The mature job wasteland
Hunter Leonard
CEO | Strategist | Author | Ghostwriter | Renaissance Man - Why run a good business when you can be extraordinary? Get advice backed by experience and a record of success. Work with my Blue Frog Marketing Team and I.
According to various experts on the history of idioms - The grass is greener on the other side - comes from the poet Ovid writing in his poem - "the art of love" in 1BC.
Wherever it comes from, my point in referring to it is that there is no greener other side when it comes to the mature worker employment space.
In speaking with hundreds, if not thousands of mature individuals in the past five years, the team at Silver & Wise have the informed opinion that getting a job when you are over 50 is like finding water in a desert.
Our belief is that all the advice on resumes, and Linkedin profiles, and getting a better haircut and dressing younger is all a complete waste of time.
If you are a mature individual, you really need to be thinking about how to create an income rather than looking for a 'job'.
This is a more than splitting hairs or fine distinctions.
Our belief is you are more likely to achieve your income goals or financial security thinking about your own value proposition or 'what you have to sell to others' and selling it to multiple buyers than you will if you stick to the outdated notion of selling your time to one company in exchange for a wage or salary.
With deep research into the future of the workplace in the last few years, and drawing on existing findings from our very own government and human rights commission, we see a future where all workers become 'freelancers' and 'gigsters' and given the already deeply embedded issues of age discrimination and the attendant statistics that mature workers can take up to twice as long to find a new job - this only magnifies this conclusion.
If you want financial security and income in the future you need to answer the following questions for yourself:
- What do I have in the way of personal 'value' that I can exchange - what can I do, what do I know?
- Who is most likely to want to 'buy' my skills/value
- Create a plan to communicate to these buyers
In effect, you need to start thinking of yourself as a product/service/brand and consider the possibility of making up your income from multiple sources. Not one job.
From what I can see, the chances of success are going to be higher.
Good luck on the journey, and if you need more help, then read my book - "The Experience Equation" for more advice.