YouTube Shows How to Market Selves

Older workers seeking new employment possibilities are benefiting in Colorado from two online resources, the AARP Colorado YouTube channel and the AARP Job Search Engine.

Still buffeted by the worst employment environment since the Depression, 50+ Americans will now be able to search at any time among more than 1 million jobs aggregated by the new service, powered by Indeed, a megasearch engine for job listings.

Visitors to AARP’s website will now be able to search job openings by state and zip code. The jobs will be broken down by industry, occupation and even title.

Additional help is available from AARP Colorado’s YouTube pilot program, which is designed to relay messages to Colorado 50+ residents, including AARP members about a variety of topics relevant to them. From information about Medicare and keeping social security solvent to resume writing and healthy cooking, Colorado AARP’s YouTube videos allow those 50+ to get information online delivered by their peers.

“It’s a wonderful program and we are currently running a number of videos on how older workers can update their resumes and what to expect in today’s job market,” said AARP Colorado State Director Morie Smile. “Coupled with an enhanced job-search partner, we believe Coloradans 50+ will be armed with the tools they need to get back into the workforce.”

The Colorado videos dealing with resumes are being presented by AARP volunteer YouTube spokesman Frank Battistelli, a retired Medicare executive, who has a background in career training of executives and teaches the subject at Johnson & Wales University in Denver.

“One thing we can do is reference these videos and learn about the different styles of resumes, how to write and format resumes and how to conduct a job search, and if you are looking to use this job-search site, you’ll get more out of it if you’ve followed our whole series on video,” Battistelli said.   

AARP Public Policy Institute calculations, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data, show that more than 2.2 million people aged 55 and older were unemployed in August.  The average period of unemployment for those 55 and over was nearly 10 months in August, about double the 20.2 weeks average when the recession began in December 2007.

“In these tough economic times, free resources like the AARP job search engine and Colorado’s YouTube Channel are invaluable to many people trying to get back in the work place,” said Nataki Clarke, vice president, online marketing, AARP. “The 50+ audience is going online like never before and our goal is to make aarp.org the destination to provide them with information and tools they need to live their best lives.”

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