Tag Archives: Age Bias

When Considering an Encore Career

Posted on by Bill Ryan

I recently attended a high school reunion. This was not the typical high school reunion, which is attended only by alumni from your graduating year. I attended a private all-male boarding school in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, which operated from 1926 until 1971, after which time it closed.

So, reunions for this school include any surviving alumni from any year during the time the school was open. This most recent 2023 reunion included alumni ranging from the graduating year of 1948 until 1971.

As you can imagine, nearly all of the attendees are now retired from their careers. But not everyone. As I chatted with a number of alumni I found that among those not fully retired there were two distinct categories of workers.

There were those who continued working at their primary careers, but at a more reduced or dialed-down level, meaning they were not putting in the same amount of time or handling the same degrees of stress as when they were full time employees.

Then there were those who desired to continue working, but at some type of work which was either very different or tangentially related to their former employment. This latter category is sometimes referred to as an encore career.

One of the great benefits of both our current labor force and our prolonged healthy lives relative to previous generations is that we have an option of pursuing an encore career. Establishing one, however, brings a new set of challenges that an older individual needs to be prepared to confront.

Just because you present yourself as an experienced and reliable resource with a long track record of accomplishments does not mean you will automatically be seen as a shoo-in for the new gig. In fact, the case most often seems to be that your age decreases your chances of being accepted. This requires that initiating an encore career be done systematically and attentively.

To begin with do not shy away from being old, but instead embrace it and spin your advanced age as a positive. You have gained a lot of work experience, solved many problems, and built an in-depth skillset.

Emphasizing your general tenacity, dependability, and trustworthiness can go a long way to gaining stakeholder and customer trust, which in many cases is as important or more critical than expertise alone. People who will need your services or who will want to join with you in delivering services want the comfort of someone they can rely on. Gaining that trust early on is crucial.

Another key to attaining trust is to highlight connections between your past successes and what you are promising to deliver in your new role. There will be overlaps in type, quality, or circumstances linking accomplishments previously achieved with intended future benefits you propose to supply.

One way to identify and credibly discuss these junctures is to prepare responses to some of the toughest questions you could get in an interview or from prospective customers during a vetting process. If needed, gain assistance from trusted contacts who can be skilled in playing the skeptic forcing you to justify your claims.

Through rehearsal, anticipate the concerns from others whose trust and support you will need to succeed in your encore career and heighten your authenticity by eliciting how your past performance has prepared you for future challenges.

Also, throughout the longevity of your career you have hopefully cultivated and maintained relationships with work related individuals which span generations. Being able to depend on younger professionals who can vouch for your excellence can go a long way in polishing your new brand.

Show others that you are not just a monument to legacy ways of operating, but that your instincts and inclination are toward continuous learning and improvements with an attitude of welcoming new problems to solve. Demonstrate how you are still passionate about the work you want to do, even at this late stage in life.

 

 

 

Employment Struggles for Older Workers

Posted on by Bill Ryan

It’s happening again. One of the perverse hallmarks of the Great Recession ten years ago was the expulsion of many older workers from the workforce. A significant number of experienced employees found themselves forced into sudden unemployment or premature retirement. Many never fully recovered financially or emotionally and their careers were left scarred and lacking in dignified closure. 

The current Covid-induced recession is again presenting similar employment hardship for mature workers. Since March, the labor market has shed many senior-aged men and women, who possess both high and low skill levels. In other words, this elder layoff is widespread. 

Unfortunately, this is not turning out to be simply a temporary furlough for these workers, but rather a longer-term separation marked by an acceleration of egregious trends. Again, as during the last recession, newly trending labor shifts are weakening older workers’ employment security. 

Previous examples included labor-saving technologies and increased workloads for younger and less expensive staff, which combined to lessen the management need to restore previous personnel levels. Once again, mature employees find their bargaining power diminished when facing dismissal and rehiring. Weak or non-existent unions, the rise of the gig economy, and continued lenient enforcement of age-discrimination laws, not to mention the harmful economic disruption from Covid, leave senior workers feeling increasingly insecure and inadequate. 

The New School’s Retirement Equity Lab studies the factors impacting the quality of retirement, which necessitates an examination of when a retreat from work is chosen or forced. Their assessment of the plight of older workers is sobering. Even for those older workers who have not yet been laid off there is considerable uncertainty about their futures. This cohort more and more knows they are less employable than younger workers. Those over age 55 often realize that if they were to quit their current jobs the chances of transitioning to a job that is comparable or better is doubtful. For many, it becomes prudent to stick with a less than satisfying job, then to risk unemployment. 

Relatively robust earnings have traditionally been an expectation for long-term commitment to a profession and/or an employer. Seems fair, right? However, these days when an older worker is rehired after a job loss hourly wages are typically lower than with the former job. Workers aged 50-61 receive 20% less pay with their new job while workers 62 and older see a decrease of 27%. In addition, once a worker hits their fifties, periods of unemployment after a layoff are longer than for workers aged less than 50. 

The growth in ambiguity and low confidence older workers face add to the weakness of their bargaining power. Employers know in most cases that they have the upper hand with older workers, except for those situations in which the worker possesses a unique or hard to find skill. This is unfortunate. A lifetime of work deserves value and respect. Retirement in the modern era should be a reward for the toil, dedication, and achievement for decades of work, not an imposed isolation or banishment due to the vicissitudes of employment economics. 

As the Retirement Equity Lab points out, policy makers may need to intervene with schemes designed to lessen the hardships for prematurely laid off older workers. For example, employers could offer rainy day or emergency savings plans through payroll deductions, which become available when needed to augment unemployment benefits. Or the federal government could step in with a guaranteed retirement account savings option to supplement what retirees receive from Social Security. Of course, more stringent enforcement of The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 would help immensely. 

Careers for many are a vocation and a calling to develop mastery and contribute to society. For others, work is simply a means to a paycheck. Either way, growing old should not be viewed as a liability or a deficiency to take advantage of. 

Leave No Stones Unturned In Your Job Search Strategy

Posted on by Bill Ryan

Barri Wyman, formerly of Keene, NH is the kind of employee every company would want. She is hard working, loyal to her employer, dedicated to keeping up with the changes in her profession, and consistently driven to bring about a high quality work product. 

However, the Great Recession has not been kind to valued workers like Barri. She, like millions of other Americans, was laid-off and has spent many anxious months trying to find work in an employment market with few jobs, especially for the mature worker. 

Barri recently landed a great job. Although it involved a pay cut, she is pleased that the new position utilizes her years of experience while offering challenges and opportunities for professional growth. I asked Barri to share what she has learned from a long hard job search and below are her thoughts and advice for today’s job seekers. 

Have you heard the expressions, “Leave no stones unturned” and “thinking outside the box”? These suggestions ring true for managing a successful job search!  

Your most critical resource for landing the right job is your network of direct contacts with potential employers and agencies who know your capabilities, your work history, your work ethics and your value as an employee. Grow this network constantly through in-person and online business networking opportunities. Introduce yourself and ask your existing contacts for introductions. To build a network, I recommend attending every function you can manage in person that even remotely connects you to new people. Don’t just go to job fairs. Network heavily in every imaginable way – in person, through LinkedIn and other professional online networks, local chambers of commerce, volunteer work, talking to people you meet when out and about socializing – leave no stones unturned; be creative and use “out of the box” approaches; and be very, very courageous and assertive.   

Always research companies you are following and/or applying to and search for people in your business and/or social network who have direct connections to the company and are willing to be a spokesperson on your behalf. With hundreds of people applying for each position, employers and agencies appreciate recommendations from individuals whose opinions they respect; it’s the most effective filter of the applicants. Otherwise, you are dependent upon your use of the exact buzz words in your resume and cover letter that company is using as an applicant filter, and you still may not make it to the top of the list. 

Your network of contacts should involve a two-way relationship; don’t just “take” – offer your contacts something of value to them in reciprocity. Stay in touch frequently and always thank these people for their support. Hand-written thank-you notes and help with projects continue to be important and take more effort than just a quick email or online thank you message. And always follow up an interview with personal thank you notes to everyone you met. Even if you don’t land the job, they will know you valued their time; they will remember you, and they might lead you to another opportunity. 

“Leave no stones unturned” in your job search resources; follow specific companies and apply directly through their websites; check public and unemployment job boards for opportunities, then start following those companies that post jobs, and apply direct if you can; ask for referrals from your business connections; and, seriously consider working with agencies for temp-to-hire or temp jobs that can also lead to full hire and/or new business connections. Spend at least six hours daily Monday through Friday pursuing all these resources and keep track of what you’ve done so you can keep checking in until you land a job you like.  

Create and maintain a list of your skills, experience and accomplishments with real “stories” that support your claims. When preparing for an interview, fine tune a copy of the document to fit the job you are interviewing for and review it to have the information fresh in your mind. There’s no worse feeling than drawing a blank when asked a question! 

The job search, especially if you are unemployed, is a bit nerve wracking, but it is also a tremendous learning opportunity in many ways and opens new insights and connects you to people you might never have encountered otherwise. 

Rethinking Career for Mature Workers

Posted on by Bill Ryan

In general, we think that getting old has many more downsides than upsides. What with declining health, reduced relevance, and being closer to death perhaps among the most egregious. And as has been noted many times in the past few years, the rapid and widespread ejection of many older workers from the workforce has left many feeling depressed and inconsequential at what they feel is a premature conclusion to their careers. 

Aging and career do not have to be oil and water. Rather, let us view the career of the mature worker as needing serious reform as they look toward a future in which work can still be engaging, satisfying, and lucrative. Fortunately, one of the great advantages of aging is a growing realization to make one’s remaining years count more than ever before. This can be a powerful motivator to approach life and career with renewed vigor. 

A process to reestablish a derailed career later in life begins by accepting that the old rules for finding work do not apply much anymore. Being overly reliant on searching for job postings that may be a fit can waste too much time. Instead, direct yourself toward conducting a thorough self-assessment. Identify all those traits, skills, qualifications, and most importantly experiences, which when combined define you as an asset. Leave nothing out of this list. If needed, query those who know you well to see how they perceive you. 

At this point reflect on this rich attribute inventory with the goal of selecting what Dick Bolles, the author of the perennial What Color Is Your Parachute, elegantly calls your favorite skills and your favorite experiences. This is when a cognitive exercise becomes emotional in nature. By recognizing the most energizing of what you have done and can still do, you appreciate what is possible in your future work. 

Making the most of your remaining work years is made possible by acting on your strengths. We do not have to accept a bitter end to our working years. Alternatively, we can construct a career made meaningful by capitalizing on the best of what we have to offer. But a significant part of doing so involves remembering those changed rules I mentioned earlier. There is a good chance the best of you may not fit neatly into a single job for which an employer will compensate you. 

Multiple income streams result from orchestrating a variety of work lines that together make up your favorite performance characteristics. Investigating and implementing various means of monetizing your sweet spots can lead to a satisfying hybrid career. 

There are some things to keep in mind about patching together multiple income streams. For example, you need to remain quite flexible in dovetailing your diversified ventures. Determining what can be scaled up and down due to parameters of time, money, and energy will place you in the role of being your own career choreographer.  

Achieving a degree of sustainability with each stream may take time but think how rewarding it will be when you get there. Having this new career be enjoyable is what it is all about. This life puts a new twist into the notion of being your own boss. 

I started this reframing of career for the mature worker by suggesting a self-assessment. There is no better time to reflect on where you have been and how far you have come, than near the end of your “productive” years. Now is the time to give yourself permission to approach life with a different flavor and approach than has been done before. Allow yourself to feel free, mix it up, and experiment. Benefit from all you have accomplished. Exhilarate at being at the top of your game. 

The Continued Growth of the Independent Worker

Posted on by Bill Ryan

Among the workforce phenomena already underway prior to the recession, but which has picked up pace since, is the increasing role of independent workers. These soloists are typically defined as part- or full-time workers who do not violate the employee-defining guidelines set by various state labor, revenue, and employment security departments. 

They are called by a variety of names, such as independent contractors, consultants, freelancers, self-employed, temporary, on-call workers, and even solopreneurs. Whatever you call them, their ranks are growing. 

In September, MBO Partners, a service provider for independent workers and companies that hire them, released their second annual “State of Independence in America” survey. What they found was that the trend toward project or portfolio work was increasing across all demographic cohorts of today’s workforce. Conditions appear to be coalescing that allow for growth in this non-traditional employment sector. 

My own speculation is that the combination of more workers accepting, perhaps begrudgingly, the new normal of an uncertain economic environment both domestically and globally, in combination with affordable technology improvements, is allowing for expansion of independent contracting. 

Time will tell if independent contracting is a sustainable, non-cyclical, and viable career option. However, this survey reveals some interesting points of transition within a population historically used to finding economic security by way of a single employer. Nearly 17 million workers operate as independents currently, up one million from last year. Projections are that 23 million will be their own boss in five years. 

The number of independents who claim satisfaction and reduced anxiety with this career choice is also growing. Many in fact intend to hire employees as resources allow, suggesting that independent contracting may be a gateway to larger entrepreneurial ventures. 

The GenXers, those aged 33 to 49, seem to embrace this concept the most out of the demographic groups measured. Given their relative vitality coupled with some years of actual work experience they are more open to taking control of their career and lifestyle destinies, certainly more so than their employer-loyal parents. 

Perhaps somewhat counter intuitively, the Gen Y (aged 21–32) workers appear to have a more mixed view of independent working, at least for now. The difficulty they have been facing in recent years entering the workforce and gaining valuable work experience may be skewing their attitude. After all, independence may not be a choice for them, but simply their school-of-hard-knocks reality. 

Many Boomers (aged 50–66) on the other hand have their own reasons for resisting migration to this level of work autonomy. In short, they were not brought up this way. Rather, dedication to an employer who in turn provided economic security has been their norm. But increasingly this generation too is seeing the benefits of more self-reliance and determination as evidenced in the survey. Increased flexibility, less workplace politics, more control over scheduling, and greater opportunities to practice their individual skillsets on their terms is being seen as attractive. 

I see significant advantages for our collective careers in encouraging individual economic independence. Although it may never, and perhaps should not ever, entirely replace the traditional employer-employee relationship there is nevertheless value in workers adopting a more flexible and adaptable economic position within the general workforce. 

Maybe we could start preparing our youth by insisting that our schools replace some of their course load, which is of marginal importance for the mainstream, like algebra and medieval history, with financial literacy and entrepreneurism.  

And Boomers, accept it. You are being ejected from the traditional workforce sooner than you expected. Your choice is becoming the pasture or carving a niche that matters to the marketplace. 

Change is only going to become more exponential, not less. Preparing yourself for independent contracting may be the best way to position your career for it. 

Expertise Drives the Future of Employment

Posted on by Bill Ryan

Everybody wants a job. You want to go out, get hired by somebody, perform some pre-determined tasks, get paid, and go home. Simple, right? It’s the way it has always been. 

But hold on a moment. The news is that working at a job will not be the same for much longer. The nature of the job is undergoing a radical shift as we become more of a knowledge-based economy. We are being told those who do not keep up with how employment is changing will be at a disadvantage in the employment marketplace going forward. 

Because American workers are having to engage much more directly with global competitors, companies are required to shift the way they structure operations and employees are being forced to face a new definition of what being successful means. 

The knowledge-based organization and its talent force must be more agile to meet growing business demands. They need to learn fast, communicate clearly, and adapt to change. The old method of presenting a long list of past experiences on your resume as evidence that you have current value is giving way to demonstrating that you have just-in-time needed expertise that can be applied from day one. 

It is expertise more than experience that separates the future oriented worker from the old-fashioned one. If you can link your past experiences to applicable expertise that is desired now, then great. You are ready to move forward. But if you think that just having a long history of meeting the same type of responsibilities in a similar manner over time is going to separate you from the pack, then think again. 

Legacy skills are taking a back seat to modernized specialized skills. Preparing for a world that honors creative and deep specializations expressed within cross-functional teams, which are not limited by borders and silos, is the future for the successful worker. 

Becoming specialized is not anything new, but it is becoming increasingly important. Traditionally we have looked at our interests and early skills, matched them up with a pre-existing list of career options, and made a choice about what we would do for work.  

But increasingly it is too hard to fix a list of stable careers. Technology is generating new specialties both directly and indirectly all the time. From mobile branding experts to global collaboration facilitators, the brave new world is characterized by more speed, more innovation, and greater challenges requiring novel solutions. This can also mean blending your skills into new and valuable hybrids that reflect both your interests and what sells. 

Refining a set of skills, collecting quantifiable and qualitative data as evidence of proficiency, and continuously scanning the employment horizon for companies coveting your expertise is the strategy to best position yourself for opportunity. 

This strategy is helped enormously by logging your accomplishments. Each professional should have a portfolio or running record of their achievements, summarized in a resume, telling the story of how expertise has and is developing. There is a big difference between telling what your expertise is and presenting confirmation of what it is. 

Much is said about the importance of well-functioning teams in the workplace and with good reason. Shared and collaborative expertise enhances the strength and competitiveness of organizations. Merging common and related spheres of expertise not only benefits companies, but each of the internal players as well. Organizations that encourage continuous learning, demonstrate a culture of agility, and hire innate potential over raw experience increase their chances of attracting and retaining a high level of expertise in their workforce. 

So, instead of everybody wanting a job we may soon see everybody wanting a project requiring their specialty. Adjusting your perspective now on what a job means will help your upcoming employment prospects. 

Confronting Age Discrimination in the Workplace

Posted on by Bill Ryan

By now it is conventional wisdom that age discrimination against hiring workers 50+ years of age has become excessive in recent years. Examples are becoming too numerous to count. 

Here is one. I just heard from a client the other day about a directive he had heard about from a friend which was given where the friend works and was issued by an HR manager that went something like, “Give me all the names of employees over the age of 50.” The inference was clear. They were being targeted for something. Tell me. What do you think it was for? A bonus for loyalty, hard work, and willingness to slog for long hours? I doubt it. It sounds as if they were being rounded up like cattle to be sent to the slaughterhouse. 

The conversation about what to do for this cohort of clients is generating chatter among career counselors and coaches for good reason. We are finding that a lot of clients are experiencing age bias and want to know what to do about it. Some of the advice I hear and read being shared is of the obvious type, such as do not list a work history longer than 15 years and do not put any graduation dates on your resume. I have to say, no matter who it is, I do not like putting any year that begins with the number “19” on a resume anymore. 

Other advice that I like has to do with how the mature worker presents him or herself. Show energy and a positive attitude. Keep your body looking decent by controlling weight, taking care of yellow teeth, and retaining the healthy look that comes from not eating poorly and drinking too much. Have a professional photographer take the picture that is placed on your online profiles, so the vigor and glow show through. 

Some parts of aging you cannot control. Employers seem to fear higher health care costs, because of the relatively advanced age, for example. But of the things you can control as you mature with your career you should. Keep a portfolio or log of achievements, particularly those of the past 10–15 years. Be able to demonstrate that you have made solid contributions that matter to employers now and are likely to be valued for the foreseeable future. 

Never stop building your intellectual and social capital within your profession. Be able to show that you are on top of current trends and best practices. Have well-founded opinions about the future of your industry. Know what are the issues, challenges, and likely solutions that will face your profession in the coming years. In other words, stay relevant. And keep building and cultivating those professional relationships, keeping you in the game. Participate in discussions and presentations that continuously give the impression that you are engaged. 

A workplace characteristic that is highly valued now and will be going forward has to do with the skill employees can show in collaborative teamwork that is not limited by arbitrary boundaries and which breaks down silos. Flatter organizations are less departmental and more creative in the way experts interact. 

Although evolving organizational structures may be new, try hard to resist the temptation to think they are bad. Get with the program. One of the great raps against the older worker is their resistance to change. Rather, you should dive into these innovative ways of communicating and sharing to show that you not only embrace inventive ways of working, but that you can also bring a perspective to the conversation and strategic planning discussions which others may not be able to. 

No doubt about it — it is tough out there and likely to remain so for the older worker. If you are one who does not want to retire earlier than you thought you were going to, then combat this trend with some steps that will keep you active and connected for years to come.