Jobless at 55

Age workers are still being discriminated when they do job hunting, however they are packed with many strengths and success and experience. By properly tailoring their resumes, they are more likely to be employed than their younger counterparts.

Nrhiav hauj lwm ua-CCO Creative Commons Source: Getty Images, Pixabay

University of South Australia admitted that in this fast changing environments not to just people, organizations but technologies, every parties are required to be agile, adaptable, skills ready and be innovative so we can move along with changes.

According to the Australian Human Rights Commission study about age discrimination in the workplace, there are many reasons why some small portion of businesses or employers may discriminate mature age workers even though Australia has the The Age Discrimination Act 2004 (Cth) (‘AD Act’) is the Australian federal law that prohibits age discrimination.

Having a skills that is not current accounts to 14%, and 44% is the misconception of skills and ability to acquire new skills. But what's the human rights commission also found is that 58% or 3 in 5 of mature age workers were discriminated base on their age saying they are too old.

Career transitioning-Australian Human Rights Commission Source: Australian Human Rights Commission

So from this picture, if you are over 50 and jobless or unemployed it is because people still have misconception about if your skill are relevant and that you can learn new skills, this leads to ageism or age discrimination at workplace where people take it to the street to voice their concern and even there is Australian federal law that prohibit any form of age discrimination, mature aged workers are still being discriminated. Therefore, re-skilling, studying new career, thinking about how we can utilize our strengths, our skills, our success and experience to do what we love and good at along with tailoring our resume could leverage our employment opportunities.

Despite all these data, The Treasury, 2015 Intergenerational Report Overview which predict what should Australia be like by 2055 also found that Australians are expected to have a longer life expectancy and we may live close up to 100 years old (95.1 for men and 96.1 for women). That means that we may still have to live our lives for over 4 decades after we retired.

Therefore, career transitioning is another factor that we will need to look into as Australia holds its retirement age at 67, but who knows what will the future hold.

Australian government has already indicted that It will give bonuses to businesses who hire more mature age workers and retain them.

A recent study by the University of South Australia's Centre for Workplace Excellence also figure out that nearly one-third of mature-aged job seekers experience ageism in their attempts to find work due to their age factor. For those aged over 55, it might take them close to 68 weeks to land a job or take it twice as long to find employment compare to younger people. But how should we prepare ourselves for the unknown in order to be part of the fabric.

Val Wood, 56 who lost her full time job as an administrator now working as a telemarketer. She hopes that after she completed her Community Work course at TAFE Queensland she will end up in different fields.  She was put under the pump of having to sell products worth AUD 100 within her 3 hours shift, if not, her job is up in the air. This could lead to financial hardship as utility bills becoming more and more expensive. She also said that she may need to work for another decade or so.

AMP said that when Australians who retire at 60-64 years old men should have an average of superannuation of over AUD 270,000  and women should have over AUD 157,000. But according to the Centre for Workplace Excellence of the University of South Australia, one-third of Australian over 50 have super less than AUD 100,000. This is clearly demonstrated that this money will not be enough for Australians to have a comfortable retired future for decades to come as there will be less people will work to foot the aged care and pension bills that have been already stretched to its limits. Therefore instead of retiring they may have to stay in the workforce longer than expect.

Career counsellor Tomas Lillyman also said that one-fifth of students especially older migrants and refugees at TAFE Queensland over the age of forty through to their sixties further study other course after graduating their English course.

Mr. Lillymand said that "They might find work after English classes, though even they have strong English and previous work experience or qualifications, it does not guaranteed that they will be employed."

Therefore he said that relevant skills and digital literacy will keep us employable.

Mr. Lillyman also recommending us to check SEEK, to see what are the trends and what skills Australian Labor market needs and prepare ourselves accordingly or retraining for new career change as career coach Jacqui Rochester added.

Jacqui Rochester said that ''People who are over 55 tend to withdraw to their own world and have little network therefore it is harder for them to get employed."

She said that those who are well prepared and open to new opportunities and and new possibility have an easier transition to new career, as this expose them to new ideas of doing things or figuring out what they really good at and following their passions, because these situations are opening them up for different roles, keeping them active and busy. Therefore, reskills and learning new skills are very important for their health and well-being and their confidence.

Rochester also found that finds that overseas-born job seekers aged over fifty tend to be more resilient than their Australian-born counterparts.

“I think it’s because they've had to deal with unexpected changes before in life and had to make adjustments and have this acceptance that nothing in life is permanent,” said Rochester.

Rochester also suggested people should get involve with their community and volunteering to expand their networks.

But even when you are facing financial difficulties there are still help from Centrelink if you are an Australian citizen, a protected special category visa holder or permanent resident.

“The main payment while you are unemployed or looking for work is “Newstart Allowance” so this income support payment helps you while you are looking for work. To receive the payment, you need to take part in activities that increase your chance of finding a job. The amount you receive depends on your individual circumstances which include your personal situation such as if you have children or a partner and how much income you've earnt in the past 14 days, ” Centrelink Financial Information Service Officer Mandy Barton explains.

However, career counsellor Tomas Lillyman believes with a carefully crafted age neutral resume and cover letter, older applicants can show their unique selling points over younger competitors.

“They’ve got a lot of hands on experience. They have a track record of success you know when elder workers do get through to an interview stage they can play to their strength and highlight those sorts of things and highlight all of their skills and their flexibility and commitment to ongoing learning that can make them an excellent candidate for work,”said Mr. Lillyman.#

Further readings:

1. The Treasury, 2015 Intergenerational Report Overview, 2015 at: https://treasury.gov.au/publication/2015-intergenerational-report/
   
   
2.  Deloitte Access Economics, Increasing participation among older workers: The grey army advances, 2012 at: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/age-discrimination/publications/increasing-participation-among-older-workers-grey-army.
   
   
3. SEEK is an Australian company who facilitate matching between job seekers and companies at: Seekhttps://www.seek.com.au/
4. Australian Human Rights Commission National prevalence survey of age discrimination in the workplace 2015 report at: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/age-discrimination/publications/national-prevalence-survey-age-discrimination-workplace
5. AMP's news on how much should an average Australian have in their super: https://www.amp.com.au/news/2017/august/how-much-super-should-i-have-at-my-age
6. The Age Discrimination Act 2004 (Cth) (‘AD Act’) is the Australian federal law that prohibits age discrimination: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/roadmap-ada-age-discrimination-act-2004-2007
7. Age discrimination informaton: http://www.agediscrimination.info/international-age-discrimination/australia
8. Centrelink's Newstart Allowance: https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/newstart-allowance

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