Business & Work

Jim Carley believes that if you approach work with the right attitude, working in later life can be just as self-rewarding as that very first job.

It seems that we are all expected to stay in work far later into life these days. The Government has already decided to scrap the default retirement age of 65 from next October, and is increasing the age at which you can draw a state pension to 66. With uncertainty over how much a pension will really be worth when you come to need it, most people perceive a need to work, in one way or another, beyond their 50s and into their 60s.

But do employers really want to hire older workers? Anyone over the age of 50 who has recently had a job interview may feel like they are swimming against the tide, and that the best jobs are the exclusive reserve of a younger generation. Losing out to a younger candidate can be a pretty disconcerting feeling, especially when none of us are getting any younger ourselves.

There is, of course, legislation geared to ensuring that workers, and job candidates, are not discriminated against on the basis of their age. In October the Equality Act became law, which brought together nine separate pieces of legislation, including regulations concerning age. Its aim is to simplify the law and strengthen it in important ways to help tackle discrimination and inequality. Despite such legislation, age discrimination is often easily camouflaged, with every other reason for a knock-back given by some employers, when what they really want to say is “we think you’re too old”.

But with or without legislation, employers are increasingly taking age seriously. Older workers are forming an increasing percentage of the working population. There are currently 20 million people aged 50 and over in the UK. By 2030 this figure will grow by a further 7 million. There are already over 1 million people working beyond the current state pension age, 500,000 more than there were in the late nineties. We really are an aging population.

Some employers have been capitalising on the benefits of older workers for a while. You’ve probably seen B&Q commercials on the TV, starring their real staff, many of whom are over 50. B&Q are pioneers in this respect, having first adopted an older workers policy back in the 1980s to keep pace with the recruitment needs of their rapidly expanding chain of new stores. In 1989, as an experiment, B&Q opened a store in Macclesfield staffed entirely by the over 50s. The experiment was a great success; two years later Macclesfield was showing profits 18% higher than the average B&Q store, with staff turnover 6 times lower.

B&Q, along with the likes of Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer, and BT, are all members of the Employers Forum on Age (EFA), an independent network of employers who recognise the need to attract and retain valuable employees whatever their age. For older people looking for work, targeting employers who are openly age positive can be a useful strategy.

Staying in employment in later life is also about keeping up with the pace of change. Advancements in emergent sectors are creating new types of jobs all the time, whilst others are becoming obsolete. There weren’t many Satellite Dish Installers thirty years ago, but there were plenty of Milkmen. These days it’s the complete reverse. The key is to identify transferable skills from one job that you can take to your next, and make them relevant to new employers and new industries.

The challenge may not seem easy. People over 50 are, after all, statistically more likely not to hold any formal qualifications. But help is available. Services such as learndirect.co.uk offer access to a range of accredited on-line courses, and Jobcentre Plus offers back to work support for people over 50, including support for people who may have been recently made redundant. Then there are organisations like PRIME (www.primeinitiative.co.uk), an initiative founded by The Prince of Wales, to help people over the age of 50 to set up in business.

Perhaps the greatest challenge is to stay positive. Job hunting in later life can be confusing, frustrating and even maybe a little bit embarrassing. After a few rejection letters it might be easy to conclude that you’ve been permanently put out to pasture, but persistence is often rewarded. The key is to be flexible and open minded in your expectations of the type of work that you can and are willing to do. You need to accept that, in a changing economy, you might not be able to return to the same type of job that you did in your younger years, or for the equivalent salary, but this doesn’t mean that you have no options at all.

Staying fit, active, and maintaining a sensible diet is also important. A classic employer stereotype of the fifty-plus worker is somebody considered to be prone to ailments and regular sick days. We can’t stop our bodies from slowing down as we get older, but we can look after them through a little modest exercise. A good employee, after all, is a healthy employee.

There are so many benefits which older workers can offer employers: experience, reliability, loyalty, motivation, dedication, punctuality, and maturity. These are the attributes to play to in a job interview. The days of a job for life may be gone, but the days for life in a job are clearly here. If you approach it with the right attitude, working in later life can be just as self-rewarding as that very first job.

Jim Carley

More about Carley Consult

Jim Carley is the Managing Director of Carley Consult Ltd, an agency that provides specialist services to organisations delivering publicly funded employment services helping disadvantaged people return to work.

www.carleyrecruit.co.uk 
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