Five Years Ago Professionals Over 55 Were Unprepared To Find A New Job.
We acknowledged that executives and managers forced into early retirement or who had simply had their positions eliminated were ill-prepared to conduct their own job search.
The basic reasons for the challenge were threefold:
They were unaware that 80% of senior positions were never advertised, but were filled by referral through professional-level networking, a skill not shared by everyone!
They held naïve ideas about the costs of conducting a job search and the need to budget for expenses, from meeting fees to transportation, etc.
These long-term employees were inadequately prepared for an effective job search primarily because they had failed to assemble a "library of accomplishments" structured for use in cover letters, interviews and networking meetings (think: "elevator pitch").
There are at least a dozen other contributing factors, but these were the three important ones we found to apply most frequently.
Five years ago our basic contention was that even "over-age" applicants could find positions if they did a good job of conducting their own professional-level job search. We backed up the claim by offering a 65-page course for free via the internet.
What Has Changed?
A lot has changed since 2008. Much has worsened, leading to what may be systemic unemployment for older workers.
The technology juggernaut hasn't slacked off; if anything it's accelerating, eliminating traditional jobs and creating new ones.
The political gridlock in Washington still ignores a steadily crumbling infrastructure.
The academic version of the "military/industrial complex" is churning out ever more college graduates that can't write a coherent letter -- but who are cheap to hire.
It's no wonder our industry leaders are frustrated and desperately recruiting from abroad to fill the emerging tech savvy jobs.
Baby-Boomers Have Entered the Picture.
Where does this leave the early retirees and the Baby Boomers who are looking retire over the next two decades -- some 10,000 of them a day!?
For those still fortunate enough to have retirement accounts intact, they'll be living longer than they planned. For those not so fortunate, they'll be looking for some way to support themselves in their not-so-leisure years.
Some will take jobs for which they are over-qualified (and thus under-paid), out of a need for a sort of security.
Some will become reluctant entrepreneurs - and begin training to get new skills.
Where Will They Get the Help They Will Need to Succeed?
In many larger cities there are good programs available through the partnership of the Small Business Administration and "SCORE" (Service Corps of Retired Executives). Here the pool of retired executive talent is broad enough to cover a variety of business categories (although a retired executive may or may not have any real experience with a start-up business).
For many, the solution will be private: seminars, on-line training courses or private coaching.
The question is, will they get legitimate help or fall victim to the growing number of charlatans or private training schools best known for bilking the government and leaving would-be students with oppressive student loan debt?
Let's hope it's not the latter.
Author Joseph A. Krueger has trained hundreds of executives in professional job search techniques. He has now turned to meeting the needs of those for whom employment is no longer an option -- that is, those too young to retire but too old to hire. His website http://www.entrepreneursmarketingmachine.com provides perspective and training, including a new course specifically for entrepreneurs, called "Making It In Your New Business."
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joseph_A_Krueger
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8236934
We acknowledged that executives and managers forced into early retirement or who had simply had their positions eliminated were ill-prepared to conduct their own job search.
The basic reasons for the challenge were threefold:
They were unaware that 80% of senior positions were never advertised, but were filled by referral through professional-level networking, a skill not shared by everyone!
They held naïve ideas about the costs of conducting a job search and the need to budget for expenses, from meeting fees to transportation, etc.
These long-term employees were inadequately prepared for an effective job search primarily because they had failed to assemble a "library of accomplishments" structured for use in cover letters, interviews and networking meetings (think: "elevator pitch").
There are at least a dozen other contributing factors, but these were the three important ones we found to apply most frequently.
Five years ago our basic contention was that even "over-age" applicants could find positions if they did a good job of conducting their own professional-level job search. We backed up the claim by offering a 65-page course for free via the internet.
What Has Changed?
A lot has changed since 2008. Much has worsened, leading to what may be systemic unemployment for older workers.
The technology juggernaut hasn't slacked off; if anything it's accelerating, eliminating traditional jobs and creating new ones.
The political gridlock in Washington still ignores a steadily crumbling infrastructure.
The academic version of the "military/industrial complex" is churning out ever more college graduates that can't write a coherent letter -- but who are cheap to hire.
It's no wonder our industry leaders are frustrated and desperately recruiting from abroad to fill the emerging tech savvy jobs.
Baby-Boomers Have Entered the Picture.
Where does this leave the early retirees and the Baby Boomers who are looking retire over the next two decades -- some 10,000 of them a day!?
For those still fortunate enough to have retirement accounts intact, they'll be living longer than they planned. For those not so fortunate, they'll be looking for some way to support themselves in their not-so-leisure years.
Some will take jobs for which they are over-qualified (and thus under-paid), out of a need for a sort of security.
Some will become reluctant entrepreneurs - and begin training to get new skills.
Where Will They Get the Help They Will Need to Succeed?
In many larger cities there are good programs available through the partnership of the Small Business Administration and "SCORE" (Service Corps of Retired Executives). Here the pool of retired executive talent is broad enough to cover a variety of business categories (although a retired executive may or may not have any real experience with a start-up business).
For many, the solution will be private: seminars, on-line training courses or private coaching.
The question is, will they get legitimate help or fall victim to the growing number of charlatans or private training schools best known for bilking the government and leaving would-be students with oppressive student loan debt?
Let's hope it's not the latter.
Author Joseph A. Krueger has trained hundreds of executives in professional job search techniques. He has now turned to meeting the needs of those for whom employment is no longer an option -- that is, those too young to retire but too old to hire. His website http://www.entrepreneursmarketingmachine.com provides perspective and training, including a new course specifically for entrepreneurs, called "Making It In Your New Business."
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joseph_A_Krueger
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8236934
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