Unemployable At 50 Fate Of Present And Future Workers

[Honeycombe8]

209. Spoken like someone not looking for an office job.

I passed along information mainly from an employment agent, when I brought up the difficulty of getting a job at my age. She spoke for a couple of minutes about it, and had been doing that work for many years and was pretty good at it, apparently. She had some applicants who had not found work yet after being laid off in 2009 and 2010. She said it was NOT because of their ages, directly. She said it was these other things.

It is not superficial for an employer to want to hire someone who can do the job and not miss a lot of work. Being HEALTHY is one way to determine that. Esp with the cost of insurance, employers want to hire people who are optimistic, easy to be around, have a good disposition (take a hint-that means not argumentative when sometimes tries to help), energetic, and HEALTHY.

How you look relates to how healthy you are. How you look relates to which century you live in.

You are dealing with people who are predisposed to hold your age against you. One of the criticisms of older workers is that they aren't computer savvy, tech savvy, haven't moved into this generation. If you LOOK like you're living in 1975, you feed right into that criticism.

If you move slowly and can't get up from a chair without pushing yourself up and groaning....you appear to be old and unhealthy.

The gray hair thing is just a statement of fact: men can get away with it (Anderson Cooper), only some women can get away with it without it making them seem older. I've seen the transformation myself in other women...there is a salt and pepper transition stage, where a woman doesn't seem old in face and body, but the hair transition is pretty awful and looks like someone who doesn't care. If someone doesn't care about her appearance, then she probably doesn't care about her work, it can be interpreted.

If you have a job or don't need a job, and don't care about getting one...you are lucky. You can sit in your bedroom, look in the mirror, and shout how perfect you are to yourself. That's great. However, if you are competing for jobs with younger workers, and recognize that there is age discrimination out there, read the tips passed on by the experts. They know what htey're talking about.

If you show up for an interview at my company in a warmup suit, your salt and pepper hair in a pony tail, sneakers, and look like you stopped by on your way to the grocery store....you might be perfect to your mother, but you won't get a job at my company. Or at most companies. That is how one interviewer was dressed, the agent said. She also stressed that she needed a job with good insurance since she had to get back surgery asap. Needless to say, that person has not gotten a job.

If you dress a certain way for an interview, you recognize that there are rules, and respect, for the company you are interviewing with. And you would. Get off your high horse. You are NOT perfect. No one is. Be aware that there IS age discrimination. Walking in off the street, saying you are so wonderful just as you are, that they should hire you on the spot...won't get you a job.