Over 55 and looking for work – the Bad News

Over 55 and looking for work – the Bad News

• Unemployment inched down nationally in December, from 10.2% to 10%.  But rose for 55 and older workers from 7% to 7.1%.
• Unemployed for an average of 36 weeks.
• Number of “discouraged” unemployed older workers rose from 130,000 to 199,000 in December.
• Unemployed 55-64 yr-old workers more vulnerable because of falling investment return and collapsing retirement programs.

Over 55 and looking for work – the Good News

Technology, health care and education will continue to be hot job sectors, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ outlook for job growth between 2008 and 2018.  More than two million new technology-related jobs are expected to be created by 2018, according to the BLS.

• Tech skills alone are not enough.  Those who have people and relationship skills as well will thrive.
• Have a clear “Elevator Speech.”  Know your unique strengths
• Don’t be a generalist – be specific
• Be bold, confident and enthusiastic – more energy sells
• Recognize you are “selling” something – YOU

The two biggest pitfalls I see with 55+ job seekers:

1.  Not being clear on unique value – too general
2. A subtle sense of “entitlement.”  No one owes you a job, no one will feel sorry for you. 

If you fall into these traps you’ll be convinced that the economy is bad and no one is hiring.  Make yourself stand out as the best candidate and you’ll be amazed at the opportunities that appear.

50,000 are Jobless in Nashville

This was the recent headline in the Nashville Tennessean newspaper.  Oh no, the sky is falling.  Actually, that number puts Nashville solidly at 6.2% unemployment. So let’s see, that means that we have 93.8% of the people fully employed and going to work every day, or roughly 760,000 who still have jobs.  Experts consider 5% unemployment “full employment” as there are always that many people transitioning or taking a break.  So really we are up 1.2% or about 9700 more people looking for work than normal out of the 810,000 workers in this area.  So why don’t the headlines scream that Nashville has 760,000 people who are getting regular paychecks each week?  Because good news doesn’t sell newspapers.

Be careful how you receive the “news” being offered right now.  You could get the impression that no one is hiring, all banks are failing, everyone is losing their home, and every small business is on the brink of disaster. 

Incidentally we have a 99% chance of sunshine tomorrow and a   1% CHANCE OF HAIL, TORNADO, EARTHQUAKE, AND LOCUST ATTACK!