20 Ways Older Job-Seekers Can Sell Themselves

Are you an older skilled worker who has been through a couple of decades of cyclical job expansion and contraction? Then you should be able to gain a few pearls of wisdom from this article. We sometimes forget the benefits that older works bring to a potential (or existing) employer. You do not have to be in sales to leverage you strengths. So how about selling yourself?(Editor's Note) 


1. You understand recessions: Older workers have seen hard times before -- the bursting of the 1990s tech bubble, recession in the early 1980s, the oil crisis of the mid-1970s -- and they understand that businesses have to adjust. Knowing, too, that expansions always follow, older workers can bring a steady perspective to a jumpy workplace.


2. You have a healthy fear of slowdowns: Sure, you've seen them before. Older workers' steadiness can be accompanied by a fair dose of worry: You know that downturns can last for long periods of time, and you've witnessed the obliteration of job security, so you know that you need to be increasingly ready and willing to do what it takes to keep your job.

3. You're willing to work part time: Older workers most crave flexibility, according to a RetirementJobs.com survey. Many want to spend more of their time doing things they enjoy -- traveling, perhaps, or playing with their grandkids -- and they're often willing to accept a part-time schedule or reduced hours. As employers increasingly cut back on hours, a willingness to be flexible can make a job seeker more attractive to a greater variety of companies.

4. You have real-life experience: Today, employers need workers who can hit the ground running, and older workers have more real-world, less theoretical experience, says John Challenger of Challenger Gray & Christmas. "They've been there before and seen more situations," Challenger says.

5. You want to be challenged: Forget resting on your laurels -- a Penn State study found that challenging work is the thing that older workers want most.

Click here to read part 2 of this article


Have you taken the 7 Minute Career Test? Its Free:) Take It here

Want to ACE your Next Job Interview? Learn More.

_____________________________________________________
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE POSTED ABOVE

4 Ways to Ace Your Next Job Interview

Stand Out and Ace Your Job Interview

You’ve got a terrific resume. You’ve crafted the perfect cover letter. Now, you’ve been called in for that all important interview. You know that over 50 people applied for this one position, and they will be interviewing qualified candidates for several days. What can you do to distinguish yourself from the competition?


There are many articles about interviewing skills, questions interviewers might ask, and mistakes to avoid when you interview. While those are helpful, when the competition is as stiff as you are experiencing today, you need to stand out. Here are some tips to help you do just that.


Ace Your Next Interview ?

1. Do Some Research

Learn about the company. Get a copy of their last annual report or news report. Go to their website and learn the company’s mission and customers. Google them to see why they are making news. See who is on the board of directors and who holds the top positions. This will, of course, vary based on the size of the company. If it is a huge conglomerate, learn as much as you can about the division in which you are interviewing.


If possible, when they call to set up the interview, ask who you will be meeting with. Google them. That helps you remember names, and by knowing what they do, you can make your answers more relevant.

For example, if you are interviewing with a nonprofit agency and members of the board of directors will be interviewing you, knowing the companies they represent will give you more insight into their priorities. If you are interviewing with a small firm, look up the HR team if possible. If you are interviewing with the manager you might be working for, Google him or her. It may give you some common interests or insights you might benefit from knowing ahead of time.


Do you know anyone working for the company or who has done business with them? Ask these people about the company and specifically whether they know the people who will be interviewing you. Ask what their own interview was like.

2. Prepare

Be prepared to tell them about yourself with items they haven’t already read about in your resume while also using examples that match the company’s mission and goals.

For example, if you are going to be writing press releases, bring examples of your writing. If you are going into a technical field, have a summary and list of your key papers, patents and research. If you will be doing marketing, bring an example of a great marketing activity on which you worked previously. If you are interviewing with a nonprofit organization, discuss volunteer work you have done, especially if it involved raising monies. If you are fresh out of college and this is your first job, bring examples of leadership, key activities, honors and organizations in which you participated.

You may never even pull this file out during the interview but preparing it gets you ready for questions.

You will be asked questions like:

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

What are your goals?

Why do you want this job?

Prepare your answers with the key message you want to impart but don’t memorize your answer word-for-word. You should be natural and involved.

3. Have Your Own Killer Questions Ready

Remember: You are interviewing them just as much as they are interviewing you. By having these questions prepared, you have control over where the interview goes. Relax, listen, and ask your killer questions.
some good questions to ask are:
What do you consider an ideal candidate?
Be prepared to compare yourself to this. (If there was an ad for this position, it may have listed some ideal qualities, so you can prepare your answer ahead of time).

What are the main challenges this position needs to solve?
They will also likely ask you how you would go about solving these challenges. You might then ask, What has been tried so far, and how has it worked? Getting into a give-and-take of questions and answers on a topic like this can set you apart from those other 49 candidates.
When I interviewed for a position at IBM, one of the interviewing managers discussed a key technical problem they were working on. I asked a lot of questions, suggested some things to try and before I knew it, we were both working together to solve the problem. At that point, I knew I had him “hooked.”
Ask about some of the basics.
If you are interviewing for a managerial or leadership position, ask what your budget would be and how it is broken down. If you are interviewing for a marketing position, ask who their clients are and what have been some of their most successful marketing campaigns.

A friend seeking a job at a nonprofit was asked if she had done any fundraising. She asked first about the ones that the organization found most successful, so that she could identify similar experiences she’d had. She then hit them with an idea about something she had done previously that they had never considered. At that point, they were “hooked.”
The questioning process is your chance to WOW them. Impress them with your knowledge, interest and energy. And let yourself enjoy the process! Pretend you were actually in the company working on the issues you discuss, and before you know it, they, too, will be “hooked.”

Most job seekers spend too much time on the questions they will be asked and forget about the ones they should be asking. By asking questions, you can direct the conversation into the areas where you excel, and by making them Killer Questions, you will stand well above the other candidates.

4. Leave on a High Note

When you are ready to leave, you need to have a 30 second or less thank you speech — tell them how much you appreciate their time and reiterate why you think you are a strong candidate as well as your interest in helping them be successful.

You should also ask when you might expect to hear back from them.

Finally, remember that all important thank you note which you should send out the next day. (In today’s world, an email is an acceptable alternative and much quicker than snail mail.) Thank them for their time. Make it personal and relevant by referring to some key points from the interview.

Renee Weisman, owner of Winning at Work Consulting, was one of the first woman engineers, managers, executives and working mothers in the male-dominated semiconductor industry. Over her 40 years in education and industry, she learned to make gender differences work for her and teaches others how to do the same.She is the author of Winning in a Man’s World, and  5 Ways to Get a Man to Listen.


Read More On How To Nail Your Next Job Interview
Free: 49 Benefits To Hiring An Older Worker: Download Here.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE POSTED ABOVE

7 Mistakes Job-Seekers Over 50 Make

A good portion of the e-mail I receive is from readers over age 50 who are looking for work after a layoff. Many tell me they found their last job more than a decade ago, in the classifieds of their local newspaper. Many more say they're daunted -- understandably so -- by the foul job market, the prospect of ageism and the likelihood of being interviewed by someone half their age.

All of them worry about the generalizations some short-sighted employers make about older workers. Either they see you as overqualified and overpriced, or they believe you're inflexible and technologically challenged. Perhaps they suspect you're just biding your time and taking up space until retirement rolls around.

We've all heard countless career experts (yours truly included) offer the same old job hunting solutions for workers over 50:

But platitudes will only get you so far. So let's talk about the top mistakes that hopeful hires over age 50 make and how to avoid them.

Telling Yourself That No One Hires Older Workers

I hear a lot of 50- and 60-somethings make this complaint. Yes, older candidates have to work harder to overcome discrimination, and no, it's not fair. But that doesn't mean every employer is hell-bent on shutting out all candidates over 35.

Example: The site RetirementJobs.com lists more than 30,000 full-time and part-time jobs nationwide with "age-friendly employers." Other job sites that cater to older workers: Jobs 4.0, Retired Brains, Seniors4Hire and Workforce50.com. In addition, AARP offers this list of the best employers for workers over 50.

So, please, don't tell me no one's hiring older workers.

Putting an Expiration Date on Contacts

You've been on this crazy hamster wheel we call "work" for at least three decades now, so you might as well milk the vast contact list you've amassed for all its worth. It's perfectly acceptable to reach out to former employers, co-workers, vendors, classmates and other colleagues you haven't corresponded with in a decade or two. (Searching sites like LinkedIn and Facebook make finding them a snap.) Not only will your peers understand, more of them are likely reaching out to their long-lost contacts, too.

Doing a History Dump

The No. 1 mistake I see with older candidates is they include too much information in their resume," said Cathy Severson, a career coach who runs the site Retirement Life Matters. "Clear the clutter, old-dated, irrelevant information from your resume."

Instead, tailor your resume to the job you're applying for -- each time. Two to three pages and 15 years of relevant experience is more than enough.

Likewise, be careful that you don't turn an interview into a snooze-inducing laundry list of your top 100 achievements over the past 30 years, said Tom Mann of TR Mann Consulting, a marketing and advertising firm specializing in boomers and older workers.

Experienced workers are so eager to show their skills off that they do a 'history dump,'" he said. "While it's important to share your relevant skills, how you present is equally important. Show that you are also fun. Remember, Gen Y doesn't want to feel like they're working with their mom or dad."

Copping an Attitude

Equally damaging is acting superior to an interviewer who's younger than you or showing up with a chip on your shoulder the size of the national debt.

"It's not a good idea to tell the person how much you can teach them," said Cynthia Metzler, president and CEO of Experience Works, a national nonprofit that provides job training to low-income workers over 55. "But it is a good idea to tell them if you have any experience working or volunteering in a multigenerational workplace."

Winging the Interview

Not practicing for your interviews is another no-no, especially if you haven't been on one since the Reagan administration. If you're not sure how your interview rap is coming across, Metzler suggests enlisting a 20- or 30-something pal or colleague to do a test drive with you:

"If you know you're going to be interviewed by someone who's 25 and you're 65, then find someone who's 25 and have them interview you."

Arthur Koff, the 70-something who runs the job site Retired Brains, suggests taking it one step further:

"Try to get an interview with an employer you are not interested in working for as practice. You don't want to go to your first [important] interview in a long time and make easily correctable mistakes."

Failing to Embrace Your Inner Geek

As a Gen Xer, I didn't grow up making videos and blogging about my every burp and hiccup. I'm actually one of the biggest Luddites I know. But like many of my tech-challenged peers, I've learned that blogging about my field and using the micro-blog Twitter are simple ways to get noticed by potential employers (how do you think I got this gig?).

As long as you act like yourself and don't show up squeezed into your kids' clothes, no one will accuse of you being a 20-something wannabe. Instead, people will be impressed by your tech skills.

"I have interviewed and hired people close to twice my age," said Asher Adelman, founder and CEO of the job site GreatPlaceJobs. "I would highly recommend that older job seekers take advantage of social media platforms, which happen to be very easy to use, even for technophobes, in order to give the impression that they are in tune with the latest technological advances. This will work wonders for convincing young interviewers that you have the ability to work and relate with younger co-workers and excel in today's rapidly changing workplace."

Ignoring the Overqualified Elephant in the Room

As we all know, when employers see candidates applying for a job below their experience level or tax bracket, their hackles go up. So if you're going for a position with less pay or responsibility than you've been accustomed to, it's your job to explain in your cover letter and the interview why this is.

"It could be because they've had a very stressful career life and now would enjoy having their hands in something that is still part of a team but doesn't involve so many headaches," said Judi Perkins, a recruiter for 22 years who now works as a career coach. "It could be they're willing to take a cut in pay because the almighty dollar just isn't as important to them anymore."

Whatever rationale you give (no longer interested in climbing the ladder, done with working 14-hour days, miss the hands-on tasks you did before joining management), be sure to let potential employers know that you're interested in them, rather than just a job.

If you need more help getting up to speed with today's brave new job hunt, visit your local career center and check out AARP's excellent job hunting advice for older workers.

Whatever you do, don't throw in the towel before you've even tried. Your tattooed, flip-flop wearing counterparts need someone who's been around the block a few times to show them how this work thing's really done.

This work is the opinion of the columnist and in no way reflects the opinion of ABC News.

Michelle Goodman is a freelance journalist, author and former cubicle dweller. Her books — "The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube" and "My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire" (October 2008) -- offer an irreverent take on the traditional career guide. More tips on career change, flex work and the freelance life can be found on her blog, Anti9to5Guide.com
Free (Download): 49 Benefits In Hiring An Older Worker 
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/Story?id=6751506&page=1


Would you like to Create  Brilliantly Crafted Cover Letters? You Can Here.
Would you like to Create a Better Resume? Yes you can here and now.

_______________________________________________

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE POSTED ABOVE

Want Some Easy Steps To De-clutter and Improve Your Resume?

So many of you job seekers are constantly asking us how can you improve your resume.  Well there are some simple ways to do this. Most you want the recruiter or screening process to put your resume in that "A" pile when you are potentially competing with 100's or 1,000's of applicants.  You can now review all of our resume building articles below including  "Steps to De-Clutter your resume".  I thought it might be a good way to get your job search on track. Hope you find this useful and have a great week.
Read here to see all of the articles on improving your resume. 


Need Help Effectively Using LinkedIn For Your Job Search? Start Here.  

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE POSTED ABOVE