Smart Guide to Getting Hired After 50

Go over your profile and spruce up your headline and bio to make sure they reflect what’s necessary for the job you’re seeking. LinkedIn also allows you to post portfolio examples or other work on your profile. “It's the best place for you to present yourself in the way ... you want to be perceived,” she says. If you have accounts on other platforms like Instagram, TikTok or Facebook, consider making your account private while you are applying for jobs, or removing any content that might make a recruiter think twice.

9. Get in touch with your network

Bates says it’s important to focus on building — or rebuilding — your professional network. Research published in 2021 in the journal Socius found that people’s personal networks shrank 16 percent during the pandemic. We lose touch with people over time or our networks may have more retirees as we get older, Bates says. “It becomes important for us to continue to restock the inventory of contacts, so that when an opportunity arises, published or not, we have a pathway past the applicant tracking system, hopefully directly to the hiring manager,” he says.

Marcus agrees, suggesting that users spend time connecting with relevant professional groups in your industry, college alumni groups, or others with shared interests or experiences.

10. Tap the "hidden" job market

Bates says there are two ways people get hired. First, there are jobs published via advertising and online job boards. Second, there is the “hidden” job market — jobs that may be quietly filled by referrals or other sources. Reaching such hidden jobs through referrals in your network is ideal, Bates says, because the roles are often filled based on a recommendation. There’s also another important reason: These jobs often appear when a specific need arises. Being referred for such a role early lets a candidate be considered before requirements like having a college degree or a certain number of years of experience are set in stone. Instead, the main requirement is that they can solve the immediate need. “[Hiring managers are] saying, 'this is exactly the kind of skill set I need to get me forward. I don't care that they're 68 anymore,'” Bates says.

11. Watch for turnover and changes

As you reconnect with your network, you may see job changes, career advancement or retirement among your contacts. That could mean opportunities, Bates says. When people in roles that might be a good fit for you update their LinkedIn profile or announce a new job, “that's a clue for us that there may be a job available if they left, or there may be something going on where they went,” he says. Beyond that, Bates says watch for announcements of news like mergers, acquisitions, expansions, new products and the like. It could mean new jobs are opening soon.

12. Monitor age-friendly job boards

Companies that are age-inclusive in their hiring may list positions on job boards that specifically target older workers and older. Some of these include NEW Solutions, Workforce50.com, Seniors4Hire, Retirement Jobs.com and the AARP Job Board.

13. Look for companies that value older workers

Seek out companies that are actively trying to attract older workers, who will comprise a quarter of the workforce in the U.S. by 2031, according to management consulting firm Bain & Co. Ann Manby, chief workforce development officer for the Center for Workforce Inclusion (CWI) Labs, a nonprofit focused on improving workforce opportunities for all adults, suggests looking for companies that abide by the Department of Labor’s Good Jobs principles, a set of guidelines that promote fair and equitable workplaces. These principles include recruitment and hiring practices that offer flexible work policies, fair compensation and family-supporting benefits, among others.

“You can see through a company's policies and postings whether it has a completely rigid structure of attendance and location and policies, or if there's flexibility to accommodate for life,” Manby says. “We really look to highlight those opportunities where a whole person can be employed at a company and be successful.” In addition, some organizations, including AARP, recruit companies to sign pledges to affirm the value of older workers. 

ACING THE INTERVIEW

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14. Curate your job stories

Just as you update your résumé, it’s also important to winnow down your stories to the most relevant. “You never want to seem as though you're stuck in the past, but you want to identify opportunities to use your past experience to inform the way in which you approach change,” Manby says. For example, if you have been through company mergers, brand rollouts and layoffs, those stories could illustrate that you handle change well and even embrace it, indicating that you can do so again. However, consider avoiding stories that are too far in the past, or focus on outdated systems or technology.

15. Make it clear that you plan to stick around

One way to beat tough interview questions is by heading them off. For example, Manby says you could defuse any assumptions about how close you might be to retirement by showing enthusiasm about learning and job growth. “It's really easy for a hiring manager to assume that someone who's in their 50s is almost at retirement, and so they're not worth hiring and training and investing in,” she says. “But in reality, the average retirement age last year was 62, and through our network of partners, we see folks working well into their 60s and 70s.”

Use the opportunities you have on your résumé, in interviews and on other platforms like social media to position yourself “as a lifelong learner eager to develop new skills and interested in becoming part of the long-term vision of that employer,” she says. 

16. Show you’re ready to roll up your sleeves

Binke says hiring managers may also worry that candidates who have been in supervisory roles may not want to handle the day-to-day tasks some jobs require. “A lot of times, companies don’t want to hire that person because they’re so used to being in the lead,” he says. In such cases, be frank “by saying something like ‘I’m not afraid to get into the weeds,’” he says. In other words, make it clear that you’re ready and willing to roll up your sleeves and do what it takes to get the job done. Before your interview, think of recent examples that show you’re prepared to handle challenging tasks, and — in your interview — be prepared to talk about why such work fits what you’re looking for in your next job.

17. Showcase your “soft skills”

While job ads often focus on “hard skills” like the ability to use a particular software program or understand industry regulations for compliance purposes, Bates says it’s a good idea to use your résumé and interview to highlight your so-called “soft skills” — abilities like being able to work as part of a team, communicate, be flexible and solve problems. The good news? “These are all things that older workers are really good at, right? Because we've got experience,” he says. “One board member actually said this to me: They hire people based on hard skills, because that's what the published job market is driven by. And then they're all puzzled because people didn't work out because they had no social skills.” Showcasing your soft skills as well as your hard skills can help bolster your appeal.

18. Address the awkward issues

If you’re worried that something will knock you out of the running for a job, consider addressing it upfront in your interview or cover letter. Bates worked with a 62-year-old client who was previously in investment banking making a hefty salary. He wasn’t getting interviews, and Bates concluded that it was because the smaller companies he was applying to thought they couldn’t afford to hire him. “I said, you have two choices: You can either let them continue to think that, or you can do something to remove it.”

Think about how you can confidently talk about a concern a hiring manager might have, whether it’s your previous title/salary, time you’ve taken off from work, or even your age. Showing that you’ve thought about a possible concern can make some hiring managers more comfortable about your fit.  

19. Do your homework

Be sure to research the company before you go into the interview. Nearly one-third of recruiters (30.7 percent) said not researching a company before the interview gives them negative feelings about a job candidate, according to a 2023 survey by Ringover. “The more you do research on the company, and you know where that company is relative to their industry, the more you'll be able to connect stories that would be of interest to them,” Marcus says.

Explore the company’s website, paying special attention to any recent announcements and the biography pages of anyone you might be interviewing with. LinkedIn also can be a valuable source of information about the backgrounds of people you might meet while interviewing. Additionally, search online for recent news articles about the employer.

20. For online interviews, take a test run

If you’re going to be participating in a video interview, make sure you try out the software before the call, Manby says. “Just because you can use FaceTime and Google Meet does not mean that you understand the functionality of Zoom and Teams,” she says. The last thing you want to do is reinforce the stereotype that older workers are not good with technology.

Ask in advance what platform you’ll be using (or see if it’s noted on the calendar invite you receive), then ask a friend, family member or mentor to practice with you. In addition to giving you an opportunity to understand how to mute the call and ensure your background settings suit your preferences, you may get a bit of interview practice in.

21. Be ready to talk about trends

While you’re updating your skills and doing your homework about the company, watch out for the latest industry trends or information — and be ready to talk about those, too, Marcus suggests. Share your knowledge on social media and be ready to talk about it in an interview to show that you’re plugged in to the industry overall. She points to the impact of artificial intelligence or other technologies as one possible example. Being able to both show you have an interest in a trending area and are taking steps to understand how it can move the company forward can be “powerful,” Marcus says.

22. Have questions of your own to ask

Manby says it’s also important to remember that interviews are two-way conversations, so once you do your homework about the company, be prepared with questions for your interviewers. “Rather than feeling like you are the one who needs to do all of the performing in this interview in order to be taken seriously as a candidate, it's important to remember that you're also interviewing that company,” she says. Consider using the opportunity to ask about learning and development opportunities that show you’re interested in building your skills and growing with the company for the long term. “Thoughtful questions make an impact on the interviewer,” Manby says. “They can tell that you're taking this position seriously.”

FOLLOWING UP 

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23. Send a thank-you email

Once you’ve completed your interview, there’s an important last step that has gotten more challenging in recent years: following up to say “thanks.” A recent survey by résumé services firm Top Resume found that 68 percent of hiring managers said post-interview “thank you” notes from candidates matter — and one in five hiring managers had passed on a candidate because they never sent a thank-you. 

Manby says that following up after an interview is “very important.” Make your follow-up email specific to the company and be sure to mention some of the things you discussed in the interview, she says. “If that hiring manager brought up certain questions that you can tell were important to their decision process, your responses to those questions should be reflected in your follow-up communication,” she says. At the end of the interview, ask your recruiter or HR contact about the best way to follow up.

24.  Volunteer

Another way to gain new skills, experience and contacts that could lead to a job is to volunteer. A 2013 report from the Corporation for National and Community Service found that volunteers had a 27 percent higher chance of finding a job after being out of work than non-volunteers. In rural areas, that percentage soared to 55 percent. In addition to helping you keep busy and meet new people as you build skills and help your community, volunteering has also been linked to a number of physical and mental health benefits. These include higher levels of movement and activity, and lower levels of depression and anxiety.

25.  Do some job-searching all the time

Once you do land your next job, the job hunt should still carry on, Bates says. “Most people really should be doing at least some degree of job-search activities all the time,” he adds. Keeping up with your network, watching for changes that may signal opportunity, and engaging with contacts can lead to new opportunities.