How to find a job when you have a senior profile?
At present, finding work when one is categorized as “senior”, both in experience and in age, is difficult.
Seniors are no longer judged – often wrongly! – able to work and adapt as well as a junior who is perceived as more full of energy and ambition.
Gone are the days of building a career in the same company until retirement. Many companies today prefer the youngest to avoid the costs and salaries linked to seniority.
So when seniors lose their jobs, they panic that they won’t be able to get hired again.
Finding a job when you’re a senior is a challenging situation, but not impossible. Phew, a little hope? !
There is no age to reorient your career. However, it seems obvious that you don’t look for a job in the same way if you are 20 or 50 years old.
The means of action chosen should differ according to your age.
Here are some techniques for finding a job when you’re over 50 .
Take stock
Many seniors panic and make the mistake of immediately wanting to start looking for a new job without taking the time to take stock and assessment of their skills .
Don’t take your age as a weakness ! Take advantage of this time of professional inactivity to redefine your goals and expectations.
Relearn how to make a CV and update it.
Most seniors haven’t had a job interview or resumes for years and may have broken the habit.
It is therefore interesting to rework this skill if you want to find a job.
You can also fill your free time by discovering new areas or by following training courses to broaden your field of expertise.
Download the latest LinkedIn™ logo and include your LinkedIn™ profile on your resume to make it more effective.
Ask yourself the right questions
Some seniors do not live with the loss of a job and wish to return headlong into the same sector of activity while hoping to obtain an equivalent position.
This may be a mistake, since it robs you of other opportunities.
Take the time to think about a retraining. Ask yourself these questions:
- Do you really want to continue working in this sector?
- Don’t you want to broaden your horizons and explore other professional fields?
- Where are you now in relation to your career?
- Which companies do you want to target?
- Were you really aligned with your values?
- And, deep down, do you have this sense of accomplishment?
Take the time to ask yourself the right questions , and know the position you want, before starting your job search .
Update your CV
The questions being asked, it is now essential for you to relearn how to make a CV correctly and to update it.
CV title and hook
It should be a digest between the desired position, your experience and the level of responsibility that you are capable of assuming.
Avoid qualifiers that can be found on all CVs, such as “ Responsive, persevering, etc. “.
However, do not use outdated headings. In thirty years, the titles of some positions have changed, so you have to adapt. Remember that the headline and caption should be catchy. The objective is to seduce in order to provoke the interview.
To read : LinkedIn™ profile title: how to optimize it? tips and examples
Professional experiences
Your CV must prove that you have really thought about your career, while demonstrating that you have mastered several functions or know several sectors well.
For the most significant positions, describe briefly your missions , the mesures that took place, and above all The obtained results . This means that, for each job targeted, you must reassess the points to be highlighted. Bring out the positive side of your journey!
Your key skills
In a section dedicated to skills , describe those directly related to the desired job, emphasizing your own added value. Do not hesitate to state your major strengths or your key skills.
Knowing what defines you is essential to make a difference. Highlight your knowledge of new digital techniques (social networks, IT skills, etc.). In this article, discover the 20 skills to add to your LinkedIn ™ profile.
Training courses
At your age, it is no longer necessary to specify all the training you have taken. It is preferable to resume only those which are related to the desired position. I recommend that you inspire yourself or adopt this Ideal CV which does not detail the experiences in favor of skills.
Accompany your CV with a motivational email complete and well written.
Please note that the motivation email (the cover letter is dead) and the CV must be adapted to each type of position desired. A poorly adapted CV will be rejected immediately.
Use keywords . Some employers use software that filters CVs based on job-related keywords!
In the same theme, I invite you to read:
Learn how to sell yourself
Self-marketing applies to all ages.
Young people are particularly sensitive to it. Having little or no experience, they generally have to bet everything on their personality and their image to get a job.
Older people believe that their experiences are sufficient to demonstrate their suitability for employment. This is a (serious) mistake!
Whatever the age, you have to sell yourself to succeed . It would therefore be appropriate for older workers to learn the tools of self-marketing. If necessary, be accompanied by a employment specialist Where learn how to use LinkedIn to find a job .
The good thing is that over time you have learned to gain control and confidence. By force of circumstances, you are used to teamwork and you have easier relationships with colleagues.
So also bet on your interpersonal skills!
Thanks to possible failures in the past, you have learned from your mistakes so as not to make them again.
And finally, given your personal situation, you generally have a more stable family situation and are therefore less subject to repeated absences.
By selling yourself in this way, you inevitably increase your chances of being hired again.
Building on experience
Seniors: your initial diplomas are no longer valued as much. When we have no experience, the diploma can be a safe bet. However, when you have several decades of experience under your belt, it is these that will be valued and appreciated by your future employer.
Your strength as a senior lies in the years of accumulated experience. At 50 and over, you have gained some confidence in yourself and your skills. All you have to do is show them to your employer.
Don’t make me say what I didn’t say. Of course, in the event of reorientation or retraining, training is useful to reassure the recruiter and to integrate you as well as possible in this new profession.
To be visible
You may not have been born “digital native” (the generation who learned the internet at school, grew up with it and for whom it is natural), today the need for an online presence is no longer to be demonstrated .
It is essential to have a digital identity. The best way to do this is to have an active account on LinkedIn ™.
Your different jobs and the challenges you have taken on have made you acquire great maturity; moreover, they have enabled you to build up a network of contacts in various fields.
Be present on LinkedIn and having a profile will allow you to:
- Find your network,
- get recommendations,
- to publish and,
- to share relevant content to attract the attention of employers.
A LinkedIn ™ profile is referenced on Google ™, which is a considerable asset for your visibility and your notoriety. If you are not an expert in this network, I invite you to download my (free) checklist of the 32 steps to follow to build an effective profile .
You can also create a blog where you share your expertise in the field in which you want to find a job. Thanks to the internet, and especially to LinkedIn, Position yourself as an expert in your sector to demonstrate your skills to recruiters .
To support you in this process, I have created an online training course that guides you step by step through 11 modules to: find a job with LinkedIn ™. Inside: THE effective method to search without wasting time, original tips, advice that I spend several thousand euros on companies, how the algorithm and groups work … Everything is there to make you win 40 times more opportunities! Click here for: find out how to find a job with LinkedIn ™.
Take an interest in the company
Once you’ve targeted the type of business you want to fit into, it’s worth learning about it.
What are its objectives, its line of action, its values? Do you share them?
Remember that the employer is looking for a candidate who shares the same values and the same objectives as the company. This is why it is preferable to take an interest in the target firm beforehand.
During your job interview, don’t just think about yourself and your interests. You must demonstrate how you are a significant asset for the company . Be able to formulate the positive contributions that will benefit the employer by hiring you .
After your meeting with the recruiter, don’t forget to send them a thank you email which summarizes the key elements of your interview and recalls your motivations.
Optionally, review your criteria
Many seniors, given their age, formulate high demands on working conditions and remuneration, which blocks them from the early stages of the recruitment process .
It is difficult enough to find a job when you are past the “young” age that it would be a shame to compromise your goal by having requirements that may cause a recruiter to choose a competitor for you.
Unfortunately, it will sometimes be necessary to accept to be satisfied with less good conditions than those which you had known until then if you want to find a job.
Solutions at a glance
It is not easy to find work again when you are over a certain age.
Judged, many seniors find themselves on the bench while waiting to be able to re-enter the world of employment.
Your approach must be proactive. Your objective will be to establish the most effective means of action to put the odds in your favor.
As a senior, your long experience and the skills acquired during your career will serve as major assets in convincing a recruiter to hire you.
I understand your situation and I can support you:
- Work on the important questions to ask,
- requalification of your professional objective,
- align with your life mission
- redesign of your CV,
- improvement of your LinkedIn ™ profile,
- establish a research strategy,
- work on your presentation pitch,
- interview simulation …
I am self-marketing coach for find a job , Where job coach if you prefer. In short, I have already helped and boosted many professionals, including a certain number of expert or senior managers in retraining.
If you want to go further, look here at my online training Find a job with LinkedIn ™ in 1 hour a day and discover the testimonials of people who have followed.
Yours,
Yannick BOUISSIERE
Job Coach .
