Job Search Made Easy for Mature Seekers With Career Tips

Challenges faced by mature job seekers. 5 effective job strategies

The fear of age discrimination can make mature jobseekers to distantiate themselves from the job market or adopt a defeated attitude due to their age.

Job searching is a tough process which brings a series of challenges that can be due to a number of reasons including: age discrimination, managers preferring to hire juniors and not someone older than them; flexibility – requiring to work more hours, traveling often, or adapting to organizational challenges.

Jobseekers age 50 or older face numerous barriers to employment. Some are indeed, related to their age, as employers generally do not hire older aged job seekers into traineeships, but also to: compensation – as they have higher salary expectations, or technology – lacking digital skills compared to Millennials / Generation Y.

Additionally, jobseekers may face cultural and emotional challenges such as: feeling overqualified as if their experience is getting wasted; fears and frustration as they get very few phone interviews or there are very few jobs in their industry or profession; skills needed to be updated in certain circumstances, inability to market, identify or transfer skills, or growing pressures from the family including: lifestyle, children’s education, etc.

Consequently, many mature jobseekers are often left very discouraged and tend to adopt the “No one will employ me – I’m too old” outlook, resulting in lack of confidence and motivation to explore alternative job opportunities.

Enhancing employment for mature job seekers

5 Tips for mature job seekers:

It is an issue today because employers seem to be focusing more on age in selecting candidates. Many employers are concerned that the older worker will have less energy and be less productive and efficient than younger employees. However, the truth is that older workers often may be more efficient. These are 5 significant tips to overcome the obstacles in job search and deal with this potential bias

1. Rebrand your marketing campaign: Fine-tune your CV, optimize your social media profiles and build strategically your network in your profession and industry.
2. Seek a cultural fit and show enthusiasm for the job. First, identify companies that hire and value mature and experienced professionals. Second, do some company research before the interview. Mentally prepare for a younger interviewer. Focus on connecting with the interviewer, don’t refer to your age – either positively or negatively. Prepare some good questions about the job and the company. This will show interest, and interest translates into energy.
3. Technology – Include your IT skills and knowledge of software programs in your CV. be aware of the software used in your job. Express confidence in your ability to use technology and learn fast to become technically savvy. Follow-up the interview with a thank you email.
4. Prepare your Smart Stories Use your experiences to demonstrate important skills that are required by the role. Be brief and include key aspects such as: 1. a specific situation / challenge, 2. your action to it 3. The business results. Practice your stories and eliminate anything that is not on point.
5. Adaptability: Avoid being overly confident in the role without recognizing that there are opportunities to develop your skills and grow your global mindset.  Employers can be concerned that a mature candidate, who may be overqualified for a role, will not adapt to the new environment.  Show that you are open to new ideas and that your experience has proven to you that there is always space for improvement.  If you have started new activities or you are enrolled to a new course, try to mention it into the interview.  This will show your interest in continuous development.

 

Adelina Stefan – Career Coach, Intercultural Facilitator & Executive Consultant

Adelina is a licensed Career Coach and Intercultural Facilitator specialized in the areas of International Human Resource Management and Intercultural Communication. She helps expats professionals achieve clarity in their career goals, enabling them to increase their self- and intercultural awareness and formulate their unique career blueprint. Her strengths lie in creative problem-solving focusing on innovative ideas and processes that help build cultural intelligence and improve connections across the globe.

Adelina is committed to helping people improving their performance and pursuing their passions, by taking charge of their career, establishing a growth and agile mindset, and articulating their professional value proposition. Having a vast expertise in recruitment, selection and training and development, her core areas of work are: CV tuning, LinkedIn optimization and networking, executive search, interview (simulation) coaching, and intercultural training for expats’ adaptation into the host culture.

Adelina is a dual citizen of Greece and Romania, and lives in Zürich, Switzerland for the last five years. Holding a Master Degree in Sociolinguistics and Intercultural Communication, she also specializes in translations and interpreting, being fluent in English, Greek, Romanian, and German.
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