After a third career redundancy and frustrated by his job search, Noel Cunneen briefly joined anxious career-twilight job hunters in the LinkedIn community Black Dog Group.
Now, as a Hamilton-based recruiter with EVP Recruitment he has better and more positive ideas to offer the older set. It’s a sales pitch, he says.
Employers want to hear why they should pay you, so make your pitch interesting, colourful and modern. A CV just listing your past achievements won’t cut it.
In good news, companies seem to be changing their attitude on senior workers, and adapting to what they would like from a job.
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“It’s not so bad now, there was a time when people over 50s really struggled to even get a job. I was among them and applied for a lot of jobs,” Cunneen says.
“Companies need to have different thoughts about what work should look like for seniors.
“They are people who want to spend time with grandkids, not go to work at 7am and come home at 6pm just to compete for the top jobs.
“Don’t expect all seniors to want fulltime work. They have huge knowledge and experience which they are keen to share. And they just get on with the job. They don’t want to be CEO any more.”
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Recruiter Noel Cunneen.
Seniors are wanting to work on, though. With house prices soaring, fewer are reaching the age of superannuation entitlement (65) mortgage free. Eeconomic conditions are mitigating against both paying off the mortgage, and