You Are a Classic: An Employment Guide for Baby Boomers

Introduction

Forty-four years working in the employment industry as an executive recruiter have taught me that finding a job is not only about sending out resumes and interviewing. The process requires an emotional investment from the job hunter and often a supportive effort from family and caring friends. A long-lasting job search can easily disturb an entire family’s emotional equanimity. You may worry about paying bills or inadvertently neglecting the needs of other family members. For many, the inability to bring home the bacon is fundamentally linked to self-image and self-worth.

You Are a Classic is a complete employment guide written especially for members of the Baby Boomer generation: those born during the years from 1946 to 1964. I chose this title in the belief that employers can expect value added when they hire a seasoned job candidate with years of practical experience. I wrote this book not only to address the how-to of job hunting for Baby Boomers but also to inspire a sense of optimism and to convey information that will help readers lessen their emotional burdens.

This employment guide will give you clear and concise insights, allowing you to see the employment process as an inclusive system. I will provide you with information and guidance that is easily understood and logical in approach. From dealing with stress reduction, to interacting with the interviewer, to overcoming age bias, I explain the motivation behind my instructions so that you have a complete comprehension of the material rather than just a prescribed set of instructions.

I believe you must also understand the what and the why of job hunting. With so many forces out of your control, nothing is predictable, other than the fact that—while under pressure—you will continually be asked to meet and interface with different attitudes and personalities. Your strength is your consistent ability to convince others that you are worthy of being hired. I suggest you focus not only on details (the job lead, the initial contact by resume or employment application, the interview, and the follow-up) but also on the fundamental concepts and how they apply to any situation you may experience.

The chapters are arranged strategically to emphasize these concepts and provide practical help. Further, the material provides support for many internal emotional challenges you may encounter to help you maintain a positive attitude and energetic motivation. I also provide basic job-hunting strategies, professional insights into employment interviews, practical suggestions regarding employment documents, valuable tricks of the trade culled from my decades of working in the employment industry, and—most of all—advice about the critical issues facing Baby Boomers looking for work.

For the most part, the chapters in this book are interdependent, and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The material found in one chapter will be more effective if you put it into practice in combination with advice from the other chapters. Each chapter has a message meant to make you a savvy and capable job hunter. Some speak to specific tasks directly related to a successful job search, and others play a supportive role in that effort. My hope is that you will take advantage of the expert instruction offered and integrate this knowledge with your own creativity as you search for a job.

Chapter 1 introduces the overarching premise of this book: as a seasoned employment candidate looking for work in the 21st century, you need not view yourself as someone in decline, but instead as an individual possessing certain advantages provided by the gift of longevity. Rather than deny your age, use it to promote the benefits it can provide your next employer. Opportunities for older applicants are becoming more accessible, despite lingering vestiges of antiquated hiring practices based on old economic models. The modern-thinking Baby Boomer is becoming a new standard of candidate for employers seeking reliable, dependable, capable, and knowledgeable workers. While the dream of early retirement fades from the lives of many Boomers, this chapter also advocates the need for new language to communicate the abilities of healthy, vital, and seasoned job hunters.

Chapter 2 takes a closer look at the emotional realm of job hunting. Despite the seeming randomness and lack of personal control involved with job hunting, by cultivating your internal strengths and a positive self-image, you can endure and succeed. This chapter examines the benefits of self-confidence within the context of shifting demographics in the workplace, demonstrating that age is worthy of positive acceptance. Despite self-doubt, it is possible to take a more active role in reducing the overwhelming feelings of negativity and anxiety.

Chapter 3 deals with the functional operation of your job search, asserting that you can take an aggressive approach by acting on the constant flood of valuable information surrounding you to greatly increase the potential for job leads. It illustrates that there are several ways for a savvy job hunter to create potential without relying solely on job postings. By starting with the smallest circle of friends and personal contacts, and eventually expanding your networks exponentially through the use of popular social media platforms, you can find any number of job leads. Furthermore, an abundance of more obscure leads are just waiting to be discovered through the clues found in all forms of available media.

Chapters 4 and 5 contain related and complementary messages that get to the very heart of the issues associated with being a Baby Boomer in an employment market that celebrates youth and views aging candidates as far less attractive. Chapter 4 instructs how to skillfully overcome the often-prevalent negative myths surrounding your age. Chapter 5 demonstrates how, as a Classic job hunter, you have the ability to use positive cultural characterizations to promote yourself as a value-added applicant, making you more competitive with younger candidates.

Chapter 6 focuses on resume writing specifically styled for the Classic job hunter. You can design your resume to attract employers instead of inadvertently emphasizing detrimental information.

Chapters 7 and 9 consider issues that come directly before and after interviews that can increase your chances of overall success. Some sections focus on functional topics to help you deal with bread-and-butter items like cover letters, employment applications, thank-you notes, and references. Others discuss perspective and strategy. Each chapter has its own particular insights to improve the quality and effectiveness of your effort.

Chapter 8 advocates that you can effectively and successfully navigate even the most difficult interviewing styles. It examines various aspects of an employment interview, giving expert advice, detailed insights, and professional interviewing techniques to help you influence a positive outcome with nearly any interviewer.

Chapter 10 declares that every job hunter must embrace technology in the search for work in the 21st century. Modern technology can no longer be underestimated or ignored in practical application. With all of its advantages, there are also certain limitations and potential detriments that should dictate your careful approach to the market. This chapter sheds light on key issues associated with technology and 21st-century job hunting that will help you get hired in the modern employment environment.

Finding the Fit: All Parts in Place

It is my sincere wish that, although the journey to find work may be fraught with difficult challenges, your experience will be made easier and you will reach your destination sooner with the information in these pages. I will help you learn how to use the positive characteristics associated with age to place yourself in a preferred position with an interviewer. I will show you how to use your years and life experience as an asset to getting hired. I will explain why, given a historic demographic shift in the US population, you have a unique opportunity to gain employment. Just as I have done for hundreds of others, I will be your personal employment trainer and coach, offering my expertise and support, and guiding you to success in your efforts to land a job.

In the world of job hunting, it is not unusual for candidates who write good resumes to fail in interviews because they are unable to discuss their experiences confidently and in convincing detail. It is also not unusual for candidates who shine in interviews to fail to receive job offers because they did not take the time to secure good references or they misrepresented themselves on an employment application.

It is all meant to work together!

Let’s begin!

How to Use You Are a Classic

You Are a Classic is a job-hunting guide tailored especially for Baby Boomers in the midst of a demographic paradigm shift that challenges current thinking about aging and work. With advances in medical science and an emphasis on healthier lifestyles, Baby Boomers and the generations that follow will experience greater longevity and extended years of productivity. This dramatic change is testing conventional hiring practices, requiring managers to modify their preconceptions. Baby Boomers can lead the way in showing business owners the benefits of hiring aging candidates. Once employed, Boomers will not merely staff positions but will bring added value to the company.

The information in this guide can be utilized in the following ways:

Chronological. Read each chapter from beginning to end as an overview to gain insight into the interdependent nature of the job-hunting process.

Individual chapter review. This method is recommended to focus on material for additional support and to further enhance performance, especially during a specific stage of the job-hunting process.

Revisiting chapter exercises. This method will help the reader maintain search discipline and reinforce a strong personal message by evaluating interview answers and attitudes.

Index topic study. Use the index as a study guide to revisit chapter topics through a random selection of subtopics. Pick a chapter and choose a cluster of subtopics to review and enrich your understanding of interviewing dynamics, to get more comfortable with the process, and to inspire and motivate yourself.

Chapter 1

You Are a Classic

A Classic is of lasting significance, time-honored and enduring.

Gray Is Good

The labels used to characterize today’s aging generation—seniors or middle-aged—carry adverse connotations. They give a false perception of abilities and can negatively impact hiring decisions. Ironically, these years are often referred to as the prime of life. Yet yesterday’s narrow and limiting employment practices have been made irrelevant by the ever-evolving advances in medical and business technology. Boomer-aged job hunters are a modern group of candidates deserving of a more positive designation, one that more aptly defines us as a group.

The word Classic more accurately describes who you are and what you represent as a potential employee. As a Classic, you retain a vital spirit and enthusiasm for life and work. You celebrate rather than apologize for your years. A Classic has no need to approach an interview with fear that your candidacy will be dismissed because your hair is gray and you wear some wrinkles. I will show you how to use the gift of longevity to get hired. The time you have invested in life can work to your advantage because you are a Classic!

On the Road Together

First, accept the fact that job hunting is a very lonely prospect. It often coincides with financial difficulties and emotional turmoil among your family members, who may not be as sympathetic and supportive as you might wish. But you are not alone in this endeavor. A large proportion of Baby Boomers will keep working to support themselves, and in some cases their adult children and elderly parents as well.

An article published on October 6, 2010, by Melissa Brown and others with the Center of Aging & Work at Boston College claimed that older workers will soon become the ‘new normal’—fully 75% of workers aged 50 and older expect to have retirement jobs in the future. . . . ‘Working in retirement’ is quickly becoming a new stage in career progression.

According to data found on the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS), as of 2012, about 52 million, or 68 percent of the 76.4 million Boomers, were still in the labor force (including the armed forces). This number represented about one-quarter of the estimated 2012 US population of 314 million people. In a September 2014 article, Paola Scommegna, senior writer and editor at the Population Reference Bureau, wrote, A growing share of Americans are working beyond their 65th birthdays, a reversal that began about 25 years ago. This upswing appears likely to continue as more members of the baby-boom generation . . . reach traditional retirement age.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2014, more than two million individuals between the ages of 50 and 69 were unemployed. This figure represented the number of unemployed individuals actively seeking work but not those who were unemployed and had given up looking—referred to as discouraged workers.

Job hunting is life in transition and is typically a period of frustration and anxiety. It is also a time when comfortable personal routines are disrupted—you are focused on obtaining something with an unknown outcome, and it is unsettling. This fact is even more true if you have spent most of your adult life working for only one or two employers. Job hunting can be daunting, if not completely overwhelming. Sometimes disappointment and rejection are your only companions.

Starting from this moment, you have a champion in your corner who has more than 40 years of in-the-trenches employment industry experience. I will help you fight back against the ignorance of age bias by presenting a fresh look at job hunting in the 21st century. In addition to giving comprehensive job-hunting advice and interviewing techniques, I offer hope, new ideas, a way to restore confidence and build empowerment, and, most importantly, possibility rather than defeat.

I am here to show you the ropes and help you with every aspect of your job search. We are now working together to get you hired!

Road Map to Employment

We live in a culture that worships youth. We are constantly subjected to messages from the media telling us that being younger is better—that youth is somehow more worthwhile and more attractive. For many employers, this message translates into the idea that younger people make better employees. We have all absorbed society’s misguided message that older people are incapable of being productive: we can’t learn anything new, we are too inflexible, and we don’t have the energy to do the job!

You may think that seeking a job as an aging person is futile and that your age is a barrier between you and a paycheck. I am here to say that it is absolutely untrue! To the contrary, age has its advantages in the workplace. You can become a compelling candidate and greatly boost your chances of receiving an offer by doing two things: The first is to break down the barriers of stereotypes surrounding older job seekers. The second is to sell your age as a value-added asset.

We Are Classics

We are living in an era of historic demographic change. The Baby Boomer generation is a transforming influence, driving many of the policies and practices of this new century. To a significant degree, Boomers are rearranging many of the cultural priorities of our modern society. The size of the Boomer generation, until very recently, was unprecedented. (According to a January 2015 US Census Bureau report by Richard Fry, senior researcher on the Pew Research Center’s FactTank, Millennials are projected to surpass Baby Boomers as the nation’s largest living generation by a very slim margin.) The opposite is true of the generation that followed the Boomers: the Baby Busters, also known as Gen X. The US birth rate peaked in the mid-1950s. Nearly 20 percent of Baby Boomers had no children, and 25 percent had only one child. The dearth of a Baby Buster population offers Boomers greater employment opportunities.

Boomers represent a new standard of employment candidate for the 21st century. Boomers are knowledgeable, time tested, trustworthy, and willing and eager to work. They have the necessary skills to contribute to workplace success. They deserve a description that projects a more accurate image not only for their employers but also for themselves. Boomers are products of the 21st century: productive, healthy, engaged, and seasoned by time. They are the perfect package in a market where employers are looking to increase their chances of success and reduce their risks.

This is your time to go on the offense and get hired!

The Classic Employment Candidate

We all have friends who view themselves as old. They talk about the good old days, their aches and pains, and how they just don’t get the same enjoyment out of life as they did when they were younger. They project what used to be called a negative vibe.

Being a Classic is a state of mind. Classics are spirited, energetic, and determined to continue being productive. They view themselves in the mainstream of life and not on the periphery. Classics have demonstrated that they have the drive to succeed. They are passionate about making a contribution and maintaining their enthusiasm for work. They know that motivation is not the sole purview of the young and that desire to work is not dictated by a person’s age.

Classics continue to learn and grow as people, and they have the added perspective and benefit of a lifetime of accumulated knowledge. They want to be active and engaged, not just marking time and waiting for old age. Classics are premium candidates because of their age, not despite it. They can exceed expectations and do a better job than a younger person because of their experience and life lessons. Classics still have control over their lives and available choices. They look toward the future with optimistic expectations. To paraphrase what Maxwell Maltz said in his 1960 book, Psycho-Cybernetics, Classics, in a sense, have nostalgia for the future. They don’t long for retirement as an entitled reward but rather view themselves as remaining engaged within what I refer to as the Working Life Continuum.

Mitra Toossi, Projections of the labor force to 2050, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Monthly Labor Review, October 2012, Pp. 3–14.

https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2012/10/art1full.pdf

Attitude Is Everything

Attitudes influence decisions. Attitudes have a significant effect on the emotional decision to hire one person over another. Almost all hiring is based on an employer’s subjective emotional decisions. Your attitude is perhaps the most important and influential aspect of an interview. You are responsible for setting the emotional tone—the vibe! You must create a constructive emotional foundation for the interviewer. It is an intangible form of communication, one that conveys without words that you are the kind of person they want to hire. It characterizes the dynamic you will bring to their group.

Choice and Aging

Longevity is the new reality, said the editors of the AARP Bulletin in 2008. Due to medical advances and healthier lifestyles, modern 50-year-olds have 30 years of adult life behind them and 25 years of vital adult life ahead. People are not only living longer but leading more active and much more productive lives.

Life expectancy at age 65 is rising

Longevity in the 21st century has radically changed our lifestyles from those of previous generations. Classics believe in modern aging. According to Marc Freedman, CEO and Founder of Civic Ventures, a think tank devoted to Baby Boomers’ work and social purpose, and author of Prime Time: How Baby Boomers Will Revolutionize Retirement and Transform America, it is a time of a new kind of aging.

There are differences between physical aging and intellectual aging. The current era of employment characterized by technology and limited physical labor has created more opportunities for the Classic employment candidate. As Gail Sheehy asserted in a 2005 article in Parade Magazine, Those in their 60s have active minds and vigorous bodies and enjoy the benefit of a mature perspective of life.

With this mature perspective comes a new personal expectation—an acknowledgment that you are committed to a strong work ethic, possess an additional insight into human nature, and can be of great value in the workplace. Sheehy goes on to say that this is a stage of life where a maximum of freedom of choice co-exists with a minimum of physical limitations. Physical ability, as opposed to chronological age, is once again