CAREERS NOW 03-15-09

Tune-Ups For the Over-50 Crowd

DEAR JOYCE: I just turned 52 and despite my credentials - MBA, tons of continuing education credits, and several managerial positions - I've been self-employed doing taxes for two years. What I'm looking for is a managerial position in a successful closely held business and do not expect to be paid what I used to earn. But all I get back in response to my approaches are replies that congratulate me on my impressive background and regrets that I am overqualified for their companies. I'm becoming less enthusiastic than before. How do I beat the "overqualified"? Or do they really mean "over age"? - T.D.

Sure, age discrimination is as common as thorns on a rose bush, but birthday bias isn't always always the case. A friend, the exact age as you, recently landed a fine job at good pay working as an investigator. So finding new work over 50 can be done.

A big roadblock keeping you unemployed may be that you don't realize the game has changed since you were last on the field. In a time when more than 12 million Americans are jobless, let's play job market catch-up.

RETHINK. You've done all the right things - earned ongoing educational credentials, kept your nose to the grindstone and built an admirable upward track record. So it's understandable that you probably consider it an indignity to "audition" as you did starting out and moving up. The thought is an anathema -you've been a star and have earned your status. You're entitled to kick back and conduct a traditional, comfortable job search, right?

Not exactly. In this cutthroat job market (nearly 700 Ohioans applied for one janitorial job recently), you'll need the determination and push you had at 25. Employers can smell a lack of fire in the belly and rush to absent themselves from your professional presence.

REINTRODUCE. "In hot times you can generally throw your weight around a bit more with recruiters because, if you're really good at what you do, they will want to place you," says executive career coach Darrell W. Gurney in "Working with a Recruiter in a Buyer's Market," an article posted on The Ladders (theladders.com). The 15-year recruiting veteran advises job hunters that today's employment environment changes how you present yourself:

"You want to be on your humble best behavior in working with recruiters. If you get a call on something, be glad rather than perturbed because it isn't a perfect fit."

But what if the position is a real mismatch? Gurney, who is the author of "Headhunters Revealed!" counsels against blowing off the contact: "Establish a mutually beneficial relationship with the recruiter (e.g., who can you refer who might be right for that job?) so that you remain on that recruiter's radar for other opportunities. Realize that getting a call from a recruiter in a slower market is a Godsend because many in the headhunting profession have already left the business."

RESTYLE. Go out of your way to project reasonable youth and high energy, as well as eagerness to learn new ways of doing things. Use every tool of dress, grooming, speech patterns (short of hip-hop) and mannerisms to project a contemporary view of what it takes to compete in today's business.

Positive imaging doesn't always work, but it works more often than a tired, defeated voice speaking haltingly as if the thoughts won't flow. Tuning up your persona works more often than behavior that projects as "Why should I remake myself for the role? My record should speak for itself."

REGROUP. Work hard to build a networking base. Passively sowing resumes and waiting to harvest job offers is unrealistic. If you can't afford an executive coach, find a job hunting buddy and brainstorm ways to expand your prospect list for job leads.

You've done well in life. Because a seasoned mind is too precious to waste in a world that needs you more now than ever, I hope you'll revive, reinvent and reengage.

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