So, I'm opening Midlife Job Finders on Wednesday, February 24th at 11am Pacific / 2pm Eastern / 9pm Israel time. To 50 people.
Now check this out…
I'm going to run a little contest here and give Midlife Job Finders to two winners: I'll announce the winners this coming Monday (February 22nd).
These two special winners will get extra attention from me as they're highlighted throughout the course putting my job search strategy into action, acting as live, real world, case studies that every member can learn from.
This is YOUR chance to win Midlife Job Finders
This will only take a few minutes… all you have to do is answer ONE Question
In the comments section below this blog post, tell me…
- Why you think Midlife Job Finders and I (Jacob Share) can help solve your current job search challenges. (Or, if you already have a job, tell me why you think Midlife Job Finders is the course that can help you find a better job).
(Note: If you're particularly excited about *watching* me guide you and other job seekers like you… then let me know EXACTLY which aspect of job search you most want to watch).
That's it!
Entries with more SPECIFICS have a better chance of winning.
Also, there's no maximum word count for the comments, so be as detailed as you can.
On Sunday and Monday, I'm going to go through every single one of your responses and award a winner late Monday.
If you win, you'll get…
- Complete, lifetime access to the Midlife Job Finders portal, where I'll cover everything you need to find a great job asap, while setting yourself up to also attract great jobs later
- Access to all “Q and A” call-in days so you can call us with your most pressing job search questions
- Extra 1-on-1 time with me, Jacob Share, while you star in the course as a live case study
Good Luck!
⬇⬇⬇ Post your answer here below ⬇⬇⬇
I realized recently that I needed to shake up my view of my current job/career situation (because I’m not really happy), not to mention of my place in the human life cycle (meaning I need to recognize that I am actually a mid-lifer). Given all that, and even given that I work in the higher education career development space, I need external assistance to push the motivation I’m increasingly feeling over the edge toward real action. I have a solid idea about the kinds of work I WANT to be doing (a lot of writing), and need someone like you, Jacob, who’s more attuned to the needs of someone like me versus career advisors accustomed to counseling college students and recent alumni who mostly go into degree-driven work. The MJF course is coming up at the right time for me to invest time and effort in this next stage of my development.
Hope this is coherent and helpful, and I hope to be able to credit you with the very different place I hope to be in a year from now 🙂
I am personally looking for an alternative view and source to finding a new job than the ‘only show in town’ LinkedIn. I am finding that this network has been taken over by algorithms and advertising becoming a new version of Facebook. I want a network that through mentoring, connections and genuine understanding of the challenges for ‘older’ job searchers and how to market their abundance of skills and experience helps us achieve that goal. We have loads to give back, not just to our prospective new employer but to each other within this community! Bring it on Jacob!
I don’t need to do job searches anymore. I’m 73 and my next journey will be retirement. We do alumni career counseling at Pace University. Love your resources. I often share your postings on my grou on Facebook, Dr. Barry Miller’s Career Page. thank you for being such a valuable job resource to the world.
Understanding the obstacles and how to deal with in the best way.
The “one job til you retire” job market is dead. We have to adapt to the new market. Jacob Share is no stranger to this new territory and is a qualified guide to see us reluctant pioneers though to tomorrow’s opportunities.
its a good chance for people like us
I’ve had interruptions in my career due to family obligations. As an older woman, I feel that discrimination is a real possibility due to my age as well as the career breaks and changes. Trained as and experience working as a scientist, I also have extensive experience doing administrative work–which I chose to do when my children were younger because of the availability and flexibility of those jobs. Going from a high pressure consultancy to working in the nonprofit sector, and then going back to scientific consulting, makes my career experience look choppy. Then I moved to another state, couldn’t find a scientific job, and took another admin job.
Also, I’m a generalist. I can take complex situations and grow with them. Having worked as a consultant I’ve had to become an expert in many fields rather rapidly. How do i parlay this flexibility and ability to pop in to different job situations? In this world of increasing specialization, my skills are not easily shoehorned into the types of jobs for which I see descriptions. I want to work with a job counselor who can show me how to highlight my strengths and propel me to seek positions that by myself I might have overlooked. I need a guide to help me take risks. I need a guide to look at my skill set and help me hone my search.
In some ways, I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up… and I’m approaching retirement age! I’m having a hard time seeing trees for the forest. The JobMob ebooks have already given me some helpful skills for creating my resume. I look forward to using JobMob services to further assist me in my career search.
Living in Africa where the job market for certain people is just closing, I realize I need to find a job overseas and belief that this could help me.
I think that at this age many people are naturally taking a serious look at their career. For some, there are additional financial pressures as our families get older. For some, they find themselves for the first time in years with the ability to examine their career and they realize they want something different. Some people need to change their positions or schedules to have more flexible time available now that they are stepping up as members of the sandwich generation. Some just really realize that they are not fulfilled with their current job path or have never found what they want to do. What these people all have in common is that at an advanced age they need a career switch, but it feels like it’s too late. Plus, we do face a certain amount of age discrimination and having 20-something co-workers and bosses can make everyone uncomfortable.
I think we need to hear about how to find and make opportunities that are appropriate, especially in geographic areas like mine where there seem to be very few. We need to hear about how to manage retraining both financially and how to schedule it into our busy lives, especially when we usually have to keep working to meet our financial obligations. I think it would also be helpful to hear about various ways we can use our skills and experience together in various fields, many we might not have thought of before. We also need a lot of basic job search help such as confidence building, resume crafting, networking and social media promotion. The last one is especially important since many of us might be using it in our current positions, but never had to use it to find a job before.
I have been caught up in the midlife job search frenzy twice in the past 7 years.
On both occasions, my corporate ex-employers kindly provided “outplacement” consulting as part of the severance package. Was this consulting effective?
The first one (7 years ago) opened my eyes to the fact that I was clueless about finding a job, and introduced me to some of the more modern approaches and facilities of job seeking, while at the same time giving me the warm fuzzy (deluded) feelings that I am exactly what every employer is looking for, and that my newly upgraded job seeking activities were now perfected. Needless to say, while their methods were more advanced than mine, it took me some time to discover that they were also not quite up to date.
The second occasion (last year) with different consultants was in a completely different league. Their framework, approach, and methods are more realistic and practical, and their statistics prove a much greater level of success.
Are they effective? Probably. Very much so: I, and others I know, found jobs in a relatively short time.
Rather than becoming experts at finding a job, most midlife job seekers will probably attempt to find that one job, which will provide job security until retirement. After a few months of rejections, frustrations and all the other emotions they previously didn’t realize they had, most midlife job seekers will probably settle on just getting any single job offer that will provide reasonable income. Me too.
So given the fact that I am employed, and that I found consultants with a successful job seeking recipe, why am I looking at JobMob?
Simple reality check.
There is no longer job security until retirement.
In my areas of expertise, it is more than likely I will be forced to look for a new position in a year or two. Maybe longer, or sooner. And the older I get, I should expect to hear more of the same variations of “new efficiency measures” or “customer cut/froze the budget” etc.
And why JobMob’s Midlife Job Finders?
I have no intention of turning my future job searches into a profession. I can leave that to the experts who can help me by sharpening my skills to do that professionally, when I will need to do so in the future.
I don’t believe that those who assisted me last year (or their predecessors) have, or should have, exclusivity in this area. Finding a job, especially as mid-lifers, is as crucial as any life-saving situation, where a second opinion is recommended.
Or maybe JobMob should be the first opinion… given the resources, exposure and openness to a wider audience who share opinions and experiences, and constant updates in technologies and techniques…
Thanks Jacob. Your experience, insights and vision are invaluable.
I have been looking for a good paying job since 2012. I have experienced a lot of rejection from employers because I am not the right fit. I am currently working in retail and doing substitute teaching. I also have an advanced degree in the nonprofit area however I have some experience but probably not enough experience. Going back to school is financially impossible as is joining professional organizations as I am living paycheck to paycheck. What employers hire midlife job changers?
I am from Africa, live all my life here in Nigeria. But it happened that things are not just working perfect for 80% of people in Nigeria which were now regarded as the masses. Change in Government, civil crises, economic changes etc. Have since been contributing to what is happening in Nigeria as unemployed. Its so common that graduates are on the street looking for job which is rather not available.
This happen to affect me to the extent that, since I graduated from school in 2003, I have not been able to gain employment anywhere despite that I searched for it and at a stage I got fed up of job searching. Now I get to do whatever I see at a time, just to get myself going.
I am married with two (2) lovely kids, taking care of them has not been easy. I give all glory to God for helping me. Getting a job through this platform will be a plus for me, my living standard will be elevated.
More so, getting a job overseas will be a good chance for a change of story. Since this job is available out there, I will love to be one of the people that will benefit from this job opportunity.
I will appreciate it if I am considered.
Thanks
I’m the Career Specialist at the Harvard Ed Portal in Allston, MA. I facilitate a Drop-In Conversation Group each week, and our ‘core group’ of attendees are all in mid-life and are either facing sudden loss of employment, or they have been out of work for years due to financial/health/family issues. In trying to guide them past ‘ageism’ and other barriers to a truly successful job search strategy with increased confidence and self-esteem, I would truly appreciate having access to more powerful resources. That will help me catapult my clients, who are very diverse in terms of culture/country of origin/1st language//education level/work experience, etc. out of feeling ‘stuck’ and ‘unwanted’ to a more powerful, directed and energized job search. I’ve celebrated an average of one ‘success story’ per month, but would like to increase that as my client base is growing all the time. Thanks so much for all you do!
I am a workforce coordinator for Jackson County Industrial Development Corporation, Seymour, IN. My job is to assist our 5 high schools, educating them on careers that are available in our manufacturing companies and to change the attitude of manufacturing. Manufacturing is no longer a dirty place to work, it is now a hi-tech, robotic, clean industry in need of employees of all careers, professional and skilled-trades. Part of my job is to keep the current adult workers polished to keep up with the ever changing technology of the manufacturing industry.
I believe, after what I have just read here, you will be able to provide positive insight into how to guide individuals past the “ageism” enabling them the confidence of being a valuable employee to a future employer.
I look forward to reading your post on Monday and hope to learn more.
Yes, Please Jacob Share this is my first time entering job market, and this a chance for people like us to gain from you and to have a clear vision of what kind of job they would like.
Thanks very much.
Many “Midlife Job Seekers” (like myself-just celebrated 23 years) have been in a position for too long. When they start looking for a new position, they’re applying in the same way they used to so many years ago. They don’t take into account industry changes even though they employ those changes at the job they currently hold (or just left). They think that just listing the newest applications on their resume will get them the job. It doesn’t. Headhunters, HR Reps and employers are looking at resumes differently today so adding your present job to the top of your resume is no longer “enough.” (I could go on and on about this.)
The other thing is that your life has changed so what you’re looking for should also change. The worst vibe an interviewee can send is that they’re tired of doing what they’ve been doing. Why are you applying for the same job?! I often counsel people to take an honest look at themselves, see what it is they love to do and apply for that job.
I celebrated my 55th birthday in January. I know that traditional retirement is looming but I’m not looking to retire. I’m looking to reinvent. I’ve raised my kids (okay that 16 year old is going to hang out for a couple more years). I’m thinking about going back to school and learning something new. My parents are 81 and 83 and if I’m going to live that long, I have time to do a new thing. I’m excited. A mentor or some guidance would be wonderful.
I am not only one of those baby boomers who has fought against discrimination in multiple forms throughout my life, but have become personally involved given the rampant discrimination against aging workers. It has become very clear to me and the many, many contemporaries I have talked with (and am involved with 3 baby boomer groups in Boston dealing with this issue) that ageism if very much alive. Yes, hard to prove for a particular individual, but the trend certainly indicates a lot of skepticism about, and reluctance to hire us. In one of many interviews I have successfully had (and found later that younger people were hired) one HR person, who happened to be in my age bracket confessed that I was not going to be hired. I promised not to reveal her information. Her experience working as a consultant for many non-profits (my sector) is that employers will not hire baby boomers for the following reasons: the expectation that we will demand hire salaries; we will leave the job early when finding something better; we threaten younger managers who have less experience; we will be arrogant and act entitled; we will get bored; and yes, we may more readily get sick, have less energy, and even die. All assumptions are made without knowing the individual. As I have indicated many times, my goal is to have meaningful work, made a modest income, and if possible enjoy what I do. In terms of what to do about this issue: I think it comes down to advocacy, raising this issue at the legislative level, if for no other reason, than showing how many of us this is affecting.
I have been with a lot of job offers around of 50 in the 5 past months , all in USA and UK and all without an answer, the companies win many money with my services, but I not know because I am without a job offer closed.
I have 11 years of studies in the university, several others certifications in the field of management. I need a professional help.
Female – Age 58
Executive Level Assistant – Office Management – Accounting – Sales and Marketing … Expertise
Up to now during my job search for 2 months – I have been applying to selective opportunities posted as well as presenting as an introduction to employers in a select geographical area so that as any future opportunities arise they can have consideration for me.
For the postings I am down playing my 20 + years of skill and indicating mostly only that which mirrors to what they are listing in the advert.
For the unsolicited introduction format I am presenting as a candidate looking for employment in the local area without the long commute to central Toronto for work. (2 hours each way) Giving my new employer the best of me from the “Get Go” in the morning.
Presenting as well as a mature candidate that has accomplished financial landmarks in life and that is now looking to work as a contributor in a team of nice people to mean far more to me than financial huge gains from employment.
I mention something of the employer’s company perspective that is raised my interest in their company (some news article referencing achievements, charitable goodness, company motto, etc.) something that I communicate to connect with myself.
I use a graphic symbol as the letter head to show creativity. (two hands in a meeting / greeting fashion)
I list my accomplishments in brief form (leaving the expansion for a one on one conversation later). I state that I hope this introduction will be of mutual interest on the closure of the letter.
Trying to cover off all these areas listed above, to generate enough interest so that I can get a face to face. Would really like to know and follow a guideline for success … many avenues exist out there for the youth population and their career / job hunt. I have not found anything to date to cover off the matter of baby boomers and the 50 + age group. I really feel that the overqualified aspect is a major stumbling block for most in this age group. About 20 years ago an older candidate could get away with being at home to raise the children and re entering the work force to stay busy – or to supplement the family income. But that does not fly these days it appears.
I hope that your site will be as indicated for the 50 + age group. Something to enlighten the learning curves – the ins and outs about finding employment, and at this stage of the game the last job search needed hopefully. As this should also be the right job and take the person through to true retirement age. I am very intrigued with the prospect of your site for the Mid Life Job Finder advice. I am in fact energized to hear as much information and forms of questioning that will open my mind in different directions than originally thought of. To think that you will use to your intelligence to the subject of me and millions of others in my age group – to help us on our journey is extremely commendable and I do hope it will be very rewarding for you as well. You are doing a great thing here, please note that you are providing a window of opportunity to a select group of people – enabling them to have hope and a guiding hand to take them further in life. As mentioned above – little if anything exists in the job / career hunt world for the 50 + age group, so you my friend are our “First Responder” something that your should take great pride in.
Regards,
Karen Frank
I was an Intelligence Analyst and Network Engineer before the government financial fiasco in 2013. After a layoff, I found it difficult to get rehired. After 2 years of searching, interviewing (infrequently), and getting no job, my security clearance lapsed. I now am not able to get a new job in the government. They are no longer sponsoring renewals. Thanks to traitor Snowdon, there has been a major cutback of clearances. Did I mention I am now 63-years-old, and female? Last layoff I noticed they never layoff men, even if they are older. And they never layoff the younger workers. So now I am under-employed. From 2010 until now I made $95K (layoff), $105K (layoff), $105K (layoff), $80K (3 months then layoff), and now a non-government job at Amazon making less than $30K. It doesn’t seem fair to work since age 15 and have to worry about losing everything you have left in life. Hence my desire for another course in finding a decent career position late in life. I want something less physical than my current position. I know I want a website. And I plan on adding my progress report in the blog comments area. The free resources Jacob has provided so far are great! I am truly thankful. God bless you, Jacob.
By the way, I actually had a hiring manager at NSA and one at CIA ask how well I get along with younger workers. Both were middle aged men. I did not get either job, of course. I have also seen a lot of discrimination by younger female managers.
I’ve been a “stay at-home Dad” for far too long and for way too many more years than I care to admit. After the 2008 monetary bust (the last time I held a full time job that paid enough and that I felt good about) I have had a disconnected string of many Hodge podge jobs outside of my original technical writing retraining such as – paralegal, content writing and management, cashier, and Internet research to name a few. Meanwhile my wife over the years has advanced in her field, and my career has been left high and dry.
Well I am %$@&$#@ fed up with it all! Forgive me for the anger and chip on my shoulder, but I feel I can do and deserve better. Granted being fifty-something is not my only problem but it doesn’t exactly help in today’s niche market. My problem is beyond the not so atypical ageism prevalent today. I feel that even when I’m lucky enough to find something, that it’s only a matter of time before the grim reaper falls on my head.
Here are some of the things that I could use a lot of help in:
Getting Focused – I’ve been through so many jobs. I know which ones have worked though. I need to come with a goal package based on my skill set.
Self-marketing – In an age (and country) where the loudest, most driven, go getters succeed, I need to be accepted as a member on that list. Obviously, this is in no small part related to the previous bullet.
Networking and Communicating – We all know that saying the right things to the right people gets the best jobs. But what do you do if you haven’t a clue how to do those things.
Jacob: Finding and keeping a job, any job, has always been very difficult for me, and it’s not getting any easier. I know you’re not a shrink, but I can clearly see from your posts and books that you bring an outside-the-box, refreshing, and insightful attitude to the humdrum, dump your resume to HR for the position, job search game.
I can see that you really want to help people, so please help me!
I am a mid-life job searcher who moved with my family from USA to Israel. It’s been a wonderful experience, but hard to break into the job market and understand the cultural differences. These differences are not just USA vs. Israel mentalities, but also young whippersnappers vs. mature worker with life experience. I would like to use my English writing skills (I have a degree in journalism and biology) to find an interesting position that will utilize my skills in the best way possible. So, you could help me with cross-cultural issues as well as ways to bridge the age differences. I have a lot to offer and I want to know how to best do that. What resources should I be using? what skills should I be learning?
I am an older job searcher and have years of experience as an administrative assistant, yet no jobs seem to be available for me out there. I have updated my Microsoft skills, but have been out of the job market for 3 years. It seems there is age discrimination out there, but worse yet, I think it might be that I have been out for so long. People frown on that, and there are younger people out there with the same skills vying for the same job. My husband is in the same boat! We have so much to give. My husband doesn’t want to retire ever, but I would like to at least slow down in 10 years. I just think your course can give my husband and I some insight into what we should be learning and doing to land some jobs that will utilize our skills (my husband is a bookkeeper). My husband is very interested in learning computer languages and going into the IT security industry also, but we need to work now and make some money for retirement as we study. I am so interested in your Q&A, because I know there are other mid-life workers out there that have the same questions as we do. Both of us know also that we are seriously overweight and that is a big issue in our job search, so we are working on getting fit…not just for jobs, but to have a quality and healthy life. People are living longer, and we plan to be fit and healthy throughout our years, to help our family and others in our community. Thanks for offering the help to the middle aged workers.
Some 40+ job seekers are looking for high level positions under much younger management. This is especially true in the hi-tech sectors. It will be helpful to see how others have done it. Essentially not to “blow away” the interviewer with 20+ years of experience and high level positions. But, not to give up on a top level position. There are a good proportion of senior job seekers who have good experience and are up to date with their skills. But early on in the process they are weeded out. While some of this we can chock up to a bit of age discrimination. It seems like most methods of getting to 30+ y.o. CEOs and VPs are not as effective as getting into low and mid-level job interviews. Any top level experience will help. TNX!
Keep on eye there is diversity and no discrimination!
This initiative is a really good one for all the reasons that people have posted.
In addition, people evolve as they grow older. Speaking for myself, there are many things I did as a beginning teacher
which don’t need to be done anymore because they are computerized (e.g. making the Bingo board for learning verbs vs.
printing them out). I taught K-12 for many years and now teach part-time in a junior college.
The maturity (yes, I mean that in a positive way) that an older, experienced worker brings to any job is a benefit to a workplace,
wherever it is. But maybe the answer is re-inventing one’s self in a way that will be attractive to the job market today.
I’d like to learn to do that.
I am just fed up with human resources departments trying to find the perfect fit with their automated talent search engines. Now is the time to stand out and be seen. The struggle is very real when it comes to job searching at this point in one’s life and I always fear not being able to be hired for that very reason. I have heard that your job search on line or otherwise is only 10 %. The other 90 is all about people. I think this approach Jacob purposes is about people.
Everything that I have tried to get long term work has failed. Jacob’s method is my last resort.
I followed a career path created by “should” and not what was in my heart. It earned a paycheck and I was satisfied to a degree but never fulfilled. With the implementation of voice recognition technology, my field of expertise (transcription) has been transformed with a huge reduction in the workforce which has resulted. As this door closed, another has opened, providing a fantastic opportunity for me to pursue my passion as an entrepreneur – photographer – writer. Now that I know where I want to put my time and energy, I would like mentorship to strategize and find the best resources to best suit my interests and talents.
I have been slowly and quietly laying the foundation for this moment, having returned to school, obtaining a transfer degree and one year of university studies in the field of communication with while also pursuing a business degree. I am on educational hiatus as I create income streams and find balance between work and personal life.
While transitioning from the traditional work environment of a 9-to-5 job to the self-employed, I have found there are a lot of resources for traditional career paths but finding support as an entrepreneur much more of a challenge. I don’t want to reinvent the wheel. I firmly believe in working smarter, not harder. I have worked with SCORE, SOREDI, SBDC, college advisors, and internet sites to educate, inspire and motivate myself.
Now that I have direction, I would like to establish priorities, and to create short-term, mid-term and long-term goals in a doable action plan. I believe this program will help me take the next step to motivate, inspire and help me get the traction I need to realize my dreams! I believe that Midlife Job Finders is the next step in this journey. Good luck to everyone and may you realize your full potential and life the life you envision. There is no one like you and the world can only benefit from your time, talent and treasure.
I am just about to turn 40.
In these 40 years, I lived in 5+ countries, visited 40+, was a computer geek, a flight instructor, an e-commerce manager and a consultant.
I have also been unemployed for the past ~1.5 years. Now I have a part-time gig delivering food. (not exactly what I hoped for when I got my MBA)
Because I don’t have the classic career path with progressive career responsibilities, my resume probably provokes an involuntary twitch toward the recycle bin from any recruiter – corporate or otherwise. And it is very depressing to even try to apply for jobs when there is no way to receive feedback from the world about what I am doing wrong and what could I be doing better when it comes to re-integrating myself into the fabric of society.
It’s also very depressing to not have a reasonable answer to the question “so, what do you do?”
I don’t mind putting in the effort – as long as there is a way to know where I stand and what should I be doing differently. From this course, I hope to receive a lot of reasonable, no-nonsense feedback that would be specific to my situation – what could I be expected to find and how to get it. I am not a brilliant networker nor a consummate self-promoter, so the generic advice “ahh develop your own brand, blog something every week, meet and get to know people” does not work. And unfortunately the mailroom-to-boardroom path is not working either, with the mail going electronic and all. So help me. Please help me 🙂
Hi Jacob:
At this juncture in my career, finding the ideal job is like finding your best friend with whom everything clicks. You decide to spend some extended time together because you each bring out the best in each other. You are better together than apart. So you are passionate about each other. Now, how does this analogy relate to Jacob’s Share?
I believe Jacob’s Share coursework will empower me to locate that organization whose vision encompasses areas that I feel passionate and needs my skill set to become reality. At this juncture in my career, I do not have to be the chief executive officer. However, I want to engage in interprofessional collaboration. I am a gerontological nurse, educator, researcher, policy analyst, and legal nurse consultant. I am a problem-solver, who produces innovative solutions for service needs of community dwelling older adults. As people live longer, they want those years to be of high quality. So, Jacob, I look forward to empowerment from your coursework.
Kind regards,
The older I become, the more important a good “fit” between my employer and me becomes. Never really considered organizational culture as a key determinant in my job hunt before and I hope Jacob can help provide me with tools on how to assess that without sounding too egotistical to a prospective employer.
I’m going to start by saying a couple of things. One is that companies engaging in ageism are cutting their own throats in the long run. They may never go to court over it, but they will lose business opportunities they might otherwise not miss with some “older” people around. A company can chose to discriminate – and they are welcome to the benefits of their poor decision in my opinion. Second is that I’ve seen the age discrimination first hand in the semiconductor and tech sectors, and I prefer to work where there is a broad age range of people who work together. When someone doesn’t hire me because I’m “too old” or “not a good fit” that’s their problem. I’ll keep looking and trying different things which is part of the reason I found my current job.
I’m currently working in a finance related job I got partly through “outside the box” thinking because I was sick to death of doing things the “way they should be done.” I’m a contractor currently, not a full time employee, but it gives me a chance to evaluate just how far I can go in this particular field without a 4 year degree. The job and culture at work seem to be a good fit so far. I do not intend to remain a contractor forever, and I’m keeping my eyes open for other opportunities. My goal is to eventually get that degree – but without burying myself in more student loan debt. So far things look pretty good, but I’m hoping to learn more from Jacob that will help in that process. I’m almost 55 and could care less about being a CEO or any of that having spent more than enough years in the military and have overcome a lot of challenges in the process. Making the transition from the military to civilian industry was easy in some ways, but difficult in others and I think Jacob’s coursework will help in some of those areas.
Current Situation: Unemployed
What led to this: The engineering industry went walkabout to several other countries and I didn’t get my walking boots on fast enough to follow it.
In my past reality: I was a 3D modeller as well as a designer/drafter for both the petrol chemical and mining sectors. I worked on major projects in Canada, Kazakstan, Australia and even a compressor refit on floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. I was in a group of specialised people and when the industry flushed itself, I might as well have flushed all my specialised skills with it. At least that is what I have been told by the job market at large. Some how I choose not to believe this, skills that are acquired over time although some might need to be updated, they are still transferable skills and they have value.
What have I done to circumvent my current situation: I did see it happening so I started retraining about a year before the BIG FLUSH but it was not soon enough for me to move into the logistics and construction side of my industry. Since I missed that opportunity I took to working in a warehouse in some of the worst conditions I have ever seen and to which I feel no one should ever have to work in. Now to add salt into the wounds the employer has determined all midlife workers expendable and young contract workers are the viable option. Sighing. . . . leaving me unemployed once again. This is a position I have never been comfortable with or will I ever be.
I have worked with so called job agencies of all colours and sizes, what I have found is they are totally useless except for the one fact that they like to take your money and give you nothing of value in return. They do not like mid-lifers as we have too much experience and skill but we are seemingly unemployable. That places us in the too hard basket.
I even had one agency say to me, have you tried looking for a job in the engineering industry, hate to say it but I blew a gasket. I retorted to her (complete with steam coming out the ears) . . .Why would I do that, I enjoy working in a warehouse for minimum wage, being treated like a person with no brains and sweating every single second of the day because it’s sweltering hot in the warehouse. Seriously? You can ask a question like that with a straight face?
What do I think that Mid-Life Job Finders offers: I believe Jacob has found that this niche market has a lot of potential and we have a lot to offer an employer or company. What Jacob will offer is the map on what we need to do to showcase ourselves, to present ourselves in a way that employers will stand up and take notice of us. All of us need help at some point in our lives and this is the point in mine but I do look forward to the journey.
What am I looking for: Help!
Thanks Jacob and the best of luck.
I am turning 42 coming this May. I am hitting roadblocks on every front and doors are getting shut day by day. I am currently employed but I want a change for a better job which may or may not lead to a better life. At this point of time I see only Midlife Job Finders and Jacob to be the only solution to all my real and imagined problems.
I am not searching for a job at the moment but I have been part of your community for a long time and enjoyed your suggestions when I was looking for a job. As my kids are entering the job market plus I have a lot of family in Israel, I believe I can help them: as mentioned by Mr. Miller above, I often forward your articles to them and some suggestions I still use for myself as I find them to be valid also for already employed people
It’s always good to evaluate other thoughts and ideas..which is why your site is valuable for its viewpoints.
B
ecause every work has professional. I have been following your note and guidance and I found you are perfect in job search also u can help a person like me to get a job. Bravo jacob! We are so many who don’t know where to start or how it goes when to look for a job. Not only professional can work,there are those who are talented like me with passion. I would want to keep in touch with you if possible coz u gonna make things better than yesterday. Help those who need help like me.
There area a number of challenges older workers face when trying to find another position. The first is that employers think that older workers have nothing to bring to the table and that we are not “tech savvy” enough to make it in today’s workplace. Also, employers are looking for a young, cheap hire and don’t want to pay for the experience and knowledge that an older worker can bring to the workplace. Some of the other challenges are that we sometimes have family obligations and have to care for aging parents so that keeps us from being as “mobile” and being able to move to another location for a position. Or perhaps the older worker has a house that they are not sure ho quickly they can sell,so that also is a bit of a hindrance for older workers.
However, I think the biggest challenge is the everyone uses Linked-in as the new way to find a job and it is not any better than using a job board. Your chances of getting current employees and managers to “network” with you through linked-in and be able to get a job from networking and or a job board is nearly impossible. There has to be a better way to get a job, especially for an older worker, the current system is broken, but I am not sure what the alternatives are.
I actually subscribe because people I know are looking for a job, and turning to me for help. It is one of the tools I provide them with. My way of giving back and making this a better world. Sonya
Thank YOU all for the GREAT contest entries.
See who won here below, and I’d appreciate it if you could take a few seconds to congratulate the winners:
https://jobmob.co.il/midlife-job-finders-contest-winners/
giving me tips and on how to make my resume to attract interviews and how to answer interview question.
congratulations to winners I will be next