Job Hunt 50+ Blog

Where next? - finding your next role

Author: Justin Paul

I am currently looking for a new role and wanted to share my experiences as a 50+ job hunter. In the past I didn't find finding a new job difficult. I once found a great job within 4 days of redundancy but in my 50s job hunting is a lot harder. I'm now into my fourth month job hunting.

I've also set up the Job Hunt 50+ LinkedIn Group. Please feel free to join and post interesting material to other job hunters here.

The 7P's of Job Hunting

Many people are familiar with the 4Ps of Marketing - Product, Price, Place, Promotion. However, fewer people may be familiar with the 7Ps of Job Hunting - Prior Preparation and Planning Prevents P*ss Poor Performance.

Its very easy to take a haphazard approach to job hunting. You can spend hours on LinkedIn applying for roles where you don't even get a first interview and after a while the automated rejections can wear you down.

Its easy to say that you need to "Hunt Smart" and much much harder to do, particularly if you have been out of work for a while. I've been unemployed for four months now and it feels a lot longer. I'm having to be very organized and structured with my job search and try and make sure I balance my time.

The Job Hunting Decision Matrix

One of the first things I do when job hunting is create my own job hunting decision matrix. This is a simple tool that helps me understand the types of jobs I'm applying for and the types of job I should be applying for. The Job Hunting Decision Matrix changes over time as the financial imperative to find a job increases.

The JHDM is a 3 x 2 table divided by industries on the y-axis and career progression (or reversal) on the x-axis. This creates six boxes which are named:

1. Advance-to-Go (Promotion in your current industry)
2. Impossible Dream (Promotion in a new industry)
3. Sideways Move (Same level in your current industry)
4. New Start - (Same level in a new industry)
5. Backwards Move (Demotion in your current industry)
6. Bottom of the Ladder (Demotion or entry-level role in a new industry)

Obviously what counts as a promotion, no change or demotion is highly subjective. Job titles vary widely within the industry so that they are not always indicative and salary levels can vary hugely between industries. However, I find matrix is a useful guide.

First 3 months

Time scales also vary hugely depending on your circumstances but for me your first three months of job hunting are a time for optimism. My job hunting focus is on "Advance-to-Go" promotion within my own industry, telecoms, with maybe the opportunity to chase the "Impossible Dream" and move into a new, adjacent industry at a more senior level. After five roles as a marketing director, I feel that I'm probably ready for that promotion to VP Marketing or Chief Marketing Officer, but can I also make a transition into a senior role in an analyst or consulting organization leveraging my industry knowledge?

I obviously also apply for similar level roles in my own industry, "Sideways Move", as this is probably the easiest move to make.

Second 3 months

I'm currently in this phase 3-6 months unemployed. I've largely given up on the "Impossible Dream" and most of my focus and energy is on securing a similar role and making a successful "Sideways Move". I still apply for some roles in the "Advance-to-Go" category and "New Start" but now I'm forced to consider a "Backwards Move".

A "Backwards Move" is generally a bad career move, but it makes financial sense, particularly if you can make the move into a better organization (however you define better). A "Backwards Move" should be easy to make, after all it's a role that you have done before and are more than qualified to perform. However, my experience is managers are reluctant to recruit someone who is obviously overqualified for a role and they suspect, quite rightly in most cases, that it is a temporary haven until the right role comes along. What may be more acceptable is to take that "Backwards Move" as a contract or maternity cover role where there is acknowledgement on both sides that this isn't a permanent solution.

After 6 months

After six months job hunting is less about career and more about cash-flow. The "Sideways Move" is still the easiest career move but more focus goes into the "Backwards Move" probably as a contractor.

I often think of my career as a game of "Snakes & Ladders". Being made redundant is obviously sliding down a "snake" but you also have the opportunity to start a brand new career from scratch. The good news is that in your 50s you possibly have 10-20 years to follow this career before you retire. The bad news is that starting an "entry-level' position with a bunch of school-leavers or recent graduates isn't necessarily good for your self esteem. However, if it gets you down too much you can explain to them that:

"In my day we didn't have student loans. The government paid for all our tuition and they even gave some of us a grant for living costs....what do you mean, "What's a grant?"...

I also know plenty of people who have welcomed the opportunity to start over and follow a career that perhaps wasn't available to them when they started work or the ability to follow their passions.

A number of people want to use their amassed skill and expertise working for a "not-for-profit" organization and giving something back. Going to the "Bottom of the Ladder" for the right reasons is a good thing, but sometimes if you're unable to pursue your chosen career even with a backwards move and you're forced to go to the "Bottom of the Ladder" for financial reasons and then is can be a very dispiriting career move. The technology and telecoms industries are a little slow at the moment. The economic uncertainty, wars in the Middle-East and Ukraine, and political uncertainty with elections in the UK (probably) and USA (certainly) have all conspired to slow down recruitment in these industries.

What is the Matrix?

The Job Hunting Decision Matrix is just a simple tool for me to make sure I'm being sensible in my job hunting approach. I'm still hugely optimistic that I can leverage my knowledge and experience to secure that "Advance-to-Go" or "Impossible Dream" job, but I also know that after four months of job hunting I need to be focusing on the low hanging fruit which are the "Sideways Move" roles.

I know that I'd be very happy as a Marketing Director running a small team in a cool technology company and that with time I may get that step up to VP Marketing or CMO.

I also know that with over 25 years' experience in telecommunications, media and technology (TMT) I should be able to make the transition to consulting or industry analyst roles.

The JHDM also helps me to understand the relative difficulty of each category. The startling revelation for me is that it's almost as hard to move back down the career ladder as it is to move up.

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.