Survival Tactics For The Mature Job Seeker

Job seeking is never a breeze. It requires effort, energy, determination, and right now, sheer bloody-mindedness. It’s difficult enough trying to find your first job without previous experience. But what if lack of experience isn’t your problem? You probably have too much experience in fact.

A scarier option is the fact that it has been literally years since you had to search for, apply and interview for a new position. If you have been at the same organisation or company for a large chunk of your career, you will be out of your comfort zone with your new job seeker status.

You will be up against those younger and more energetic. They may be more internet savvy also – and this is a skill that helps enormously in modern day recruitment. You might be feeling a little bit rusty, but there is good news if you are a mature job seeker.

The experience and knowledge in a 100k job you carry FAR outweighs the exuberant energy of youth. The more experienced or ‘specialist’ you are, the shallower the job pool admittedly, but you just need to limber up and put in the practice.

Employers are recognising the value if the mature worker more and more, you might just want to hone those survival tactics to see you through

What you can do

It’s really vital to see the new job search as a new challenge, as opposed to a chore. By being a mature worker, you have definitely got the heads up on many of your competitors. Take a rational look at yourself, your industry, the market and your fellow seeking ‘competitors’ Literally ask yourself what they have got that you haven’t. Let’s say it’s your technology skills you are lacking in. Bring yourself up to speed then! You can learn these things, the young bucks can’t magic up years of experience.

You need to recognise, know and accept where your talents and skills lie. These have ‘market value’ If you can weigh up how much this is ‘worth’ to a new organisation, you will be able to clearly spell it out on your applications or in interviews. In the current market, experience and knowledge is vital to help companies who may be struggling through tougher times. Don’t forget that all skills are transferable.

Networking is still one of the best ways to get job leads. This won’t be news to you I am sure, but the connection game is a little more hard work these days. Physically attend as many events as you can. Things you were always too busy to make, could be vital in your job search. If you shake enough hands, you never know whose hands they are! Don’t be fussy or shy either, whether it’s at your kids School or an industry body, let it be known you are looking for a new post. The Internet is your friend. You need at least to be acquainted with LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) if the online world of social media is still alien to you, grab the nearest teenager to show you around the new cyber world!

Keep up to date with news, and even gossip. Industry inside information, online newsletters and websites. Keep your eyes and ears open, all information is good. This keeps you well in the loop and more agile at spotting opportunities that could be beneficial.

Probably the most important survival tactic in these difficult economic times is a positive frame of mind.. Resilience is essential and a good mental attitude will be apparent the minute you walk into an interview or meet someone influential at an event for example. Job searching isn’t a breeze – quite the opposite but positivity attracts positivity in this case. Nobody wants to hire a bitter old soul! Whilst we are on the subject, DO NOT use an Interview as an excuse to criticise your former company or managers.

The trick is ensuring that you present and articulate your key strengths in a manner that represents you as a person and as a professional, and leave the youngsters in your wake!