To think job market for those 55 and over is dire

The job market is just dire. I’m 40 and I only seem to be managing to stay employed with a FTC that keeps getting renewed. I can imagine how hard it must be for the over 55 demographic with all the ageism out there. It’s a numbers game to a degree just keep applying for anything you’re prepared to do

I finished school 26 years ago and, of course, I don't put it on my CV. Who cares about my GCSE and A levels at this point? I put my degrees which don't give away much as I went to uni in my late 30s.

I'm a similar age and seniority. I've been out of work about 10 months now and after a fruitless search so far I'm becoming inclined to call it a day and retire earlier than I intended with a more modest lifestyle than planned.

I'd recruited into my team quite recently. Sometimes I put adverts in LinkedIn and Indeed myself, but the response was overwhelming. I think that explains a lot of the problem. It took me ages to wade through the many irrelevant and pointless applications to get to a shortlist. It's simply too easy to apply. More often I'd have to delegate the initial shortlisting to a specialist colleague or let an agency advertise and present close match candidates. With that comes the second problem; the person, agency or software delegated to sift will have their own biases and also a lack of creative thought such that interesting though perhaps imperfect matches will be discarded. This person isn't likely to feel much empathy for the applicants. The third problem is that the first batch, of perhaps 100 applications, will be harvested from the advert. The advert will be left running and further applicants will only be considered if the first batch didn't produce enough people to progress with. Therefore there are many adverts left running that nobody looks at responses for.

The sad thing is the government (can't remember who or when!) went on about "economic inactivity" of people aged 50+

Well, yes. So why not DO something? Not sure what they could do really.

Seems to be so common but barely discussed!

For over 55’s in particular getting another job is very hard. There will always be exceptions. But in general ; not valued, not wanted.

We've just been through four rounds of redundancies (corporate) including me. I'm 40. Anyone over 40 is really struggling. I can't even imagine how it feels at 55.

Our entire marketing and digital team were made redundant in favour of AI! They're struggling the most and weirdly the advice for older people tends to be "gain some digital marketing skills" - yes maybe this worked in 2021 but not in 2026. That ship has sailed

Many corporate companies make you fill out a form when applying. They say it's for diversity and inclusion - but they ask for your DOB. I think this is suss

Best wishes to all who are unemployed or facing redundancy 💐 it's horrible

(my friend is a TA and she has just been made redundant. Yesterday she found out)

No dob on cv. Potted brief history of education etc at end. Most first interviews are teams etc so a usual everyday blurring can help. The job market is awful for everyone but just a little consciousness of bias can help you plan around it. It shouldn’t be necessary but play the game.

Yup you can employ people with similar/greater skill levels for less money who are younger. My old company has been through another round of redundancies (FTSE 100, halving in size) and there was a lady in my old team let go. I think of her quite often. She was lovely, early 60s, with a husband who had never really worked so she had a lot on her shoulders. Honestly she wasn't that good but she worked very hard and due to being in the company for decades was on a far higher salary than her banding or what she can expect externally. It's a cruel market, made much worse by this government.

This is really frustrating but true.

I'm 51. No health issues, no children at home and no parents.

I'm the most reliable I've ever been!

Civil service seems to be worth a look.

A lot of 50+ teachers are being made redundant (too expensive) and a lot seem to move into the CS.

Yes it does. A good CV will have your core skills, your core achievements, and a selected list of places you did them. It does not need to have a list of worked here from this date to that date.

Nothing worse than that latter type CV.

Everyone is replying about how to de-age the CV, but surely this only works for initial stages of recruitment? The fact of the matter is lots of employers are agist. They don't want to pay more for your experience and they fear your ability to work will be impaired by health conditions (20% of people over 55 have some chronic illness) or caring responsibilities for frail parents.

YABU. The job market is absolutely shit for everyone.

I think it depends on the job and the area. I moved into a new field at 55.

Previously I did a job that people don’t train in now so experienced staff are like gold dust.

I'm 51. The only education on my CV is the very last line at the end of my CV with my degree on it. No point putting GCSEs and A levels. I haven't got years on it

You would think that women in their 50s would be a safe bet. We aren’t going to go off on Mat leave, most of us don’t have childcare to work around and we’ve got loads of experience. In my industry I have seen it all.

I don’t want a senior level role, but I can’t get anywhere with anything junior because I’m ‘too experienced’.

age discrimination is a huge problem in recruitment at the moment as it’s still perfectly acceptable to reject someone of the grounds of ‘too experienced’.

O levels are GCSE equivalents, so just say you have x number of GCSEs.

I say 8 GCSEs including Maths and English if asked.

Do you not put education dates on your CV?

My CV doesn’t have my DOB but from the dates I was secondary school and college it would be easy to work out my age or thereabouts

It’s not specifically over 55s. It’s primarily young people who are affected. Graduate unemployment has rocketed, as many aren’t learning skills that employers want.

Can you manage this stage of your career by downsizing your home and perhaps starting a consultancy? You’re at the age/stage where you can think about dialling things down a notch and getting a better work/life balance; you can also get paid for your expertise rather than your grind.

@Bettyfordtoday first things first

Have you sent your CV to any obvious competitors? Do you have any connections at obvious competitors?

Also, speak to a recruiter. They always know a lot of stuff. And they'll hear about jobs long before they get to advertise them.

I know the market is bad, but who you know is pretty key here.

I'm 50 and the impression I'm under is that candidates who are really good professionally have a bit of a head start

Also frankly speaking some people will have positions where they prefer to recruit someone who is more likely to be a bit more settled in the role.

Good luck

It’s done for everyone

Agree with de-ageing the CV. I have last 20 years work experience, no dates on my degrees. I have A levels on there but have skipped O levels completely. I’d just call them GCSEs if I had to put them.

I agree that it is hard because there is ageism in the workplace and because the economy is struggling in general.

I am 55 and I have a long term health condition.

I had to leave my last permanent role six months ago after raising a complaint against my manager for disability discrimination. The organisation offered me a financial settlement because I had enough evidence of being bullied/treated differently from the rest of the team. The bullying destroyed my confidence in my skills and experience.

Since then I was lucky to find a freelance role with a small business for the past 6 months but now that project is completed so I am trying to find something else and it is so difficult.

My CV only has my last 15 years of career and I have removed the dates of my qualifications.

I am flexible about the jobs I apply for and also looking at retraining and any freelance work I can get and I am trying to stay positive.

I do think government needs to do more about the over 50 and people with disabilities because they say they want people to work longer and be employed but do nothing to try to address the barriers that we face.

I didn't think they were allowed to ask dob, or sex. It's not relevant to the role.

I don't have them on my cv and I only put on career history relevant to the job, you can also change your cv to be skills based rather than a list of where you worked.

Could you try civil service? They specifically tell you not to write anything identifiable like your colledge/uni. I think advertised roles are lower level but once you're in you can apply for the roles not advertised externally.