Patra Frame - Job Search Strategies for Mature Workers

http://www.ClearedJobs.Net.

Are you a mature worker worrying about staying on the job longer? Many of us do that and, of course, the standard advice is, "Stay in your current job" "Stay with your current employer" and that 70 is the new 50 as a recent book talks about it, but for all of us that is not necessarily the right option. Maybe you have to look for a job, maybe you just need a change, maybe you're ready to retire from one job but you want to continue to work. What do you do then?

Well first of all, take a good look at yourself; how strong are your technical skills, what kinds of things are you doing that are really current in technology? And if your skills aren't that strong now is the time to build them. Perhaps you've had the advantage of having had administrative help or a secretary to take care of a lot of your office requirements; not so common in a lot of jobs, so you might want to take care of getting some brush-up work on your Power Point slides, on your Excel spreadsheets, whatever those things are, or it may be the technical skills that are critical to your job. Whether those are in the technologies that you've worked in for a long time or they're the new technologies that are coming into your field, build your technical skills. That is in the area where there are going to be some assumptions that you don't have them unless you demonstrate that you do.

Secondly, look at your network. At any age network is important but as we age and we're looking for work our network becomes critical. The networking piece is how you're going to find the right opportunity at the right place, not a job ad, not a cold call but through networking. So you want to work with your family, your friends, your professional and past work connections and work your network. They're going to represent you, they're going to help you find the right opportunity.

Then look at how you present yourself. Some of us, especially as we've been seeing and worrying about age discrimination, become discouraged before we even begin, and if your attitude is, "I'll never get a job, poor me" then what is going to happen is that people are going to pick up that attitude. They're going to find you as no confidence and defeated and they're not going to be interested so you want to look at your attitude. Your attitude needs to be what you can contribute, not in a superior way, not in a condescending way but, "Here is my value, here is what I bring to you, here is what I can offer to do for your organization to help right now."

Then look at how you present yourself. Sometimes, especially if we've been in one job for a while or if we have just not paid attention recently to 'fashion' our self presentation is not so good. So get out those interview clothes, get out the way you're going to be out in the public for networking events and stuff and talk to somebody else whose opinion you value. That might be a spouse, it might be a kid who is in your family, it might be some other co-workers, young peers, but ask them how do you look and what could you do to make sure you're presenting yourself at your best. None of this is designed to change you, none of this is designed to make you into something you're not. I'm not telling you, "Lose 50lbs, dye your hair, go have a facelift" or any of those things. I'm saying you want to present you at your best so that people can see the value you bring to them.

And finally, make sure you understand current job search methods. They're not the same as they were even 5-years ago, much less 10-or-20 so you need to understand Linkedin, you need to understand social media, you need to understand how your resume will be searched through key words, how it will be used, where it will go electronically and you need to be able to play on that field effectively. So you need to learn what is a job aggregator, what is social media and how do I effectively have a great resume? If you don't know those things watch our other videos, do some research online but you need to be current.

All said, there is a lot of great work for folks who have some good experience. There are a lot of organizations that will be interested in them but you have to do the research to find them and you have to present yourself as the answer to their needs.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• patra frame
• clearedjobs.net
• jobs
• job search
• mature job search
• age discrimination

[ClearedJobsDotNet]

We are glad that you like them!

[MsClara555]

i love your videos . thank you .

God Bless you.