CAREERS NOW 07-22-09

Administrative Assistant Hopes To Move Up

DEAR JOYCE: At 34, I've just earned my degree in business administration during years of working as an administrative assistant. After six weeks of interviewing, I seem unable to convince employers that my background qualifies me for management trainee ranks but I've had two offers for clerical positions. Strategies? - K.N.

Use a digital recorder to practice articulating your objective. Do you sound like a manager - well-spoken, articulate and confident? Or like a pleasant woman who lacks the self-assurance and authority to manage others? Never forget that personal presentation talent packs a punch, making a difference in who wins and who loses.

Strong strategy: Develop a persuasive sales pitch that doesn't recognize the administrative support offer. "I'm delighted you recognize that my previous exposure to all levels of work in an office has sharpened my recognition of effective supervisory techniques, as well as avenues to genuine cost-cutting. I've been there and seen what really happens in the trenches. In short, I've got the jump on most graduates. May I tell you more about my qualifications as a management trainee?"

Get a job-search partner, a book or two on effective interviewing, and practice, practice, practice.

An alternative, time-honored strategy: Take the best of the administrative support offers and rise through the ranks.

DEAR JOYCE: I read that Robert Redford just married a 51-year-old woman. Lucky her! That's my age and all I hope for right now is a way to turn to a new page in my life's work. I am unemployed in the banking field through no fault of my own and ready to move on. Ideas? - C.V.

A destination offering potential is the paraprofessional tier - not the lawyer, but the paralegal; not the physician, but the physical therapist; not the engineer, but the engineering technician. The point is that the training is shorter.

I anticipate continued high interest in distance online education, private career schools and vocational-technical courses and programs at (currently overloaded) community colleges, all of which offer escapes from low-skill, low-paying service jobs.

DEAR JOYCE: I'm 55 and have to find a new way to pay my way in life. Every time I apply for employment, I lose out to young men. I guess employers have the perception that young guys have more energy, learn technology quicker, cost less, are cheaper in health insurance and offer less resistance to new ways of doing things. Help me out? - R.R.

You really need to find a free job club (ask at a library's reference desk) where you can rise with a tide of mutual support, as well as gain employment and retraining tips. In the meantime, think about presenting another view of the perceptions you mention. To wit:

Who's more reliable day to day - the young or the mid-lifers? Who's less likely to make costly errors because of inexperienced judgment? Who's going to have a better attitude because they've survived downturns and are more appreciative? What other advantages does your mid-age suggest?

Until you begin to think in self-boosting terms - that is, "crack the code" of selling your characteristics as a competitive edge - you will be just another 55-year-old man who employers assume isn't as good a buy as someone half your age.

As a mid-lifer, commit yourself to trying harder in this age of shifting realities than you had to as a beginner in boom times.

P.S. Regardless of your ideological persuasion, as an older worker, any health insurance reform that removes the cost burden from employers will work in your favor. Moreover, U.S. employers are getting stiffed because they aren't competing on a level playing field against foreign employers that don't have to pay expensive health insurance costs for employees. Watch the news; if results favor you, work the new benefit into your employment presentation.

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