02 Apr What’s next for you? Jeff Tidwell’s asking that question for us all
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There’s a trending post on LinkedIn right now titled, “How to beat ageism and get hired.” More than 80,000 viewers have given it a gander. Basically, the post offers fortune cookie wisdom most savvy job-seekers of a certain age already know: Collapse your resume, or lob off years-ago jobs from it. Stay positive. And when you do land work, do a fantastic job. Umm, hello?
Besides the empty promise of the headline, what also stands out is how few comments there are on the post. Are people, in the lurking age of Cambridge Analytica, etcetera, afraid to out themselves as “older?” There are the deniers, and the smug. (ie. “Take care of your skin” and “don’t act your age” and “I’ve never had a problem.”) Perhaps the dearth of commiseration is this: What is there really to say, except that we know this problem exists?
Of course, until it doesn’t. Two good friends of mine in their late fifties recently landed excellent jobs (one in IT, the other in the culinary world.) Each had been out of work for over two years, which had taken a toll. In each case, employers were consciously, explicitly searching for veteran workers, not budget-cutting by seeking less experienced employees.
What can we do besides commiserate, innovate, re-invent and soldier on? That’s something that’s preoccupying Jeff Tidwell lately. He sat on the domain name “Next For Me” for a while, well-aware of the shifting demographics and his changing place in the technology world as someone in his fifties. Now, he’s working to turn it into a hub for the post-50 seeker.
I talked with him about his epiphany, and his intent to lasso up the longevity marketplace. Give our chat a listen. And send us your stories. We’re all in this together.