How to stay employed at 40, 50 and Beyond

Recently, a friend of mine and I reminisced the past, when we were just kids in North America and when company’s had hierarchies with 20 levels (an exaggeration), but not that far off. You could visibly see your progress at work by the size of your office, expense account, car, title and then the worst unimaginable scenario took place. The word “Rightsizing” entered the English vocabulary.

 My friend and I both agree that in the mid 80’s and early 90’s our path to organizational nirvana coming out of school diminished. Today, your personal growth is not as visible and your boss who 25 years ago as a VP would have had a great office and leather furniture now has a cubicle in an open office workplace environment. Now for those who wanted equality this works, however for those of us who wanted opportunity and clear visibility in our career’s something has gone wrong.

 What we see today is a number of executives, managers and supervisors from the age of 40 and above lose their jobs. The executive search firms or head hunters if you will are receiving thousands of applications for every position posted.

The competition is fierce and even for a recruiter and company it would be difficult to differentiate true talent from a great talker just based on the experience gained by so many of these candidates.

 The challenge today is to keep your job and make yourself indispensable. Is such a thing possible even in a volatile economy? The answer is yes of course. But you can do more than that, at this time if you are still employed you are in the driver seat.

 The truth is that it is still much easier to get a new job while you are still employed. In addition if your company just went through a host of cuts and you are still there chances are you have skills that are still needed.

 So how do we keep the job that we have? How do we still get ourselves placed in the succession planning list for promotion? How do we get noticed by other company’s?  The answers are plentiful however the work involved is a little harder.

 Staying employed requires you the employee to demonstrate both your value to the company and second your external value in the job market. Experience and proven past performance will be the key winners in this job market.

 Value to the Company:

1. Go out of your way to demonstrate your willingness to take on new assignments.

2. Be engaged, silent employees are usually deemed uninterested or uninvolved.

3. Offer to train new staff on your team this will demonstrate your skills and earn trust.

4. If you lead a team improve your leadership influence and impact.

5. Be clear about the organizations Mission, Vision and Values how do you contribute?

6. Keep yourself fit look and dress younger and be active.

7. Pick up a few courses and update your skills and business knowledge.

8. Read! Know what is going on in the world. Read your organizations quarterly report.

9. Get to know the decision makers one to two levels above you, look for ways to improve your visibility either through assignments or internal company social activities.

10. Stay alert to internal opportunities if you qualify let your supervisor know of your interest. Even if you don’t get an interview others will note your intentions.

 The External Job Market

 1. List out all the specialized skills that you have and identify the industries that may be interested in you.

2. Get to know the executive search firms that cover the industries you are interested in.

3. Start networking outside of work, charities, church, clubs and schools.

4. Signup for many of the free social networks on the internet. Don’t be like others waiting idol to be noticed. It is a busy world and you need to make noise.

5. Post your CV on most job portals, you have the option to keep yourself anonymous if you wish.

6. When writing your resume pack a great punch, you need to stand out.

7. Go for interviews get in the practice of answering tough questions.

8. If you lack experience in some areas take a night course, you’ll be surprised with the networking opportunities.

9. Re-create yourself if who you are today has not helped you get promoted, be honest with yourself and change.

10. If you can afford it get career coach to help you out.

 Other Options

 1. Is self-employment for you? Buy a franchise.

2. Start looking for a new place to work with stability now.

3. If you have transferable skills find work overseas in Asia.

4. Get another degree and start your second career in 3-5 years.

5. Enter a growth industry and get away from the Buggy Whip company.

 The job markets will not get any easier and the time for self- improvement and personal change is now.  One parting comment is that it is not your age that holds you back it is usually our attitudes and skills that come across as being older. Don’t get caught up in the idea that it is time slow down. That day is also over.

 Exec-Guy