AARP Job Workshops Prove It’s Never Too Late for a Career Opportunity

“Our goal is to help older adults feel visible or become visible in an impersonal, technology-driven hiring process,” Craiglow says. “And it's ironic because employers want authentic people with strong interpersonal skills. They want experience, but the systems that they employ sometimes seem to operate counter to that.”

Age bias, Lederfeind acknowledged, is an unfortunate reality for some older job seekers, but he and others learned strategies for portraying their experience as an asset. He recalls the example of his mother, who was his business partner in Brazil and then took a part-time job at nearly 80 years old. “She told me she’s not as fast as younger people, but she’s the best there,” he says. “That’s what employers should know; there’s so much we can contribute to the world.”

The AARP workshops take the skills that older workers already have and make them shine in their résumés, cover letters and networking opportunities. ​​

Unique challenges face older job seekers

Many professionals navigating the job market after 50 face hurdles that reflect broader economic and technological shifts: a sluggish hiring landscape, worries about retirement security and the growing role of artificial intelligence in recruitment.

Older workers also face longer stretches of unemployment than younger age groups, according to the AARP Public Policy Institute’s Employment Data Digest.

Job seekers also say the decline in personal interaction — driven in part by remote work and virtual interviews — leaves them questioning how to leverage the interpersonal skills they spent decades perfecting.

To top it all off, 34 percent of those who think finding a new job would be difficult point to age discrimination as the reason, according to a 2025 AARP survey. That’s something Melissa E. Wynn, who attended an AARP jobs workshop in Maryland, says she’s feeling now as she looks for work for the first time in nearly 30 years after getting her Ph.D. and working in higher education in her state. Her previous role was impacted by federal budget cuts.

“I was like, Oh, I’m considered old!” says Wynn, who’s in her early 50s. “You realize, I am actually in this age group that is subject to age discrimination. And that was just eye-opening.”

To protect older adults from age bias, workshop attendees are encouraged to provide fewer details about jobs they held earlier in their careers and to focus on positions they've held in the past 10 to 15 years that are related to their current job search. Wynn says these tips are especially helpful for those who are accustomed to longer, industry-specific formats.

“I had a 10-page CV,” she says. “Outside of higher education, nobody’s reading that.”

Applicants were also advised to direct-message contacts on LinkedIn and post about their job search to leverage the professional network they spent years developing. The network older adults already have can be a powerful tool for getting connected to a job opening or securing a referral. “I really find that networking and that human connection, even if it’s through an electronic direct message, is extremely, extremely important,” Wynn says.

Attendees also said the connections made at AARP’s job training event were helpful. They found it empowering to see others in the same situation, sharing similar questions and concerns.

“I think it was an excellent workshop to have in person because it gave you the opportunity to talk to and network with other people in the room — to know that you are not alone in your search,” Wynn says.​

A chance to explore priorities

The sessions also encouraged attendees to focus on their strengths and what they want out of the next phase of their professional life. This has been a valuable takeaway, participants say.

Wynn now views her time between jobs as an opportunity rather than a setback — a chance to step off the hamster wheel, reflect and rethink what matters most in the next stage of her career.

“Millennials and Gen Z state what their needs are,” she says. “They are more likely to put themselves first, and I think one of the reasons that might be a little off-putting to Gen X, boomers and the Silent Generation is because we never have. We should have, but we haven’t. We need to self-advocate.”

For Wynn, that means putting more stock into a workplace culture that values the knowledge and skills older adults bring. She’s also more focused on benefits offered, specifically health care — factors she paid less attention to earlier in her career. Lederfeind said he’s prioritizing stability in the years leading up to his retirement.

“When I was young, I was very ambitious,” he says. “I made an international career when I was in marketing. I had the opportunity to work in Germany. But now? I just want to work to make a sustainable living, to support my family.” ​