Kerry E. Hannon

Article / Updated 09-28-2023

Once you get that job you are seeking after 50, you need to negotiate the terms. Negotiations are best when both parties work toward an arrangement that’s mutually beneficial. Don’t approach negotiations with a hiring manager as an adversarial relationship. Follow these suggestions instead: Wait. Let the hiring manager offer you an amount, and then take a day or two to consider. You may be able to renegotiate for more if you don’t think the first offer was fair, but you will need to have your reasons down pat. Know your value. The more you learn, the more you earn. Research salaries for the position you’re applying for in that area of the country. Three good places to start are Glassdoor PayScale Salary.com Be prepared to tell them what you want. If you get a lowball offer, simply say something along the lines of, “I was expecting an offer more in the $_____ to $_____ range. How did you arrive at the offer?” Speak in “I” statements. “I” statements are difficult to argue against, because all you’re saying is what you think and feel. Ask questions. It’s okay to ask the interviewers how they came up with a specific dollar amount. Inquiring minds want to know. Don’t refuse an offer outright. Don’t fall for the trap of thinking you need to answer yes or no. Keep the conversation going until you hear an offer that sounds fair. Speak in terms of value. You may say something like, “If I were an average employee, I would be happy with your first offer, but I don’t think you’re looking for someone who’s just average.” Then go on to explain why you’re better than average. Don’t back down. Give the conversation more time to percolate instead of reluctantly accepting an offer or turning it down. Take your time. There’s really no hurry. Don’t issue an ultimatum. An ultimatum traps you and the interviewer, providing neither of you with a graceful, face-saving exit. Keep the conversation going until you’ve succeeded in meeting the needs of both sides. Be sensitive to the employer’s needs and current circumstances. If the company is hurting, be open to making concessions that meet the company’s current needs but that solidify your future position. Negotiate all financial aspects of employment in person or over the phone. Be sure all details of your employee benefits package — including any special adjustments you’ve been granted — are clearly stated in writing in your contract or offer letter. Copyright © 2015 AARP. All rights reserved.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-27-2016

Finding a job when you’re over 50 is a lot like finding a job when you’re under 50. You need to tailor your resume and cover letter to the organization and the position, network to gather information and spot any inside tracks to the jobs you want, look and feel your best during job interviews and other meet-and-greets, and hone your negotiating skills so you get more of what you want. This Cheat Sheet highlights the key tasks to master in as you pursue that dream job in your 50s and beyond. Copyright © 2015 AARP. All rights reserved.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Copyright © 2015 AARP. All rights reserved. If you want to get a job after 50, you need to know what job skills you bring to the table. Job seekers often don’t know what they know or what skills they already have until they sit down and write a list. Make your own list, which will come in handy when revamping your résumé, filling out job applications, and preparing for interviews. Take an inventory of your skills and follow these steps: Write down any formal education you received in high school, college, or trade school that has given you a work skill, such as welding, programming, business management, or public speaking. Include any other coursework, seminars, or workshops you attended. List any licenses or certifications you currently hold or held in the past. Record any proficiencies you have in any subject areas. Perhaps you picked up a foreign language on your own, taught yourself how to build websites or blogs, or developed public speaking skills as a member of a local Toastmasters group. List all office software you’re proficient with, such as spreadsheet applications, presentation programs, database management software, desktop publishing or graphics programs, and blogging platforms. Jot down any hobbies that have taught you new skills or helped sharpen existing skills. List your soft skills. For example, maybe you’re good at solving problems, planning and overseeing projects, or resolving conflict. Ask friends, relatives, and former coworkers and supervisors to list your best qualities. You may not realize skills you possess until others call attention to them. Don’t restrict yourself to skills you developed on the job. If you volunteered as treasurer for your local parent-teacher organization, for example, you have experience with financial management and budgeting. If you raised children, you have experience in child-care, scheduling, and training. How you developed your skills is less important than the fact that you have the skills and how you can present those skills in a way that meet an employer’s needs.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Copyright © 2015 AARP. All rights reserved. You will need to develop your personal brand if you are seeking a job after 50.Your personal brand establishes you as a relevant, credible expert in the field and enables prospective employers and recruits to get to know a little bit about you and feel a personal connection long before they ever meet you. It’s a key element in helping you land the job you want. Check out these ten best practices for optimizing your personal brand’s impact. Build your home base Before engaging in a lot of activity on the web, build a home base — a personal website, blog, or combination website/blog, where people can find you online 24/7. Register your own domain name, yourname.com, for instant recognition. Your domain name is essentially your website address. If you have a common name, the domain may already be taken, so make a slight modification, such as adding your middle initial. You can register a domain name and build a website/blog at any hosting service, including Bluehost.com, FatCow.com, and HostGator.com. The registration fee should be less than $20 per year, and the hosting fee should be less than $10 per month. As part of your hosting fee, you get an email account with your domain, such as [email protected], which helps reinforce your brand identity. Pick a name and stick with it If you’re Sam Bolene on your website, be Sam Bolene on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest accounts and on every other web property you own. Don’t be Sam Bolene in one account and Samantha Bolene in another. Use a branded email address You can use an @gmail.com or @yahoo.com email address for unimportant messages, but for all your personal and professional correspondence, use your branded email address, which should look something like [email protected]. Your branded email address not only enables people to easily remember how to contact your via email, but it also points them to your website, because it includes your domain name. Stay active on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter If you don’t have accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, open accounts right this minute and start connecting with people you know. Networking is crucial to finding and landing the job you want, and these venues provide the most efficient way to start and grow your network. In addition, they give you an opportunity to drive traffic from heavily trafficked sites to your website. Point everything to your website address Nearly every social media and networking account allows you to add a website address to your profile. Be sure to add your website address to your profile for every account that allows you to do so. By pointing other properties to your website, raise its search engine ranking, so your site is more likely to appear near the top of the search results when someone searches for your name. In addition, if an employer or recruiter finds you on Facebook or Twitter, having a website address enables her to track down your site and find out more about you. In addition, add your website address to your business card and all outgoing correspondence, including email messages. Email programs allow you to have a signature line automatically added to the bottom of all outgoing messages, and this signature line should contain your website address. Search your email program’s help system for information about how to create a signature. Consider adding your LinkedIn and Twitter addresses to your business card and email signature, as well. You also may consider adding a Quick Response (QR) code on your business card that people can scan into their smartphones to go directly to your website. Be consistent To build a personal brand that has impact, be consistent in everything you say, do, and share online and off. The colors and fonts you choose, the status updates you post, the Twitter users you follow, the people you befriend and the pages you like on Facebook, and the professionals you associate with on LinkedIn all say something about who you are, what you do, and the employee you’re likely to be. Use the same headshot for all profiles Get a professional headshot and use it on your website/blog, for all profiles, and wherever you’re able to share it, so people in your communities can begin to recognize your face. Use a current photo in which you appear well groomed, properly dressed, professional, and relatively happy. You don’t need to use the same headshot for all your profiles, but all the headshots you use should have you looking professional. Post relevant, valuable content regularly Content includes blog posts, status updates, tweets, comments, and perhaps even articles in online publications — any content that reinforces your personal brand in a positive way and gets you noticed. Demonstrate your expertise through what you post online. Watch what you post Be very careful when you post anything online, because context, facial expressions, gestures, body language, and other cues to clarify your meaning and tone, whatever you “say” is much more susceptible to interpretation. In addition, assume that whatever you post, regardless of your privacy settings, is totally publicly accessible, meaning that prospective employers and recruiters can access it. This may not be the case, but assume it is the case to be safe. Don’t post any photos or allow your friends to post photos of you in compromising or unflattering poses or situations. Don’t post anything rude, crude, or otherwise offensive. Don’t post any disparaging comments about your supervisors or the companies where you work or worked. In fact, don’t post anything negative. Stay upbeat and professional even when hanging out with friends in these relatively public forums. Keep tabs on your reputation and address problems immediately Google yourself regularly and set up a Google News alert to notify you whenever someone posts newsworthy content about you or someone with your same name online. Address any content that may reflect poorly on you immediately to control the damage. For more about personal branding best practices, check out Personal Branding For Dummies, by Susan Chritton (Wiley).

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Copyright © 2015 AARP. All rights reserved. The cover letter is part of the dynamic duo that gets you past the first cut when applying for a job after 50, so spend some time writing a cover letter that catches the hiring manager’s eye. People who screen résumés get tired of reading the same old cover letter attached to hundreds of résumés that often looks something like this: Dear Sir or Madame; I am writing to submit my résumé for the position of Chief Cook and Bottle Washer at the Purple Valley Resort and Spa. As you can see in my enclosed résumé, blah, blah, blah . . . and more blah. Here are some suggestions to jazz up your cover letter: Launch into a story. For example, “Several years ago, I landed a position as a technical writer for. . . .” Keep the story short, snappy, and engaging, and be sure it leads up to reveal the mystery of why you’re perfectly suited to the position. Wouldn’t you really rather read a story than a blah, blah, blah letter? So would a hiring manager. Take a chance. A friend applied for a job as a copywriter. He started his cover letter with this: Hi, Please help. I am a creative writer trapped in the career of a technical writer. During this uncomfortable period, I have authored and coauthored numerous how-to books on a variety of topics — everything from computer basics to real estate investing to slam poetry. The company requested a portfolio of his work. He didn’t get the job, but that letter had someone interested enough to look at his work. Challenge the reader. You may know something that the hiring manager doesn’t. If you can teach the reader something of value, you may get the job or at least convince the person to invite you in for an interview. Here’s an example: Greetings, Chances are good that you are going to receive a stack of résumés from highly qualified candidates, but only one of those will include the experience I have with . . . . You then proceed to explain how this particular experience/knowledge/skill is so useful in the position they’re trying to fill — something they may not have realized they needed. These are just a few examples of how to write a compelling cover letter. The point is that you want to do something, anything other than the usual drivel that will send the reader into a coma. Spark their interest. They’ll want to meet the only person who had the guts to take a chance and the creativity to entertain and enlighten them. You may not get the job, but you’ll get past the first cut, and the person will read your résumé, which is precisely the purpose of a compelling cover letter.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Copyright © 2015 AARP. All rights reserved. It’s not always the easiest thing to get the job you want after 50. Working on contract gives you the flexibility to do what you love to do and in the time you want to do it. Social media offers a multitude of ways to put your name out there as an expert in your field. One such way is participating in discussion forums and other online social media interactions via updates, posts, and tweets. Social media has strict written and unwritten rules against soliciting business. Nobody likes to be put on the spot by a salesperson or a job seeker when socializing with friends and colleagues. But it doesn’t hurt to talk about what you do and contribute to discussion topics you know a lot about. For example, if you build websites for a living, it’s perfectly acceptable and even encouraged to participate in discussion forums where people are asking advice about building websites or hosting a blog or building a personal brand. After all, you may be able to offer a lot of valuable insight on those topics. And during these exchanges, someone is likely to ask you how you know so much, and you can tell him. Then, when somebody in the forum realizes he’s over his head and needs to hire someone to redesign his site, whom do you think he’s going to want to work with? Someone he doesn’t know or someone who’s been offering guidance and answering his questions? If you work on contract or have your own business and are looking to generate more projects, target a specific industry where you have experience. This isn’t the time for a hard sell or even soft sell. When you’re contributing to an online forum, for example, on a LinkedIn group your goal should be to offer free advice in the hopes that participants in the group value you enough to approach you with an offer. If you cross the line into soliciting, you’re likely to earn yourself a bad reputation and perhaps even get ejected from the group or even the social media site.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Copyright © 2015 AARP. All rights reserved. Seeking a job after 50, you need to know what you are facing. When in an interview, you want to show the best possible you that you can. Here are some interviewing tips and tricks along with some cautionary words to steer you clear of potential pitfalls. Be observant. Keep an eye out for anything the interviewer is wearing that’s unique or for signs of an interest or hobby in photos or knick-knacks on the person’s desk or bookshelf, or even a book — anything that can be a conversation starter or icebreaker. Wear something subtle but unique that has a story. If you have a unique piece of jewelry you picked up in Ireland, perhaps a ring or a tie clip or a lapel pin, wear it to the interview. Another option is to wear something that represents your culture or an organization you belong to. If the interviewer asks about it, it becomes a valuable conversation piece that helps break the ice. Buy some time. Don’t feel as though you need to blurt out an answer right away. You can pause to think or you can ask the interviewer to repeat the question or clarify something to buy yourself some time to formulate your answer. Answer the question. You may not like a certain question, but don’t try to avoid it by answering a different question that wasn’t asked. The interviewer will think you didn’t listen, didn’t understand, or are intentionally avoiding the question. If you really don’t want to answer a question, your best option may be to explain why. Think aloud when answering hypothetical questions. If you’re asked how you would go about solving a problem, for example, think aloud as you recount the process you would follow, so the interviewer can follow your thought process. Ask a question even if you don’t have any. Interviewers want to see that you’re curious and can formulate intelligent questions, so even if you don’t have any questions because they were all answered during the interview, think up an intelligent question to ask. You should have no trouble coming up with a question if you did your homework and researched the company, the industry, and the position. Ask for a business card. In this age of email, a business card seems a little quaint, but it’s a tangible gift exchange. You can leave them with yours, while accepting a card in return with appreciation. It intrinsically shows you’re interested in them as well as the job. Ask whether they prefer to be contacted via phone or email. Add your interviewers to your LinkedIn network. After the interview is over, search for the interviewers by name on LinkedIn and invite them to connect. This shows that you’re hip to the latest technology. Add a personal note to your invitation telling them how much you appreciated meeting them and having the opportunity to discuss the position.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Copyright © 2015 AARP. All rights reserved. Finding your dream job after 50 would be terrific. “Pursue your passion” sounds like great advice until you pause to think about it and realize that you have no idea what your passion is or how to get started. Here are some suggestions to ease you into those first steps: Find a place to start. Make a list of what you want in the next phase of your career. Don’t look for a perfect path or ideal starting point. Get things moving by taking small steps. One small step may be calling someone who works in a field that appeals to you to discuss possibilities. Silence your inner enemy. Stop the negative self-talk. You got this. Ask the basic questions. Dig deeper and get a clearer picture of what you truly want in your life and your options to get there. Keep a journal. Journaling is a great way to map your new career direction. Get a business card. A business card for what you want to do helps you to start moving in that direction. Have a mental picture of where you want to go. Tape a photograph or collage to your office wall that represents what your new work life will look like. Be practical. You may need to upgrade your skills and education, but take one class at a time. Be a volunteer. Check out volunteer opportunities to test the waters. Get your life in order. Get physically and financially fit. Strive to become more nimble.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Copyright © 2015 AARP. All rights reserved. If you want to get a job after 50, you need to do some real networking. Networking is one letter away from “not working.” Engage in a full-court press to let everyone in your personal and professional network know that you’re looking for a job. Here’s a checklist to make sure you’ve left no stone unturned: Contact everyone you know via phone, email, social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter), U.S. postal mail, carrier pigeon, whatever it takes. Look up former supervisors, touch base, and let them know you’re looking for work. Join professional meetup groups in your area. Visit your college career center in person or online. Find a mentor among your personal and professional contacts or online. Visit PivotPlanet to find out about hiring a mentor. Consider reverse mentoring — connecting with someone younger who can learn from and mentor you. Connect with a career coach. The Life Planning Network, AARP’s Life Reimagined, and 2 Young 2 Retire offer coach directories geared to midlife workers. Reach out to recruiters in the industry you’re pursuing. Attend job fairs in your area and online.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Copyright © 2015 AARP. All rights reserved. Ageism is alive and well regardless of whether employers want to admit it. Unless an employer blatantly calls attention to your age as being a problem, you’d likely have a hard time proving it, so the best alternative is to look past your age and be as vibrant and relevant as possible. Here’s how: Look your best. Be physically fit, well-groomed, and properly dressed. Trade in your old clothes and glasses and dress in more stylish garb. Get with the times. Immerse yourself in technology. Employers worry that older workers will fumble with technology. Prove them wrong. Build and maintain a strong online presence. Invisibility is a liability, demonstrating that someone is out-of-date and unable to navigate the online world. It’s critical to have a LinkedIn Profile and make “connections,” get recommendations and more. Depending on your expertise, you might consider having your own web page, Facebook page, and Twitter handle. Establish your ability to learn and adapt. Take classes, find a mentor, and connect with younger people to demonstrate your humility and ability to learn from old and young alike. Downplay yourself as a flight risk. Employers may worry that you’re taking a job just to ride out the years between now and your retirement. Demonstrate your passion and commitment to your profession and your enthusiasm for learning and contributing to the world. You’re not just in it for a job. Market your age as a plus. You can hit the ground running without a lot of training and supervision. You know it, now sell it. Practice positivity. You don’t need a face lift, you need a faith lift. Focus on lifting your spirit rather than your skin. A positive attitude is your best defense against ageism. Stay present. Don’t chatter on in interviews about successes you had ten years ago. Focus on what you’ve done lately. Ask people who know you well, whose opinions you value and trust, to evaluate you in writing: on your best skills and talents, your personality, and the roles you’ve been really good at. Let your people pump you up.