Do you want to work more?
Do you want to work more?
While employers claim they are struggling to find workers, mature workers are being overlooked in the race to fill positions.
However, according to the World Health Organization it is estimated that if 5 per cent more people aged 55 or older were employed it would benefit the Australian economy by as much as $48 billion annually.
There is a perception older workers don’t adapt well to technology but many of them have been using computers or technology for the majority of their careers, and almost all of them own at least one device, usually a smart phone.
Are we dismissing the contribution older workers can make? Has it happened to you? How do we ‘sell’ ourselves better to employers?
1 comments
1 comments
I was made redundant in my late 40's after working for the one company since age 15. I found out the hard way what ageism is all about and struggled to find any work regardless of whether it was manual or clerical. I was "overqualified", "underqualified", "perfect for the job but a better candidate also applied" or, in most cases, didn't get any response or interview. Employers are clever with the ability to cover their arses as regards discrimination but are not clever enough to see what an older person can bring to a business. In most cases another employer has paid for the mistakes an employee has made and learned from.
I have a friend who was a site manager for a building company and he hired an older carpenter which his boss queried, pointing out that the older guy was just standing there rolling a cigarette whilst a younger guy was into it. My friend asked the boss to come back at knock-off so he could show him the difference. At the end of the day the older carpenter had completed about the same amount of construction but there were less off-cuts of timber. The boss was told that as the older guy was rolling a cigarette, he was also sizing up the job and working out the best way to complete the job with the least amount of wastage which also meant not as much actual work. Us older people know how to work smarter, not harder.