3. How to effectively assist baby boomers (older
workers?) in finding careers, jobs, and
educational opportunities
•
How to establish rapport and manage a good
working relationship with clients over 50
•
•
The over 50 job seeker, characteristics
•
Barriers to employment, stress
Myths (stereotypes) associated with the over
50 population
•
Helpful tools to use when working with this
population:
•
SWOT
MBTI
Encore Careers
4. That there are a large number of
unemployed baby boomers
Once they lose a job, it takes them
twice the amount of time to find a job
than other generations
This is a special population.
Understanding this group, their
strengths, barriers to employment,
stereotypes, discrimination, emotional
stress, financial stress related to
unemployment is important in helping
this unique group of clients.
5.
6. Strengths
Workplace Wisdom
Strong Work Ethic
Team Oriented
Hardworking
Weaknesses
Overcoming fears
Pride
Out of work for a long time
Opportunities
Career Change
WIA Funds for Education
Threats
Age Discrimination
Stereotypes
Action Plan
7. Overcoming fear of the unknown, not knowing
what the future holds, fear of a new career
Grief for the lost career, lost status
Depression
Lack of control over their lives
Inability to financially support themselves and
families
Loss of income, loss of retirement, nest egg
Some are too young for retirement, take early
retirement
Anger
8. FAST FACT: 75% of Fortune
500 Companies are run by
Baby Boomers
10. Older workers don’t
possess the same level of
tech skills as younger
workers.
Reality Check: Baby
boomers have been
working with technology
since the 80s.
They may not be as tech savvy as the under 25 crowd, but they’re catching up. In fact, baby boomers are the
fastest growing demographic on social networking sites like Twitter and Face book.
Outside of those professions where a high level of tech expertise is essential (like IT), most employees only need to
master the technology needed to do their job. And, as we’ve seen in myth #3, older employees are eager to master
new skills and often have solid technical backgrounds.
12. Myth #3: Older workers are less
productive.
Reality Check: Productivity is not a
function of age. Mature workers
produce higher quality work,
which can result in a significant
cost savings for employers.
13. Older workers aren’t flexible or
adaptable. They resist change.
Reality Check: Older workers
are just as adaptable once they
understand the reason for the
change.
14. Older workers don't stay on
the job long.
Reality Check: AARP survey
of workers over 40 found
that 76 percent intend to
keep working and earning
after the traditional
retirement age of 65.
Betty White has said on numerous occasions she will never retire. In… she
turned 91 years old and hasn’t slowed down yet.
15. Older workers can’t keep up with –
they have less energy and stamina.
Reality Check: Most senior
executives are over 50 and, after
many years climbing the corporate
ladder, still put in long hours and
cope well with high stress levels.
As a rule, older workers work just
as hard as, if not harder than, their
younger colleagues. Their
experience and time management
skills allow them to do the same
amount of work in a shorter space
of time.
The Rolling Stones have been making music and touring since….
16. Older workers can't or won't
learn new skills.
Reality Check : Older workers
have superior study habits and
their accumulated experience
actually lowers training costs.
Older workers are generally
eager to learn new skills –
especially technological skills.
They want to keep pace with
change.
At the age of …. Ron Howard became a director….
18. Tool to assist clients in understanding
themselves and how their
personality/temperament relates to
job search, work styles, and career
choice
Helps advisor to build rapport, trust,
confidence, better working relationship
with clients
19. An encore career is work in the second
half of life that combines continued
income, greater personal meaning, and
social impact.
20. "If more people take on encore careers…
Boomers may just be remembered more for
what they did in their 60s than for what they
did in the Sixties."
-Nicholas Kristof
Syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman cites Al
Gore as a "poster child, the model for what
Marc Freedman calls the 'encore career.'
Freedman says, 'Gore found himself by losing
himself - literally losing - and being liberated
from ambition, the idea that there's a
particular ladder you have to scurry up and if
you don't make it to the top it's all over.
Essentially he found a different ladder.'"
21. The Surprising Truth About Older Workers,
Nathaniel Reade, AARP The Magazine,
August/September 2013, published on
www.aarp.org)
