Job Hunt 50+ Blog

5 Secrets to getting hired by Career Voyage

Author: Justin Paul

One of the best things about job hunting is meeting new people. Before I was taken ill, I had the very great pleasure to talk to Sarah Taylor Phillips the Founder of Career Voyage . Sarah is an executive career navigator helping midlife individuals land roles, Upsize, DOWNsize, flex or change to a sustainable career and helping business retain female talent by reengineering roles.

After seven months of job hunting its easy to become despondent but my conversation with Sarah re-energised me.

You are not alone

Firstly, its important to remember that you are not alone when it comes to your job search. I'm incredibly grateful to my family, friends, former colleagues and recruiters who have reached out to me and offered to help.

"Be careful whose advice you buy but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth" - Baz Lurhmann

There are lots of people out there who want you to succeed in your job hunt.

Career Voyage

In my conversation with Sarah I learned that she has been working for years to help people over 50, particularly mothers returning to work after family or career breaks, to return to work. There are hurdles to getting back onto the job carousel as you are more experienced because you don’t fit into a job box and when you apply for a role the computer says NO!

She also shared some particularly shocking statistics with me that really made me think about my approach to job hunting.

Firstly, by 2025 >50% of the workforce will be over 50. This is an interesting fact for hiring managers who discount employing "old fogeys" because they will make up half the workforce.

The second fact that really made me think about how I'm spending my time applying for jobs was this: Only around 10% of job offers come from online applications (Direct company sites or LinkedIn etc.) however, for those in the 50+ age range that drops to around 1-3%. If like me you've been spending a lot of time applying for advertised or published roles it is unlikely this is how you'll find your job. But do continue to apply online because there is a chance a role will come from that channel, just don’t spend most of your time applying that way.

Five Secrets for getting hired into a role you love by Career Voyage

Sarah shared a really helpful and positive guide to getting hired. I wanted to share the bare bones of the article with you with a few comments and insights of my own that really made me thing about my personal job search.

1. It's all about you!

There is a tendency to try and outsource a lot of your job search, but at the start of the process you need to think about yourself.

• What motivates you?
• What can you do well?
• What don't you like doing?
• What style of working suits you? Are you a five days a week in the office, a hybrid worker or a full time work at home person?

You need to understand your personal strengths and weaknesses. Can you answer the question: "What is your super power?" Ask your support network, but ultimately you need to know what it is that you want and what you can do. That is the baseline for any job search. It may also tell you about training you need to do if you see a skills gap between what you want to do and what you can do. Know your competitive edge.

2. Passion is your fuel

This point is so important. When you are eventually successful with your job hunt you will be spending a lot of time working in that role. Its important to do something you feel passionate about. Its a very "West Coast" thing to say but your job needs to bring you energy.

I work with a career coach, Richard Maun at Primary People, and he's noted several times that when I talk about certain roles and certain achievements I really come alive. I love working with technology but I really feel passionate about using technology for good. When I worked at Scottish Government, several years ago, I worked on two projects. One was working with the Scottish Government, the people of Coll (in the Inner Hebrides) and Vodafone to bring mobile data and coverage to the island for the first time. The second project was working with Scottish Government, The Glasgow Housing Association (now Wheatley Homes Glasgow) to bring broadband Wi-Fi to a series of tower blocks partly to improve the management of the property, but also to enable the residents to access benefits, education and to work from home. These are project I felt passionate about and they energise me. When I talk about them in interview my passion and personality comes across.

If your role doesn't bring you passion that can be OK, but make sure you have a side-hustle, hobby or voluntary role that you can be passionate about. I had one role where I didn't get to create or deliver training, but as a keen scuba-diver and diving instructor I got to deliver lectures and run training for new divers which was something I was passionate about.

3. Mindset, Magic and Balance

Sarah notes the importance of having a positive mindset during your job hunt. Sadly, no one is going to hire someone who appears "broken".

Mindset and positivity are possibly the hardest things to "fake" in the process. I spoke to a friend and former-colleague recently who told me about the mental strain of being out of work for 18 months.

While you're job hunting you can never truly relax or switch off. The job hunt is always on your mind. After 18-months it gets wearing - Anon

Exercise, diet, sleep and mindfulness are all easier said than done. Before my illness I was trying (and succeeding) to get to the gym twice a week, do 90 press-ups each morning and do a 5-6 mile run with my wife at the weekend. Sadly, sceptic arthritis in the shoulder means that I struggle to do more than 3-4 press-ups at a time, but I am able to undertake my most important mindset, exercise and sleep activity...walking the dog.

I can't tell you how important walking the dog has been for my mental health during my job search. I try and do two 45-minute dog walks a day. I sometimes protest that I do all the dog-walking but secretly I enjoy the time I spend. In the morning I meet a small group of fellow dog-walkers and friends for a chat and catch up. This group has been incredibly supportive. In the evening I try and do a 45-minute walk on the Downs, or through my local park which actually gives me some exercise as well as the dog. Without having a dog I could easily spend all my time indoors in front of a screen. This amount of low impact exercise helps me sleep better as well.

4. Do your homework

There is no excuse for not being prepared for your job search. Research your target company, look at the LinkedIn profile of the interviewer, check the company out on Glassdoor, talk to friends and contacts who work or have worked at the company, check out any recent news stories and finally look at their annual report.

I've seen some recent arguments from people who refuse to do any in-depth research on the basis the company should also be selling to them. While they may have a point, which candidate is most likely to impress? One who can talk intelligently about the company's latest strategy or product launch or the candidate who says, "Who's that?" when the CEO is named.

Interestingly, one of the most important things that Sarah says about doing your homework is to think about positioning yourself not as a job-seeker but as a solution to a particular company problem.

As a marketing leader I like this approach because she is saying, "Think about hiring from the customer's point-of-view" and in this case the "customer" is the company, the hiring manager, or department that need your skills. Match what you say in your application to the perceived problem you are solving.

5. Your ideal job may never be advertised

It is a well-known fact that 80% of roles are never advertised. I suspect for senior roles that may be even higher. The management team may be asked to recommend candidates from their networks; a departing manager may have created a succession plan or the company may commission a head-hunting firm to carry out a job-search below the radar.

I know for as fact that most of my jobs, and certainly jobs I've loved have come to me through recommendations but I still waste my time applying for roles on LinkedIn.

One of the final things to say is that always leave any recruitment process on a positive note. On a regular basis I get turned down for a specific role saying that while I wasn't right for that particular role I interviewed well, demonstrated my personal values and would be a good fit to the company culture.

It's very easy to be angered by the rejection and want nothing to do with the company or organization. Sometimes, I think that the internal talent team say nice things just to make the rejection less painful, but sometimes this feedback is genuine.

If you impress during the interview process and are unsuccessful, don't be too surprised when someone from the company reaches out directly to you for a new (unpublished) role that you would be a good fit for.

Working with Career Voyage

I really enjoyed my conversation with Sarah Taylor Phillips at Career Voyage. I loved her energy and her passion about improving recruitment for the over 50s and even more her focus on bringing women back into the workplace and retaining them in the first place.

It was also really useful to talk to someone in the "Talent Acquisition" space to hear their thoughts on the process.

I really enjoyed learning about the "5 Secrets" and Career Voyage run a number of other programmes including the "Diamond Programme". Please reach out to Sarah , who is a LinkedIn Top Career Development Voice, directly. I found our conversation incredibly helpful and energising.

Thoughts, comments, ridicule

I hope that you've found this edition of Job Hunt 50+ useful. As ever I'd love to hear your comments on the JHDM and any of your own experiences job hunting as an over 50.

Any feedback or comments will be gratefully received.