Employers are getting smarter about hiring older workers

James Reed and Robert Burn work in the supply department at Silvercup Studios, moving and loading lighting and equipment.

Employers tend to get a bad rap —  often deservedly — for their attitudes about hiring, retaining and nurturing workers over 50. Frequently, older workers and older job applicants are perceived as lethargic, expensive and behind the times. So let me tell you about some employers who see things very differently: the winners and finalists of the 2017 Age Smart Employer Awards.

The Age Smart Employer Award program, now in its third year, is a project of Columbia University’s Columbia Aging Center at the Mailman School of Public Health. The awards, given to New York City-based businesses and nonprofits of any size, are a “culture change initiative,” says director Ruth Finkelstein, who is also a Next Avenue Influencer in Aging.

“We do them to call attention to the concrete and specific policies and practices that employers can use, and are using, to recruit, engage and retrain workforces of all ages, including older workers,” Finkelstein said.

I was fortunate to be on the selection committee for this year’s honorees and attended yesterday’s inspiring ceremony in New York City’s fabled Rainbow Room where the awards were given out. (Next Avenue blogger and author Kerry Hannon gave the keynote speech.)

Significance of the Age Smart Employer awards

“We’ve increased our life expectancy by 50% in the last 100 years. That’s astounding and an immense achievement to be proud of. Now we have to design society for longer lives, and these awards, I think, are a linchpin of that,” said Dr. Linda Fried, dean of Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and a Next Avenue Influencer in Aging.

A hundred firms and nonprofits entered the 2017 competition, double the number in 2016, which was 2½ times the number of the year before. The breadth of applicants expanded, too.

The growth in the number and type of entrants is partly because more employers know about the awards and because more are adopting age-smart practices, Finkelstein said. “While the finalists and winners every year have been superlative, this year the overall quality of applicants was higher,” she noted. “It wasn’t just the biggest crop ever, it was the best.”

Gary Kesner, executive vice president for Silvercup Studios (one of this year’s Age Smart Employer Award winners) offered a terrific quote at the ceremony: “As a mature worker myself, I can only echo Ingrid Bergman, who said: ‘Getting old is like climbing a mountain; you get a little out of breath, but the view is much better!’”

The seven 2017 Age Smart Employer Award finalists were The Bronx Zoo, Diller-Quaile School of Music, Educational Alliance (a social service agency), Sew Right, Steinway & Sons, Veselka (a Ukrainian diner) and WithumSmith + Brown (an accounting firm).

Related: Jobs are everywhere, just not for people over 55

At WithumSmith + Brown, everyone has a mentor. “That’s near and dear to my heart,” said Theresa Richardson, chief talent officer and a partner at the firm. The coaches and mentees there are required to meet three times a year. “The more often you meet to revisit goals, the greater the chance of achieving the goals,” said Richardson.

Here are thumbnail sketches about the six Age Smart Employer Award winners:

The 2017 Age Smart Employer award winners

National Grid: This utility company likes recruiting experienced workers from its competitors and invites retirees to come back part-time — to train employees and to help out during emergencies. Said Ed Hayes, National Grid’s U.S. vice president for talent acquisition. “People talk about the aging workforce. We just call them our workforce.”

Urban Health Plan: A nonprofit health care provider, Urban Health Plan makes a point of bringing on, keeping and caring for its older employees. “You hire community members in their 50s, 60s and 70s, but you don’t just hire them,” said Finkelstein. “You set them up for success with intensive and ongoing training and mentoring.”

PKF O’Connor Davies: While large accounting firms frequently force partners to retire around age 60 (“the accounting industry is not world famous for age-smart practices,” joked Finkelstein) this one not only doesn’t — it hires them. “We bring people into our organization who may be ‘aged out’ in other organizations,” said Kevin Keane, managing partner at PKF O’Connor Davies, which has 742 employees. Those employees then mentor younger ones.

Don’t miss: Many older Americans are living a desperate, nomadic life

“It’s not an age thing; we just want quality, talented people,” said Keane. “Yesterday, I was talking to a partner who is 82 and still working seven days a week. I keep telling him he should have a flexible schedule [working fewer hours and days], but that’s what he wants.” Keane added: “If I were at a Big Four accounting firm, I’d be aged out today. So I like the policy of not being aged out.”

Riverdale Country School: This Bronx-based private K-12 school is intentional about retaining teachers and staff. It offers faculty sabbaticals after 10 years, “passion grants” that let workers pursue their interests (from learning tango to writing fiction) and the ability to restructure jobs for less-strenuous ones (custodians have become security guards, for example). Said Dominic Randolph, head of the school: “I and our team have the amazing privilege of working with people ages 4 to 92.” He’s especially proud of the passion grant program: “It’s great to see our community engaged at all ages and continuing to keep on learning throughout their lifetime. You have to keep reinventing yourself. These people do that every day and the kids are inspired by that.”

Lee Spring: You might not think a spring manufacturer with 79 employees would be age smart, but then you don’t know Lee Spring, based in the Brooklyn Army Terminal. Half its workforce is over 50 (some execs started as factory laborers and its president began as a machinist 30 year ago). The Age Smart Employer Awards selection committee was also taken by the company’s “impressive culture and ethos of flexibility,” said Finkelstein. Some employees have been allowed to move to facilities in warmer climates or work fewer hours. Fun fact: the six Lee Spring employees who came to the awards ceremony had a total of 161 years of work experience.

Silvercup Studios: If the accounting profession isn’t known for being age smart, that’s doubly true for the entertainment industry. But Silvercup Studios, New York City’s largest full-service film and TV production facility and where Sopranos, Girls and Sex and the City have filmed, is an exception. At this family-owned company, the median age of its 49 employees is over 50. Two just celebrated their 30th anniversary with Silvercup.

“We don’t look at someone’s age when we hire them because it doesn’t matter. We’re looking for people who can do the job,” Kesner, 67, told me.

Also read: This is the state with the oldest workers

Being age smart is just being business smart, said Kesner: “We try to encourage loyalty to our company. It’s good for our business. It costs more to recruit and replace employees than to retain them.” Also, he added, older employees “are not necessarily looking to move up and out,” have low absenteeism rates and “have a maturity in handling problems; they don’t get as rattled.”

He closed the ceremony with these words: “I look forward to a day when awards of this kind are no longer necessary, when ageism in the workplace is a thing of the past and hiring mature workers is second nature to all employers.”

That’s an admirable wish. But I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more Age Smart Employer Awards for quite a few years ahead.

Richard Eisenberg is the Senior Web Editor of the Money & Security and Work & Purpose channels of Next Avenue and Managing Editor for the site. He is the author of “How to Avoid a Mid-Life Financial Crisis” and has been a personal finance editor at Money, Yahoo, Good Housekeeping, and CBS MoneyWatch. @richeis315

How to land a great job when you are over 50

After spending the past seven years in accounts payable at a flooring installation company, Veronica Simmons, age 54 and living in San Diego, is looking for a new administrative position.

As right hand to the chief operations officer, there's no possibility for further promotion. She says she's solved the company's major problems and is looking for a new challenge. But, she said, "there is that demon in my head telling me you're too old." So she sought the services of a professional who helped her build a résumé that highlighted her skills and experience rather than just listing each job chronologically.

Within two months of her job search, she's already been offered two administrative positions — one in the hospital industry and another in the transportation industry. She's continuing to interview and has two more interviews scheduled, since the jobs paid per diem and didn't offer a guaranteed number of hours a week. She's gotten a lot of responses from head hunters and others reaching out to her on LinkedIn. "I'm very excited" about the prospects, she said.

Simmons is among the many age 50 and over looking for a new job. According to a December,2017 survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, 66 percent of baby boomer workers either expect to or are already working past age 65 and do not plan to retire. But it's not always easy for these workers. Though June 2018 unemployment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics paints a rosy picture, with an unemployment rate at 3.1 percent among those over 55, close to record lows, that only tells part of the story.

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An April 2018 report by The New School's Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis finds many of these are low-wage jobs. And the unemployment rate only includes those who actively sought work in the last month. Adding in those who want and are available to work, or who are involuntarily working part-time, the over-55 unemployment rate increases to 8.6 percent, or 3.5 million who can't find a job. And a 2017 AARP report found that workers age 50 and over are more likely to experience stagnant wages and dwindling job opportunities.

Starting a job search can be daunting for those with a circa 1980 résumé who last interviewed before the advent of the internet. So how do you get a leg up over your younger counterparts? Experts weighed in with tips on ways older workers can make the best possible impression.

Play up your experience

A recent study conducted by Steven Lindner of The WorkPlace Group in Florham Park, New Jersey, of 1,000 similar résumés indicated that the top predictor of candidates selected for an interview were those with the most relevant, current and continual work experience. Lindner said it's best not to list every job you've had for the past 35 years on your résumé, but instead to focus on the past 10 years of relevant experience.

Describe that experience using current terminology and common language (avoid antiquated terms, like Rolodex or Word Perfect), and don't mention data systems that are no longer used; instead, emphasize your proficiency with programs like Microsoft Office and Excel, he said.

Robert Dagnall, a job-search strategist in San Diego who worked with Simmons, suggested reframing age as a competitive advantage. "It's about performance, not demographics," he said. Focus on what you've accomplished and what you can do for your next employer.

"Be bright. Be brief so it peaks a recruiter's interest," said Paul Wolfe, senior vice president of human resources at Indeed.com, one of the world's largest job sites. Feature a couple of areas where you have depth of experience and highlight projects in a general section of the résumé, he said.

Combat the overqualified stereotype

A big concern about someone being perceived as overqualified is that they would overstep their bounds because they’ve been in higher roles before or they’d be resistant to change and hold a “this is how I’ve done it” mentality. To remove this worry, Brittney Beck, a career development specialist in Hinsdale, Illinois, suggests that a candidate provide a specific example of a time they took on a new protocol or method, or perhaps an example where they interacted with all levels of teams and let others take the lead in certain areas.

She says another huge concern obviously with someone overqualified is that they want too much money. If a candidate is prepared to take a pay cut, they should make this known in the hiring process only if the topic of over qualification comes up. If a candidate is not open to a pay cut, they will need to explain their worth with that particular role in mind.

One way to combat the worry of over qualification before even getting asked the question is to tailor your résumé to the position so that your experience seems in line and not far above the position you're applying for.

Stay active in your targeted profession

This means attending professional conferences and taking continual education classes to ensure you remain current and on top of your industry knowledge. This counters the preconceived notion of some employers that older workers are slowing down, Lindner said: "This shows you haven't stopped learning and you're not going to."

Show that you are tech savvy

Beck says your tech skills should match the industry/role you’re in. For example, unless you’re in an industry (like public relations) where Twitter is king, it’s not necessary to have an account just for the sake of saying you have an account. Whatever social media platforms you’re on, commit to them. "A half done and unused platform oftentimes looks worse than none at all," she says.

Tech skills extend beyond social media; it’s Microsoft Office and other software as well (think Salesforce for salespeople or WorkDay for HR people). Art Koff, founder of RetiredBrains.com, which provides a variety of job-seeking resources, such as interviewing tips, résumé writing assistance and tips for your job search. suggested listing the hardware, software, devices and platforms on which you have worked. Beck, the career development specialist, also said it's key to link your social media platforms to your résumé and incorporate your tech skills throughout your résumé.

Embrace LinkedIn

It's not just for the young. With more than 15 million jobs posted on the site and over 350,000 using LinkedIn recruiting tools to discover and hire talent, it's one of the biggest platforms for finding a job and the perfect place to build your network and brand yourself. Include a photo that indicates you're "not afraid to show your seniority," said Beck. This indicates to hiring managers that you're engaged in the modern hiring process.

Make sure you have an updated LinkedIn profile and that you have a link to your résumé. Include information about your passions and future goals that you don't have room for in a résumé. Blair Decembrele, LinkedIn’s career expert, said your profile is an ideal place to highlight your past experience that's most relevant to the job you're seeking. Feature past work you’re proud of to show hiring managers what you can do.

She also suggests including your location and desired industry, since 30 percent of recruiters are using location information to search for candidates. You can also turn on Open Candidates on your profile dashboard to quietly signal to recruiters that you’re open to new opportunities.

Consider temporary employment

Project-based work is often an effective strategy for getting a job as an older worker, said RetiredBrains.com's Koff. Indicate you're amenable to starting on a part-time or project basis and then being hired full time when you demonstrate your capabilities.

This gives older workers an advantage over their younger counterparts who need the benefits that come from full-time employment, while providing the employer with the opportunity to check out their work ethic and abilities. LinkedIn's ProFinder helps workers find project-based work in place of the typical 9-to-5 profession. A LinkedIn survey found that nearly 50 percent of those on ProFinder are older than 50.

Nail the interview

View the interview as an opportunity to let your employer know how you can help them. Ask what problems the company is facing, what they're trying to accomplish, and why they're hiring, Dagnall said. Then make the interview a conversation about those points, offering your take on some possible solutions, based on your previous experience. "Turn the interview into a free sample of what it's like to work with you and you'll be a much more memorable interview candidate," he said.

Lindner agrees: "Use your experience and wisdom to explain how you can help an employer or hiring manager achieve their goals. That's a real value that older workers possess." He said the interview should also be a place to demonstrate you don't have an ego, that you're comfortable working collaboratively with those much younger than you and that you enjoy transferring your knowledge to those around you.

Dagnall adds that it's crucial to indicate you are trainable and can learn; show the ways you've adopted new ideas and helped manage or execute change recently in your career.

"Use your experience and wisdom to explain how you can help an employer or hiring manager achieve their goals. That's a real value that older workers possess."-Steven Lindner, The WorkPlace Group

If possible, start interviewing with an employer that is not necessarily your first choice, Koff said. If you haven't interviewed in quite a while, this allows you to practice your interviewing responses in a low-stakes environment.

Landing a second act

A literature review from the Michigan Retirement Research Center found that between 40 percent and 50 percent of those over 50 change occupations after 50. And a retirement study by Merrill Lynch and Age Wave indicated that 58 percent of working retirees viewed retirement as a chance to move to a different line of work.

For those hoping to switch careers, it's important to build your résumé around the type of skills gleaned from your previous job that are transferable to your new pursuit, says Beck. Be transparent about why you want to switch careers, Lindner said, saying something like, "I'm at a point in my life where I want to take a step back and do something new."

He suggested you approach this type of job hunt as if you're in an early career position and "think young." Go to career fairs and professional conferences to network with people and learn about the industry you want to enter.

When age becomes an issue

Even if an older worker employs the best tools, there's always a possibility of age discrimination. It's often difficult to determine if that's the case, said Laurie McCann, senior attorney at the AARP Foundation. She said the older worker can get a better handle on the situation if they're able to discover that the person hired was much younger and has similar qualifications.

She suggested looking for potential red flags in the tone of the interview questions: Were there any age-related questions during any interviews? Were they told they were overqualified and might not fit into the culture? Did they seem surprised to see how old the applicant was when they showed up for the interview?

Original Article featured by CNBC

Julie Halpert | @julhalps

Published 8:51 AM ET Thu, 19 July 2018

Three reasons you shouldn’t retire. Ever.

The “in thing” now for retirement is to do it early.

There are communities, blogs and early-retirement crusaders whose mission is to sing the praises of a work-free lifestyle.

Actually, to tell the truth, many early-retirement enthusiasts are earning quite a bit of money through blogs and podcasts describing how they quit working in their 30s, 40s and early 50s. So technically they aren’t really retired, but that’s another matter.

Still, hearing their stories might make you feel bad that you can’t join their bandwagon. I'll be honest. I get jealous. I’m still slogging away in a wage job trying to save as much as I can for the day that I can call it quits. My plan in retirement is to spend most of my time either traveling or volunteering.

But what if you want to work until your 70s, 80s or even 90s? What if your health is such that you can continue full employment?

That’s the question put to me by Mark Kantrowitz, an expert on student financial aid. I frequently interview Kantrowitz when writing about families trying to pay for college.

[Should parents pay off $200,000 in law school loans for a son who ended up in rehab?]

“I liked your recent column on retirement savings and paying down student loans, especially the advice to keep an emergency fund, maximize the employer match, then use the rest to pay down debt,” Kantrowitz emailed me. “While reading the column, it struck me that we never see advice for people who intend to work forever, health permitting. I love what I do, and my work helps people, so why would I ever stop?”

[You have $100,000 in student loans. Should you save for retirement or pay off debt?]

Kantrowitz asked: “Are there any other considerations for people who keep working? Are there any strategies they should pursue?”

Actually, there is a lot of research on why continuing to work throughout your senior years can be beneficial. There are at least three good reasons not to retire.

Not retiring can be emotionally, physically and financially good for you.

[Out-of-pocket health-care costs likely to take half of Social Security income by 2030, analysis shows]

Studies show working gives people purpose.

Read more: Working Longer May Benefit Your Health

And by working longer, you can save more.

“Those saving for retirement would be better off working longer than just bumping up their savings rate by one percentage point, according to the authors of the new paper, ‘The Power of Working Longer,’” reported Robert Powell for The Street.

Researchers found “delaying retirement by three to six months has the same impact on the retirement standard of living as saving an additional one percentage point of labor earnings for 30 years.”

Read more: Working Longer Works Better Than Saving More Money for Retirement

Research has also found people who work longer tend to be healthier.

Personal finance expert Jean Chatzky did a series for NBC’s “Today Show” on the benefits of not retiring. She profiles an 81-year-old dentist who was still working.

Read more: Retirement doesn’t have to be the end: How working longer benefits you

“Researchers at Oregon State University analyzed data from a large, ongoing study of people age 50 and up,” Chatzky reported. “What they found was that people who continued to work past 65 had an 11 percent lower chance of death from all causes.”

Read more: Never Retire: Why People Are Still Working in Their 70s and 80s

As for strategies read: Retire early or keep on working? How to prepare for either choice.

Here’s the thing. Don’t feel pressure to retire if you can and want to continue working. The grass over in early retirement might not be as green as you think.

Your thoughts

Are you still working past the so-called retirement age? How’s that working for you? Send your comments to colorofmoney@washpost.com. Please include your name, city and state. Put “Not retired” in the subject line.

Retirement rants and raves

I’m interested in your experiences or concerns about retirement or aging. What do you like about retirement? What came as a surprise?

If you haven’t retired yet, what concerns you financially?

You can rant or rave. This space is yours. It’s a chance for you to express what’s on your mind. Send your comments to colorofmoney@washpost.com. Please include your name, city and state. In the subject line put “Retirement Rants and Raves.”

In last week’s newsletter I wrote about a young couple with $100,000 in student loans. The wife wanted to know if she should reduce retirement savings to help pay down the debt.

It was a “WWMD” question, or “What would Michelle do?”

“Should I be putting more toward retirement?” the wife asked. “I always worry we’re not putting enough away for retirement but at the same time, we only have so much money and a lot of things going on that require that money.”

I suggested that they pay off the debt first. They’re still young enough that they can do some retirement catch-up later.

By Michelle Singletary

Washington Post

Has Your Network Aged Out and Abandoned You?

(This article previously appeared on Careerpivot.com.)

In my work running Career Pivot, a career design firm for people in the second half of life who want a change, I am hearing over and over again about how people’s networks have aged out.

One of the members of the new Career Pivot community told me that new positions always came to her. She never needed to look because her mentors and other leaders were always looking out for her. What has happened to her in her 60s is her network has aged out. The people who had her back for so many years have either retired, are not in a position of power or are in the same boat she is in — underemployed or unemployed.

When she was telling me the story of her career, it was pretty obvious that she did nothing to cultivate or care for the network. Rather it was always there for her and she never paid attention to it. On the other hand, she is mentoring a lot of young professionals and her connection to them is strong; but they are not nearly as influential as the people who had mentored her over the years.

Her network has aged out and left her abandoned.

When Your Network Has Retired

I had a similar discussion with a gentleman who is now in his late 60s. He was forced into retirement and has since formed a consulting group with a few of his former colleagues. Throughout his career, opportunities just came to him through his network. He never really needed to find work and he did little to cultivate, or even grow, his network. He did not see the need to grow his network as it was feeding him and his family just fine.

That was until he hit his 60s and his network either retired, became unemployed, were downsized or just died. His contacts within his industry greatly diminished. It did not help that he was on the manufacturing side of the business, which had been shipped offshore for cost savings.

He now needs to reinvigorate his network, but this is not something he is comfortable doing. At the same time, he is not social media savvy.

His network had aged out and left him abandoned.

Strategically Examine Your Network

For those of us in the second half of life, our next job will come through a relationship. That relationship may be an existing one, a dormant one that you will reinvigorate (weak ties) or a new relationship.

You should carefully examine your existing relationships or network.

How many are of similar age? How many are much older? Will they still be around to assist you in 10 years?

Zero in on those who are connectors — those people who know lots of people and enjoy making connections.

If you were let go from your job today, who could you depend on to help you? Will those same people be in a position to help you in 10 to 15 years? If not, you need to replace them NOW!

You want to examine your network NOW to see how much of it will age out.

Is Your Industry Shifting?

How stable is the industry where you are currently working? If you are in a shrinking or dying industry, now is the time to make the shift.

I want you to look at your industry through two different lenses:

• Automation, AI or Robots – Is your industry and skill set replaceable and vulnerable to automation?
• Creative Destruction – Will creative destruction either eliminate or greatly shrink your industry.

Automation, AI or robots will continue to break down and eliminate jobs. I recently had a client interview with a company that will be using deep learning to replace thousands of service personnel. The chatbot it was developing will be able to answer 95 percent of all customer service questions.

Creative destruction is accelerating. Think of the industries that have been affected by the creation of the iPhone 10 years ago. Just imagine what drones will be able to do in 10 years and the jobs and industries that will be eliminated.

Next Steps for You

Once you have examined your network and industry, you will want to create a plan to replace and/or augment your existing network.

Ask yourself: If you need to shift to a different industry, who do you need to develop relationships with? How are you going to garner street cred within that new industry? If you’re in a stable industry, who are the up and coming individuals you need to develop relationships with NOW – so your network will not age out?

If you are in your 50s and plan to work until 70 or beyond, you need to plan on your network to age out.

I am now into my 60s and many of the people I worked with at IBM in the 1980s and 1990s are no longer in the workforce. Many of the people who I worked with after the dot-com bust are still working, but are no longer in a position of power or influence.

My network has aged out.

Has your network aged out? What are you going to do about it?

By Marc Miller