Practical Skills for Finding a Job When You're Over 50 Belfast

These days the workplace has changed. Employers are no longer looking primarily for specific experience in particular job types, they’re interested in the more general skills you possess and they will primarily judge you on these when they review your application.

So, it’s really essential for you to identify what are known as your transferable skill sets. If you’re not sure what’s meant by “transferable skills”, here are a few examples.

 Organisational Skills and Time Management
 Project Management
 Influencing and Negotiating
 Presentation Skills (verbal and written)
 Numeracy and Budgeting
 Researching and Planning
 Monitoring and Reporting
 Leadership and Decision-making
 Coaching, Mentoring and Nurturing
 Creativity and Innovation
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This list is by no means exhaustive, but it should give you a basis to work from in deciding what to focus on in your job application (backed up, of course, by examples of when, where, and how you gained, developed and have used these skills).

Taking action

So now you’ve identified what skills you have, what skills are you going to need to apply in seeking out opportunities, and improving your chances of landing a job?

The starting point is to draw up an action plan of who you’re going to contact – recruitment consultancies, old colleagues, companies themselves – your list should be extensive.

Next, decide how you’re going to go about it. Don’t limit yourself to just one way such as responding to newspaper advertisements; make sure you also use online search mechanisms, job centres and clubs, and every other means available to you.

Finally, commit to when you’re going to act, which means a certain number of hours every day or week that you will devote to finding a new job. No excuses!
Six steps for success

Having done all that, there are then six key steps for success:

Do your background research. Particularly if you’re looking for a change of job, or even returning to your old occupation after some time away, you need to check what types and levels of qualification are currently required, and which skills are important. They may have changed - and you may not.

Arm yourself with references and evidence of achievement. Just saying you’re good isn’t enough, you need proof.

Ask for help and advice from wherever you think you can get it. The trouble with doing things alone is that we only have our own perspective on the world and sometimes that’s not a hugely reliable indicator of reality.

By all means prepare yourself well, but once you’ve decided what to do, stop procrastinating and DO IT! Don’t go about it half-heartedly. And, always plan for the next step if you don’t get the outcome you want. For example, if you’ve sent off your CV to three companies, make sure you know who’s next on the list if the first answer comes back as ‘no thanks’.

Constantly ask for feedback. Ask prospective employers and recruitment agencies why you weren’t selected and what you can do to improve your future chances. Ask your friends and family for honest feedback on your appearance, mannerisms and attitude. Do you need to make some changes?

Identify the point at which you’ll review progress and decide whether or not you need to adopt a new strategy – then work towards it. In the meantime, don’t navel gaze, change tack or panic.

Finally, most important, never give up. It’s often not easy landing your next job, but it can be done and you can do it – just keep reminding yourself that you’re in your prime.


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