Anti-ageism job search success stories
Ageism is one of the most frustrating challenges for job seekers age 50+ (or younger in many industries) so I started collecting anti-ageism success stories so that job seekers could study real-life examples of people who launched or continued careers when they were older. The employers are all named to give credit, but some of the job seekers are anonymous because they did not want their names to come up in an online search about ageism.
Alaska Airlines
“My employer employs many people over 50. They even hired a person age 60+ to be a flight attendant. It was a career change for him. I enjoy working for this company and I recommend looking at their open jobs to explore whether there are open positions that fit with your skills.”
Costco Wholesale Corporation
“I recommend Costco as a good employer for people age 50+. I worked there in communications for ten years and when I recently looked at the masthead of their U.S. business publication, I see that there are many people on their editorial staff who have worked there for 25+ years.”
DF/Net Research Inc.
“My employer hired me when I was in my late fifties, first as a part-time data entry person and then they promoted me into a full-time data coordinator role. They have diverse hiring practices; they hired new college grads, a mother who took 15 years off to raise her children before she returned to the workforce, and a band member who wanted to augment his music career.”
Eliassen Group
“I was fortunate to obtain my current role as CMO as a result of leveraging my network, coupled with a bit of luck and timing … my job search advice for job seekers age 50+ is to remain confident in your skills and capabilities, utilize your network, stay current with technology, and stay positive.” Read more about this marketing job search success story.
King County, State of Washington
“At age 57, I applied for a contract job with a governmental agency (county government). The interview panel impressed me immediately with the diversity: there was a woman a little older than myself, and several younger employees, more than half of whom were persons of color. The management interview panel that followed that was three women, two of whom were my age or older. Since being hired as a permanent employee at age 58, I have had nothing but positive experiences with my employer’s diversity and equal opportunity for all. Working in high tech, most of my previous working environments have been in groups of men, usually white, and always young; I have some real horror stories about some of my prior companies! It is refreshing to work in a culture where experience is valued and having a personal life is appreciated more than working 60-hour weeks. There are those who say it’s impossible to find work in high tech after age 50, but that has not been my experience. Yes, lots of companies are scornful of older workers, but that is less prevalent in the public sector. I think my current employer is particularly good at recognizing and valuing diversity, largely because of policies that come from our county executive. I’ve since moved from contract to career service (permanent) status. An additional feature of public service is that we are union-represented, so once someone is through the probationary period, the job is more secure than most private sector employment.”
LBJ Presidential Library
“After many years as a freelance writer, I was hired as a web editor for the LBJ Presidential Library. The job search was a lot of work, but the keys are to value your years of experience and wide range of skills, demonstrate to employers how your previous skills are transferable to new positions, invest in learning, and don’t give up.” Read more about this web editor job search success story.
Texas Association of School Boards (TASB)
“I’m the head ServiceNow/ITIL developer for the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB). While I hadn’t seriously considered working for a nonprofit at the start of my job search, it was immediately apparent in my interviews that this was an infinitely better fit for my personality than working for a giant corporation. My impression is that stepping away from behemoth companies—or even hungry startups—who focus on speed and competition is a great way to find places that are open to people with life experience.” Read more about this developer job search success story.
If you know someone who would be inspired by these anti-ageism job search success stories, please share this article with them.
I first published this article on 2018-11-25 at VocationVillage.com.
