How to Get a Good Job After 50: A step-by-step guide to job search success

By Rupert French

These days, many people are looking to stay in the workforce longer and are seeking satisfying, fulfilling jobs. How to Get a Good Job After 50 is a step-by-step guide to taking control of your career with expertise and confidence. With age comes experience, reliability and practised skills, and this book explains how to market these qualities to prospective employers in clear, practical chapters. Covering all aspects of the job search, this is a tried and tested recipe for career success!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publishdrive
• Release date: Jun 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9781991001054

Book preview

Rupert French has been actively involved in helping job seekers for almost 40 years. In that time he has developed and delivered highly successful job-search training and coaching programs. He has also presented on effective job-search methodology at numerous career conferences both national and international. This revised edition of How to Get a Good Job After 50 is his fourth book on successful job search.

Together with his experience as an employment counsellor and job search trainer, he brings skills developed in previous careers in journalism and teaching to clearly guiding his readers through the often confusing and daunting process of finding work.

Experience in a wide diversity of other occupations — as well as having crewed on a square-rigged sailing ship — has provided him with a good understanding of a variety of different careers and helped him ensure that his methodology caters for all.

PRAISE FOR THE NEW EDITION:

‘Over the hill for rewarding work? Not if you have self-belief and a methodical job search. Rupert French’s excellent book will steer you through the process. Valuable for job searches at any level, it is especially useful for older workers needing support to channel their knowledge and experience to new opportunities.’

— Dr John Neugebauer, BA, MSc, FCIPD, PhD; Visiting Fellow, Bristol Business School

‘How to Get a Good Job After 50 is a comprehensive guide that explains job seeking today. It journeys right through the job search process from first steps through to succeeding in your new job. Rupert French’s years of experience shine through with a wealth of well-tested suggestions and a confidence in openly debating some contentious issues for those over 50. Rupert explains current recruitment processes, provides practical lists and clear steps to follow, and offers a selection of approaches to job search. If you are an older worker who needs a confidence boost for your job search, you could add this book to your resources.’

— Julie Thomas, Director of The Career Development Company

‘A fantastic guide for mature-age workers seeking to build confidence and control in their job searching.’

— Jennifer Luke, Careers educator, practitioner and researcher, University of Southern Queensland

‘Job-hunting can be lonely and, post 50, it can feel like landing on an alien planet. Let Rupert French be your expert guide. He’s over 50, has inside knowledge of today’s world of work and he’s passionate about helping you. Rupert’s book, How to Get a Good Job After 50, provides advice on today’s cover letter and résumé writing and addressing selection criteria and interviews but also how to ace the new stuff — social media, networking and even the ‘robot’ interview (that’s a thing now). The book will help you develop the right mindset for today’s job hunt. A must to market all you still have to offer.’

— Kate Southam, career blogger, speaker and coach

‘A brilliant and comprehensive guide to help you get back on your feet and into work over 50! It puts you, the job seeker, back in the driving seat of your career and takes the mystery out of job seeking today. Find out how to use your age to your advantage and secure a job that ticks all the boxes!’

— Lola Brocklesby, career coach, Viva Career Coaching

‘Rupert’s How To Get A Good Job After 50 is a must-read for the 50+ job market. More so, a top 5 book to have for any person at any age, doing a career transition . . . Get ready to learn, build confidence, and attack your new job with Rupert French.’

— Professor Rick, digital author, gainful employment expert, career educator

‘If you are daunted by job search then this practical toolbox is for you, bursting full of nuggets of wisdom.’

— Dr Edwin Trevor-Roberts

‘This informative and practical book is a must-read for anyone over the age of 50 who is out of work or considering a career change.

Each chapter provides easy to read, practical advice, along with worked examples. There are also sample cover letters and résumés at the back. While I’m not looking for work, the book even gave me some practical tips for marketing myself as an entrepreneur.’

— Amanda Heal, inspirational speaker, published author and empowerment coach

‘This book is well-written and the content is organized in a way that makes perfect sense. I like that Rupert has used real examples to illustrate key points, ensuring all sections are as easy to read as they are informative. It seems to me that readers will have no trouble relating to Rupert’s examples and applying his advice to their own circumstances. Let’s face it: it’s tough out there in the job market. This book provides useful practical tips as well as some much-needed encouragement for its audience.’

— Wanda Hayes, experienced career practitioner and CDAA National President (2017–21)

‘Mature-aged candidates can take control of their employment search by using Rupert French’s excellent advice. Giving jobseekers confidence and understanding to select the right employment opportunities for them is a really positive shift from the traditional job application process. How to manage such a campaign is well described in this book; clearly written to share the value of extensive experience. Unreservedly recommended.’

— Grant Herring, 30-year veteran of Community and Employment Services management

Rupert French has hit the ball out of the park with his job search book, How To Get A Good Job After 50. I loved the way he started with a focus on building confidence and a proactive enterprise approach to job search. The unemployment experience can be challenging both emotionally and cognitively. French helps to build hope and he restores the feeling that one has some control over the process. The information provided is up-to-date, practical, and presented in a manner that is accessible for people of all ages. There are numerous illustrations and activities within each section and he takes you through all aspects of the job search process. This is an excellent book and it deserves to be on the shelf of all career practitioners and the clients they are serving.’

— Norman Amundson, PhD, Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia

‘How to Get a Good Job After 50 has all of the elements of an excellent job-search book. In addition, Rupert French has loaded it with techniques that energize older job seekers to not only compete with younger colleagues, but to beat them out in the competition to get hired. This book is like having a wise uncle as your personal job search coach.’

— Richard ‘Dick’ Knowdell, author of Building a Career Development Program and From Downsizing to Recovery, Founder of Career Planning & Adult Development Network

Contents

Author’s note

Introduction: What’s so special about this book?

Chapter 1: Establishing You & Co

Chapter 2: A permanent job, the gig economy and other options

Chapter 3: The résumé — a ‘business proposal’

Chapter 4: The résumé — fleshing out the skeleton

Chapter 5: The résumé — the more challenging bits

Chapter 6: The sizzle that sells the story

Chapter 7: Cover letters and a call to action

Chapter 8: Addressing the selection criteria

Chapter 9: Your billboard in the cloud

Chapter 10: Avenues for marketing

Chapter 11: Goodwill, market research and networking

Chapter 12: Staying calm and positive when the going gets tough

Chapter 13: Preparing your pitch for the job interview

Chapter 14: Making the sale in the face-to-face job interview

Chapter 15: Phone, video and robot interviews

Chapter 16: Assessment centres

Chapter 17: Sealing the deal

Chapter 18: Succeeding in the new job

Appendix 1: Specimen applications for human eyes

Appendix 2: Specimen applications for ATS software

Endnotes

Acknowledgments

Index

Author’s note

All the applications in this book are fictitious. The applicants themselves and their backgrounds are creations of my imagination. While places were researched carefully and local industries identified, any resemblance to any person is totally coincidental.

The applications in the book have been designed for real jobs in real places but the identities and locations of all the employer organizations, with the exception of two, have been changed to ensure the privacy of the employer. The two organizations which have not changed are included with the employers’ permission.

You will find the specimen applications divided into two appendices at the back of the book. Appendix 1 features the applications designed to be read by human eyes and Appendix 2 contains those prepared for screening by computer software (ATS). The book features excerpts from these applications, as well as a few examples from other applications not included in the appendices. The excerpts should give you a good idea of how you can present your experience, skills and achievements to prospective employers.

INTRODUCTION

What’s so special about this book?

The purpose of this book is to help you get the job you want as quickly as possible, and one essential for that is confidence. Above everything else, confidence is the deciding factor. If you are confident that you will be successful in the job search and you are equally confident that you will be successful in the job itself, the likelihood for your success is strong.

If you have been looking for work for a while, you may have lost some of your confidence. One of the drawbacks of traditional job seeking is that it saps self-belief because it takes control away from the job seeker.

The processes suggested in this book are designed to boost confidence. Every chapter is purposefully designed to help you build self-assurance. Certainly, it tells you how to create convincing résumés and prepare winning answers to interview questions and all the other aspects of a successful job search, but boosting your confidence underpins everything.

And to be confident, you need to feel that you’re in control.

A proactive, enterprise-based approach when job seeking puts you firmly in the driver’s seat. It encourages you to think of yourself as a micro-business, a consultant or a contractor, and to reach out to prospective ‘clients’ using proven marketing strategies. This requires hard work and treats the job search as a full-time job. At times it can be daunting, but you will enjoy the feeling of being very much in control.

With this approach, you don’t need to rely on trawling through job boards to find jobs being advertised. You know what sort of work you want to do and you can identify the organizations which offer that sort of work. From there you can develop an effective marketing plan for your services.

This approach also ticks all the right boxes for displaying the qualities which make you worth employing. Through it, you demonstrate a strong work ethic; you are motivated because you feel in control as you are working for yourself. This encourages you to display determination and persistence, energy and drive, a can-do attitude — the attributes most highly prized by employers.

Through networking, you exhibit good communication and interpersonal skills as well as a willingness to learn and change. Arranging and attending meetings shows your organizational skills and reliability. Your research, emails and social media presence demonstrate clear evidence of your IT competence. And networking in this way is a known confidence booster.

When you adopt an enterprise-based approach to your job search, people already working for your prospective employers will get to know you and, should a vacancy arise, they’ll put in a good word for you. It doesn’t happen every time, but it happens much too frequently to be ignored. Job seekers using this methodology are often invited to attend an interview before the job has been advertised. When this happens, there are no younger applicants competing for the position.

So, why not give it a go?

CHAPTER 1

Establishing You & Co

So, you’re over 50, you’re looking for a job and perhaps you’re worried that no one will want to hire you because of your age. This book shows how you can avoid age discrimination with your own well-planned, proactive job search campaign, one which dispels any concerns employers may have regarding your age.

At the same time, a well-planned, proactive job search emphasizes the many benefits that your maturity and experience will bring to the workplace. This approach shows you how to run your campaign and gain the sort of employment you want. Whatever your age and situation, if you use the strategies outlined in this book, you could have the sort of employment you are looking for, and usually within a relatively short period of time.

Concerns employers have regarding older applicants

Some employers have concerns which are based on mistaken stereotypes of older applicants. Because these stereotypes are so prevalent, they are widely accepted without question. This means that older job seekers need to clearly demonstrate that these stereotypes do not apply to them. The entrepreneurial approach to the job search, described in this chapter, is an effective way of achieving this.

The misconceived stereotype of mature workers is that they may have health problems; that they lack the energy and stamina of younger workers; that they are stuck in their ways and unwilling to learn and adapt to change; that they are unlikely to work well under a younger supervisor or relate well to younger co-workers; and that they are not up-to-date with technology. All of these have been proven to be fallacies and yet they are still believed by many.

Unfortunately, because they are so prevalent, these stereotypes often affect how mature job seekers view themselves. Instead of seeing the benefits of their experience, they start to believe in the popularly accepted but ill-founded perception of age-related decrepitude.

The benefits older applicants bring to the workplace

In spite of continuing discrimination against older workers, there is strong statistical evidence that many employers would prefer to hire workers over 50 to those under 30.¹ According to a survey by Adecco of 500 hiring managers, 60 per cent answered that, given the choice of hiring a Millennial or someone over 50, they would hire the mature worker.² The reasons for this are that older workers are seen to have a good work ethic; they are more reliable and responsible, and that, because they have experienced difficult situations and crises in the past, they are good problem-solvers and are able to help and mentor their younger colleagues.

One 2017 study published in Forbes found, ‘An older worker’s experience increases not only his own productivity but also the productivity of those who work with him.’³ Another article, also published in Forbes just two months later, showed that productivity does not peak until age 50 when it is 60 per cent higher than that of the average twenty-year-old.⁴

While ‘mental power’ — the ability to quickly grasp new facts and ideas — seems to decline after the age of 30, knowledge and expertise keep increasing well into old age, according to research quoted in the Harvard Business Review in 2019.⁵ The report states that knowledge and expertise are the main predictors of job performance. Older workers retain interest and curiosity to trigger new skill acquisition and, as they learn new techniques beside their younger teammates, because they bring understanding gained in different situations, the learning experience for all is the richer.

Far from being a health risk, mature workers statistically have fewer sick days than younger workers, according to a report in The Independent.⁶ Corinne Purtill writing for Quartz at Work (2018) states that older workers also tend to have greater loyalty towards their employer and their team.⁷

Debunking the misconceptions

A proactive, full-time job search campaign can clearly demonstrate that you do not fit the negative stereotype of an older worker. It can show your employability and how you would fit into a workplace. Your energy, work ethic, motivation, communication and interpersonal skills and your IT competence can all be on display. If you believe that your fitness level could be better, make regular sport, the gym or an exercise routine part of your campaign. If you believe that you need to update your skills, include in your campaign relevant training and development. Do some volunteer work to demonstrate your adaptability, your work ethic and your ability to work with younger people.

The entrepreneurial approach

One of the biggest frustrations faced by job seekers is that so much of the process seems to be in other people’s hands. When you mount a reactive job search campaign, when you rely solely on finding advertised positions, you are putting yourself into a position of dependence on factors which are outside your control; you are at the mercy of recruiters and employers. The accepted method of trawling through job boards and applying for possible positions leaves you feeling powerless. You are relying on employers to advertise positions and to read your application. And there’s not much you can do when they don’t get back to you.

To regain the initiative, mount a job search campaign where you are in control, where you proactively go looking for jobs which have not been advertised.

Be entrepreneurial, not in the sense of starting a small business, but through accessing the hidden job market⁸ and managing your job search campaign as if you were a micro-enterprise looking for prospective ‘clients’. This is not a new concept. However, it’s not as widely practised as it should be, despite its proven success.⁹

Australian entrepreneur Rebekah Campbell, in an interview with Business Insiders in 2018, said: ‘People should think of themselves as entrepreneurs rather than as employees. That doesn’t mean that everybody is going to necessarily start a business. But it means everybody is the CEO/founder of their own business, which is their own career.’¹⁰

Once you take control of your job search in this way, you will experience a welcome boost to both your confidence and your self-esteem. These are both essential ingredients for job search success.

Because this approach requires continuous effort, it will demonstrate your work ethic. And because you’ll regularly be communicating with and meeting people, your interpersonal and communication skills will also be shown, convincing not only employers of your worth, but yourself as well. An energetic, proactive, well-organized job search campaign will boost your belief in yourself and will persuade employers to believe in you too.

And one final and great advantage is that when seeking jobs this way, you are usually the only applicant. There will be no younger candidates to compete against you.

Establishing You & Co

The first step is to convince yourself that you and your career do constitute a micro-enterprise and that to manage your career and your job search campaign as a micro-enterprise will give you the greatest likelihood of success.

One very simple strategy which some job seekers have found helpful is to create a certificate stating that you are the CEO of You & Co¹¹ and put it on the wall above your desk. Choose a name for your business, one that best represents you and the type of work you want to do, for example ‘Linda Heatherton, Tour Guide Contractor’ or ‘Tom Matlock, OH&S Consultant’. Make it look as good and as realistic as you can. Certainly, it may just be a bit of aspirational swagger, but it will keep reminding you to manage your job search campaign as a business until this becomes second nature.

A more substantial strategy, one which every job seeker should adopt, is to establish an honorary advisory ‘Board’ for You & Co. This might consist of perhaps three to five people you know and trust, people who would like to help you and provide support, people you can draw on for advice and encouragement. Job seeking can be a lonely occupation and you will find that having this sort of support will make a huge difference to your confidence and feeling of wellbeing and, therefore, to the likelihood of your success.

Meet with these people regularly, not necessarily always in a ‘Board’ setting. Let them know what your ideas are, the progress you’re making and the problems you’re facing. Bounce ideas off them or ask for their advice about a strategy you are considering.

Another strategy you might find useful is to find a ‘virtual mentor’. A virtual mentor could be a famous person, living or dead, or a character from a film, television series or book. The important thing is that your virtual mentor is a character you admire and would like to emulate, someone you think you know well and understand, and someone who acts in a way you believe you need to, in order to find the job you want.

When you face a challenging situation or difficult decision, mentally ask this virtual mentor for their advice. If you know the mentor well you will be able to determine what they would say, and that could be just the advice you need.¹²

Another important strategy which we will discuss in the next chapter is composing a ‘mission statement’ for your job search campaign. Like the certificate, your mission statement should be visible, maybe not on the wall but in your diary or job search action plan; somewhere you will see it on a daily basis.

Managing your own micro-enterprise means working at it full-time. To make the best use of this time, you should plan each day. What do you need to do today to progress your business? Put it in your diary now or make yourself a Daily Action Planner (see Chapter 11). You might be hesitating to get started, not quite sure what to do first, so here are some ideas to get you started:

■Create a certificate stating you are the CEO of You & Co.

■Contact someone you would like as a member of your ‘Board’ and discuss your plans.

■Select the precise sort of position you are seeking. This could include a variety of roles if you are aiming for a mix of employment options, so try to be as precise as you can be for each job option (see Chapter 2 ).

The last word

Once you have taken just one of these actions, you have started. Don’t give up. Yes, things will probably get difficult at times, you will almost certainly have to face some challenges on the way and there are times when you might feel uncomfortable or unsure. But keep going. Keep your goal in mind. It’s your future which is at stake and that is worth working for. Congratulations! You’re on your way.

CHAPTER 2

A permanent job, the gig economy and other options

The first chapter showed you how to start your job search campaign by establishing You & Co and adopting an entrepreneurial approach. If you want to be successful in your job search, you need to have a clear