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#Leadership : #RecruitingTalent -Why #OlderWorkers are the Economy’s Hidden Asset. #AgeDiscrimination is real, and a #JobLoss around age 60 can Force #EarlyRetirement.

February 23, 2019/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

The association of old age with inevitable decline runs deep. To carry on with work–or indeed with anything more demanding than afternoon lectures, a movie, and an early dinner–during the traditional retirement years seems cute at best and depressing at worst.

Economist John Kenneth Galbraith called these common reactions–surprise laced with condescending admiration or misplaced concern–the “Still Syndrome.” It’s the “young” asking questions like, ‘Are you still well?’ ‘Are you still working?’ ‘I see that you are still taking exercise.’ ‘Still having a drink?’ As a compulsive writer, I am subject to my own special assault, ‘I see you are still writing.’ ‘Your writing still seems pretty good to me.’ The most dramatic general expression came from a friend I hadn’t seen for some years: ‘I can hardly believe you’re still alive!’”

No one would think “decline” on meeting Luanne Mullin, age 71. Mullin has assembled a portfolio of activities in recent years, some paying gigs and others volunteer jobs. “Life is full,” she says, laughing. That’s an understatement. Among her jobs with incomes are project manager for a nonprofit organization in Marin County, California, that focuses on older adults and the disabled; her own coaching business and workshops; and acting gigs in the backgrounds of television and movies. Mullin has a portfolio of volunteer ventures, too. She’s a volunteer leader for the mature student organization at the College of Marin, focusing on lifelong learning. She helps produce a local documentary film series. She organizes salons bringing people together to discuss critical topics.

Mullin has plenty of company in her entrepreneurial quest. The demographics of aging ranks as one of the most significant long-term forces shaping the U.S. economy and society, alongside globalization, automation, and climate change. The numbers are striking. The U.S. Census Bureau forecasts that those individuals 65 years and older will account for more than 21 percent of the U.S. population–about 73 million–in 2030. Older Americans are also living longer, on average. Life expectancy for people reaching age 65 now averages 19.4 years. That’s up from 13.9 years in 1950.

OLDER WORKERS ARE STARTING MORE BUSINESSES

Older Americans are showing plenty of zest for life at work and at home. They aren’t doddering life away as antiquated stereotypes, and tasteless jokes suggest. The swelling numbers of Americans age 50 and older and their experiments in rethinking and reimagining the second half of life will have a profound impact on everyday life in America.

“In coming decades, many forces will shape our economy and our society, but in all likelihood, no single factor will have as pervasive an effect as the aging of our population,” said Ben Bernanke in a speech when he was still chair of the Federal Reserve Board. For instance, the future trajectory of housing markets, public transportation networks, and urban design will be shaped by growing numbers of mature adults. The global age-friendly city initiative is encouraging many urban communities to accommodate an aging population. Well-connected transportation networks of public transit, ride-sharing apps, and on-demand vans can ease trips among modern elders to work, the grocery store, restaurants, yoga studios, and medical appointments.

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An impressive body of scholarly research suggests that, given the opportunity, people in the second half of life can be as creative, innovative, and entrepreneurial as their younger peers, if not more so. Experienced adults are experimenting with different ways to stay attached to the economy, including self-employment, entrepreneurship, full-time jobs, part-time work, flexible employment, and encore careers. Here’s one indication of the embrace of work: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 1995 and 2016, the share of men ages 65 to 69 in the labor force rose from 28 percent to 38 percent. The comparable figures for women were 18 percent and 30 percent.

Here’s another critical number with a similar message: The 55-to-64-year-old age cohort accounted for 25.5 percent of new entrepreneurs in 2016, up from 14.8 percent in 1996, according to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the unincorporated and incorporated self-employment rate among workers age 65 and older was the highest of any age group. The 65-plus rate of self-employment was more than triple the unincorporated rate and five times the incorporated rate of the 25-to-34-year-old age group. Put it this way: The 50-plus population will start more businesses in the years ahead than any other demographic.

WHAT OLDER WORKERS CAN BRING TO THE WORKFORCE

Here is a big, grassroots idea that is already making its presence felt: Experienced workers and 50-plus entrepreneurs rethinking and reimagining the second half of life. A new era of broad-based prosperity is within our grasp. Older adults are in the vanguard of inclusiveness by breaking down barriers to staying employed. The fight for purpose and a paycheck is a battle for respect and recognition.

“Perhaps the greatest opportunity of the twenty-first century is to envision and create a society that nurtures longer lives not only for the sake of the older generation, but also for the benefit of all age groups–what I call the Third Demographic Dividend,” writes Linda Fried, dean of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. “To get there requires a collective grand act of imagination to create a vision for the potential of longer lives.” Fried is spot on.

Older adults are already exercising their imagination as productive workers and motivated volunteers and engaged entrepreneurs. They’re battling against age discrimination, taking actions to remove pernicious stereotypes holding down experienced workers. Older Americans represent an enormous market for goods, services, and experiences. Many of those products and services will be built and designed by older adults with a flair for understanding the 50-plus market. The widely touted innovative benefits of employing a diverse workforce include tapping into the insights of older workers.

Several factors are coming together and reinforcing one another, bringing new ideas and different expectations about the second half of life from society’s fringes to the mainstream. Boomers are better educated than previous generations. They’re also healthier, with a sixty-five-year-old today having the same risk of mortality or serious illness as those in their mid-50s a generation ago.

The most under-appreciated aspect of work may well be that it’s a social activity. Colleagues care if you show up. Work offers the possibility of creativity and purpose, a reason to get up in the morning, an opportunity to tap into skills and knowledge developed over the years. Work helps people stay physically fit and mentally active. Social connections are one of the best contributors to meaningful longevity and, for many older adults, the community in which they spend the most time is the workplace. Employers are finally looking at experienced workers with greater appreciation.

A big reason behind the change in employer attitudes is the relatively tight labor market of recent years. Employers continuously complain they can’t find the qualified labor they need. I’ve never found the lament particularly convincing. It seems many experienced workers could do the job, given the chance and perhaps with some training. But executives seemed blind to the opportunity experienced workers offered–until now. Management teams are finally learning they can’t afford to ignore experience.

Age discrimination is real, and a job loss around age 60 can force early retirement. The business cycle hasn’t been tamed, and more recessions lie in our future. The timing of the next downturn is uncertain. But it’s a safe bet that the unemployment rate will climb higher at some point, including for experienced workers in the second half of life.

That said, there is no going back. America has passed a significant inflection point when it comes to experienced workers and mature entrepreneurs creating a more welcoming economy and labor market. Experienced workers are no longer obsolete. They’re a valuable asset–productive and creative–with older entrepreneurs in the vanguard.

This article is adapted from Purpose and a Paycheck: Finding Meaning, Money, and Happiness in the Second Half of Life by Chris Farrell. It is reprinted with permission from HarperCollins Leadership.

FastCompany.com | February 23, 2019 | BY CHRIS FARRELL 6 MINUTE READ

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#CareerAdvice : #ResumeWriting – 13 Tips to Age-Proof Your Resume … Great REad!

January 31, 2019/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

As such, it is imperative that this community is competitive when facing off against younger workers. The first step in landing an in-demand job is crafting an eye-catching resume.

“The resume continues to be a crucial tool every savvy job seeker needs,” says resume writer and career advice expert for TopResume. “Older workers are often confronted with many stereotypes in the workplace, from being unable to keep up with technology, to being too rigid in their ways.

While not all stereotypes can be completely overcome within the confines of a resume, there are ways to draw the focus away from a candidate’s age and place it where it belongs: on the candidate’s qualifications.”

Here are AARPs top tips for age-proofing your resume. Grab a pen and paper, you’ll want to take notes.

Tip #1. Focus on your recent experience.

The further along you are in your career, the less relevant your earlier work experience becomes. Employers care most about your recent work that matters for the roles they’re filling, not your experience from 15 or more years ago. As a result, give more detail about the positions you’ve held in the past 10–15 years that are related to your current job search and say less about your earliest jobs.

“Focus on elaborating on your most recent positions, assuming they support your current goals. Ask yourself the following questions,” says Augustine:

Did I identify ways to make operations run better, faster, cheaper, or safer?
Did I help reduce costs, grow revenue, or increase productivity?
How else could I quantify my work? How many people did I manage or supervise? Approximately how many accounts did I have? How big was my budget or territory?

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Tip #2. Eliminate older dates.

Remove the dates related to work experience, education, and certifications if they fall outside the 15-year window. While you may want to consolidate older work experience in a separate section or a “Career Note,” including the dates of employment is unnecessary. Similarly, it’s important to share your credentials on your resume, but the employer doesn’t need to know you earned your MBA 17 years ago.

Tip #3. Limit your resume to two pages.

The straight-no-chaser reality is “employers truly don’t want to weed through a long resume document to understand why a candidate is qualified for their open position,” says Augustine. Therefore, you’ve got to stick to two pages.

Most recruiters spend less than 10 seconds reviewing a resume before deciding if the candidate should receive further consideration. With so little time to make the right impression, it’s important to streamline your resume to two pages. Focus on using this space to highlight your recent work experience and accomplishments that best match your current career goals.

Tip #4. Avoid the “jack-of-all-trades” approach.

Although you may have held numerous roles throughout your career, your resume shouldn’t be a laundry list of everything you have done. Focus on tailoring your resume’s content to support your current career objective, rather than providing a generalized summary of your entire work history.

“When you’ve worn many hats over the course of a multi-decade career, it can be tempting to include all of this information on your resume,” says Augustine. “However, when you do that, your resume turns into a mini novel (which recruiters hate) and your document will lack focus.”

Tip #5. Optimize your resume with keywords.

Seventy-five percent of all online applications will never be seen by human eyes thanks to the hiring bots, which are software programs known as an applicant tracking system (ATS). Their job is to collect, scan, and rank an employer’s inbound applications. To improve your resume’s chances of making it past this digital gatekeeper and on to a human for review, make sure your document includes the appropriate keywords. If a word or phrase repeatedly shows up in the job listings you’re interested in, incorporate these terms into your resume.

Remember, says Augustine, “if a candidate’s resume isn’t designed and written with these bots in mind, even the resume of a qualified candidate could end up in the trash.”

Tip #6. Upgrade your email address.

Older workers sometimes are seen as lacking technical savvy. Don’t give employers a reason to believe you might fit this stereotype. Ditch your old AOL or Hotmail email account for a free, professional-looking Gmail address that incorporates your name.

Tip #7. List your mobile phone number.

If you’re still listing your landline on your resume, it’s time to mobilize your contact information. Only list your cell phone number on your resume so you can control the voicemail message, who answers important phone calls from recruiters, and when.

Tip #8. Join the LinkedIn bandwagon.

LinkedIn is a valuable platform for connecting with others in your industry and uncovering new job opportunities. It’s also an important place to advertise your candidacy to prospective employers. In fact, a study by recruiting software provider Jobvite found that 93 percent of employers admit to reviewing candidates’ social network profiles — regardless of whether the candidates provided that information.

If you’ve avoided using LinkedIn in the past, now’s the time to create a profile that supports your career goals. Then, customize your LinkedIn profile URL and add it to the top of your resume to ensure recruiters find the right profile for you.

Tip #9. Showcase your technical proficiencies.

The fact that you know how to use Microsoft Office is no longer noteworthy (unless your role requires advanced knowledge of Excel). Show employers that you’ve kept up with the latest tools and platforms related to your field. If you’re in a non-technical profession, create a small section toward the bottom of your resume that lists these proficiencies. If you realize there’s a skill or tool outside your wheelhouse that’s routinely appearing in the job descriptions you’re targeting, check out sites such as edX, Coursera, and SkillShare to find free or low-cost online courses.

Tip #10. Customize each online application.

Small tweaks to the content of your resume can make a big difference in determining whether your online application reaches a human being for review. Before you submit another online application, re-evaluate your resume based on the job posting. Then, make small edits to customize your resume so that it clearly reflects your qualifications for this specific role.

“Focus on highlighting the information that addresses what hiring managers care most about: ‘Prove to me that you possess the right skills and experience to do this job well,’” insistes Augustine. “If you focus on this objective, you’re more likely to craft a resume that is set up for success in combating age discrimination.”

Tip #11. Ditch the objective statement.

Avoid using a run-of-the-mill objective statement that’s full of fluff and focuses solely on your wants and needs. Instead, replace it with your “elevator pitch.” In a brief paragraph, known as a professional summary or executive summary, explain what you’re great at, most interested in, and how you can provide value to a prospective employer. In other words, summarize your job goals and qualifications for the reader.

Tip #12. Aim for visual balance.

If content is king in a resume, then design is queen. How your information is formatted is just as important as the information itself. Focus on leveraging a combination of short blurbs and bullet points to make it easy for the reader to quickly scan your resume and find the most important details that support your candidacy.

Since you’re keeping the length to two pages, any experience older than a decade ago can be cut or condensed. In fact, you can summarize your earlier positions in one of two ways:

Write a short blurb as a “Career Note” where you mention the job titles or types of positions you previously held and namedrop any clients or employers that are considered attractive to industry insiders.
Create an “Earlier Work Experience” section at the end of your professional work history that simply lists job titles, employer names, and locations. Additional details can always be made available to an employer, should they make a request.

Tip #13. Focus on achievements, not tasks.

At this point in your career, recruiters are less concerned with the tasks you’ve completed and more interested in learning what you’ve accomplished. Separate each job under your work history into a short blurb that describes your role and responsibilities. Then, add a set of bullet points to describe the results you’ve achieved and the major contributions you’ve made that have benefited the organization. By bulleting these details, you’re drawing readers’ eyes to the information they care most about: your qualifications. Whenever possible, quantify your accomplishments to provide additional context for the recruiter.

“Numbers are important! Quantify the scope of your work as much as possible,” says Augustine. “That said, seasoned workers shouldn’t get anxious if they no longer have access to the data that would allow them to quantify their earlier work.”

GlassDoor.com | January 30, 2019 | Posted by Amy Elisa Jackson

#CareerAdvice : #JobSearch – How to Get a Job that you’re #Overqualified For…It Can be Hard for a #HiringManager to see an overQualified Candidate as Ambitious. So If you Want to Change Direction, Here’s What you Need to Do.

July 13, 2018/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

Remember back when you were a new grad and applying for every job mentioning your degree, only to be told you didn’t have enough experience? Now, you’ve got years of experience under your belt and the skill set and experience to get any of those jobs you applied for years ago, but you’re faced with one critical problem. You’re now overqualified.

Hiring managers tend to overlook candidates with too much experience. Often they’re worried that the applicant will jump ship as soon as something comes along that they’re better suited for, or that they’ll expect a salary that’s greater than their budget.

“We tend to think of lower-level jobs as a way to pay our dues in order to advance,” says Kim Stiens, hiring consultant and founder and CEO of career advice site Ranavain. When reviewing resumes of individuals who seem to have already put in those dues, employers may be skeptical of why they want to take a step back. They worry the candidate won’t be engaged enough in the position. “Employers want to hire the best candidate, and often, that actually means hiring someone for whom the position is a stretch; they’re perhaps a bit underqualified, but hungry and eager to do the work.” says Stiens. It might be hard to see an overqualified candidate as ambitious.

While there are many good arguments around not hiring someone too qualified for the position, that doesn’t mean you can’t still land that job.

CLARIFY WHY YOU WANT THE JOB

Are you looking for greater work-life balance or a less stressful and less time-consuming job than your existing role? Are you entering a new industry and feel the need to start in an entry-level position? Or are you simply looking to move away from your current company, regardless of whether it’s an upward, lateral, or downward move? Understanding your own motives is the first step to landing the gig.

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FOCUS ON WHAT THE JOB BRINGS TO YOU

Hiring managers want to know that the job is a good fit for you. The last thing you want them thinking is that it doesn’t make sense why you are applying. Tell the hiring manager what aspects of the job are appealing to you and show how the position fits into your career goals. Perhaps you’ve been performing a similar role in nonprofits for a few years, and you want to apply to a big company doing something similar or at a lower level.

DISCUSS YOUR INTEREST IN THE COMPANY

Sometimes individuals are willing to accept a lower-level job because it’s at their dream company. Employers are more likely to want to take a chance on you if they believe that you are truly passionate about the company and are willing to do any position, even if it’s a lower level, because you truly want to work there in whatever capacity, even if it’s a lower position than you’re used to.

FOCUS ON THE EMPLOYER’S NEEDS

Show the employer that you understand their pain points and outline what you can bring to the organization to help solve their problem. Do your research on the company before applying. Employers know getting someone with more experience means the learning curve will be shorter, and that someone with more experience at a lower price can be good for them, but that doesn’t mean you still don’t have to convince them based on what you can do for them. “You have to be able to build a constructive case for your hire,” says Stiens. “The hiring manager has to believe that you’re applying for their job because you think you’ll thrive in it, or else they won’t hire you, no matter how great a bargain you might be.”

ARE YOU REALLY OVERQUALIFIED OR JUST DIFFERENTLY QUALIFIED?

If you’re trying to change careers, you may feel that you’re overqualified for an entry-level position because you have 10 years of unrelated experience. “A company might prefer to hire someone with 1.5 years of exactly applicable experience over someone with 10 years of vaguely applicable experience,” says Stiens. In this case, be explicit in how your skills are transferrable to the new field. “The hiring manager isn’t going to hunt down those details and make the case for you,” says Stiens.

Whether applying for a position you’re overqualified or underqualified for, demonstrating to the prospective employer that you are the best choice will help you land the gig.

FastCompany.com | July 13, 2018 | BY LISA EVANS 3 MINUTE READ

#Leadership : #OlderWorkers – Everyone In My Office Is 30 Years Younger Than Me… As SYPartners’ Senior Adviser & Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Sherri Leopard, 62, is Often the Oldest Person in the Room, and she Explains Why That’s a Plus.

April 16, 2018/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

Sherri Leopard has experienced being unique many times in her career. During her early professional life as a marketing consultant in technology, Leopard found herself in projects where she would be the only female member, as well as the youngest.

Having grown up in a lower-middle-class household, she also found herself at odds with many of her privileged friends who graduated from elite colleges. Yet she persevered and thrived, building and running a marketing consultancy with blue-chip clients such as IBM, SAP, Siemens, and Motorola. In 2006, she sold her consultancy, Leopard, to advertising giant WPP. Leopard became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ogilvy & Mather.

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Many years later, as a senior adviser and entrepreneur-in-residence for SYPartners, Leopard would find herself–once again–as the unique person in the room. But this time, it would be as the oldest person in an office full of twenty- and thirtysomethings. Leopard recently chatted to Fast Company about how working with younger employees has helped shaped her way of thinking, and the misconceptions about older workers that she wishes everyone would drop. Here’s her experience in her own words, edited for length and clarity.

WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE DECADES OLDER THAN ALL YOUR COWORKERS

All of the people that I work with on a day-to-day basis are 20 to 30 years younger than me. The company is young, young, young, and many of them come from prestigious schools. Me? I went to Metropolitan State University in Denver. I came from a lower-middle-class upbringing–and I think part of the way that manifests in me is being really practical. Everyone else would have these debates about really minute things, and I tend to be super impatient and cut to the chase. Of course, I’ve had to learn to do it in a way that doesn’t stifle people’s creativity.

To be honest, I don’t think people tend to focus on the fact that I’m older. There is a designer on my team who is 24 years old, and the other day he told me, I think of you as a mentor, but you’re not someone who just gives me advice, because you’ve done all these things. We get in and figure out stuff together and when we’re solving a problem. We’re solving it as equals.

ON LEARNING FROM YOUNGER WORKERS

As a former CEO who happens to be the oldest person in the office, over my three years at SYPartners, I’ve really struggled with not being right and the need to be right. It took a while for me to be comfortable with learning from the young people who challenge me. That’s been a journey. In one of my earliest projects, that was really hard. I was on a team that just saw things so differently.

The perspective shift came during my work with BlackRock–who we’ve been working with on their diversity and inclusion initiatives. Something finally jelled in my brain, and now it’s much easier to be in situations where people are challenging my thinking. Had I learned that earlier in my career, I would have been a much better CEO. I’ve realized that we need those differences in the workplace to solve the sorts of complex problems we’re presented with today.

Of course, there will always be a generational gap. When I hear about young women discussing salaries, I think, in my generation, people didn’t talk about what they got paid. But I think that young people are a lot smarter because that transparency is going to pay off.

Another obvious generational gap is my aversion to social media. I feel like young people around me try to pull me into that world and occasionally I’ll go, okay, I get it, I get why I need to do it. But I’ve had times where I’ve gone through six rounds of writing a Medium post and I can never bring myself to post it. The younger people will be telling me, “Just do it, and you’ll get more comfortable.” But I still can’t do it.

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ON THE IMPORTANCE OF ENDURANCE

I think that my stamina is an advantage I have, as an older worker. When I was doing marketing and communications work, I did a lot of speech writing. I’d have clients call me very last minute, often very early in the morning. I remembered watching my then client, a senior VP at IBM, outwork me even though he was probably 20 years older. At that time I realized, oh my gosh, the game here is actually endurance. I realized then how important it is to be physically strong, eat healthy, exercise, and just be really mindful about my health. I think that investment I’ve been making for years in my health is really paying off. Today, young people in my team will go, geez, you’re the Energizer bunny!

ON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT BEING AN OLDER WORKER

I feel like there’s this misconception that older people just can’t keep up, whether that’s keeping up with anything in the world, or physically. Well, I’m just going to prove in my little circle of the world that we can keep up. I do think that to succeed at this age, you need to have a growth mind-set. There are so many people my age who believe that the world is prejudiced against them. I deeply believe that there’s an experience in all of us that can be reshaped and reapplied in a new way. The question is, do you choose to reinvent yourself?

FastCompany.com | April 16, 2018 | BY ANISA PURBASARI HORTON 4 MINUTE READ

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Your #Career : #OlderWorkers – How to Manage a #PhoneInterview & Not to Sound “Old” …..You Need to Know Two Things. One, How to Present Yourself Well in General in a Phone Interview. And, Two, How Not to Sound “Old.”

March 25, 2018/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

Your cover letter and resume did the trick. You have an interview. But it’s by phone. That’s your first experience with being checked out on the phone instead of in-person.

You need to know two things. One, how to present yourself well in general in a phone interview. And, two, how not to sound “old.”

In a phone interview the burden is on you to create through your voice, words, and pacing the kind of professional that organization wants to hire.

That means you have to do research on its culture.

If it’s a fast-paced hard-charging startup, for instance, that’s what you have to mirror. An interview is really a sales call. What successful salespeople do is mirror, that is, they simulate everything about the prospect.

The most common mistakes in a phone interview are:

Talking too fast. Therefore, practice with a recording device maintaining a normal conversational pace.
Finishing the interviewers’ sentences and interrupting. That comes from being nervous. To control anxiety position and package this particular interview as “practice.” In time, you will get better. That’s why you should grab all the interviews you can. You need as much practice as possible.
Volunteering damaging information. That too comes from being nervous. In the courtroom and in a job interview, don’t go beyond the scope of the question. If the interviewer asks what you are doing now, say doing consulting assignments for ManPower, for instance. Don’t say you have been laid off for 18 months.
Not listening. Instead of focusing on what the interviewer is saying you are in your own head. To stay tracked with the conversation take pen-and-paper notes.
Not asking questions. Asking questions demonstrates you have given careful thought to what the job is about. Not asking questions signals indifference.

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Okay, now how do you not present yourself as “old?” From the moment of conception, everyone of us is aging. But not one of us has to become “old.” You can prevent being perceived as “old.”

Here are 5 tips for maintaining your phone presentation as youthful:

Stick to recent experiences and accomplishments. It’s useful to rehearse talking about them before the phone call. No, don’t mention the award you won 15 years ago for increasing sales 25%.
Highlight what you are currently working on. If out of work you should be involved in some project. It could be consulting, writing an article for publication, operating a paid-subscription newsletter, or doing temp assignments. Having work gets you work.
Use the in lingo in your field. To ensure you know it, monitor trade publications about your field. Outdated language will knock you out of the box.
Don’t apologize for your age. A typical example is saying, “I can still work 18 hour days even though I am 50 years old.” It is illegal for the interviewer to introduce age into the conversation. So, you don’t do it either.
Ask if you can make recommendations. That demonstrates initiative. You ask to indicate you’re not going to come in and take the place over. You must signal you understand who has the power.

As you would with an in-person interview, follow up this one with a thank you note. Yes, it should be transmitted online. It probably will get to the wrong desk if sent snail mail. Be specific in what you learned during the interview which made you want the job even more. Explicitly say that you look forward to hearing from the organization again.

For more insight on how to get what you want/need after the age of 50, you can download my new book. No charge. Download Over50ebookpioneersinwildwildwest

Coaching on all aspects of aging, from careers to retirement. Complimentary consultation. Sliding scale fees. Please contact aging expert Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

FSC Career Blogs | March 25, 2018 | Jane Genova

Your #Career : #CareerAdvice – Help! I’m #Overqualified — What Do I Do? ….In these Situations, your Context will Influence your Course of Action. Let’s Examine What you Can Do When you’re Considered to be Overqualified.

March 14, 2018/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

Demonstrate how a role will help you develop, and show how you can be an asset, then don’t let a recruiter persuade you that you’re overqualified! Remember, you need to maintain your confidence throughout the process and let your resiliency guide you as you continue your search!

When it comes to job searching, we often hear how difficult it can be for recent graduates, who are somehow expected to have years of experience straight out of school, to even be considered for an entry-level position. What happens when the situation is reversed, and your years of experience begin to work against you? How can job seekers set themselves up for success when recruiters keep telling them they are overqualified for positions they’re interested in?

Hiring managers might challenge you by saying you’ll be bored and leave for a better-suited position, or your compensation expectations won’t be met.

In these situations, your context will influence your course of action. Let’s examine what you can do when you’re considered to be overqualified.

Situation #1: You’ve relocated or have been laid off

How to Respond: Highlight the win-win situation

Here, you must explain your motivation for applying to a position that you might seem “overqualified” for on paper. Highlight “how the organization can benefit from your experience, and how taking this position can advance your own skill set,” says Alan Zelnicker, executive recruiter. If the job scope is more narrow and the compensation is less than your old position, you must emphasize what you can contribute in terms of added value and what you can get from the role.

How to Respond: Make an important mind shift

Going into any interview, you should always project confidence and take on the mindset that recruiters are getting a great deal from you, rather than going in feeling like you’re overqualified for the job. You have to drive the power seat and never feel like you’re getting the short end of the stick. Instead, adopt the mindset that any company would be lucky to have you! Without seeming arrogant, remind recruiters that the learning curve involved with your onboarding will be cut in half, leaving you more time to learn the organization, and giving you a competitive edge!

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How to Respond: Re-evaluate compensation

Managing expectations around compensation is a separate conversation. You need to be realistic and accept that sometimes you’ll need to take a step back. Whenever possible, make a direct touch point with the hiring manager over the phone to talk about compensation. This way, you can form a personal connection, and you can articulate all that you have to offer. As mentioned before, what is the win-win negotiation for you that makes taking a pay cut worthwhile?

Situation #2: You’re switching careers/industries

How to Respond: Highlight your new career path

It is not uncommon for people to switch industries or careers. In fact, millennials report switching jobs 4 times in their first 10 years out of school. When working with recruiters, highlight any new credentials you’ve earned to demonstrate your commitment towards this new path you’re taking. Emphasize your desire to learn and retrain to create a new path forward for yourself.

How to Respond: Emphasize the rudimentary

Though you may have 20 years of experience in one field, you must demonstrate to recruiters that you’re ready to check your ego at the door and learn about a whole new world. That being said, relevant and rudimentary skills can always be transferable and should be considered as your added value.

How to Respond: Know your worth

When discussing salary, make sure to mention that you’ve done your research, you’re aware of the industry standards, and are comfortable with what these types of roles typically offer.

“Fall seven times, stand up eight.” –Japanese proverb

What not to do: The worst thing you could do is tell a recruiter you’ll take anything just to get a job. Though this often may be the truth, people want to see that you possess the right enthusiasm and fit for the role. You must always sell your skills and highlight how you are the perfect candidate for the job.

Your resume: If you’re having trouble getting through the door and you think your resume might be the culprit, there are some workarounds to try:

If your resume demonstrates work dating back more than 10 years, consider consolidating your experience and only keeping what is still relevant today
If you have multiple designations and education, consider only keeping what is relevant to the job you’re applying for and removing anything that is redundant
Consider reformatting your resume in a way that tells a new story

If you can demonstrate how a role will help you develop, and show how you can be an asset, then don’t let a recruiter persuade you that you’re overqualified! Remember, you need to maintain your confidence throughout the process and let your resiliency guide you as you continue your search!

Stacy Pollack is a Learning Specialist with an MA in educational technology. She loves to share her perspective on job hunting, career building, and networking for success. Connect with her on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Glassdoor.com | March 13, 2018 | Posted by Stacy Pollack

Your #Career : The Big Changes Ahead For #BoomerWorkers …Boomers & #GenXers : Your Working World is in for Major Disruptions Between Now & 2030, According to a New Report from the Management Consulting Firm Bain & Company.

February 20, 2018/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

Boomers and Gen Xers: Your working world is in for major disruptions between now and 2030, according to a new report from the management consulting firm Bain & Company. “The depth and breadth of changes in the 2020s will set apart this transformation from many previous ones,” said the report, Labor 2030: The Collision of Demographics, Automation and Inequality.

But here’s the bigger surprise: Some of those disruptions will make it easier for people in the 50s and 60s to keep working, find jobs and start businesses, the Bain forecasters say. Now that’s a noteworthy trend.

Hanging On to Older Workers

The main reason for the good news, according to the Bain experts, is that the abundance of labor seen since the 1970s — due to boomers and women entering the workforce — is winding down. Bain foresees labor force growth in the U.S. slowing to 0.4% a year in the 2020s. With workers in shorter supply, the Bain analysts say, employers will be eager to hang on to the ones they have and entice applicants, including older ones, to join them.

“Baby boomers will remain an important pool of talent through 2030, when the youngest cohort of that generation will only be 66,” the report said. This view echoed what I heard last May when I asked futurists Katherine LY Green, of Green Consulting Group, and John Mahaffie and Jennifer Jarratt, founders of Leading Futurists, what they expected for older workers in the coming decades.

Companies looking to innovate and scale within their businesses “will often find that skill among workers who’ve been around the place awhile,” said Andrew Schwedel, a partner in Bain & Company’s New York Office and head of the firm’s Macro Trends Group, which published the study.

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More Flexible Employment for Boomer Workers

“The war for talent” means companies will be innovating like crazy to make compelling offers to workers,” said Schwedel. He anticipates not only more demand for flexible work arrangements from employees and job applicants, but more need for a flexible workforce in general.

To keep older workers, there may be “more opportunities to retool your skills, and maybe even a new generation of employee benefits,” said Schwedel.

Also, the Bain report said, “as competition talent increases, standard employment offers may disappear.” Companies offering an identical package to the three generations of the labor force in the 2020s could “be vulnerable to poaching from employers willing to make more focused offers” with a custom blend of compensation, benefits and hours.

Whither Age Discrimination?

Age discrimination by employers, Schwedel said, won’t disappear, but it will change. “You may not see employers offering older workers traditional employment. We’ll be seeing the rise of more part-timers and independent contractors.”

The ability to work longer will be a huge help to many Americans in their 60s without enough retirement savings to let them live out their longer lives in comfort. Bain’s dire view: as things stand now, only about the top 20% of older households are likely to have enough savings to support a traditional retirement. The Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis just came out with an even gloomier report, saying that 40% of older workers and their spuses will be “downwardly mobile” in retirement.

Inequality Among Older Americans

One big question, Bain says, is whether people in their 60s will physically be able to keep working.

“If you’re well-educated, and high-income, you will probably manage to keep working into your 70s if you want,” said Schwedel. “But if you’re blue-collar, with less than a high-school education and health problems, you’ll have a tougher time.”

The bottom 40% of older households “may see their income and workforce participation decline due to health reasons,” the Bain report said.

What About the Robots?

And those robots we’ve been told will be coming to take our jobs? Automation may be reason to worry for many, but it could possibly spell opportunities for your career, and for your investment portfolio.

Bain believes the rapid spread of automation may eliminate as many as 20 to 25% of current jobs — equal to 40 million displaced workers. Hardest hit: workers currently making between $30,000 and $60,000 per year.

“But some people will benefit” from automation, said Schwedel.

The Good News for Entrepreneurs

For example: entrepreneurs. “Automation will make it much easier for a small business to access scale in ways it was hard to do in the past,” said Schwedel. “You can rent from Amazon Web Services, use UPS to do your logistics and hire Salesforce.com to run your sales.”

The report also noted that now “entrepreneurs can use social media postings, targeted search engine ads and email newsletters to launch businesses at a fraction of the marketing budget previously required.

Other beneficiaries from automation, said Schwedel, are “people in managerial roles requiring professional expertise and who have the ability to work with new technology and use it to increase productivity — like data scientists.”

Similarly, “if you are a financial adviser, automation will dramatically increase your productivity, it won’t necessarily eliminate your job. The financial adviser industry has not found it economical to serve clients with smaller portfolios, but it will become more economical when technology extends their reach.”

Opportunities for Investors

That could also be good news for the many middle-income Americans who want financial advisers to help manage their money but are often snubbed.

“From a micro standpoint, anything related to automation will generate investment opportunities,” said Schwedel. Bain forecasters see four types in sectors such as energy, health care, aerospace, retail and infrastructure:

1. Core platform providers providing the essential enabling technologies for the next phase of automation. They include “the physical building blocks, such as high-dexterity robotic hands” and the “analytical or control building blocks, such as machine learning systems and the application program interfaces that go with them.”

2. Systems integrators combining the building blocks to create function systems by assembling sophisticated hardware and software components in one integrated package. Think drones that drop off packages.

3. Businesses that figure out how to adapt automated systems to discrete uses. Example: delivering a package to a customer’s house.

4. The collateral infrastructure that enables new automation systems. Bain believes this may be nearly half the total investment that the next phase of automation will require.

Why Higher Taxes May Be Coming

One more thing the Bain forecasters say may be on the horizon: much higher taxes. That’s because there’ll be more older Americans requiring government benefits such as Medicare and Medicaid and fewer younger Americans working and paying taxes.

Tax increases of 15 to 25% per U.S. worker by 2030 “could be required to offset changing demographics and inequality,” the Bain report said.

“We’re not prescribing policies,” said Schwedel. “We’re not saying whether taxes should go up or by how much or what type.”

The researchers just believe taxes may go up if trends play out the way they expect: lower economic growth, surging health care costs, rising income inequality, lagging wages, a cyclical downturn in the second half of the decade, a decline in interest rates and major job displacement. An alternative scenario if those trends come true: increased government benefits.

Forbes.com | February 20, 2018 | Next Avenue

Your #Career : This Internship Program Only Hires Women Over 40…What Inspired you to Start the Program? Answer: Ageism Hurts, and these Women Feel Like, “Am I Worthless at 54? Am I Over the Hill at 52? Why will No One Hire Me?”

August 6, 2016/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

You’ve probably seen, or at least heard of, Nancy Meyer’s latest film The Intern. Starring Anne Hathaway and Robert DeNiro, it follows a 70-something man attempting to reenter the workforce. When the retired widower has difficulty finding employment, he opts for a senior internship at a digital fashion startup.

“That movie was kind of an aha moment for us,” explains Dara Kaplan, president and partner of a New York City-based p.r. firm calledWunderlich Kaplan Communications (WKC). “How many times have we witnessed our friends, unable to dive back into the workforce after several years at home? Women over 40 shouldn’t be cast aside for Millennials.”

Inspired, Kaplan and WKC’s CEO, Gwen Wunderlich, started The Enternship. The four week program, which launched this summer, aims to help women over 40 reenter the workforce by teaching them practical p.r. and digital communications skills. Eight interns in their 40s, 50s and 60s are currently participating, including a former CNN producer and a lawyer. I caught up with the two leading women behind the initiative.

What is The Enternship?

Kaplan: In one sentence, it’s a program to help women over 40. These women have either been bought out of their companies, chosen to jump the corporate ship or are looking to change careers and break back into the workforce. We teach them the skills they need during flexible hours. Millennial may be the buzz word du jour, but we happen not to agree.

What inspired you to start the program?

Wunderlich: We were tired of watching friends and family members get passed over for their younger counterparts or denied jobs because they have “too much” experience. We received more than 600 applications for the program, and the one thing every cover letter had in common was that they felt defeated. Ageism hurts, and these women feel like, “Am I worthless at 54? Am I over the hill at 52? Why will no one hire me?”

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Who are your eight enterns?

Kaplan: We chose eight women, including a lawyer, a former CNN producer, a graphic designer and a stay-at-home mom. 99% are working moms and all are over age 40 (some are even over 60). And they are unbelievable. Take Ronni Berke, an award-winning veteran journalist and producer. She recently accepted a buyout from CNN to work on more creative projects and currently freelances as a communications strategist and content creator. She is an experienced media pro with years of experience in breaking news.

What kinds of skills do your enterns learn?

Wunderlich: Essentially, the ins and outs of public relations. We teach women how to create p.r. campaigns, write pitches and press releases, how to pitch media. There’s also hands on experience, like helping to run a party at one of our celebrity client’s house in the Hamptons. Working events helps them grow their network, which, as we all know, is what p.r. is about.

Kaplan: Social media is also explored, which we’ve found to be a major pain point for older women. They want to learn about blogging, vlogging and other emerging communication technologies — they just need a little guidance.

What is The Enternship’s ultimate goal?

Kaplan: To help women get back on their feet. It’s funny, because we’ve seen first hand what a bit of confidence can do. And while we hope to empower women to get back in the workforce, we also want to create a movement — an understanding of the value of women. We’re trying to urge other p.r. firms and female-owned businesses to hire talented, experienced women.

Why only women?

Wunderlich: It’s estimated that there are upwards of 3 million women with advanced college degrees trying to reenter the American workforce. It was clear this was who we needed to focus on.

Would you ever expand to men?

Wunderlich: Never say never, but our second Enternship training program, which starts in September, will also be focused on women.

Forbes.com | August 6, 2016 | Emily Siegel