Baby Boomers: How to Make Interviewers See a More Youthful You

By Anna D. Banks, GCDF

Getting old should not harm your chances of getting a job and just playing it right can help your employment prospects in a number of ways. An example of this is Edward R. Mills who was 61 at the time of the interview. When asked what he did in his spare time all he said he competed in tennis tournaments and did "a little bit of hiking”, taking out a recent photo of him hiking at 14000 foot, Mount Whitney. He was offered the job immediately by WNET-TV and today still works at the same job that is as demanding as ever. His success story gives motivation to other old job seeker even the baby boomers, who face bias at their work because of their age. ExecuNet, a career-networking organization in Norwalk, Connecticut conducted a survey, which reported that after the age of 50 or at it, age plays a major role in organizations that hire.

In order to get over this hurdle, a few tips are listed that can boost your chances to get a job and help an interviewer see a more youthful you.

• The first way is when preparing your resume; it is best to not include the work done once you graduated from college and the date of graduation as well. A better plan would be to list the work done in the past ten to fifteen years. An instance of such method working was when Mr. Sanders was looking for a job in 1999 at the age of 63. He used this technique of resume writing in order to just sell himself to his potential employers and got the job as well. Even the CEO, David Levitt of OpenOrders said, "He probably would not have gotten in the door" with a full disclosure of his job history. ” A disadvantage of this would also be that people wouldn’t have an idea of your age but would see you as a very good candidate and offer entry level positions. Like when Rodney Struhs went for an interview and was given this line by the interviewers. “We're not really looking for someone with as much experience as you have." And they were quite surprised to see a balding and stock person.

• Another change would be in the sense of dressing, try and dress young. It is best to look fresh and not old. So you could buy new shoes, update the wardrobe, dye the gray hair, and get medical attention for the baggy eyes, etc and a lot more other changes in order to look young.

• Though there maybe a bias since the interviewee is old, this bias can be changed and Dave Opton, CEO of ExecuNet has also been witness to this. Mark Rigor, a 49 year old rises at five in the morning and rides his bike around ten to thirty miles a day and his tactic was that he radiated youthful zeal by always asking interviewers: "Is there an opportunity in your area to bike? I'm a serious biker." He was hired as a sales representative for Sure Alloy Steel.

• The best thing to do during the interview is to show and sound eager in mentoring young employees. Even updating your skills will be witness to your skill of adapting to changing technology. It will show that you are capable of working under a younger boss, a team player, and take multiple roles in the work place.

© 2008 Anna D. Banks, GCDF
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Author's Note:
Do you have any questions about career development or lifestyle changes for Baby Boomers, which you think others, like you, would want to know the answers? Email your questions to me at Anna@AnnaBanks.com.

Baby Boomers: Plan Ahead and Build Your Own Business after Retirement

By Anna D. Banks, GCDF

Starting a Business after retirement requires you to plan ahead and build a good foundation. You need to face a number of issues and questions such as:

• What is a good business for you to undertake?
• How much time and effort are you willing to devote?
• Does this match with the time and effort demanded by the business you want to start?
• What are the key processes involved in starting a new business?
• What are the skills that are necessary for business success?
• How much should you invest in a new business?
• How do you go about developing an action plan for the business of your choice?

The process of starting a business can be a challenging, and an exciting experience. It can also be frightening, exhausting, and frustrating. The key to a minimum stress start-up is to plan ahead and build your own business after retirement, in a planned and rational way. Understanding, and planning out, the entire process of start-up makes a huge difference to the end result. There are, some basic steps that are common in planning and starting any business:

Assess your areas of strength. Are you a person who can easily take risks with money? If the idea is scary, it may be better to think twice before considering a business. No matter how you look at it, and how well you play it, being an entrepreneur involves risk. You must be willing to lose money if it comes to that. You must also have the ability and the will to work hard, be able to handle uncertainty well, and possess self-discipline.

Pick the right business. There are generally has two kinds of people. One kind consists of people who love something to the level of passion and are driven to make a career of it. If you belong in this category, make sure you conduct research to check that a market exists for the business. The other kind of person is one who is fascinated by the idea of being an entrepreneur, rather than a particular idea. In this case, pick a business that has instant demand and potential for future growth.

Come up with a solid business plan. Think of it as a map that tells you the direction you should be heading in and helps you to identify important markers you may see on the way. Before you open your doors to clients, think and plan out exactly what you want your business to be. Figure out what makes your product or service different or special, how you plan to attract customers, how you intend to beat competition, and other such essentials.

A major part of the business plan consists of a financial analysis, including:
• The amount of money needed
• How it should be spent
• Amount of profit expected etc.

Figure out where you will get the funding needed to start. Explore options like
• Your own savings
• Your credit cards
• Your retirement accounts
• Second mortgage
• Advance on inheritance
• Loans from friends or family members.

© Anna D. Banks, GCDF

ANNA D. BANKS, GCDF is an adjunct professor at Essex County College, career development and marketing coach, speaker, and author. Anna helps individuals design a game plan for an extraordinary career or business. Since 1996, Anna has helped hundreds of job-seekers, managers, business owners, and sales professionals achieve career success. For more information send an email to Anna@AnnaBanks.com.
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Author's Note:
Do you have any questions about career development or lifestyle changes for Baby Boomers, which you think others, like you, would want to know the answers? Please place a post on www.AnnaBanks.com or email your questions to me at Anna@AnnaBanks.com.