Looking for new job at 58, what options?

[Nomad2009]

I could be to be out of a job by the end of the summer as the company I work for and the whole sector have been wrecked by Covid, so hardly any jobs available in my field. I have transferable skills and long experience, but all the jobs I see at my current pay level require specific experience in other fields or technical qualifications. Is there any point in re-training at 58 in a new field and then find out I am considered too old by employers? Any HR people on here can share their views?

I'm not in HR, but I'm realistic enough to think that if you are taking on a beginner in any field, you are probably unlikely to take on someone who is 60 yrs old, whatever any legislation says.
I don't know what your salary is, but it would seem likely that you'd be better working as soon as you can, even in a less skilled job, rather than possibly taking 2 or 3 years out to train, and then still having to start at the bottom in another industry, to end up working for about 6 years until retirement.
It depends of course on your finances, pension planning, any redundancy pay, etc etc.

Try the "Civil Service"

I think searching for roles by pay level is going to be problematic. If you are fairly senior now, how will you cope with being Junior again and taking direction from someone who has a fraction of your experience?

Some industries are more age-blind than others. That said...

It's super normal that at 'retirement' age many people switch careers for at least 5 years into very different work, so on the whole, age is no barrier, only attitude to slow you down.

Thanks for the replies, it is good to hear different opinions. My main focus is to maintain my salary level, which is not high by any stretch, going lower it would be a financial ruin unless I knew that in a year or so I could reach my current level. I will try and look in industries where age is less of an issue

er... what is your current salary, OP?

What are your transferable skills op?

NHS admin - it might be possible to work your way up once you are in . I know of someone mid 50's who recently got an admin job there.

@Mintjulia ... I have worked in admin, sales, marketing so office skills plus sales skills, in various sectors

Civil service or contact centre (customer service). Both age blind and open to all sorts

This might be worth looking into - a recruitment company for over 50s - best of luck x

www.nodesiretoretire.com/

Age is unlikely to be a significant factor in most fields. Your skills mix is quite diverse which is good. I would suggest:

1. Listening to the manager tools podcast on resume writing.
2. Getting some practice in on competency based interview questions
3. Getting in touch with lots of recruiters
4. Ditching cover letters 90% of the time
5. Focus on large institutional organisations like the civil service, NHS, banks, housing associations, and very large construction companies where the hiring manager is unlikely to be the business owner.

Also, remember your age is a huge asset. Experience reduces risks and improves efficiency. For some organisations it will be a problem. For most it will be neutral or a benefit.

I am confident in this advice. I regularly change jobs and have secured a minimum of two offers per year for the last six years.

@Giraffapuses

Age is unlikely to be a significant factor in most fields. Your skills mix is quite diverse which is good. I would suggest:

1. Listening to the manager tools podcast on resume writing.
2. Getting some practice in on competency based interview questions
3. Getting in touch with lots of recruiters
4. Ditching cover letters 90% of the time
5. Focus on large institutional organisations like the civil service, NHS, banks, housing associations, and very large construction companies where the hiring manager is unlikely to be the business owner.

Also, remember your age is a huge asset. Experience reduces risks and improves efficiency. For some organisations it will be a problem. For most it will be neutral or a benefit.

I am confident in this advice. I regularly change jobs and have secured a minimum of two offers per year for the last six years.

A minimum of 2 job offers a year for 6 years - is applying for jobs your hobby? Thankfully you stay away from small businesses because recruitment is costly.

@Pinkraven I work primarily for start-ups where there is no job security. Plus, typicslly, annual pay rises are between 3-5% when you progress internally vs. 10-14% if you change companies. I would stay if my employer kept pace with the market rate, plus they would drop me immediately if I stopped delivering so there is no 2-way loyalty.

Are you in IT? We have to invest so much time in our employees - training, getting them up to speed with the industry, building relationships etc, we couldn't tolerate the risk of employing someone who jumped around so much, it would be a huge red flag, but it makes sense if salary is your biggest motivator and you can deliver demonstrable from day 1.

@Pinkraven I work in a sales focused role. Its great if you can retain people as yes the coat of recruitment is high. People have highlighted the fact I only stay in a job for a few years as a risk but as I work in sales it sort of doesn't matter because if I leave but make a large return for the business they still have that money. I am also often hired to solve a specific problem.

Question @Pinkraven what reason would you give for me (or another job market flirt) to not leave and secure a higher salary?

We need people to generate sales too but also be there to follow through and deliver - we've worked with people who promise the world to clients and move on, leaving an expensive mess behind. Not suggesting that's you but that is our fear and also sales people with the patter are notoriously hard to interview - they can make everyone fall for their charm but again the reality may not be quite as charming.

@Giraffapuses

Question *@Pinkraven* what reason would you give for me (or another job market flirt) to not leave and secure a higher salary?

We are new - only 3 years old. We have a very collaborative work style - we are very open with our team - they share in our decisions and our financial successes. You would work with a group of very bright motivated people, who want to deliver something of worth and you would be constantly challenged to solve new and interesting (to some) problems. This may not sound very unique, as I type it loads of companies spout the same nonsense but the people we work with are very talented, we pay them well, we treat them well. We try to stay on top of the industry pay grades (we don't expect people to come to work for fun) although salary information is sometimes hard to come by, on last checking - we are top 25% if you can trust recruiters in our industry! We hope that when we retire our people will continue to run the business that we have all built together. Even one of our most cynical contractors, unprompted, admitted working with us was something he thoroughly enjoyed - was amusingly out of character and strangely the best praise of all!

@Pinkraven oh, yeah for sure. Don't act like a jerk is important. Personally, I still have good relationships with almost all of my employers so I can only assume it went okay. I've worked with the same people across different organisations a few times. But, yeah that's the risk of anyone without a long-term view. Maybe they will be mercantile.

Your company sounds lovely. Well done on building such a good culture. Year 3 is often the hardest year in a start up. Time to get really focused.

We've gotten away from @Nomad2009's question though. Good luck Nomad! Let us know how it goes.

@Giraffapuses thank you for the useful pointers and the encouragement!

@itsme7 thank you for the link, I will have a look