without that "leg up" things might have worked out quite differently for me. Invest in the young, or at least the young ones that are hungry for a chance rather than the oldies who think they deserve it handed to them on a plate.

By: Kenny

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we are now living in the 21st centuary so why are this so called government allowed to use people on jsa as free slave labour.the pocket filling grabs would,nt put their own stuckup spoiled brats to do this,get them out before even more lives are destroyed by the scum

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chalky - 13-May-12 09:09

Employers get to choose who they want to employ...For example if you have a northern accent and apply for a job in waitrose in Epsom town centre chances are you will be declined along with the fact that your face won,t fit..........Get my drift

-3

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Mrs speaker - 13-Jun-11 16:50

"it's the young ones leaving school and college that deserve the help."

- By getting the qualified and experienced 50+s to take their low paid entry level jobs?

As others have said, - it's not that easy.

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DaveyT - 12-Jun-11 13:54

What I find scary is the fact that we are being forced to retire ever later (due to the goverment wasting tax-payers money, in part, on people who can't be bothered to work at all instead of looking after our pension funds). However if we lose our jobs after the age of 50 it can be really tough to find another.

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Critter - 25-May-11 14:06

Human Resource Officer? Another fancy name for a useless jobsworth. Let us get back to the "Personnel Manager" era. Those were the times when they did know what employing people was all about.

-2

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scholar - 23-Apr-11 15:01

Thanks GherkinD, I agree on HR, I used to encounter these folk in my IT job, a very odd bunch who often think the universe revolves around them.

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Timelord - 13-Apr-11 14:03

Timelord - 24/7 IT Support, yes that was me too three years ago. Like you, I had come to hate it ( but not the money it brought in. ) I too am happy to be at a lower level, the trouble is I'm not sure I can stomach the industry at all any more !

Sam the Tiger is right too - HR departments are staffed by a lot of frivolous "Oh Yah" types trying to avoid real work !

-1

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Gherkindangler - 8-Apr-11 19:44

As someone who was in that position, made redundant a month after my 50th birthday, I have to agree with you Kenny. I found a job after what I regarded as a belated 'gap year', and though it's a lower paid job and part0-time (four days a week), it is much more enjoyable. My "old" job was a 24/7 IT support role, which frankly I had grown to hate. My "new" job is in quality management, something I was involved in for several years, but I now have the opportunity to build a career, albeit a shorter one, within a large organisation.
Like Kenny I think that it's unrealistic to try and get the some role and the same money, it's unlikely to happen and the story soon becomes "I applied for 500 jobs and never got an interview". I applied for a dozen or so jobs, and was successful, though I was mildly annoyed by the lack of response from so many potential employers, though I found out that this was normal these days.

+10

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Timelord - 6-Apr-11 12:47

I find these personal narratives disturbing and extremely sad when many a talented employees get the pink slips because of age-ism or a move at cost-cutting. These experienced people should form the backbone of any industry but are replaced by the young and relatively inexperienced who in many cases are a liability. Just watch the rate of staff turnover to get your triangulation on the mark.

It's too bad company's Human Resources department fail to see this, the fact being it is staffed by young and untested lackeys who are too comfortable on the recliner to see beyond their nose. Someday, it may have a hell to pay for their folly.

Such heart-wrenching stories affecting young families, and family after family. Unforgivable!

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Sam, the Tiger - 6-Apr-11 12:19

I was looking for a part time job after closing my small car radiator repair business, Lo & behold in the local paper was a vacancy for a van driver with a new GM main dealer. The candidate needed knowledge of local garages etc. I filled in an application form and attended an interview, the interviewer sat doodling on a piece of paper whilst I sat & waited. After a while he picked up my application form and started to read it, still not a word to me, or even a glance. Leaning back in his chair he sneered “you haven’t worked since 1982” I was taken aback at his words & asked for the form back. There was the offending paragraph, “Date left last employer 1982”, I explained that I had bought a news agency in 1982 thus had gone self employed, the rest of the form explained my career since 1982 to date. He had not bothered to read that far, this interview was going nowhere. I walked out informing his secretary that he was an @rsehole, that was my last interview “Physician heal thy self” I hope he reads this.

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The Undeafeated - 6-Apr-11 11:58

Gillybow, agencies jobs are not to find work for the people registered with them, its to fill the jobs of the work given to them from Clients and turn a profit. Agencies wont take in a candidate and find them work, unless they meet the niche they are recruiting for. In the whole that is. Very few agencies will pick up a persons CV and look at transferable skills. I know this as I have been in recruitment for a long time!

-8

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Whistleblower - 6-Apr-11 10:57

I agree with the comments in both the leading article and the additional comments made by others. It is difficult when one is made redundant over the age of 50 as my husband was - and he was aged 63. He, however, has the mindset to take whatever was available and he landed a job within a month of being made redundant - and he changed direction and took on something he hadn't done before. He, like others have mentioned in this article, went off to the Jobcentre to see what was available and he, too, was dismayed at the attitude of the staff there. How did he get his job? He registered with agencies who operate within his field to see what they had available and, as I've already said, although he didn't get back into the employment which he knew, he did land a job. So to those who are prepared to try a change, look to joining an agency as THEIR job is to find employment for those who register with them. If they don't carry out THEIR job they, too, will join the ranks of the unemployed and their company will close. They don't want that to happen so will do their utmost to help anyone registering with them.

-4

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Gillybow - 6-Apr-11 10:44

' taking their career in a new direction'. IF ONLY IT WERE THAT EASY.

I would be interested to know:
a) What you are supposed to live on while you 'learn new skills'?
b) What do you use to pay for the training ?
c) What do you do when you have retrained, and then get told by potential employers that you don't have enough experience to get a job in your 'new career'?
My husband borrowed from family in order to retrain and hopefully find a job in a different sector. He didn't expect to go in 'at the top', but it proved to be impossible to get in at any level without some experience.
The 'new direction' was not anything outrageous or so completely off the wall that it would be obvious beforehand that one would never get a job at the end of it. It also wasn't something that you could offer to volunteer for and work for nothing to get the necessary experience. The trainers merely omitted to mention that the whole area was a closed shop, and he would have had to be ex-armed forces or ex-police to even get a look in. He was consistently told by employers that they would never consider him because he had no experience.
The retraining was simply money wasted, so beware, especially if you don't even have any redundancy money like us. He is now back looking in the area in which he has had 25 years experience - education - where he might as well be 150, and everything IS geared toward the young, down to actually PAYING kids to go to school.
The employers in this sector don't care about experience and actual ability to teach (if you've ever wonder why some kids leave school still unable to read or write), as they can pay a young teacher very much less than a geriatric one. You can't make young people employable, whatever concessionss you heap upon them, if they don't want to learn and are not led by experienced teacher who makes it clear to them that they need certain skills and values in order to get a job.

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Lynseyblue - 6-Apr-11 09:48

You are completely right about the attitude of some over 50's.We all have to adapt. I am over 50 and was made redundant 2 years ago (I worked for the Civil Service). I did not expect to drop into a similar job and set my expectations low-I really don't mind what I do. I feel the mental disadvantages of being unemployed far outweigh having a low paid job.
However there are two aspects that are against you.Firstly the attitude of the Job Centre.Maybe it's just my local one but they were abysmal.I expected they would at least set some interviews up for me,but no.The only interview they set up was for an electric pump operator. It was obvious from my CV that I had no qualifications and no experience but I went to the interview which lasted 2 minutes!
I have applied for about 250 jobs, most of which you receive no reply from.The second problem is therefore the employers.I really think they see the over 50's as being decrepit and of no use.I now write to employers after none reply to ask,under the Freedom of Information Act, if they operate an ageist policy.Strangely most of them reply to this request!
I know have 2 volunteer jobs that keep me occupied for most of the week. Neither are paid but both give a sense of meaning to my life. I would advise anyone who is over 50 and unemployed to try this way.It makes great reading on your CV!!

-10

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defeated - 6-Apr-11 08:48

You are largely right, BUT - if you've been earning e.g. £35K it's highly unlikely that a job at £15K is going to pay your mortgage AND feed your family. One or the other maybe, but not both. Also don't forget that a lot of those 50-ish people are going to be supporting teenagers either at school or at college ! If you really fancy a conundrum, explain why the government wants people to work for longer while most employers don't want anyone to work much past 40.....

NB I've got no axe to grind here, I'm nearly 60 and I've been living on my pension for the last three years. I'd be more than happy with a job at £15k - providing I'm not expected to work as hard as I did when I earned three times as much. Nope, enough to pay the council tax would do me very nicely !

-6

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Gherkindangler - 5-Apr-11 22:17

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