Are You An Old Worker or An Experienced Worker?

By Marlene McIntyre, CPC

A common refrain from job seekers who call or visit our office is that they are too old, they feel that the interviewer is thinking ‘he/she is too old to do this job’. They are sure they can see it flash neon-like across the face of the interviewers when they are introduced. They believe the myth that it is nearly impossible to find a challenging job when you are over 45 years old and impossible if you have topped 50. These job seekers feel discouraged before they even start because they have bought into the myth that they will automatically be discriminated against because of their age. They are wrong.

There is no automatic discrimination against experienced workers. Yes, it may take some work but older workers are successfully finding jobs everyday. Guess what, people say the same thing about there being discrimination against younger workers but they, too, are finding jobs. Getting a job is more a matter of state of mind than how old you are. The experienced worker brings more advantages to the interviews than the detriments that come with age. They have good skills that have been tested time and again. Their time tested skills and their maturity adds balance to the young workers raw enthusiasm and good schooling. There is nothing wrong with teams of either experienced workers or of less experienced younger workers, but the best teams will be a mixture of both. A mixed team will make good use of the raw eagerness of the younger workers governed by the team members who bring life experiences and are able to see all sides of the situation.

If you want to see age discrimination, you will find it whether you are a young bright-eyed graduate or a gray haired experienced worker. The younger worker is less qualified to be able to counter the perceived discrimination when they are faced with it than their counterpart on the other end of the age spectrum and we all have heard about it in the media. The experienced worker understands the corporate world, understands how executives think and how the person on the other side of the desk thinks which gives them a leg up. That is a big advantage over the younger worker who does not bring those talents. Gray hair and the wrinkles do add character and work smarts, use it.

TLets look at what the young worker brings to the job. Their schooling is current, they have learned all the latest methods and they are used to studying. Their understanding of the world is book learned; is case studied. Is that the real world? Didn’t you find that the real world and the corporate world were significantly different than what you had learned in the structured classroom? Be honest. You know that is the case.

They do bring boundless unharnessed energy that will take training and will take time to develop. The one thing that employers tell us all the time is that they don’t have the time to train the young worker. Employers want someone who has the stars out of their eyes. They do not have the manpower to tutor the young worker. Many employers tell us that they understand that even if they do all of that training and development that the young worker will leave them within eighteen to twenty months and then they will have to start the process all over again with the next group of young workers. They tell us the expenditure of training dollars is just too much when they are talking about the young worker. Statistics show that many young workers are afraid to ask the questions that will even save their lives. Twenty young workers died in Ontario last year alone. This is a horrible statistic that must be changed and I know that the WS&IB, companies and labour combined with the Safe Communities Foundations are working to change it. But it is just the tip of the iceberg, that unbridled energy drives the younger worker to take chances that are unnecessary and cost dollars and I am not just talking just about safety.

Conversely they go where a more experienced worker would not even think of going because their perception of the world is different and sometimes they make tremendous discoveries that are truly amazing and will bring big rewards to their employers. But for every one of those boundary-shattering discoveries there are hundreds of abysmal failures that cost big dollars for their employers. Now granted that can happen at any age, but the experienced worker has years of experience to draw on to temper their untried discoveries, there by saving countless false starts. Often the young worker is involved in a new marriage and starting a family and that takes energy and lots of time. They may be completing their education on a part-time basis and asking their employer to foot the bill for this. There will be days that they are off the job because of childcare issues. Yes, in the year 2000 that is often the case for both the male and the female workers, childcare is now a shared responsibility in families with young children where both mom and dad work outside the home. The young worker may actually have more time off of work than the older worker.

Now for the experienced or older worker, what do they bring to the job? They bring gray hair and wrinkles certainly but those are life badges that they have earned through trial and error. They, too, have an education. Many more of the experienced workers will have an education through the school of hard knocks or they have added to their formal schooling with a post-graduate degree from the school of hard knocks. They see the world for what it is. They bring a cornucopia of experience that encompasses formal training, work experiences from other companies and just plain old-fashioned life experiences that will add to your talent knowledge base.

In most cases they bring with them a work ethic that says you do not stop until your job is done. It has been engrained in them from infancy that work comes first, that to succeed they must put the effort in and do what it takes to get the job done. Because of their vast experience they can look at a problem from all sides and see the situation in its true light and are able to draw on all those experiences to find the solutions. Isn’t it interesting that the majority of the high priced consultants that companies hire are those same experienced gray haired wrinkled people? Think about it. The experienced person comes with verifiable work references so their new employers know both their strengths and weaknesses before they start the job. The experienced worker will in all likelihood spend less time chatting around the water cooler or on the telephone on personal calls

The gray haired worker will likely have less time off because they have a cold, but yes there is a greater risk that the person may have a debilitating illness. It is true that the insurance companies will see the older worker as a higher risk than their younger counterpart and that will effect a company’s group insurance experience rating. The gray haired worker statistically will stay with the company, therefore there will be the need for less training dollars to be spent on doing the same training repeatedly because many young worker move on to greener pastures. The experienced worker can be a great source of skills transferal training to those younger workers.

The down side of the experienced worker is that some of them just want to put in their time until they retire. But for companies their long-time older workers are more likely to have that mindset. They feel safe, protected. For the experienced worker that is out there looking for new work they likely have discovered there is no safe and protected positions today. They have tasted reality and they know that they will have to do a better job than their younger counterparts if they do not wish to face the bitter taste of termination yet again.

Almost guaranteed the gray-haired worker that is out seeking a new position after 45 years old will stay until they retire. They will take on a role that is perhaps more onerous and less immediately rewarding that the up and comer. Many experienced workers bring talents that cannot be book-learned.

Often I have had employers tell me that the gray-haired worker is technologically challenged and that may be true. But is the person up to date enough to meet the employer’s standards that should be the only consideration. I likely hear more often from young workers that the reason they are leaving their employer is because the company is not leading edge enough in technology. There may also be training dollars available to help employers train older workers on the new technology gap.

Where the problem does lie, is with how the older worker views himself or herself. I see every day the gray-haired worker who starts the conversation by saying "I know there is likely not a lot that you can do for me because I am over 40, or 45." " I know that I likely won’t be hired because I am old." There in lies much of the discrimination against the gray-haired worker. YOU ARE ONLY OLD IF YOU YOURSELF BELIEVE YOU ARE OLD. I have successfully placed many workers who are well into his/her 50’s and even into their 60’s. No, not as many as the younger ones, but we do not see as many older workers’ applying for positions either.

We do not see our employers saying, "No, I will not see that person because he/she is old." We do hear after the interview, "No, he/she is not right for the job. He/She has the skills but lacks the willingness to change." "I felt he is hiding something, he/she was not forth coming in our discussions." "He/She is bitter." "He told me how I should do my job."

The older worker is less likely to voluntarily go out looking for new work, therefore when we do see one right off the bat we know that the older worker has experienced a formidable blow to their self-esteem. It is that traumatic thing that makes them feel old and unwanted. It is often easier for the older worker to accept that the reason he or she was released is because of age than to face the fact that they perhaps allowed their skills to become out-dated. If the gray-haired worker feels good about his/her self whether through professional counseling or strong family and community support he/she will do much better seeking a new job. It all, too often, is the bitterness that the older worker displays that costs him/her the job of his/her choice.

We see it displayed all too frequently in job seekers coming into our office seeking assistance. I can assure you that we did not go out and drag them out of their cars by the hair and force them to come into our office for our assistance. But you would think that is exactly what we did. When they walk through the door you can see the chip on their shoulder, they are belligerent to our administrative staff. They refuse to follow the directions they are given about our process and if they do continue they huff and puff away all the time they do it. Too often we hear "I do not fill in applications!" Sometimes they walk out rather than bend. It is usually a pretty good indication of their job readiness. They aren’t. When our consultants interview them they are monosyllabic or outright hostile when they are asked to explain why they are seeking a new job. Now certainly this is a generalization, there are likely just as many that are outgoing, willing and genuine when they come to our office. However it is those that cannot accept what has happened that yell the loudest about how they are discriminated against.

Another thing that often costs the older worker his/her job is the fact that they are resistant to change. "That is not the way we used to do it." That refrain will cost the older worker his/her job because to not change is to die in the working world. It also shows the employer that they have a worker who has stopped learning and growing. The older worker that has stopped learning is a determent to their employer but that has always been the case, and this is not a new phenomenon. Only in days gone past the worker was shoved aside into a solitary role that would not impact the company. In today’s fast paced lean corporate structure there are just not those solitary roles to put the worker who is dead from the shoulders up. Today it is called restructuring and those workers are outplaced.

The gray-haired worker as a job seeker does need to perhaps update their hairstyle or at least make sure that it is freshly cut. It is an individualistic thing but a hair colour may help the worker feel better about themselves, yes that is for both sexes. We are not talking about trying to hide your experience but make you feel better about yourself. Gentlemen if you are an experienced worker that feels that age may cost you jobs, why where a beard or mustache that is gray and advertises your age before you open your mouth. Maybe now is the time to come clean as in clean-shaven. It is only a suggestion, but you may be dating yourself.

For both men and women have you allowed the youth glow to fade from your skin? Now may be the time to turn over a new leaf and invest in some good skin care products specifically a good mask and exfoliate. Men exfoliate their lower faces everyday shaving. The shaving removes the upper most layers of skin encouraging the growth of new fresh skin. That is why many men’s lower faces look much younger than they do around the forehead and eyes. You may not be able to reverse the wrinkles but you can make your face appear more alive by regenerating your skin by shedding the old. A little tan makes many people look healthy also.

You have lived a good life and your smile shows it, then a visit to the dentist may be in order as well as a careful dental regiment. White sparkling teeth will make your smile more infectious and if you know it is a good one you are more likely to smile. Smiles help keep people from thinking you are a grumpy old man or women. Remember it takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown.

Is your wardrobe dated? Do your children roll their eyes at how you dress? Well, guess what that is how a recruiter will view you too. You do not need to spend a lot of money on clothes. If money is tight there are some good shops around that recycle clothes for a fraction of the original cost. You may be surprised at the quality and how current the styles are. I am not talking about wearing teenybopper style clothes but ageless styles that transcend age. Look for items that you can mix and match whether new or recycled, it will make your money go further. Stick to colours that suit you and likely ones that do not have much of a pattern and certainly no busy plaids or patterns. Key over all is that the clothes fit you or you will be pulling on them self-consciously.

Take the time to make sure your clothes are not in need of cleaning, pressing or mending. A sagging hem or a missing button will make you look unkempt and frumpy. Dressing for a job interviews is a bit like preparing for an acting role so make sure everything is in order.

If you have become complaisant in your exercise regime now is the time to get a move on. That is not to say that you need to shed all those additional pounds that you may be carrying but it may be the time to initiate yet another round of dieting. I know it is easier said than done, but you want to display energy in interviewing situations. At the very least get out and go for some walks, breath deep and move your arms also, you will feel better and look better too. If you do some exercise you will stand taller and have more of a spring in your step. A word of caution though, seek medical counsel before you undertake any exercise or diet program.

You are only an old worker when you allow yourself to be one; otherwise you are an experienced worker who has a breadth of knowledge to share.

Content provided courtesy of Marlene McIntyre, CPC
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