Straighten Up Your Attitude and Don't Wimp Out
More crippling than a tough, biased job market is a self-defeating attitude. It's a basic: If you think you're not going to get a job, you won't. So straighten out your head before pounding the pavement. Balancing every age-bias anecdote is a success story in which older workers capture jobs for all the right reasons. It's happening all over America-even in your own backyard.
If you're going to compete with younger workers as well as your peers, understand the issues before tailoring appropriate strategies to counter them. To use a military analogy, don't attack your enemy until you've studied every inch of the battlefield.
Defeat Is a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Don't overestimate prospective employers. They won't know how talented and capable you are until you tell them. But they'll surely pick up your negative vibes by looking in your eyes, shaking your hand, and reading your body language. Every day, millions of older job seekers unknowingly telegraph defeat, despair, and hopelessness. Rather than programming themselves for success, they unwittingly set themselves up for failure. A myopic view of their own condition destroys their chances of finding another job. Their defeatist minds bank only stories of colleagues' rejections.
It's your call. If you don't think you stand a chance because the world is out to get you, you've wasted money on this book. A shrink, or better yet a sympathetic bartender, can do more for you than I can. But if you believe talent, intelligence, and creativity will win out, you've made a worthwhile investment.
I truly believe that vivid dreams, fantasies, and visions fueled by hard work can be realized. I've seen it happen countless times. And age was never a barrier. If you want inspiration, pick up a history book and look at the endless list of men and women who changed the world in their fifties, sixties, seventies, and beyond. That ought to propel you into the job market with rocket force.
Won't Take It Any More!
To make it happen, you'll have to think hard and be tough. In the Oscar-winning film 'Network' an outrageous indictment of the broadcast industry, a network executive (played by Peter Finch) opens a window in his high-rise apartment and screams, "I won't take it anymore." In his early sixties, the executive is fired because his superiors feel he is burned out and past his prime. He doesn't agree and is hell-bent on telling the world about it. I'm not suggesting you climb on a soapbox and get militant about your job search. Yet anger and outrage over market injustices ought to fuel you into a job. It will keep the adrenaline coursing through your body, energizing you for the rigors of the job search.
STARTING OVER IS AN OPPORTUNITY
Anything is possible if you truly believe it can be done. As for the prospect of starting over at your age, view it not as a stigma, but as a mouthwatering opportunity. An adventure if you will. I'm not saying this to puff you up. But it's true. You may not realize it, but you have the prized asset all employers want-experience. It's so valuable; you often can't even put a price tag on it. Get smart and realize you're a walking, undiscovered treasure. Here's a heartwarming story to prove the point.
A 58-year-old manager who logged over 25 years with major food companies applied for a job as marketing manager of a small specialty food company that was revving up for a new line of health breads. The food company entrepreneur liked the manager's credentials but felt he was overqualified and wouldn't be challenged enough by the job. "Quite frankly, I think someone with 7 to 10 years of marketing experience would best fit this spot," he said. The experienced manager expected this and countered, "Why don't you let me be the judge of that? I know I can help you get this new product line off the ground. I've done it before. Try me out for 6 months and let's see how we work with each other. If it doesn't work out, I'll train my successor before I leave. How does that sound?" Awed and impressed by the manager's confidence and willingness to submit to a trial period, he agreed. It turned out to be a smart move on the entrepreneur's part. Three months later, the experienced manager had fashioned an ironclad marketing program that captured immediate customer attention. He also took it upon himself to craft an inexpensive advertising/PR program that brought local media coverage.
Needless to say, the entrepreneur thanked his lucky stars he hired the older worker. The happy ending is, less than a year later, the applicant was promoted to vice president with major decision making power.
Thousands of similar success stories exist. Jim Challenger, president of international outplacement consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, noted that out-of-work 50-year-old managers are emerging as one of today's preferred groups of employees. "They are the objects of increasing demand by employers seeking experienced talent," he says.
Nevertheless, there is little question that job searching can be tedious and frustrating. Yet it's also exciting, because you don't know where the search will lead. The more effort you put into it, the bigger the rewards. Rather than view it as a downer, see it as a voyage through uncharted waters. Along the way, you'll expand your net work and make new friends, while mastering the game and learning more about yourself. Self-discovery is a priceless process.
THE GAME HAS CHANGED
No doubt it's a big crazy world to conquer. Get out there and show them what you can do. It may be a tough, competitive market, but the best part is that the global marketplace has exposed employers to new options. More flexible and less rigid, employers are more willing to take chances, experiment, and listen to profitable strategies. Take the hint and give it to them. After all, who's better qualified to do so?
Above all, lighten up. Don't lose your sense of humor. Taking yourself too seriously is dangerous. Get used to the idea that every day won't be a banner day. There will be days when nothing goes right and you'll wish you could crawl under the covers and hide. Resist that temptation and get real. Don't tell me you never had disastrous days on past jobs. I've had close to a dozen corporate jobs and I can hardly rake up the countless times I fantasized about hurling bosses, clients, or vendors out the window. Face it; People can be infuriating. You're lying to yourself if you're whitewashing the past. No matter what some career writers are peddling, the perfect job is a myth. The trick is coming close to it.
Expect days when you feel blindsided by rejection. Sure it hurts. You wouldn't be human if you weren't momentarily stunned by the disappointment. But don't let it stop you. Get up, lick your wounds, and fight back.
Your ability to bounce back and laugh at the situation will keep you light, buoyant, and sharp. Make no assumptions and have no expectations about your job hunt. You're only setting yourself up for disappointment.
Think of the job hunt as a game. It's not a life-and-death struggle. Play the game tactfully and persistently and you'll win. George Bernard Shaw summed it up nicely when he said, "People who get on in this world deal with circumstances at hand. When those circumstances don't exist, they go out and create them." Feel better? I've just begun.
