My one-woman campaign to get a job
I decided a few years ago to start winding down my business and since I’d often taken on short or fixed term interim posts with charities and other organisations I thought it would be relatively easy to find a part time post. After years of competing relentlessly for contracts and commissions I also thought it would be great to do something less wearing and for a lower, but regular income.
I am a well-qualified social researcher and trainer and I have experience of running a successful business. I’m very clued up indeed on housing and ageing and working with and for third sector organisations and local communities. I have a good track record as a consultant, writer and trainer. I’ve been using Microsoft and other packages for years and I have really excellent IT skills. Of course, I also have a great workspace at home. You’d think I would be fairly employable, wouldn’t you? Until that is I tell you that I am 70. A fit, in touch and erudite 70-year-old but, untouchable as far as most employers are concerned.
I am applying mostly for part time administrative and support roles and if possible, working from home although I can travel. My younger (and employed) friends told me initially to dumb down my CV and to only include work roles that I’ve done in the last ten years. This is difficult for a freelancer but, I have done my best.
This is what I have found out.
Most employers from all sectors, don’t reply.
After twenty-two applications I was offered and accepted a part time remote job with a charitable employer and that was it I thought, hurray! However, in the almost six months I worked for them I never received the secure work laptop I was supposed to receive that would have made it possible to do the job properly, and deal with highly confidential information. Instead, I was left to use my own laptop which meant I didn’t have access to all the work systems I needed but did enable me to access highly confidential information which, worried me incessantly. I had signed documents to the effect that I complied with the organisation’s GDPR policies after all. I finally felt obliged to resign when a secure work laptop was given to a new colleague on the day she started! I still didn’t have one and had no hope of getting one. Resigning seemed better than a formal complaint I thought, especially since I wanted another job. Hmm. I still don’t know why I was treated so badly, ageism or employer carelessness? What I do know is that 18 months later I am still working freelance, I have made thirty-two job applications and I’ve had five interviews, none successful.
One of the reasons it turns out, is that despite a proven record and capacity for learning and keeping up to date with IT and a lifetime experience of keyboard skills, data entry, project management and every aspect of organisational skills and admin, I don’t have all the pieces of paper to prove this. I found very quickly that having such qualifications was a requirement for most administrative and routine office work. Experience? Pah, that is meaningless.
I have embarked, therefore, on a business administration course, I’ve completed a project management course and am doggedly applying for more jobs.
Cynical about the “older people’s industry”
At the same time, I reviewed my experience and skill set and assessed the options in what one of my colleagues somewhat cynically calls the “Older People’s Industry” where most of the employees are not older at all!
Jobs, such as, a research assistant in a commercial facing University department that is heavily involved in working with clients who produce products and services for older people. The department allegedly welcomes applications from older people so I enquired and applied. This is where I came up against a disturbing realisation. Although the job advert said it encouraged applications from everyone including older people and the job description was a great fit for someone like me, the application form was geared towards younger applicants particularly someone young and ambitious and someone keen on climbing the academic ladder. There was no room for someone like me who has a lot to give, would do a good job, has a lot of business and ‘lived experience’ to share with colleagues but darn it, I am not ambitious for promotion. I can and do give presentations but I don’t necessarily want to travel abroad a lot but, I would help other colleagues to do that. My academic contributions are also pretty old so I couldn’t fit the academic profile that asked for recent contributions. Plus, the application form made me go back to my school days and every single job I had. No chance there then, of being selected on merit! And, most definitely this was not an age blind process. The process was slanted towards younger candidates and recent (mostly younger) graduates.
I don’t know about you but I am fed up with being told what to think, how to live and how to behave as an older person, by a load of younger people.
Lip service about inclusivity
I have taken a few things from my experience so far. First, there is a lot of lip service paid to being inclusive by employers when the reverse is the case. Second, most employers haven’t got a clue about their ageist practices and procedures including so called age aware organisations and they should be ashamed. Third, what on earth is going on when employers are looking only for people who are ambitious and want to be promoted? It is not only ageist, it is downright wasteful. What does it say to people of all ages who have many good reasons for not wanting to aim for the top, who want to do an interesting job well but don’t want to be promoted? Are we worthless? Isn’t there or shouldn’t there be room for all of us? Do we all have to lie?
I thought that perhaps there was a greater understanding amongst employers these days about older workers especially since most of us need to work. I was wrong.
I will let you know how I get on – my one-woman campaign continues. I am meanwhile up to unit five of the business administration course and set to complete it successfully in record time, mostly powered by anger.
Moyra Riseborough
