Someone told me she couldn’t complete the CWW Survey because none of the categories fit her situation. She wants to retire, but can’t. I wondered about her continuing to work at 70. Then, a New York Times article[1] got me thinking, what if that were me and what would I do?
Unemployment is down to 7.6%[2], but we’ve all heard of the stiff competition of looking for a job, figuring out what companies are looking for and matching your experience to meet their requirements. But I am thinking about older people who are unemployed and looking for a job, but maybe not fitting the requirements just so.
It takes longer for older workers to bounce back to being employed even as they are responsible, mature, experienced and skilled. Unfortunately, these same attributes can count against them because they are older.
Anna Quindlen quoted Dan Gilbert, a Harvard professor who has said that, “one of the most traumatic experiences in the span of human life is unemployment”. Further, Ms. Quindlen states[3], “For every person who continues to work, there is another forced back into a workplace he thought he had earned the right to leave…For every person who believes she’s gotten a chance at a third act, there is one who feels cast aside.”
Some older workers are pre-baby boomer age (49 - 67)[4] and remember harder times than before the words, baby boomer became a catch-phrase. They come from diverse backgrounds steeped in the strong work ethics of giving a good day’s work, get a good day’s pay, take care of your family, pay your bills and save for the future.
Many boomer and pre-boomers are being edged out of companies that have outgrown them. An older person competing with young college grads for entry-level jobs is a peculiar and confusing dynamic. Yet, it is also a very real one.
CWW is dedicated to extolling the disciplines of having a strong resume, supportive mentoring squads, networking from the inside out, but those would be cookie-cutter solutions for seasoned older workers, who at some point in their careers have probably used every CWW discipline, tip and advice to promote, grow and enhance their careers.
The obstacles for older workers of finding employment may include a mindset of whether they are ready to retire. Many become unemployed before they can retire and before they legally qualify for Social Security. They end up having to bridge the financial gap of a few years in the meantime. If they are reinventing themselves, they have to figure out how to fit into a shape-shifter marketplace and if a job will be satisfying and long-lasting-enough. Creating the turnaround point to where they have fully decided who they are going to be is as much challenging for seasoned workers as well as new graduates.
At CWW, we feel a real kinship with job seekers and career changers. Senior workers fit both descriptions as job seekers and career changers because future working years on the way to retirement may indeed be the most difficult they have ever experienced.
I am pleased to say that in the CWW Survey, participants can now write in their own descriptions to describe their personal situations. And it may very well be the case for older workers when reinventing themselves – they may need to write their own reinvention tickets to new employment, as in “Let what you know take you where you have to go”.
We are sending special gratitude and wishes of longevity that the individual who inspired this article continue to have a job for as long as she wants, but that she soon find a way to ease into retirement before she absolutely has to.
Wishing you “CWW Career-Wise Ways…!” in all that you do!!
SJ
Unemployed and Older, and Facing a Jobless Future, NYTimes.com, 7/27/2013, Business Day, Your Mone
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake,. Random House, 2012
BabyBoomers.com