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

You can use the phrase 'GCSE equivalent' instead of O levels. Not perfect but can help.

I'm sure there must be other professions that require this but there's no way of hiding it in teaching.

You have to account for every day since leaving school at 18 for Safer Recruitment so all work history has to be included with dates and all exam certificates have to be provided at interview stage.

It used to be like this in local government, too. However, I recently applied for a job that only asked for last three years, which suited me fine.

There was an education part where I put my BA and MA and that required dates otherwise the form wouldn't complete. So I just wrote my school qualifications in the personal statement part, not mentioning dates and just bundled them together as English, Maths, social and science subjects Grades A-C.

In my personal statement I referenced jobs from 2010 onwards. I've got an interview next week!

To be fair they don't care about age, just about relevant experience, so pointless listing a hospitality job from 1989.

Surely after a certain age - not even that old, say 30y - no one cares about GCSEs and A-levels, especially if you have a degree. Even if you don’t, a decade of working history will demonstrate the level of skills, literacy, numeracy etc

It's because, in teaching, they have to be sure you've not been in prison.

Part time jobs alongside school/whilst at university don't need to be included, but we still have to include every job whether it's relevant to teaching or not from 30+ years ago with dates for each. You can't have any gaps which can't be easily explained or proven.

Along with GCSE, A Level, degree, teaching and other certificates.

Depending on the type of job that a person is applying for. Some online CVs require every job going back to age 16 & you have to account for any times not in work, with accurate dates & what you were doing.

Plus provide all original qualification certificates

Surely that’s just the market? Youngster’s are struggling too - why would being 48 (19 years from retirement) mean they’re being discriminated against?

If that’s the case when are people hired?
20s - not experienced enough
30s - no, women will want Mat leave
48+ too old.

Are you saying there’s only an 8 year sweet spot?

It's difficult. I'm tempted to leave off my O levels, because that marks me out as at least 55.

I can put my A levels in, but with grade inflation my previously 'good' grades BBC, now don't look as good as they once did, what with so many getting straight As.

Surely a DBS check would be the easiest way to check that?

Nobody cares about the grades so long as it’s above a C anyway

Yep, same in social work/social care.
PS. I'm still a goth too.🖤

Your post doesn’t make sense. Are you saying they didn’t employ you because you said your husband would look after your children while you were on the residential?

In any case they absolutely shouldn’t have asked you that question.

So leave them off, once you get to 50 school exams are irrelevant.

Grade C Maths and English remain relevant for life and are required for lots of jobs. But I would just say I had GCSEs. They are the equivalent to O levels.

Once you have been offered the job and asked for your certificates, I doubt anyone is going to quibble that they're O levels.

Can I ask you how long you worked in your job , if you don't mind ? I am going through this just now. I am going through a terrible time due to bullying and have a disability . I have never worked anywhere so horrible. Just going through the grievance process just now and can hardly sleep. Good for you .I am glad you won .

It's probably people in their 50s who wrote the applications. We know how to program and write scripts and often learnt when people had to be careful with memory usage and so on, and we had to know how we impacted efficiency and cost. Of course some people are slow, but that is true of any age group, not just the over 50s. Most of my colleagues would be very dismissive of anyone who thinks tech is just MS Office applications.

You are being ageist. Please stop it.

I took my dates off my CV. A recruitment consultant made me put them back on. (He didn't even get me a job, either.) Fortunately another one did.

Yes, a couple of years ago, a friend was applying for teaching roles and had to account for a month between his summer job on a building site and being back in uni - in 1991. He had been on a driving holiday in the USA, but he couldn't actually prove it after all this time. And not everyone would remember at all.

In teaching this is because of safeguarding policy. You need to account for all the time in case of something untoward.

You'd think!

But it's just the way it's done.

We also have to sign a form to say we've never been convicted of any 'List 99' offences too. It's not even called that anymore.

I suppose it's just to make sure no one slips through the net.

I’m not a teacher but I work as a support staff at a secondary school. I applied last summer and as you said, had to list all my jobs since I graduated in 1993. I understand why this is done but equally it is bit pointless, as I moved to UK in 1998, so all those jobs before were in another country. I could have said anything, the school would have no way of finding out if I lied or not. But I guess it’s a box ticking exercise to show they have tried their best to check the information.

Tbh I was quite worried they’ll withdraw their offer as I had to explain why I had a 14 month gap from 1994-1995. I was unemployed as my country was in a deep recession, unemployment was 18% at that time. There were no jobs at all. But if there’s a current 30 year old going through my details, they would not understand the situation at all.

Luckily the job offer still stood and I’ve now been there nearly a year. I’m 53 and infact youngest of all the technicians with our department. I feel very lucky I found this job after 17 years as a SAHM AND being over 50.

The market is truly awful! I have tried to reduce my CV but they check qualifications and can see when you qualified.
i was quizzed by a recruiter about what I was doing in 1997! mad as that’s 30 years ago almost…

Yes.

Maybe they were MN users and of the opinion that men are useless and assumed I'd be making excuses to not go or pulling out at the last minute due to childcare issues. Maybe they'd had experience of that happening before. Maybe their own husbands would have refused and they thought there was no chance my husband would agree to it.

But, you're absolutely right they shouldn't have asked the question in the first place!

age discrimination is definitely alive and kicking.

I went for a job interview on Friday
I am late 50s
Yes I had to produce all my work history since 16

Written test
Verbal test

I retired from teaching at 65 and I had a couple of lovely part time jobs since then. I do a load of grandchild care do I am not flexible about days but I am willing and hardworking and still working part time and doing childcare at 75. I think the fact that I was a teacher helps a lot. I attended a local toddler group session and the centre offered me work there. I am reliable and keen to learn which makes a big difference. A friend of mine in her mid sixties has just accepted a job as an entertainments manager for a care home. They had been looking for someone for ages.