Age friendly employers?

ridvimes

Hi,

relative had operation last year for cancer and then a subsequent operation. She is single mum and has since applied for hundreds of jobs but no luck. She has a range of experience but she is not even being looked at for entry level jobs. Just declined.

With her experience and quals in theory she should be looking at 25-60k but she can't even get an interview for nmw jobs. A year without income and a mortgage to pay means she is getting desperate. Can anyone suggest really age friendly companies (not those companies that say they are but then do everything to recruit the wrinkle free worker)?

She has contacted apprentice people and national careers service to maybe retrain but been declined because she has a level 5 qualification from the 1980s.

All pointers will be gratefully appreciated.

Flyonthewall

The problem doesn't sound like it's about age. I'd say it's that companies feel she is over-qualified. Has she applied to jobs that are above NMW? Plus it's really hard to get a job right now, especially if you've been out of a job for over a year. A lot of people are struggling to find work.

Voyager2002

B and Q are famous for recruiting older workers.

Otherwise, she should get some responsible voluntary work so that she has some recent experience to put on her CV and discuss at interview.

whodathunkit

How old is she?

ridvimes

She is 54. She has applied for full time, part time, temp, contract and permanent at rates from nmw to £45k as she had experience for latter.

She is thinking of self employed taxi driving but that she is only small and I don't like that idea either

Takeaway_Addict

There is nothing to say age is the factor, its a very competitive market and she has been out of it for a long period of time. She needs to get some relevance back onto her CV, has she looked at voluntary work for a few months for a more up to date reference? Is she actually applying for jobs relevent to her skills, if she is aiming for 60k then NMW applications seems odd?

agrinnall

B&Q as Voyager says, and M&S. I'd also suggest she uses personal contacts as much as possible, I struggled to get considered for jobs at that age when I was changing career after studying and eventually found my current job through someone that I knew who had a short term need (2 1/2 years ago now!).

noelphobic

Stating the obvious but are her CV and/or any application forms she fills in as good as they can be? She should get someone who knows about this to have a look and make suggestions for any changes that might help.

I'm the same age and got an interview for nearly every job I applied for. I didn't get the jobs but at least I looked good enough on paper for them to want to see me.

I'm looking at a complete career change so didn't expect it to be easy. However, I have recently completed a degree which is relevant to the sector I'm applying to and have been doing voluntary work for the sort of organisation I would like to work for.

t0rt0ise

The NHS is age friendly. I just started a new job in the NHS at the age of 59.

gettingready

In what field is she experienced?

No point recommending companies who are in a different field that her experience.

You are talking about a reasonable salary bracket so I assume she is a pro in some field - which one?

I_Can_Haz_Job?

the charity/third sector is great for older jobseekers - I work for a charity in the head office - my head of department is 64 and there are a great deal of over 45s on staff. One of my colleagues was actually moaning to me about how hard it is to find experienced candidates to fill a vacancy he has. He's getting a lot of applications from graduates/first-jobbers but they simply don't have the skills and attitude he needs. This is where older jobseekers are at an advantage - particularly if your relative can prove they are adaptable and can get up to speed in any new developments in their chosen field. I would definitely recommend volunteering as a way to get their foot in the door - volunteer opportunities very often lead to staff posts in the same organisation - a lot of full timers at my job are current or former volunteers that showed promise and were offered a job. There's a lot of charity specific jobsites out there - also, charities rarely use agencies or major jobsites due to budget constraints. You're more likely to find out about a job by picking a charity you are interested in, going to their homepage, going right to the bottom of the screen and clicking 'careers/work for us/etc'. I know there's specialist jobsites for working mothers, LGBT, even alternative/tattoo and piercing friendly jobs - it stands to reason that similar must be out there for older jobseekers. It just takes a bit of tinkering about in Google Advanced Search to track them down.

Hope it all goes well x