A lot gets written about how much harder it is to find gainful employment once you’ve got some gray hairs. And it’s true – it’s probably tougher to get work through the want ads when you’re over age 50 or so than it is for younger workers.

Let’s look at what employers may be thinking:
• Is this person going to drive up our health insurance premiums?
• Will health problems cause higher absenteeism or lower productivity?
• Will the older worker be willing to work as much overtime or weekends as the younger worker?
• Will the older worker demand more money than we can afford?
• Will the older worker be able to stay up to date on our technologies? Is he already behind?

It’s true, the older worker faces a number of obstacles when trying to return to the work force. Some of them are due to prejudices and unwarranted fears about older people. And sometimes they are, indeed, grounded in reality – even though there are laws prohibiting age discrimination, older workers do, indeed, cost more in health insurance premiums than younger workers (until they turn 65 and qualify for Medicare). And older workers usually can’t do a 30 year career with the same employer if they’ve already done a 30 year career somewhere else. So employers looking for those kinds of career tracks are going to gravitate toward younger workers.

But let’s turn this around: If you cut your teeth on a Commodore 64 in your 20s, you have a number of advantages, as well – if you use them.
• You have a much more extensive network than younger workers. (You have been building your Rolodex, right?)
• Your contacts tend to be at a higher level of seniority. That translates to more lucrative opportunities for you, if you can hang on.
• You likely earned more at your last job than the youngsters did. Your unemployment benefits are therefore generally higher.
• You have had an opportunity to save more money. This helps buy you time to search.
• You probably have a wider skill set than the younger workers. For example, you may have been exposed to marketing, sales, accounting, project management, legal and compliance issues, multidisciplinary team environments, or working in a broader variety of economic conditions than your younger peers. This is an important value-add that you can bring to nearly any team.
• Soon to turn 65? You will qualify for Medicare. That means you are no longer a burden on your employer’s health care system.
• You can bring emotional maturity to a young workplace. This is a rarity in some circles – and much appreciated by management.
• Interested in sales? You have a much more lucrative natural market for nearly anything you can imagine than a youngster. From financial services to cars, your age is an advantage, because your more affluent natural market translates into more revenue for your employer – and higher commissions for you.

So how you can minimize your disadvantages and accentuate your advantages? Try this:
• Ditch the want-ads. Instead, work your contacts. Meet them in person – for coffee. It’s cheap. Pick up the phone. Or embrace social media. Your advantage is in your contacts. People don’t use want ads to reach very experienced workers.
• Work out, and watch your weight. It is extra important to keep in shape as an older worker.
• Go to smaller companies. As an older worker, you can leverage your contacts to make a bigger dent for a small business’s revenues and opportunities than you can for a large company. You might be a drone in a large company – but a hero to a small one.
• Stay active in your church, synagogue, charitable activities and other community functions. Volunteer for positions of leadership. People will see how well you do in a leadership capacity – and opportunities will come your way.
• Consult. If you’ve been paying attention, and working to improve yourself your whole career, you can start a consulting business for extra money, and to keep your name “in the ring.” Often, the excellent contacts you make while consulting can lead to referrals for other consulting opportunities, as well as full-time job opportunities for you. Or, you may choose to keep consulting full-time.
• Write a book. If you have been focused and you’re a veteran of your field, you may even be able to write the definitive book on you area of expertise, a book or e-book published under your name can help you in two ways:

1.) You can earn money from sales.
2.) You will have established yourself as a subject matter expert in your field. This gives you an ideal ‘jumping off point’ to differentiate yourself during job interviews.

• Work on an advanced degree, if you don’t have one already. A higher number of your peers will have them, now that you’re older. That MBA or masters’ degree in information technology is probably a more important credential now than it was when you were 30, if only because your competition has one. On the other hand, if you don’t have a four year degree, nobody cares much by now what you did as an undergraduate.

Above all, don’t get discouraged. If you have applied yourself diligently thus far, you will find a slot! When times get tough, companies aren’t looking for rookies and people they need to babysit. They want people with current skills, yes. But they want people who can leverage those skills, manage people, and apply a mature approach to problem solving.

That’s you.

Check Vitaver’s CAREERS section, to find a job that suits you!
Or submit your resume to see what we got to offer you.