By Mary Eileen Williams, M.A., NCC

If you’re over fifty and looking for work, you probably have a slew of preconceived notions about how bad the job market is for older applicants. You are also likely to have a number of concerns and questions that need to be addressed.

In the course of my twenty years of experience as a career counselor and job search specialist, I’ve counseled thousands of midlife career changers and jobseekers and—believe me—I’ve heard it all. Here are a few of the typical concerns that surface:

I’m too old to be competitive in today’s youth-oriented marketplace.
I haven’t updated my resume in over fifteen years and have no idea what they’re looking for now.
I realize I’ve got skills but I’m not sure how to name them or be able to speak to any of my accomplishments at work. I did my job and did it well, but I don’t know how to market myself. In fact, I don’t like tooting my own horn.
I don’t have a college degree.
My technical skills aren’t that up-to-date.
How can I interview with someone who’s in his or her thirties?

And making matters even more discouraging, seemingly everywhere we turn, the job market is described with words such as “bleak,” “slow to recover,” and “with limited prospects.” This, we’re told, is especially true for the older applicant.

There’s no doubt about it—ageism is alive and well in this country. However, if you’re a jobseeker who is over fifty, you probably remember the phrase we used to say in our youth with such smug conviction: “Don’t trust anyone over thirty!” We can’t deny that boomers coined the phrase “generation gap,” so ageism is far from new.

Regardless, there are certain key strategies you can use that will highlight your age and experience, and make you more attractive to potential employers. Now, I’m not suggesting we delude ourselves with pie-in-the-sky fantasies and wishful thinking. What I am suggesting is that we take a deep breath and get some perspective:

The media knows bad news sells so that’s just what they spin: bad news on just about everything.
The figures they cite are drawn from generalities and take no account of the personal drive, focus, and energy an individual puts into his/her job search.
Certain industries and occupations are far more welcoming to older applicants than others. Why not concentrate your search on fields that appreciate the knowledge that age and experience provide?

If it looks like an employer will not appreciate the experience you bring, move on! Do NOT waste your valuable energy seeking possibilities that are limited at best. Even if you are hired, they’re not likely to afford you opportunities for growth within the organization. Move forward and place your energy and focus on new opportunities where your experience will be welcomed (and appreciated!).
Determine the potential age-related objections an employer might hold regarding you as a candidate—do something about them (if needed) and create a list of ways you can overcome these objections.
Turn your age into an advantage.

Yes, there’s no doubt about it—age truly can be an advantage! So now let’s turn to ways that you, as an older applicant, have it all over those young whippersnappers:

You have market knowledge and a skill set gained over years of experience.
You have an extensive network of clients, customers, coworkers, and colleagues developed over a lifetime career.
You are likely to be more flexible and can present yourself as a full-time employee or as a consultant.
You are not necessarily assertively climbing the corporate ladder so you won’t pose a threat to the more aggressive up-and-comers.
You have the knowledge and ability to mentor younger workers and teach them valuable techniques and tools that translate into ongoing success for the organization.
You have life skills gained over years of experience dealing with people. You know the importance of being responsible, showing up on time, following through to complete assigned tasks, managing emotions at work, and being a contributing team member.
The workforce is aging. Workers over fifty represent one of the fastest growing labor groups in the country and you fit right in. The cost of replacing experienced workers can be as much as half their annual salary, so companies are recognizing that recruiting and retaining workers over fifty is sound business practice.

And these are just a few of the pluses you bring. Your attitude about your viability as a candidate and your potential for finding work underscores everything you do. Anyone actively seeking employment needs to project an aura of energy, enthusiasm, knowledge, and confidence. This is especially true for those of us with a few years under our belts. Some of the more unkind stereotypes have us being “old,” “tired,” “unenthusiastic,” and “technologically inept.” So let’s get out there and prove them wrong!

Mary Eileen Williams, M.A., NCC, has twenty years of combined experience as a career and life transition counselor, job search specialist, university instructor, and writer. As a Nationally Board Certified Counselor with a Master’s Degree in Career Development, she specializes in working with job seekers in midlife and showing them the latest techniques for landing a job in the 21st Century. Mary Eileen is the host of the popular blog and radio show “Feisty Side of Fifty” www.feistysideofifty.com.

LAND THE JOB YOU LOVE: 10 Surefire Strategies for Jobseekers Over 50

To order from Amazon: http://bit.ly/8xi4Oo

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. At my house, twenty-two people gathered and brought their favorite foods to our table. But, who made sure that there would be food for the table?

His name is not household word, but it should be. Dr. Bent Skovmand, a brilliant Danish scientist (the ‘Viking’), had a lot to do with putting food on all our tables because he dedicated himself to protecting the seeds of the world’s food supply. Dr. Skovmand’s story is told in a riveting new book by my friend Susan Dworkin.

“The Viking in the Wheat Field – A Scientist’s Struggle to Preserve the World Harvest” is about the work of Bent Kovmand and a band of scientists whose mission to protect the food supply from “pests, plagues and corporate raiders” is not widely known.

A playwright, author of several books and numerous magazine articles, Susan Dworkin, who at one time worked in Department of Agriculture, has written what one reviewer called “a tale of agricultural discovery and rescue.” She’s transformed Skovmand’s life work into an accessible, gripping and eye-opening drama.

As stresses on the world’s ‘plant genetic resources’ continue to increase due to climate change and other factors, Skovmand’s work has gained even greater value. And, his warning in the book becomes more urgent: “If the seeds disappear, so could your food. So could you.”

www.susandworkin.com

www.walkerbooks.com

To book Susan Dworkin for an interview, lecture/event e-mail:
michelle.blankenship@bloomsburyusa.com

Ann Higdon

MEET ANN HIGDON
2009 PURPOSE PRIZE WINNER
“The Purpose Prize gathering is revolutionary,” said Ellen Goodman the newspaper columnist and herself, the winner of a Pulitzer Prize. “I am looking at you as my mentors,” she told the audience in her keynote address at the recent Purpose Prize Summit.

I have to agree. It was a room filled with inspiring people and stories.

I met Ann Higdon, winner of a 2009 Purpose Prize ($50,000.) and was impressed by her strength, warmth, and humor. Ann is the fist to admit that in high school she had “a big mouth and a bad attitude.” She will also tell you that one teacher made a difference. She was a D student, but the teacher saw something more and wrote across the top of an essay — “You are profound and eloquent.”

It changed everything, and at age 69, Ann was honored for creating three charter schools, and a program for high school dropouts that has evolved into a successful organization (ISUS) that teaches nursing, construction, computer operations, and manufacturing skills in Dayton, Ohio.

Union and civic leaders call her a ‘magician, but her biggest fans are ISUS graduates. “Progress means staying nimble,” says Higdon. “We’re agile… We change.”

Learn more Ann Higdon and ISUS (Improved Solutions for Urban Systems)
http://bit.ly/7SfH0p

Want an Encore Career?
www.encore.org

A Take-Off on the Classic “Do You Know Me?” American Express Ad

By Mary Thom – editor, author and consultant for
The Women’s Media Center

In 1983, Bella Abzug, the former Congresswoman from New York, was a featured speaker at the first National Forum for Women State Legislators held by The Center for American Women in Politics. The gathering of 350 representatives from 46 states at the historic Hotel Del Coronado near San Diego was the largest number of elected women ever assembled in one place, according to former chair of the National Women’s Political Caucus Harriett Woods (Stepping Up to Power), who was a state senator from Missouri at the time.

At the time, American Express was running its famous “DO YOU KNOW ME?” ads and filming Forum participants in take-offs on their own ad campaign. Coming upon the set as she strolled through the hotel courtyard, Bella sat down and, as the CAWP website explains, “Created her own unforgettable ‘Do You Know Me’ ad.”

Photo Credit: Joan Roth

Earlier, Congresswoman Abzug had sponsored a bill to guarantee that women would have credit rights equal to men. As her then aide Marilyn Marcosson said in an interview for our oral history of Bella, “Bella was like the Congresswoman for every woman in the world. . . . It was a period of incredible activity, just the number of issues: the Clean Water Bill, the Highway Bill, the Equal Credit Act, ERISA (the Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974), the Child Care Act, the end of the war in Vietnam, the Resolution of Inquiry on Nixon’s pardon, the bill to fund the International Women’s Year meetings and the Houston Conference. By taking the far forward position, Bella allowed others to move up and look more moderate.”

Later in life Bella became an international leader and activist on a range of women’s and global environmental issues. She may even be better known in several other countries than in her own. To this day, women leaders in emerging countries will identify themselves as “the Bella Abzug of Nigeria” or “the Bella Abzug of Mongolia.”

To those of us who knew and worked with her, Bella will always remain unforgettable.

Bella Abzug – An Oral History – by Suzanne Braun Levine and Mary Thom. Copyright © 2007 by Suzanne Braun Levine and Mary Thom (November 2007 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux/New York, LLC). All rights reserved.

About CAWP – www.cawp.com

The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is nationally recognized as the leading source of scholarly research and current data about American women’s political participation. Its mission is to promote greater knowledge and understanding about women’s participation in politics and government and to enhance women’s influence and leadership in public life.

Marcy Adelman: 2009 Purpose Prize Winner

BRINGING EXPERIENCE TO SOCIAL INNOVATION CHANGES EVERYTHING

In a culture that often seems to thrive more on “creating” villains than honoring heroes, it is especially rewarding to report on people who are changing the world. THE PURPOSE PRIZE – announced by Encore Careers and Civic Ventures – celebrates and honors people over 60 who are bringing experience to social innovation (read the press release).

I was proud to have been a judge for this Award, and I can tell you the candidates and winners are a diverse, talented and impressive group of people dedicated to change.  Each one of them had asked themselves the familiar Second Adulthood Question: “What shall I do with the rest of my life?”

Each identified a social problem that their First Adulthood had prepared them to solve. Then they took the risk. Their stories are truly inspirational.

Congratulations to all the social entrepreneurs who entered or were nominated for The Purpose Prize in 2009. Civic Ventures awarded $100,000 to five winners, $50,000 to another group five people and recognized the accomplishments of many other
change-makers.

Read about Encore Careers, this year’s winners, their big ideas and watch the videos.  And, for 2010, nominate yourself or someone you know.

http://www.encore.org

http://www.encore.org/prize/nominate?ref=winners.cfm

For the first time in the history of the United States, half of all people on payrolls are women. This big landmark is the centerpiece of The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything, a newly released 400-plus page study that includes a national poll of changing attitudes among women and men, and two dozen essays from experts on various aspects of women’s status, including Billie Jean King, Oprah and others who have lived it.

Time magazine, which consulted on the poll, is releasing a related cover story today, and NBC, which provided free office space and other in-kind support, will make it the subject of a week of television programming.

The creators of this campaign to launch a national conversation are Maria Shriver, who lent her skill at cross-country interviewing and wisdom from running the California Women’s Conference, plus the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank self-described as a source of progressive ideas, and headed by John Podesta, former chief-of-staff for President Bill Clinton. The result is a freestanding project with Rockefeller Foundation and other private support, and also a very conscious echo of a government commission and report on the status of American women that was ordered up by Shriver’s uncle, President John F. Kennedy, almost 50 years ago. Headed by Eleanor Roosevelt, it set up state commissions that led to the founding of the National Organization for Women.

Will this $250,000 poll and estimated $2 million project succeed in creating real change where so many others have failed? The report itself headlines such warnings as “Plenty of study, few results: Real family friendly workplace reform is long overdue.” It lists some of the many prestigious calls for, say, a national system of childcare; an area in which every other modern democracy has long done better than the United States. In the Nixon era when women were a third of the paid labor force, for instance, Congress passed childcare legislation, only to see it vetoed as “family-weakening.” Now that women are half of all workers with incomes that are necessary to 80 percent of families—indeed, 40 percent of babies are now born to single mothers—childcare is still nowhere on the list of priorities in Congress, and we have also become the only industrialized country without any requirement of paid family leave.

The good news is that The Shriver Report is useful, timely, enlightening and even enjoyable to read—an improvement over many such studies—and could inform discussions from the kitchen table to the halls of Congress. At a minimum, it should end forever the debate about women’s place in the labor force; women are the labor force. It also goes into such deeper places as the racial and economic disparities in women’s health and the invisible and essential jobs done by immigrant women. It also exposes the frequent truth that women are better educated than men yet it doesn’t afford them equal advancement, and critiques the media for portraying women as far more successful than they really are, thus creating the myth that no more progress is needed.

The bad news is that by its title and promotion, this report risks portraying women’s arrival at 50/50 as an irresistible force that by itself “changes everything.” You have to pay attention to understand that the immediate cause of workforce parity is not women’s advancement but men’s job loss: three out of four paychecks eliminated by the recession have been in construction, manufacturing and other fields that are better paid and therefore still overwhelmingly male. This fact has already been much reported, often with more concern for the male breadwinning ego than for the now even greater number of women who are struggling to support families while still averaging twice as much childcare and housework as men (though as The Shriver Report points out, men are doing much more than their fathers). Increased domestic violence and alcoholism have been reported as if they were inevitable results of a recession—if there were a Men’s Anti-Defamation Society, it should sue—and women are being made to feel almost guilty for having a job at all, however poorly paid and rivaled by work at home.

Personally, I’m rooting for The Shriver Report to be right in its underlying assumption that government and business will have to adjust policies to meet women’s needs as parents and workers in order to keep the economy going, and also that more men will get accustomed to women as indispensable co-workers and co-breadwinners, and thus increase their share of housework and childcare. Men will still have more to say about the success of this report than women do, so I recommend the essay, “Has a Man’s World Become a Woman’s Nation?” by sociologist Michael Kimmel. He offers a long list of benefits to men, women and children when fathers are egalitarian. It stretches from better sex for the parents to children who get along better with their peers and have more friends because they learn cooperation by doing housework with their fathers. This alone could be worth the price of admission.

If the attention this report generates helps create ideas and pressure for more equality in practice, the money and effort will have been worth it a hundred fold. If it meets the dusty fate of so many other reports and opinion polls, it will have helped to keep a Washington think tank going in an off-election year, but the same effort and funds could have been better spent in support of grassroots women’s groups that create small businesses, jobs and childcare from the bottom up. Right now, anyone with a stake in increased equality also has a stake in the success of The Shriver Report. Go to http://awomansnation.com and see what you can use to make the change you need.

Somewhere between the Man’s World that is gone, and the Woman’s Nation that could be unequal, too, you’ll find a step toward democracy.

This post is available at: www.womensmediacenter.com.

Visit the site, read and share “It’s Not a Man’s World or A Woman’s Nation,” by Gloria Steinem, news, videos and “Exclusive” articles by women journalists.

The Women’s Media Center was founded in 2005 as a non-profit progressive women’s media organization by writers/activists Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem to make women visible and powerful in the media.

Some of the best laughs I have experienced in the last decade have been with my girlfriends about the absurd things that are happening to our bodies and our minds. We are laughing at the absurdity of it all, and we are laughing with each other. That is how we surmount the inevitable. But there is a genre of post-menopause support books that does just the opposite – the jokes are about self-contempt and the laughter is about humiliation. It is the reader who is being ridiculed, not the circumstance.

So when my friend Amy Ferris told me she was writing a book called MARRYING GEORGE CLOONEY: Confessions from a Midlife Crisis (Seal Press, September 2009), I hoped it wasn’t one of those.

It isn’t. It is very funny, though, and honest and true.
Along with fantasizing about George Clooney (and who doesn’t?), she establishes a mode of good natured hysteria as she copes with insomnia, hot flashes and her ever-expanding and constricting figure. She alternately cherishes and ridicules her loving husband Ken. At the same time she tries to come to grips with her Jewish mother’s newfound love of Jesus Christ, which is directly proportionate to her rapidly progressing dementia. The effort to transcend a fraught mother-daughter relationship (and whose isn’t?) provides a touching and hilarious subplot.

One of her many insights about a midlife crisis is that you know you are in one, “when there are no molehills, only mountains.”

For information about MGC and Amy’s 3:00 A. M. musings on her blog visit: www.marryinggeorgeclooney.com.

To pre-order book on Amazon.com click here

Like many of you, I am sure, I kept wondering as I read about the American journalists who were arrested by North Korea, tried, sentenced and finally released, what prompted these two women to leave their families (especially a young child) to venture to the Korean peninsula to follow a story. What was the story they were pursuing?

In all the coverage of their chilling circumstances I found no answer to that question. Until this week when I read the dramatic, detailed, and well documented background report by another courageous woman, Ji-Yeon Yuh a Korean American scholar, writer, and activist who is also working to uncover underground criminal human trafficking operations.

Ji-Yeon Yuh’s article “What Were Laura Ling and Euna Lee Looking For in North Korea?” is on The Women’s Media Center website. Read it and be informed.
And outraged.

Click here to read the article

The Women’s Media Center (WMC) was founded in 2005 as a non-profit progressive women’s media organization by writers/activists Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem. WMC makes women visible and powerful in the media.

The Women’s Media Center (WMC)
http://www.womensmediacenter.com/index.html

Second Adulthood is all about change. It’s about a restlessness that creates a non-specific “itch” to make changes. Life in the Fertile Void, as I call this period, may feel like a free fall; it is alternately exhilarating and terrifying.

The changes you choose to make may not be as dramatic as parachuting out of a plane or as operatic as running off with the cable guy, but they will probably feel as momentous. Though some women are overcome with a burning passion to do something really big, others of us follow a small steady “Pilot Light” to self-discovery. Whether you redesign your life from top to bottom — and keep on doing it – or you can only manage small changes at first, you will find yourself recalibrating your life in exciting new ways.

FIFTY IS THE NEW FIFTY: Lesson Three: “Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes.” Here is what you do NOT have to do – though you may find out you want to…

• Leave Your Job
• Leave Your Partner
• Leave the Country
• Leave Your Senses
• Leave Your Body

Let me explain:

Leave Your Job – Many women sense a loss of professional drive as they move toward their fifties and worry that there is something wrong with them. But it may just be that you have reached a job that suits you or that you are ready to shift gears from climbing the ladder to settling on a plateau of accomplishment.

Leave Your Partner – In Second Adulthood, changes are taking place in both partners that may make couples more compatible now than they have ever been. As women experience a renewed curiosity about themselves, they often experience a renewed curiosity in the partner they thought they knew so well.

Leave the Country – The most commonly voice all-purpose passion is travel. But many women don’t really want to leave their (newly empty) nests; instead they want to feather them with cozy experiences and newfound intimacy. Others may want to make more internal, spiritual journeys. And still others may find that their local communities hold unexplored wonders and possibilities.

Leave Your Senses – Learning to scuba dive, taking up Chinese, or moving into a yurt may sound like just the high-intensity transformation you need, but you may also find that taking tango lessons, putting together a family tree, or planning a cousins’ reunion becomes the first step toward the rest of your life.

Leave Your Body – Our bodies are the front line in the confrontation with aging, but when the showdown is getting nasty, just imagine how many good laughs we would miss if our bodies were giving us so much hilarious material. Sure, it would be great to lose those twenty pounds, and it might feel very daring to let the gray grow in or get plastic surgery. On the other hand that might make you fell less like your true self than you do now. Only you can tell which it is. Maybe a regular pedicure or a new hair style will be all the transformation you need.

A common problem we often have is that we defeat ourselves before we start by replacing old unrealistic expectations with new ones. What matters – very much – is the deceptively simple insight that nothing changes, if nothing changes. Breaking one old pattern sets everything else in motion.

Have you felt this restlessness? Have you made changes large or small in your life?