What do George Clooney, Jodie Foster, Antonio Banderas, Hale Berry, Keanu Reeves, Michelle Pfeiffer, Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock, Hugh Grant, Julia Roberts, Nicholas Cage, Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn or Julianne Moore have in common? All of them are 50 or older and are professionally active.
What if you are not an actor? Google “employees 50+” and you’ll find a lot of different articles on the situation of those who are professionally active over the age of 50. There is everything from:
Painted doomsday scenarios
and/or highlighting lost benefits (according to an article on PulsHr.pl “every 1% of additionally active 50+ would generate additional fiscal income of 4 bn PLN (almost 1 bn EUR) per year)
Highlighting the (obvious) benefits
of hiring the mature:
- experience
- credibility; studies say that more mature employees are perceived as more credible by clients
- availability (kids are grown and out the house)
- responsibility; data from the Society for Human Resource Management show that they are 69% more responsible, 69% more ethical and 77% more dedicated than those under 30
Describing solutions
that work in other countries like Vattenfall in Sweden has an 80-90-100 Program for employees 58+; they are expected to do 80% of the work at 90% of the remuneration and 100% of the pension.
Looking at the Polish market,
on the one hand, companies complain about a lack of employees whereas, on the other hand, there is an estimate of 16 million people who are not working! One thing is clear: supply does not meet demand!
When working with experienced managers & executives who are 50+, the most common scenario is the following: They lose their jobs after (usually) having been with a company for over 10 years; consequently, they have difficulties understanding and manoeuvring the new dynamics of the job market. On top of that more than half have not kept up with maintaining their competencies “attractive” – digital & technology come to mind.
So what can those 50+ do?
Irrespectively, with or without a job: make sure to learn from those who’ve already made the above-mentioned mistakes. How? Here are a couple of ideas (most are low cost or completely free of charge):
- keep up with “digital & technology” by completing courses on e.g. Udemy.com, Coursera.org
- attend meet-ups that are popular with the +/- 30-year olds (that’s a great way to learn from them; like Robert DeNiro did when he played in the movie The Intern)
- read about the job market and trends
- go to meetings like the ones we organize called “Challenge Accepted“.
In other words: stay active and attractive.
If you are 50+ with a job, help improve the system from within. The way Hollywood started producing movies and TV Series (Grace and Frankie rocks!), the same way companies need to create demand by re-engineering their recruitment processes – hire competencies not age! Need a tool for that? Contact Career Angels for access to a really great tool we are using for that: Bichl.Sandra@CareerAngels.eu
If you are an experienced manager or executive who feels a bit lost on the new job market, feel free to get in touch directly with Izabela.Michaliszyn@CareerAngels.eu to discuss your situation, needs and plans confidentially; Subject: 50+ and please add your CV.
If you are a DiAZ (doświadczona/y i aktywna/y zawodowo) based in Warsaw who has been out of a job for 12 months or more, check out the details of our CSR program here.
Would you like to explore this topic further? Follow pwc’s Golden Age index: How well are the OECD economies harnessing the power of an older workforce? and specifically for Poland: Aktywność zawodowa osób 55+ w Polsce jedną z najniższych w OECD
