In today's economy, with unemployment falling and then rising, seesawing depending on whose statistics you follow, it is becoming harder and harder for Seniors to land a job!
Not only is it a Company's buyer's market, with Hiring Managers receiving hundreds and hundreds of applications for every job posted, but the criteria for qualifying for a particular job are becoming more and more extensive, and also appear to require more and more specialized qualifications and strengths, longer experience times and sometimes in highly specialized fields, all of this minimizing Seniors' opportunities.
All of this makes the job search by Seniors especially those over 60+ more and more difficult especially if their experience is in a sales field where they have been for a long time, e.g. more than 7 or so years. Switching from that field to another one, even in sales, may make it more and more difficult to make their resumes match the job requirements. Hiring Managers, based on recently obtained information, look in many cases for a match as high as 90 % to the job requirements posted for the job offered.
It is also a fact that many Boomers or Boomers+ 's experience is actually in retail sales 'management' (of single and/or multiple location stores) which may make a switch from one field to another an issue that Hiring Managers may not like, as they may be looking for a candidate that has multiple years of experience in the actual field that is advertised (e.g. moving from Telecommunications to a totally different field).
Resumes need to be tailored so they match as many as possible of the job requirements posted (some say up to 90 %), and when switching fields that may not always be that easy but if you think about it long enough and use your strengths, abilities and generalized experience, you will come closer and closer to that purported 90 %.
Is age discrimination at play when it comes to Boomers and Boomers+ (over 60 or even more) trying to find jobs? Does the content of their resume's give away their age because of all the jobs listed (with dates - and you should list them or the Hiring Managers will think you are hiding something)?
No one knows for sure of course, but it seems odd that the older one gets the harder it becomes, or seems to become, to find employment even when one is really qualified and has had many years of experience in their field.
Did the resume list the year you graduated from High school, or from a University, or College (and again you should list that year). Is that a clue for the Hiring Manager of how old you really are, and are they taking that into consideration when making decisions about whether or not to call you or ask you to come in for an interview?
No one knows for sure as I said, but it 'may' very well be a factor in whether you will be considered for the job or position you are applying for. Hiring Managers and HR Personnel (those who Screen Resumes) have such a large choice of candidates currently that they are becoming more and more selective in which resumes they actually "read" completely and pursue for perhaps a phone call to the applicant or a face-to-face interview. Let's face it they get hundreds and hundreds of applications for each job posted. No wonder they can discriminate (not in the pejorative sense) and become far more selective.
So what should Boomers and Boomers do? There are suggestions and actions they can take. Not all is lost so to speak.
Albert J. Thiel
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