Finding Work When You’re No Spring Chicken

There are obstacles, but here are ways around them.

Photo by Unsplash+ in collaboration with Getty Images

When it comes to employment for older adults, two competing forces are crashing against each other.

On the one hand, millions of older adults want to “unretire” and rejoin the workforce. Often money is the motivator – they haven’t saved enough for retirement, or they fear  inflation is eroding what savings they have. Others reentering the job market have tried retirement and found it boring. They miss both the camaraderie of co-workers and a compelling reason to get out of bed.

On the other hand, when older adults return to the job market, they hit the other force – age discrimination – like a brick wall. While some companies welcome older workers, many more enforce personnel policies that push older workers out the door, forcing them to retire sooner than they had intended. Even though it’s widely understood that experienced workers can be valuable assets, both the unretired and the forcibly retired find it hard to break through archaic ageist traditions.

Hard, but not impossible. If you want to work, there are ways. You just have to be smarter about it. Although online advice abounds, half of it seems to be composed by artificial intelligence and all of it should be taken with 100 grains of salt.

Fortunately for you, I am a highly experienced job seeker – by my count, I was hired for nine different positions over the years (and turned down for dozens more) – so I am eminently qualified to help you separate the wheat from the chaff.

Herewith, my distillation of the most sensible suggestions:

Work your network.

This is always #1. Just as you’re more likely to select a dentist, a plumber, or a broker based on a recommendation from someone you trust, the same is true of employers. The surest way to get hired is for someone you know on the inside to put in a good word on your behalf. And since you never know who might know whom, tell everyone you know that you are looking for work, and what kind of work you’re looking for. Not just your business contacts, either. Speak to family members, friends, members of your church, strangers on the street. The wider the net you cast, the more prospective fish you might harvest.

Check the ads.

Compared to referrals from friends, answering ads is like going on blind dates. Still, ads tell you who’s hiring. Newspapers (remember newspapers?) still carry some help wanted ads,  I suppose, but now the most active job boards are social media sites such as  LinkedIn, Indeed, Idealist, and a host of others. Note that these sites post recruitment ads for all ages. For employers who are open to older workers, try one or more online job boards specifically for older adults, including AARP, RetirementJobs.com, Rent a Grandma, FlexJobs, RetiredBrains, Seniors4Hire, and Workforce50.

You can get a rundown on these sites and a few others here and here.

In addition, most states post jobs with state government, and some cities have employment centers for residents.

One other place to consider is the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP), which works with low-income, unemployed adults age 55 and older. Those who meet the program guidelines are matched with part-time positions where they can build skills and confidence while earning money. Most participants leverage their SCSEP experience into a permanent job.

Fly Under the Radar.

Many companies use software to screen applicants, which translates to eliminating  as many candidates as possible from the start. To get past the screens, make sure your resume includes no dates that give away your age. Instead of “22 years of experience,” write “more than 10 years.” Don’t list jobs you held more than 15 years ago – that’s ancient history. Also don’t declare your skills on software that is now considered an anachronism, such as Word Perfect. If your email account is still at AOL, consider getting a Google or Yahoo email address instead.

Update Your Resume.

Back when I was a pup, the standard resume format was chronological. You listed positions you had held in reverse order, with the most current first. No format could be worse for older adults, because this reveals just how chronologically gifted you are. That’s not what you want to highlight. Fortunately, other formats allow you to showcase your skills and experience in a favorable light.

A functional resume emphasizes skills and strengths that will be important to employers. It gives you the opportunity to highlight skills that are transferable from one field to another. It’s also useful if you demonstrated your skills in volunteer work or coursework. A third format, the combination resume, takes the best of both – it shows off your employment record and lays out your transferable skills.

Best practice is to tailor each resume to the position you seek. And while a plain, typed resume is okay, there are dozens of attractive, free templates online that you can use to dress it up.

Consider Temp Work.

When employers need to fill a vacancy immediately, they often turn to the temporary staffing agencies. Temping is one way to keep income flowing your way while you wait for something permanent. Also, it is not unheard of for a temporary worker to be such a good fit that an employer hires them for a full-time position.

Prepare for Interviews.

Don’t be surprised if your initial interview is virtual. To prepare, find out what platform (Zoom, for example) the employer uses, and get comfortable with it before the interview. Make sure your camera is positioned correctly and your audio is working.

You never know what questions may come up in the interview, and you can’t prepare for everything, but it wouldn’t hurt to have practiced answers to these reliable old chestnuts:

• Why do you want to work here?

• What’s your biggest weakness?

• What’s your long-term goal?

• Why are you looking for a job now?

• Why should we hire you?

Accentuate Your Adaptability.

There’s a good chance that what you did early in your career is now obsolete. So you need to make the case that the skills you honed then can be applied to the work of today. The more you know about what the job entails, the better you can give examples of how your skills apply to necessary tasks.

You may also want to check these sources for additional tips on job-hunting strategies and interviewing technique.

The bottom line is that you must put in the work to find work. But it’s there, and the forces of age discrimination against older adults seem to be making a slow retreat. Hang in there, and happy hunting.