Myths and Realities of Old Person Job Search #AgeDiscrimination

Myths and Realities of Old Person Job Search #AgeDiscrimination My good friend Norm from NYC sent me this Wall Street Journal article titled Five Myths About Landing a Good Job Later in Life. The author, Anne Tergersen, writes about retirement for the WSJ. Its a pretty optimistic, encouraging, happy article.  The five myths, which she busts, are: Myth 1: I’m not going to find a good job. Myth 2: You can’t take time off, or you’ll never get back into the workforce Myth 3: I’m not going to make as big of a contribution as I did in the past. Myth 4: The only type of work available to older applicants is part time. Myth 5: The chance to be an entrepreneur has passed me by. It is encouraging to read her article, and see the stats she presents to prove that those are all myths. The hope is abundant. That is until you read the comments.  The 125+ comments tell a different story. The story from the trenches is that age discrimination is alive and well. Ive been going over some of my old Ask The Expert interviews and age discrimination has come up. Im a firm believer that it exists.  Recruiters and career coaches caution you to not let age discrimination become THE excuse for you not finding a job. I agree that we shouldnt fixate on age Ive seen the results of fixating like that.  EVERYTHING happens wrong because Im too old, no one wants to hire someone my age. Depression sets in, you lose any speck of confidence you used to have, and you know have a convenient scapegoat for all of your job search failures. I have seen it. I have even had my own scapegoats.  It is a waste of time and energy. Im not saying its not real. What Im suggesting is to not let it (your age) be the excuse for not making progress. When your age becomes your brand, you have a branding problem. And, as CEO of Me, Inc as VP of Marketing for Me, Inc, you have a task: to rebrand yourself. Instead of being that old guy/gal, you need to be the person with expertise that we havent seen, but we need! Instead of being the person who is too expensive, you need to be the person they need to hire, and its a bargain to get you. Think of the old adage: turn your (perceived) weaknesses into (perceived) strengths. I know, I know, this is much easier said than done. But Ill tell you, you arent the only one with a problem in your job search. Be creative, be purposeful, be strategic, be smart, and attack the problem head on.  The goal is to get your next great job, not to try to change how discrimination works. Myths and Realities of Old Person Job Search #AgeDiscrimination My good friend Norm from NYC sent me this Wall Street Journal article titled Five Myths About Landing a Good Job Later in Life. The author, Anne Tergersen, writes about retirement for the WSJ. Its a pretty optimistic, encouraging, happy article.  The five myths, which she busts, are: Myth 1: I’m not going to find a good job. Myth 2: You can’t take time off, or you’ll never get back into the workforce Myth 3: I’m not going to make as big of a contribution as I did in the past. Myth 4: The only type of work available to older applicants is part time. Myth 5: The chance to be an entrepreneur has passed me by. It is encouraging to read her article, and see the stats she presents to prove that those are all myths. The hope is abundant. That is until you read the comments.  The 125+ comments tell a different story. The story from the trenches is that age discrimination is alive and well. Ive been going over some of my old Ask The Expert interviews and age discrimination has come up. Im a firm believer that it exists.  Recruiters and career coaches caution you to not let age discrimination become THE excuse for you not finding a job. I agree that we shouldnt fixate on age Ive seen the results of fixating like that.  EVERYTHING happens wrong because Im too old, no one wants to hire someone my age. Depression sets in, you lose any speck of confidence you used to have, and you know have a convenient scapegoat for all of your job search failures. I have seen it. I have even had my own scapegoats.  It is a waste of time and energy. Im not saying its not real. What Im suggesting is to not let it (your age) be the excuse for not making progress. When your age becomes your brand, you have a branding problem. And, as CEO of Me, Inc as VP of Marketing for Me, Inc, you have a task: to rebrand yourself. Instead of being that old guy/gal, you need to be the person with expertise that we havent seen, but we need! Instead of being the person who is too expensive, you need to be the person they need to hire, and its a bargain to get you. Think of the old adage: turn your (perceived) weaknesses into (perceived) strengths. I know, I know, this is much easier said than done. But Ill tell you, you arent the only one with a problem in your job search. Be creative, be purposeful, be strategic, be smart, and attack the problem head on.  The goal is to get your next great job, not to try to change how discrimination works.