At some time in our lives, most of us need to apply for a job. At the age of 50 or more, many of you will still be hoping for full-time employment, but others may be looking for a satisfying part-time job: a way to earn extra money and have something interesting to do for a few hours a week. You may even be planning to take on a number of part-time or temporary posts (portfolio working) or look for an unpaid but rewarding voluntary placement. Whatever type of work activity you hope to take up, you will need to decide what direction to take, find the opening, make an application and succeed at interview.
Very few people enjoy the experience, but by taking it one step at a time and preparing well, stress can be avoided and you may soon be looking forward to your new position.
To be successful in any job search, you will need to answer the following questions:
- Do you know what you want to do?
- Can you find enough vacancies?
- Is an advertised job right for you?
- Can you present yourself on paper in the best light?
- Will you come over well at interview?
- Should you take the job if it is offered?
All these topics, and many more, will be fully covered in the book.
Changes To The Current Position
If you are over 50, you already know how much you have to offer. However, you may not know that by 2010, 40 per cent of the workforce will be aged 45 or over, and the proportion of older people in the population is growing.
Carrying on working later in life is going to be far more common than it is now, and there are even changes that have been made to the state pension to encourage you to do so well into your 60s and 70s if you want to.
Age Discrimination And The Law
From 1 October 2006, it will become unlawful when employing or training people to discriminate directly or indirectly on the grounds of age. This means that employers cannot mention age in job advertisements, or use age as a reason for rejecting an applicant or limiting their promotion, unless there are exceptional circumstances that may well be tested in court.
For example, some employers may feel they can justify fixing a maximum recruitment age based on particular training requirements or the need for a reasonable period of employment before retirement. Harassment on the grounds of age will also become unlawful.
Although in many ways the new law will be to the advantage of older people, it may also mean the end to positive discrimination schemes that some enlightened companies have been running.
Retirement
It is expected that the law will abolish mandatory retirement ages completely, so that an employer would always have to use performance as justification for dismissing someone. If a retirement age is retained, you can retire earlier than the age limit but cannot be forced out of work before then.
The new law will mean that anyone continuing to work into their 60s and 70s will be entitled to the same pay and benefits as younger colleagues, and the fact that experienced staff may be more expensive could not be used by employers to justify any reduction in benefit levels.
Pensions
According to the Department of Works and Pensions, the State Pension age will stay at 65, and no one can be forced to work beyond that. However, you will be free to work part time while drawing a pension so that working longer may be more attractive. There are plans to:
- provide a better deal for people who choose to draw their State Pension beyond their State Pension age
- allow people to continue working for the same employer while drawing their occupational pension
- raise the earliest age that a pension may be taken from age 50 to age 55.