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Featuring fresh takes and real-time analysis from HuffPost's signature lineup of contributorsHot on the BlogRichard A. Clarke Bernard-Henri Lévy Alec Baldwin Evan Handler

Mary Eileen WilliamsAuthor, 'Land the Job You Love: 10 Surefire Strategies for Jobseekers Over 50'

GET UPDATES FROM Mary Eileen Williams Like 18 Real Help For Post-50 Job Seekers Posted: 03/19/2013 7:00 am Follow

Careers , Careers , Reinvention , Fifty News , Baby Boomers , Career Change , Encore Career , Finding a Job , Job Search Tips , Job Search Websites , Second Act , Fifty News
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If you're a job seeker who's bid your 50th birthday goodbye, you know the challenges to reemployment only too well. The experts say you can figure on a far longer search time than your younger counterparts and, most likely, you can also expect a drop in pay. Making the process even more difficult, you'll need to overcome a variety of unkind stereotypes employers may hold against you by virtue of your age alone.

But, before you throw up your hands in discouragement and defeat, there's some awfully good news brewing on the Internet. True to our boomer birthright, our numbers still guarantee us visibility and a certain share of social perks. Believe it or not, this generational entitlement extends to those of us who are looking for work. In fact there are a variety of websites springing up that are solely focused on catering to the needs of the mature job seeker.

The following is a list of five sites you'll want to be certain to check out. Some have been around for a while and others are fairly new. But each is dedicated to making your job search an easier, more effective process.

Workforce 50 boasts the motto, "No Pastures Here" and bills itself as providing information and resources helpful to the experienced worker in making job and career changes. The site includes a range of helpful information: job listings, career resources, featured columns and more.

Simply Hired 50+ sources jobs from "Age 50+ Friendly Companies" and sends the listings directly to your email inbox. All you need do is add your job title, skills and additional job-related keywords, your location, and check the box "only search age 50+ friendly companies."

Prime CB, a division of CareerBuilder.com, the nations' largest job site, identifies openings for baby boomers and seniors. By entering keywords, location, and career category, you can post your resume, receive job alerts and get the latest news about your career field.

You can also combine purpose, passion and a paycheck at Encore.org. This site specializes in midlife job seekers who want more fulfillment in the second half of life through finding meaningful work. They concentrate on sourcing careers in health care, education, government, green industries and nonprofits. To find out more, be sure to check out Shelley Emling's recent article about Encore Careers for Huff/Post 50.

One of the most exciting new sites is Work Reimagined, the new alliance between AARP and LinkedIn, which connects you to well over 100 companies with immediate hiring needs. What makes this site especially useful for seasoned job-seekers is the requirement that, in order to be included, participating companies need to sign a pledge that they will recruit across all age groups. This means that these organizations have committed in writing to create a level playing field --therefore you get an equal chance at landing a position no matter how old you are.

This list is only a start. There are several additional websites catering to those of us who are fifty plus and looking for work. Just enter "find a job after 50" into your favorite search engine and you'll discover a slew of sites and articles with valuable advice.

Just remember, as a mature job seeker, you'll want to take advantage of help from a wide variety of sources, select the methods and strategies that work best for you, and try to keep as optimistic as possible. Although there's little doubt that real roadblocks for mature applicants exist, there are also numerous attributes that age and experience bring. So stress the positive, come from a position of strength, arm yourself with information and network like crazy.

And, as much as possible, try to anticipate success. With the right outlook, the right information, and a little luck, you might just find yourself back in the workforce long before you'd expected!

Mary Eileen Williams is a Nationally Board Certified Career Counselor with a Master's Degree in Career Development and twenty years' experience assisting midlife jobseekers to achieve satisfying careers. Her book, Land the Job You Love: 10 Surefire Strategies for Jobseekers Over 50, is a step-by-step guide that shows you how you can turn your age into an advantage and brand yourself for success. Recently updated, it's packed with even more information aimed at providing mature applicants with the tools to gain the edge over the competition and successfully navigate the modern job market. Visit her website at Feisty Side of Fifty.com and celebrate your sassy side!

Earlier on Huff/Post50:

Loading SlideshowGet Resume-ready

A recent study conducted by TheLadders reports that recruiters spend just six seconds reviewing a resume before making an initial decision. With a professionally written resume, candidates are 40 percent more likely to land the job they want.

Perfect Your Personal Brand

An online presence speaks volumes to potential employers. Increase the security settings on all personal profiles to keep information and photos private, and update professional profiles to align with one's current resume.

Party With A Purpose

Summertime is a social time. Take advantage of barbecues, baseball games and beach parties to expand professional networks. Carry business cards at all times, and practice an elevator pitch with fellow guests

Quench Their Thirst

Workloads tend to be lighter during the summer, making it a perfect time to invite industry associates for iced coffee. Use the time to pick their brains and get a pulse on their companies and the industry, overall.

Set Summer Hours

Although children are on summer vacation, there is no break from the job search. Setting summer hours means allocating time for opportunistic outreach, and maintaining that schedule.

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Land the Job You Love!: 10 Surefire Strategies for Jobseekers Over 50
by Mary Eileen Williams MA

Follow Mary Eileen Williams on Twitter:www.twitter.com/FeistySideFifty

FOLLOW FIFTY Like 10k Get Alerts#ad_bottom_article_text {margin-bottom: 15px} Careers Reinvention Baby BoomersIf you're a job seeker who's bid your 50th birthday goodbye, you know the challenges to reemployment only too well. The experts say you can figure on a far longer search time than your younger counter...If you're a job seeker who's bid your 50th birthday goodbye, you know the challenges to reemployment only too well. The experts say you can figure on a far longer search time than your younger counter...

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Judith Marshall 44 Fans 14 minutes ago (11:53 AM)I agree with the comment about "freshening" up your appearance. I'm sorry to say, but physical appearance does count. In fact, some survey data shows that a decision to hire is often made in the first five minutes of an interview. You don't have to go for a total makeover, but make sure your first impression doesn't put you in the "no" pile.

Judith Marshall
President
Human Resources Consulting ServicesJudith_Marshall: I agree with the comment about "freshening" up your appearance.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Judith_Marshall/job-search-real-help-for-post-50_b_2853108_238212034.htmlHistory |Permalink |Share itThis comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation.

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HUFFPOST SUPER USERIzzy66Agree to Disagree2160 Fans 2 hours ago (10:18 AM)That's nice. However the brutal reality is this:
If you were an Employer with a position that paid $32,000 a year and require some professional skills and you had two candidates with equal resumes and experience, except one is 32 and the other is 52.
Which candidate would YOU choose?

Exactly. And that's the brutal truth out there.Izzy66: That's nice. However the brutal reality is this: If youhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Izzy66/job-search-real-help-for-post-50_b_2853108_238188191.htmlHistory |Permalink |Share it This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program Sundialsvc4 887 Fans 19 minutes ago (11:49 AM)The positions for a person in his 50's, therefore with 30-odd years of business experience under his or her belt, don't pay $32K a year.

You've got a unique product to sell: "seasoned business experience." Therefore, you've got to find the people who need to buy that, e.g. to reduce their risk of making mistakes, or to gain insight from you about what are the best moves to make, and so on. You've got to find a way to reach those decision-makers with that message, so that they might well =create= a job just for you.

If you merely dump your resume into "any old" job-board and wait, pause to consider what actually happens next: on any given day, for any given job(!), six or seven hundred fish just like you wander into that net. A few hundred get filtered-in. All of them go to ... the recruiter, not the actual hungry person, who really needs to find the perfect fish to eat.

The recruiter, who quite likely neither knows nor cares anything about the diner, nor particularly about the fish, is simply grabbing what looks salable and pitching it toward the restaurant.

That might work for twentysomethings, where (pardon me...) "any fish will do," but it's a wildly inappropriate strategy for you.

You've got something better, and you must SELL it.Sundialsvc4: The positions for a person in his 50's, therefore withhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Sundialsvc4/job-search-real-help-for-post-50_b_2853108_238210873.htmlHistory |Permalink |Share itThis comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation.

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Loading comments… gardensla 74 Fans 2 hours ago (10:17 AM)I hire lots of employees and while skills, talents, experience should be the driving force in making a decision about a hire, older workers can makes themselves more attractive by freshening up their appearance and updating their skills. It's not about faking youth, but there is power in appearing vital, energetic, and current. Oh, and we really do look at your Facebook and Linkedin pages. We expect you to know your way around social media. And, get the chip off your shoulder. Turn up at your interview brimming with ideas, excited about working at our company, and visibly open to learning as well as leading.gardensla: I hire lots of employees and while skills, talents, experiencehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/gardensla/job-search-real-help-for-post-50_b_2853108_238187780.htmlHistory |Permalink |Share it This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program Sundialsvc4 887 Fans 18 minutes ago (11:50 AM)Not so applicable if you're looking for a petroleum engineer, say.Sundialsvc4: Not so applicable if you're looking for a petroleum engineer,http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Sundialsvc4/job-search-real-help-for-post-50_b_2853108_238211140.htmlHistory |Permalink |Share itThis comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation.

Loading comments… HUFFPOST SUPER USERWilmaJune 4119 Fans 7 minutes ago (12:01 PM)You gave a very carefully shaded reason for hiring younger people. Why would you care about a worker's ability to navigate a social network? A 50 year old will show up for work appropriately dressed for the job. Do you want workers loaded with make-up, wearing revealing clothes? I watched an interviewer see a teenager and almost drool as she walked into a pizza shop. She was hired. How do you propose I show an ability to learn? How do I show you I am brimming with ideas without coming off like a know it all - especially if you are younger than I am?WilmaJune: You gave a very carefully shaded reason for hiring youngerhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/WilmaJune/job-search-real-help-for-post-50_b_2853108_238214215.htmlHistory |Permalink |Share itThis comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation.

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HUFFPOST SUPER USERSue-in-JerseyNow I am in Pennsylvania. Hope they let me vote.1082 Fans 2 hours ago (10:13 AM)All companies that use online application processes and online "personality surveys" are using them to weed out older workers and commit all sorts of prejudicial screening. Until the use of these filters is regulated, we're screwed.Sue-in-Jersey: All companies that use online application processes and online "personalityhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Sue-in-Jersey/job-search-real-help-for-post-50_b_2853108_238186968.htmlHistory |Permalink |Share it This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program Sundialsvc4 887 Fans 17 minutes ago (11:50 AM)Send them a letter on 20# paper in a nice envelope and see what happens instead. Salesmen don't go in the front door.Sundialsvc4: Send them a letter on 20# paper in a nicehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Sundialsvc4/job-search-real-help-for-post-50_b_2853108_238211333.htmlHistory |Permalink |Share itThis comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation.

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Loading comments… This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program Sundialsvc4 887 Fans 2 hours ago (10:11 AM)Good article, Mary, but if I may take this one step farther: "don't limit your search to job-boards. Don't passively expect the sale to come to you."

As fifty-somethings, you've probably been to or near-to the top of the organization, division or department more than one time. Therefore, the notion of "sales," and that "business = sales," comes easily to you when to someone twenty or thirty years younger it might not. You've probably been on the receiving end of resumés many times before; they've not.

You know the sales process as it applies to a high-dollar sale of a product that has few if any substitutes, because you've done it. You know you have to seek the sale, work connections, sometimes make cold calls.

You know the value and the uniqueness of what you're selling: you.

With the probable exception of the job-boards mentioned here, "job boards" in my opinion have an inappropriate business model for this sales cycle. They're volume-oriented, and basically supply initial, slightly filtered leads-gathering for subsequent recruiters, who pay $10,000 or more for the privilege of using the service. Monster, et al, merely rents a boat and a gigantic net.

Your future employer, on the other hand, is looking for that one fish with a golden coin in its mouth: you. In a world of "resumé spam," how would you look for that? Or, sell it?Sundialsvc4: Good article, Mary, but if I may take this onehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Sundialsvc4/job-search-real-help-for-post-50_b_2853108_238186449.htmlHistory |Permalink |Share itThis comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation.

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ProfilerPrentiss 21 Fans 2 hours ago (10:06 AM)In theory that it, but real in real life my 58 year old partner has only worked 3 months out of 3 years, and that was for the holiday month. 3 years of rejection makes it hard to even care anymore. Thanks to her brother we can now live without fear of not having a home. Their mil unit is ours for as long as need it. When her ex applies for SS she was married to him long enough to be able to apply using his work pay $60-90,000, and my SSD will insure we aren't too poor to make ends meet. She'd rather work though, and with her great work history she gets tired of hearing "I'm surprised you don't have a job" As another employer passes her over. I'd give up too. The correct UE number in Washington state would be at least 10% Time to count those not on EUB.ProfilerPrentiss: In theory that it, but real in real life myhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/ProfilerPrentiss/job-search-real-help-for-post-50_b_2853108_238185547.htmlHistory |Permalink |Share itThis comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation.

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DarkHorses 469 Fans 2 hours ago ( 9:53 AM)It's always funny when some young suit is averse to hiring an over 50 because he/she is "building a team for 20 years from now".
One thing the over 50 across the desk is aware of that the suit is not aware of is this: The chances of the suit still being around that company 3 years from now is very slim.
Take advantage of the knowledge, loyalty and experience the older applicant offers right now, kid. You'll probably learn a few things.DarkHorses: It's always funny when some young suit is averse tohttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/DarkHorses/job-search-real-help-for-post-50_b_2853108_238182779.htmlHistory |Permalink |Share it

HUFFPOST SUPER USERchemguyLiberal, but not Democrat509 Fans 1 hour ago (11:05 AM)Au contraire. People from my generation (under 35) are very aware that in order to keep your career alive, you'll need to change jobs every 3-5 years TOPS. We're the start-up generation: hired not just to do a specific job, but to do a specific task. Then expected to move on. I wouldn't even want to keep a job for that long, it's sign that your skills are stagnating.chemguy: Au contraire. People from my generation (under 35) are veryhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/chemguy/job-search-real-help-for-post-50_b_2853108_238199299.htmlHistory |Permalink |Share it This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program Sundialsvc4 887 Fans 16 minutes ago (11:52 AM)You will come to regret being a flibbertigibbet, twenty years from now.Sundialsvc4: You will come to regret being a flibbertigibbet, twenty yearshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Sundialsvc4/job-search-real-help-for-post-50_b_2853108_238211697.htmlHistory |Permalink |Share itThis comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation.

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Loading comments… Bobotheclown 658 Fans 3 hours ago ( 9:04 AM)The problem is that these web sites have been around for years and the number of over 50 job seekers that have entered the ranks of the long term unemployed has only increased. In an age of diminished prospects the hiring manager has the luxury of picking the jem from the crowd. And so they wait knowing that Mr. Perfect will eventually come by. And the perfect employee is 30 years old, not 50, or 60 or 70. The prospects of finding work when you are pushing 60 cannot be described as "hard". It's more like "impossible". The only real choice for this profoundly discriminated against segment of the population is connections. Someone has to want to break the rules to get them in. A son in law, a daughter, a friend from college, someone has to show mercy. Absent that even Wal Mart is not hiring. The only other route is to create your own job. Cash in the retirement, sell the house, get some cash and buy a franchise. Or buy cheap property and fix it up to rent. Or buy manufacturing equipment and start a company of your own. This will require more than "reinvention", this is about survival and the desperate struggle to stay alive in a society with almost no safety net left. If none of that works then become a political activist in the old communist revolutionary mold. They had a way to deal with systems that were unsympathetic to workers.Bobotheclown: The problem is that these web sites have been aroundhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Bobotheclown/job-search-real-help-for-post-50_b_2853108_238173116.htmlHistory |Permalink |Share it

HUFFPOST SUPER USERdanholmesHorsies!45 Fans 1 hour ago (10:56 AM)And if you do take that jump and invest in yourself in a business, scary as it sounds, you'll experience some of the greatest times of your career. And let me quote Mona Lisa Vito "that is of course if you don't *#%& it up!"danholmes: And if you do take that jump and invest inhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/danholmes/job-search-real-help-for-post-50_b_2853108_238197220.htmlHistory |Permalink |Share itThis comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation.

Loading comments… This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program Sundialsvc4 887 Fans 10 minutes ago (11:58 AM)That 30-something is gonna make screw-ups on your payroll that the 50-something made when you were in elementary school, and learned from during all the years hence.

The argument that you make, is: that someone is not qualified to work in a business (and has no value to that business), yet IS qualified to construct a new business of his or her own?

May I cordially suggest that you omit the first part of the above sentence, and seriously grab on to the last half of it.

It's a sign of your own lack of experience that you're not considering that they just might take your advice, compete with you, outfox you in the market by leveraging their greater experience, and win the game?

Most cultures embrace their elders as sources of wisdom and experience, and I guarantee you that it is still wise to do that.Sundialsvc4: That 30-something is gonna make screw-ups on your payroll thathttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Sundialsvc4/job-search-real-help-for-post-50_b_2853108_238213397.htmlHistory |Permalink |Share itThis comment has been down-ranked into oblivion. View comment You have not right to carry out this operation or Error this operation.

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Mary Eileen Williams: Real Help For Post-50 Job Seekers

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