Posted under Job Search on September 25th, 2007
I taught a workshop today to older workers, many of whom were concerned that employers wouldn’t hire them because of their age. I shared with them the wisdom – and humor – of Richard Nelson Bolles, author of the well-known book, What Color Is Your Parachute.
Bolles notes that many people are convinced that they are unemployable for a wide variety of reasons, and he fills a page with two columns of those reasons, including:
- education (too much/too little/too long ago/not relevant, etc.)
- appearance (too attractive/too unattractive, too short/too tall, too fat/too thin, etc.)
- age (too young/too old)
- work experience (too little/too sporadic/too long in one place, etc.)
- gender
- ethnicity/race/religion (perceived preferential treatment for minority or majority groups)
- disability
…and on and on. Bolles concludes with the tongue-in-cheek observation that it appears there are only about three weeks in a person’s lifetime when they are employable!
It’s undeniable that there are employers who will discriminate against people for any of the above reasons. My husband has been told numerous times that his short stature works against him – he’s either perceived as not tough enough for the job or as probably having a Napoleonic complex. Nevertheless, he has always found work. The same is true of every attribute that people think will make them unemployable – people with those attributes find jobs every day.
You may have to work a little harder in some cases, try some creative job search strategies, and most definitely use your networking contacts for assistance, but with a positive attitude and a concerted effort, you are employable.
posted by Wendy Gelberg
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