To think job market for those 55 and over is dire

[Bettyfordtoday]

At 55, and recently made redundant from a highly paid corporate role I am struggling to get another role or even an interview.

I'm wondering what others do at this age point, too young to retire but seemingly too old to interview ?

Have a mortgage etc to pay and don't want to get in debt , redundancy pay will last if I am careful to the end of the year at most

I wish you the best, OP, I was fired (not just redundant..) last year, similar age/job.

I found another - less money, but also less responsibility and stress.

It is hard - but you will get through it.

I would go as far as to say over 48 to be honest. I know several people in their late 40s who are struggling something awful to get a job, even a basic, unskilled labour job. Employers favour younger people ALWAYS. Whether they admit it or not.

Yep, 55, same situation ( but in a different sector). I am now working for less money, part time and a lot less responsibility. Luckily I can just about afford it. Meanwhile I’m re training in something else that I can do independently till retirement.

I never had my d.o.b on my CV.
I applied for 10 jobs three weeks ago. Got interviews for two... But accepted the first one and cancelled the other.
Not major roles at all but good enough jobs for me
Good luck OP

How does that work though? Leaving your DOB off I mean? It's pretty simple to work out someone's likely age from their work history, and possibly qualifications even.....

You are right of course.
But it did mean they have to actually read the CV .. Not just throw it in the bin after reading the dob

I just say “9 GCSE’s, 3 Alevels (AAA) Degree (BSc 2:1)” and I omit the first five years of my post grad life when I was dossing around travelling and doing all sorts of jobs before I settled down a bit.

Most people guess I’m around 40 which is incorrect.

I also only use the last 20 years worth of job history

I leave out date of birth and only include the last 10 years of experience, but I’m not executive level or even close.

Fair enough, very glad it's worked for you, and best wishes for your new job 😊

Unfortunately, my only formal qualifications are O levels and an NCDT diploma in Stage Management, technical theatre and design 😆 the O levels are a dead giveaway!

I don't think it's just over 55s, to be honest. The job market is terrible for everyone at present. School leavers can't get their first jobs in cafes or shops, because everyone wants someone 'with experience'. Everyone is going to university, which is making lower-grade jobs expect their employees to have degrees, even if they absolutely don't need them for the role. My employer has circa 6000 employees. I attended a group last week for under 30s, as there are less than 150 employees in this age bracket. With technology doing so much more than it used to, and expectations constantly going up, there are less jobs available to everyone.

I use only last 10 years of working history. I am younger but skilled in hiding my immigrant arse on CV...
Nothing has locations or dates. Take dates off, do not use all work history (no one really cares what you did at 20 unless it was massively important.
It seemed to work last time i job hunted last year.
Nothing what can identofy your protected characteristocs essentially unless it was part of your job or similar.
Re qualifications, I put equivalent ones for uk and current time

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.

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.

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.

It’s done for everyone

@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

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.

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.

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

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

I say 8 GCSEs including Maths and English if asked.

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’.

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

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.