You never thought this would happen to you, but it has. You’re 50+ in age and find yourself suddenly out of work, struggling to keep your head above water in a job market you no longer recognize, which bears no resemblance to the Greensheets and wanted ads you pored over during your youth. What should be a time for planning for your retirement is now filled with uncertainty, stress and scrambling to recover from your loss.
We understand what a shock this can be. The job market has indeed changed tremendously and will take some adaptation if you want to find success. If you are 50 or over and trying to find work, we dedicate this article for you. Follow these tips to help the process of getting back on your feet go a little more smoothly.
Research Your Prospects
Unfortunately, not all companies are receptive to older workers and seek out only those of younger generations. You don’t want to accidentally wind up in an office culture that’s unwelcoming to you. Look for companies currently experiencing turnover, as they and you will have similar goals—maintaining a long-term position in your field.
Work on Your Resume
This is especially true if it’s been a very long time since you’ve pounded the pavement, so to speak. If you haven’t already been keeping your resume up-to-date, you’ll want to modernize it as soon as possible to help boost your appeal to employers. You’ve racked up all sorts of great experience over the years, after all. Now it’s time to put it to use and show it off! Of course, you’ll have to adapt your resume to suit what today’s employers are looking for.
Focus on your strengths and tailor your resume to the types of positions you’re seeking out. Nailing your resume can be a tough job, even for those who have been immersed in today’s job market more recently. If you find you need a little extra help, you can always turn to a team of the best professional resume writers!
Improve Yourself
If your industry or former company is particularly stagnant, you may not have had to learn or deal with many of the technological requirements you’ll need to know for today’s jobs. Try enrolling in an adult learning course to brush up on your skills if you find yourself being hit with the same skill you lack over and over. This will look great to your prospective employers, as they will know you’re willing to embrace change and can bring this can-do attitude with you into their office.
Simultaneously, you may want to learn more about
LinkedIn profile development and how you can utilize LinkedIn to network efficiently with other people in your field (and your shoes)!
Make no mistake about it: job boards are a thing of the past. In the past, you may have posted your resume on a job board and had a reasonable shot at getting a new job opportunity; however, the way skilled workers find jobs has changed. The vast majority of these boards have become black holes for your executive bio and resume.
Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and, most notably, LinkedIn are beginning to make traditional job boards obsolete. Recently, around 2-4% of people posting resumes on a traditional job board found employment. Individuals employing networking tactics on various social media sites found a career 40-50% of the time.
We’re not mathematicians, but it seems like networking is just a little bit more successful for most seeking employment. If you look at things from a recruiter’s or hiring manager’s standpoint, we can see why. Would you rather hire someone you only know from a piece of paper or an individual who has been personally recommended to you by someone you know and respect?
Your job search doesn’t have to be rocket science. Here are a few more reasons why traditional job boards don’t work:
Companies get hundreds, if not, thousands, of responses to online job board postings. Then they send every resume to a system that reviews and ranks their skills, experience and more. The hiring manager only looks through the top 10-20% of resumes sent in. The vast majority of resumes never even see human eyes when you submit via a job board.
Most of the best jobs never even hit the jobs boards. Many hiring managers have stopped posting on these boards altogether. Companies have started using recruiters and networking to find the right type of talent without having to spend days under hundreds of resumes.
When you submit your executive profile to a job board, you’re not putting your information in front of any decision makers whatsoever. Your resume ends up in front of a lackey whose job is to reject you for any reason. If you want to get in touch with someone who can make a decision, you’re much better off using social media sites and developing your networking skills.
If you get a hiring manager to speak honestly, they prefer to find candidates through LinkedIn more than any other way. LinkedIn is up-to-date and current. Successful employees use LinkedIn to further their career. People with decision-making power know this. That’s why they use the site to find the people they really want to hire before aggressively pursuing the candidate.
Getting Back in the Game?
Are you looking for employment? Ready to dust off the ole’ executive bio and profile? If so, you’ll want to be on the top of your game. It’s a competitive job marketplace out there, it’s important to give yourself an edge whenever you can. Successful job seekers know how to work their network and find the best job.
Why would an expert suggest that being less responsible at work is a good idea? But that is exactly what Dorie Clark, a marketing strategist and professional speaker who teaches at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business says in the Ideas section of Time. Why You Should Be Less Responsible at Work goes against some opinions about making yourself irreplaceable and takes a look at a larger perspective of your career path.
Get The Right Things Done
The main focus of Ms. Clark’s advice is that in order to lead, you have to learn to prioritize what your responsibilities entail. That means figuring out the 20% of your to-do list that yields the 80% of your results. It also means learning to procrastinate strategically by doing something appealing instead of the job you are stuck on — but making your procrastination activity something else on your list of things that need to get done. It also means learning to delegate.
Delegation is not just passing off your work to somebody else. Delegation is a skill that successful CEOs do all the time as they build a team of people who take pride in their contributions. At the other end of the career path, there isn’t much to delegate yet, but you can learn that sometimes saying NO to others is saying YES to yourself.
It’s far too easy to fill our agenda with tasks that look busy but don’t actually give much reward. It’s also too easy to take over all the little responsibilities that others neglect and neglect your own because you are busy doing too much. Learning how to prioritize effectively, to procrastinate strategically, and to delegate appropriately is good advice for all of us.
Ask The Experts: Cover Letter and Resume Transformation
Resume Writing
Recently, I was honored to be among industry experts discussing current trends in resumes and cover letters on a Mashable Biz Chat. Tracy Edouard, Marketing and Communication at Mashable, gives us the highlights of Mashable’s #BizChats Twitter chat on how to transform your resume and cover letter for the better and you can see different professional perspectives on these questions:
- Is it important to have both a cover letter and resume when submitting job applications? Why or why not?
- How can someone truly make their resume stand out from the competition?
- What features are important to showcase on someone’s resume? (GPA, school, skills, etc.)
- What are employers and recruiters looking for in resumes and cover letters?
- What are the biggest cover-letter mistakes professionals are making?
- How important is design when it comes to creating a resume and cover letter?
- What are the top resources available for resume and cover letter support?
- What final tips do you have about creating great resumes and cover letters?
These are all good questions. And the input from the various professionals involved is valuable without a doubt. But do you know what the most striking thing about this Twitter chat is?
There Isn’t An Excuse For An Ineffective Resume & Cover Letter
We have the ability to pull experts from all over the place for a chance to pick their brains. Every expert tweeting is linked to a site with a wealth of information, and there is no reason a job seeker with access to an expert can’t get expert advice. Much of that advice is free, too!
The overwhelming consensus is that you can have an effective resume and cover letter by putting the right effort into it. Sometimes that effort involves doing the research on current trends and revamping it yourself, sometimes it takes a resume critique from a professional to help you see what needs to be done, and sometimes your best investment is in a professional resume service.
The help you need to have a powerful resume and cover letter is out there and you can find it easily, along with a wealth of career advice from experts in your field.
Some of us liked math class, and some of us did not (I am in the latter group). But like it or not, numbers are essential in your career, from resume to retirement and everywhere in between. Job performance numbers are particularly useful for at least three reasons:
- they look good on your resume
- they help with salary negotiations
- and they give you confidence
Performance Numbers Validate Your Resume
When you can state that your work for a past employer resulted in a 15% increase in sales, that is an authoritative statement. It had better be a true statement that you can back up with more information, too! The fact is. illustrating your success with hard numbers always gets a good ROI on your resume because it is specific proof of your worth. Employers looking for a good return on their investment in hiring you will be impressed.
Performance Numbers Bolster Your Salary
When you come into a salary negotiation equipped with the numbers showing your worth, you have a powerful argument for getting a raise or added benefits. You have provided the company with more profit and are worthy of a bigger wage. Again, the numbers need to be backed with additional information so it can be verified if questions come up. If you are due for a salary increase, be prepared to bolster your claims with the numbers to prove it.
Performance Numbers Boost Your Confidence
When you are keeping track of what you do at work and the difference that it makes, there’s a record of your valuable input. Even something as simple as attendance means you were on the job — and if you are tracking all the numbers of your particular job you should see which numbers will be valuable for your resume and salary negotiations. You will also begin to see indications and trends in your personal work habits and opportunities that will help you establish goals.
Keeping track of your own job performance numbers puts you in control of your own career.
Are you one of those people who talk when they are nervous? It’s pretty easy to do — and very damaging to your career if you don’t learn how to control it. That old adage about having two ears and one mouth so you can listen twice as much as you talk is actually good advice for every part of your working world, from the interview to get the job to the moves into management and executive leadership.
The Big Mistake You Can Make
When you sit down for an interview, one of the big questions in the interviewer’s mind is what you will be like to work with. It’s a valid question because most jobs do involve some level of teamwork. So in order to answer the big questions, the way you answer smaller questions is observed. Speaking without listening is a red flag because it indicates that since you don’t listen here, in the job interview, you won’t listen later, on the job.
If you are rehearsing your “hire me” job spiel in your head, waiting for the chance to present it, then you aren’t going to be hearing the questions they ask. You’ll be answering the questions you think they will ask — and that is not the same thing at all.
It is a good preparation tactic to think through questions that may be asked in an interview. But that’s not a script you are rehearsing, and the interview may not involve those questions at all. It’s better to make sure you actually hear what is being asked so you can answer the question.
The Leadership Skill of Listening
One of the reasons that the skill of listening is a mark of leadership is because truly hearing what people are saying gives added perspective to a problem so it can be solved. Listening is a mark of respect for the speaker, and true leaders value those on their team as important contributors. Learning how to listen is part of honing your interview skills, but being able to listen and contribute value to the conversation by being on the same page is a skill you will need all your life.
Many of us need a little help learning the new skills that are a part of today’s workplace. Fortunately, there’s a way to get some of that education for free — the MOOC, or Massive Open Online Course. The challenge is finding the right course for your circumstances, and not being overwhelmed by the task. Many of the top universities offer MOOCs, but just because it’s good content doesn’t mean it’s good for you.
Do Your Research
Take the time to read reviews and carefully consider what your goals are. For instance, the emphasis on internet marketing in every business means that people who keep up on SEO skills are preferable. Look for some reviews, or guides like the 2015 Guide to Free SEO Training Courses Online on Search Engine Watch. The goal is to select one skill to develop in your spare time and deciding which skill you need to prioritize based on your own career goals.
Do Your Homework
Once you have decided to take something like a MOOC, keep at it. Most of the difficulty in online classes is keeping at it. This is why it’s usually good to do one at a time and, if you can talk a friend into taking it with you, you have a study partner and some accountability. You are working on educating yourself for your own satisfaction for the most part, but that is impressive because it shows you are looking for life-long learning opportunities.
People who demonstrate a desire to keep learning, taking the initiative to research the best options for their industry, and keeping at it by getting through something like a massive open online course are impressive. They make an impression on their colleagues because they set a good example. They make an impression on their employer because they demonstrate an ability to stay current with their skill set. And they make an impression in their self-confidence because they are increasing their knowledge and understanding.
If you decide to explore the potential of the MOOC, do your research and select the right one — then do your homework and get it done.
I hope that by now you have a LinkedIn profile because this social media platform is one of the best ways to keep your career viable — if you use it wisely. But once you have completed your profile and started exploring your options, how do you decide what is a good thing to do? And how do you figure out how to do it?
Search Engine Journal has recently given us some good ideas in Kristi Hines’ 10 LinkedIn Tips and Strategies You Need To Know. These are helpful suggestions that may be exactly what you are looking for:
- How to unsubscribe from blog posts — a great help in uncluttering your inbox
- How to quickly change group digest frequency — another de-clutter benefit
- How to see where you rank — it can make a difference
- How to put links on your profile — to your site, your writing, etc.
- How to get LinkedIn Premium features for less — who doesn’t like a bargain?
- How to schedule updates to LinkedIn — and take some of the drudgery out of your life
- How to get LinkedIn testimonials on your website — you do have a website by now, right?
- How to research customers on LinkedIn — or anybody else, like potential employers
- How to target Facebook and Twitter ads to LinkedIn connections — you may not be actually putting out ads, but it is good to know
- How to research competitors on LinkedIn — and see how you stack up
How Is Marketing Like Career Building?
It’s true that Search Engine Journal is not usually a site you’d find career advice on, but the line between marketing and career building is very fuzzy. If you think about it, marketing is just presenting the best of your business to the public in various ways so the people see and respond appropriately. Isn’t career building presenting the best of your skills, knowledge, and experience to get an appropriate response?
In fact, skill marketing is a way to get people thinking about you as a potential asset for new positions. The more you can utilize platforms like LinkedIn to show what you have to offer, the easier it is for people to see what you bring to the table.
You never thought this would happen to you, but it has. You’re 50+ in age and find yourself suddenly out of work, struggling to keep your head above water in a job market you no longer recognize, which bears no resemblance to the Greensheets and wanted ads you pored over during your youth. What should be a time for planning for your retirement is now filled with uncertainty, stress and scrambling to recover from your loss.
