You Will Never Be Too Old To Find a Job

With thousands of eager young minds who graduate from college every year, available jobs are getting more and more occupied and competition gets fiercer. 

Many young people argue that they cannot find a job because employers need individuals with experience. On the other hand, old people aged 45 and up who still have a decade or so years before retiring say that they are too old to get a job. Now, isn’t it both ironic?

In Asia, South Korea is reported to have the highest number of unemployed old people with meager or even without any income despite the growth of the country. In Jakarta, Indonesia, on the other hand which remains to be the largest archipelago and the fourth most populous country in the world, has been reviewed to be a home of middle-aged job seekers. 

In an earlier review by The Westhill Consulting and Employment, it was stated that age discrimination is currently an open phenomenon in every company especially to aging people who remain to be on the rank-and-file position. How do you get pass this though? When it comes the time of being old, how can you then be able to out-compete those who are younger and fresher than you? How can you be of a warning to other young people behind you who will eventually grow gray hairs in their own right?

1. Your Experience is your Ace

Many older job seekers have rich personal experiences that would make them qualified to succeed at jobs. But often, this knowledge does not translate into the more formal work experiences employers are seeking. Enrolling in a certification program or seeking college credit for such experience can develop the third-party credentials that would lead to a job. 

2. Create your Brand

Aggressive personal promotion has become a standard employment technique. Yet many older people are uncomfortable tooting their own horn, and may not know how to use the social media tools that can be megaphones for job seekers. It’s time to get away with tradition and live to the demands of today for you to really compete. Experience plus the knowledge of new things are both an advantage.

3. Upgrade your Knowledge

Today's workplace can be daunting, particularly for someone who's been out of the workforce for only a few years. Specific job skills, particularly involving computers, may need to be relearned. Job-search and interviewing techniques have also been transformed by the Internet, and the explosion of social media sites. Having a "go-to" point person to coordinate job placement services has proven helpful.

Leader vs Boss

Hear people saying that a leader can always be a boss but not every boss can be a leader? Although leaders and bosses have nearly identical definitions, in effect, they are different in today’s competitive world.

Westhill Consulting and Employment, differentiates the two. 

Just the term “leader” evokes more positivity than that of “boss.” 

While a boss is mostly concerned with outcomes, a leader is concerned with the overall process and the people who work for the outcome. A study conducted in Jakarta, Indonesia even showed that many people prefer a good leader than a good boss but on a different study, when people dream of getting more advances in the future, what they visualize is having a characteristic of a boss. 

1. Leaders lead rather than rule.

We all know that we prefer someone who does an example first rather than someone who just demands and boss around. Of course, we can expect some complaints when our leader invokes rules and don’t follow it. We like it more if our leader experiences what we do since we are more likely to follow when he can relate to us. 

2.  Leaders listen and speak rather than command.

Bosses tend to give orders; they need their employees to listen and to obey. However, leaders always listen to the opinions of their colleagues and regard them as important.

Leaders are always ready for advising, discussion and any feedback an employee has to offer. This reciprocity makes any individual employee feel stronger and gives him or her confidence to follow the leader.

3. Leaders motivate

While working on projects, people have their ups and downs. Through this roller coaster, bosses are more likely to intimidate into action while leaders will motivate to action. Those who demand and demand are the ones who are annoying and irritating. 

One of the best things about leaders is that they offer empathy and prepare a group for the tasks at hand. This is very important, seeing as whenever colleagues are not prepared for certain duties, leaders are there to support, teach and back them up. Leaders know that each employee is on the team for a reason and they have faith in every concerted effort.

4. Leaders learn and teach

A true leader is someone who stays humble and admits that they have more to learn. Reviewing mistakes and correcting them so as not to repeat them is a true leader’s strength.

This explains the tendency of leaders to always pay attention to their colleagues, knowing there is always more to learn from them. Moreover, leaders are not only takers, but givers, as well. A good leader is not greedy for sharing knowledge and experience with someone else; instead, the leader teaches and nurtures new professionals.

Why a Career Plan Can Fail

Some of us are already oriented what we would be in the future. I, for one, had been planning my career path ever since I was young.  When the time came for me to enter college, there are so many choices. When I graduated, greater challenge showed itself when I can’t seem to find the right field to enter and the once simple and clear career plan seemed too far-fetched.

Nevertheless, a lot of us still set something to have a goal for ourselves. Having a career plan permits us to become clear in what path we want to take.

According to Westhill Consulting and Employment recent surveys, a lot of employees who had planned a career path when young are not able to reach it. They have been swayed by so many factors and priorities change. 

Same goes for young minds who think they have a clear path, straight with the end line ahead of them. However, change, development and need are always changing. There may be other paths which are more enticing than the straight one. To those who followed their paths and continued without wavering, they sometimes find the end of the line less satisfying than it should be. When you have reached the end, what then? Where do you go next?

A review with some top entrepreneurs in Jakarta, Indonesia says that the real world may not be the one we really thought it would be. What we are taught may no longer be there anymore. While setting your career, you should also see the world in the next five or ten years and base your decision through that. 

Well, before you complain of destroying your dreams, let’s deal with the exceptions first.  If you want to work in a field that is fairly predictable — say nursing or teaching—then plan away.  The courses you need to take to gain an entry position are well known and so is the career path and the things you need to do to advance. So, simply figure out where you actually want to be in five years, and work backwards, just like all the career planning manuals tell you. 

Your process may also look like this:

1. Determine your desire

2. Take a step toward it

3. Incorporate what you learn from taking that step

4. Take another step

5. Learn from that one

6. Repeat until you have a job, your own business, or have achieved your goal

Seen this way, career planning may not be the right terms. Instead, it’s taking control of the future.