over 50s looking for work

[bcham]

was at the job center last week ,and my adviser asked me what my barriers were to not finding work,i said my age i am 55 yrs old.and its harder for over 50s and school leavers to find work.

as i had seen programs on tv about the subject,and i dont even get any reply's to my applications back.

my adviser said that is rubbish and every one has an equell chance of finding work,is she clueless.she seems to think theirs loads of jobs out there for every one.

[sillygirl1]

Your adviser is putting pressure on you unnecessarily, I would report her to the centre manager and ask her to make sure she has some retraining.

 

There are NOT 'loads of jobs for everyone', statistically speaking your chances of employment when you are 55 and redundant or a jobseeker are around 1 in 2500, not a very good odd.

 

I am 55, and now have a visible disability in my right hand (caused by a slipped disc in my neck trapping a nerve) but I have had some work for the last few months, and just because I got £50 working tax credit the local council wiped out my council tax benefit and all but £6 of my housing benefit - I used this against them and pointed out that they had made me jobless and now potentially homeless.... I might stick up a thread on that a bit later.

 

There are a lot of local initiatives nobody mentions which aim to ensure everyone under the age of 35 who lives in the area has 'automatic' priority for employment opportunities as this will then ensure that they do not become 'locked into the benefit culture way of life'.

 

I got a lot of hassle from the Work Programme people in trying to find a job, and several times I proved to them I was more technologicall advanced than most in the use of my smart phone, which had my CV and all my job applications saved into an email folder...

 

The older you are the more employers are worried about paying pensions out, paying for early retirement if you are sick, or that you are not 'technologically advanced enough'.... I proved that I am more than capable of doing work despite my disability but nobody seems that interested.

[osdset]

I'm 57 and know the feeling well. As an aside, when I was 38 I applied for a two year full time college course in electronic signalling with a view to a job with London Transport, I heard nothing from the course organisers and as it was getting close to enrollment time I managed to pin one of them down, he informed me that I would be 40 at the end of the course and unemployable as far as LT was concerned, he had allocated places for younger candidates who stood a more realistic chance.

 

Over the hill at 40!

[fightingback99]

Can depend. My brother 59 lost his job when company folded along with 15 others. He got another job same pay 3 weeks later, and said 4 other guys all aged over 50 have also found other work. He also ehard a 62 year old on the train the other day talking about his first day in new job.

 

So hang in there, something might turn up. Experience and a proven work ethic record over many years can be helpful sometimes in getting work again..

 

Albeit he said the advsior he saw when he first signed on was a real jobsworth.

[Guest]

Heaven knows what will happen to me if forced onto jsa, I a 56, haven't worked for 20yrs, have bipolar disorder, fibromyalgia, diabetes, arthritis. Was thrown off benefits courtesy of atossers in 2009 won tribunal in 2011, and now up again for same scrutiny, its more about the money and juggling figures/benefits for the dwp and not about if I am unfit or not. What hope I would have of getting a job even if I was fit enough, is beyond me.

[lottiesnan]

Age most certainly makes a difference im afraid. Im 56 and for the past 10 years have moved between esa and jsa, depending on my mental health.. (never been the same after a huge breakdown in 2002). I have had silly little jobs in between, the last one beginning of the year that lasted 2 weeks...Sacked because of my memory and cognitive problems...

I cant wait to retire if im honest,i wish I could do it now...at least I could budget properly and not feel pressured into looking for work that isn't there.

My adviser is the same age as me so she is quick to point out that if she is in work,I too could achieve her lofty heights.

That just makes me feel more inadequate !

[Mr.P]

My adviser is the same age as me so she is quick to point out that if she is in work,I too could achieve her lofty heights.

 

Ask her if she is willing to do a jib swap - If she could manage to survive on £71 a week, I'm sure you could manage to do her job. In all probability, do it with a little more understanding and compassion !

[rebel11]

What she's factually saying is incorrect, she knows that, but don't expect her to roll up with the truth. You could e-mail her all the articles on the net regarding that fact and fill her inbox. But that wouldn't help your cause. Anything geared towards your hobbies?

 

was at the job center last week ,and my adviser asked me what my barriers were to not finding work,i said my age i am 55 yrs old.and its harder for over 50s and school leavers to find work.

as i had seen programs on tv about the subject,and i dont even get any reply's to my applications back.

my adviser said that is rubbish and every one has an equell chance of finding work,is she clueless.she seems to think theirs loads of jobs out there for every one.

[osdset]

There are exceptions, but many employers don't want people in their fifties.

 

Many job ads feature words like 'dynamic' or 'energetic', what they really mean is young but aren't allowed to say it.

 

The phrase 'salary commensurate with age and experience' seems to have disappeared and has been replaced with 'competitive salary', I usually take that to mean their pay is no worse but no better than anyone else.

I think there is the mindset that mature people will by virtue of experience want higher salaries, which is probably true at least in my case at any rate. I always charged or expected what I knew I was worth as a tradesman, now firms aren't so much concerned with quality as speed.

This old boy is done with all that now so the young 'uns can have at it, and good luck to them.

Edited August 14, 2013 by osdset

[sillygirl1]

Im in line for a short term job because I can happily live on the bottom of the payscale, I even 'blagged' on my CV that after having done a short term contract at doing the job on a lower level I am better placed to do it at a higher level, especially as it involves training people on the lower level job!

 

One wonders at the skill level needed for an MP.

[vengeancedemon]

Skill level to be an MP? Err Well, they (the MP's) could probably teach some of our "ahh "Customers" who appear before the Bench I sit on, some skills and tricks

 

As to the main subject, I was made redundant from a firm 2 years ago ( HBV1 driver) I worked quite continuously for a drivers agnecy including car deliveries - dont ebven think about being a self employed plater ! and now I have a very nice number variable 3-5 days a week, with a 1/4 tonne van, delivering approx 10 packages a day in the South West which now suits me to the ground ( I am 64) and looks like lasting for a few years

[Madamfluff]

The age discrimination laws are a total joke. I am 58 and looking for work, I sent off my CV which does not have my age on and only the last 20 years of employment for a job I could do standing on my head, I got an interview and was asked to bring in ID to show I am allowed to work in the country of my birth this ID has my DOB on.

 

The interview goes very well and I am told I am on the short list and promised a second interview, on the way out the interviewer

remembers my ID and asks to see it, I show him my ID (with my DOB on) his face falls and three weeks later have not heard anything about the job which was supposed to start LAST WEEK.

 

Of course if I contacted them I will only be told 'we found someone whose skills match our needs better.'

 

How can we be told we don't have to give our ages but have to show ID with our DOB on at interview stage

 

BTW I claim JSA as a couple with my Husband who is 64 he does not even have to sign on as he is over pension credit age, so they MUST know he will never get a job at his age

Edited August 14, 2013 by Madamfluff

[Nystagmite]

So, the Government has increased the age at which you have to be before getting your state pension. Yet, no-one wants people near retirement age? Where's the logic?

[Guest]

their logic is money saved from paying pensions I guess, and adding stress to find any work until they accept they have to give/pension, with sanctions and the like the jsa can be stopped, and the whole process be so stressful that people sign off, more money for the govt to squander on what they consider is right..........whatever the reason/logic behind it you can bet its not in the interests of the everyday person, geared towards further feathering of the governments nest and their rich and powerful people.

[osdset]

Young people now are looking at 70 before they can draw a pension. It's all very well the government promoting self provision for old age, private pensions and the like but the amount of money that has to be contributed each week to get anything near a livable pension is eye watering, most people on average wages simply cannot afford the weekly/monthly outlay.

 

Pensions account for the majority slice of welfare, the government won't meddle with the existing set up too much because it would be political suicide so the only option open to them is to continually move the qualifying age further away.

 

Anyone at the wrong end of 50 is in limbo, no one wants to employ them but they still have 6 to 8 years before qualifying for a pension. It's not looking too clever for the grey cohort.

[sillygirl1]

Logic and government do not mix!!!! At least you used the two words in different sentences!

 

At a time when they are openly pushing youth unemployment as a means of mobilising a labour force with 'strong work ethics' they are demonising a group who already possess those desired ethics in spadeloads!

 

Common sense should be a major requirement to become an MP.