Older Job Seekers: The Reality

There's no money in being discouraging to older job seekers. What career counselor would get older clients if his articles said job prospects are poor for people over 50? What how-to book author could sell books aimed at the 50+ set?

But ultimately I believe that a greater net good accrues from telling people the truth: It could help them realize they have to work harder than they thought to get a job. It could help them realize they need to focus on senior-friendly fields. It could help them better craft pitches to employers.

So, having worked with hundreds of job-seekers 50+, here's what I believe the truth is for them:

Yes there are a few fields in which people 50+ routinely get hired--for example, those that serve an older client base such as long-term health insurance, assisted-living facilities, even architecture firms, but in general, the job outlook for older workers is poor. Most employers avoid hiring older people. People 50+ are often perceived as:

• expensive

• Often not current on technology or new best practices
• Having long-acquired habits making them more likely to be set in their ways
• Not learning as quickly
• Having a sense of entitlement: expecting additional respect and influence merely because of their age.
  
• Imposing high health-care insurance costs
• Working more slowly because of declining physical or mental health or reduced motivation.
• Less willing to put in long hours because they fatigue more easily or are less open to bosses demanding that they work evenings or weekends.
• Crankier and harder to deal with.
• Having a worse memory than younger people
• Tending to be long-winded
• Having difficulty multitasking
• Focused more on retirement than getting the job done
• Being too timid in proposing bold ideas for fear of being replaced
• Giving the workplace a tired image

Employers are additionally disincented to hire older candidates because workers over 40 are a Protected Class in civil rights legislation. So, there's increased risk of the employee suing for age discrimination if terminated or even denied a promotion.

Most successful job seekers 50+ get hired through their network, which often is more extensive because an older person has been around longer. If they don't get hired that way, they may go back to school but too often find that their degree doesn't make them much more employable. Or they answer many want ads but rarely end up with a decent job offer. Or they try self-employment, which for someone who by age 50+ hasn't heretofore been entrepreneurial, usually ends up failing.

Based on my experience with older clients, that's the unvarnished truth.

More Evidence That Going Green is Very Risky

My friend, Jeffrie Givens, sent me this new study on "green jobs" in Spain. It finds that for every green job created by the government, 2.2 jobs were lost by the private sector. The study goes on to report that the financial costs and the loss in jobs are not unique to Spain and that only one in ten jobs created were permanent jobs.

Will America's green job mandate do this to America too? A 2009 report by the Institute for Energy Research predicts that indeed it will. Here's an excerpt:

"It is highly questionable whether a government campaign to spur “green jobs” would have net economic benefits. Indeed, the distortionary impacts of government intrusion into energy markets could prematurely force business to abandon current production technologies for more expensive ones. Furthermore, there would likely be negative economic consequences from forcing higher-cost alternative energy sources upon the economy. These factors would likely increase consumer energy costs and the costs of a wide array of energy-intensive goods, slow GDP growth and ironically may yield no net job gains. More likely, they would result in net job losses."

Indeed, I am finding, in my career coaching practice, that most of the new green jobs are short-term, temp project work. When the government stimulus runs out, the sense is that these jobs will evaporate. And most of them are not good jobs, even if they did last. For example, the stimulus package includes $5 billion to weatherize low-income homes. Well, those jobs usually include such unpleasant activities as crawling into tight attic spaces to blow (and breathe) treated-cellulose insulation.

And now let's turn to whether trying to stop climate change is worth it. Ever more scientists are saying no. For example, to have even a trivial impact on global warming would require the world to reduce its carbon footprint by a politically unrealistic 70(!) percent. Those scientists argue that it's far wiser to spend the far more moderate amount of money needed to adapt to global warming than to attempt to cool the planet.

We must stop treating environmentalism like a religion but rather as one of many possible areas for expenditure that society must, in a clear-eyed way, decide whether to fund and to what extent. To spend massive sums on a boondoggle means that many, many other initiatives go unfunded, and in turn, unimaginable and avoidable human suffering will occur.

For example, while the massive green spending and incursions into freedom being contemplated are of truly uncertain benefit, it is a certainty that giving that sum of money directly to the African people could save millions of lives and dramatically improve the standard of living of millions more. Yet we're making the largest bet in world history that "going green" will be worth the costs and opportunity costs. I truly do not understand.

I must be wrong. Indeed, most nations, led by the extraordinarily respected Barack Obama are betting so many chips on Green. But what, in fact, am I not understanding?

If You Think You're Too Old or Too Ugly

Never has a greater blow against lookism and ageism been struck than in this six-minute YouTube video. After the first minute's set-up, I cried the entire time.

Success in a Box

Here's an entrepreneurial idea that my client, Miles Smith, and I cooked up. He asked me to post it here to get feedback from you.

It's called Success in a Box. The "box" is a wind-up-powered laptop computer (see photo) that has been developed to sell for $199 to poor people in developing nations. When the user presses the start button, a menu of courses like this will appear:

• How to start a successful business
• How to become a better reader
• how to become a better thinker and writer
  
• Learn English (perhaps the Rosetta Stone software.)

Success in a Box could be sold for profit to the consumer or as a non-profit item to governments, foundations, and other nonprofits. For example, Grameen Bank, a microlending nonprofit, could give one to grantees. Prisons could give one to inmates about to be released.

What do you think: Good idea? Bad idea? Suggestions for improving it?

Violence in the Workplace

It seems incredible but the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that two million Americans are victims of violence in the workplace each year.  And for the first time in ten years, the rate is increasing, perhaps because of the weak economy.

Some of that workplace violence is what we'd expect: a worker going postal or a 7-11 clerk getting shot in a stick-up. But lots of workplace violence is verbal: bullying, spreading lies about a person, theft, even pranks--for example, toilet-papering an employee's workspace.  

The rage in France and, I predict, coming to a country near you, is bossnapping. In the last month alone, at four companies in France, workers, frustrated at salary, benefits, or job security issues, held top executives against their will until they got their grievances addressed.

Possible signs that someone is likely to become violent at work:

• escalating anger: yelling, swearing, destruction of property.
• change in affect: for example, someone who's normally laconic suddenly has become cheery, or someone who is excessively generous with gifts suddenly has stopped and now is often short-tempered.  
• someone who's under a lot of stress: a serious diagnosis, spouse left, too-big or difficult workload, a demotion or turn-down for an expected promotion.

Ways to prevent violence in the workplace:

• By far the best prevention is for management to create a human-friendly workplace culture: in which people are treated with respect, earned attaboys/girls are frequent, and where it would be unheard of for a worker to scream at a colleague. Employees who frequently detract from such a culture should probably be terminated or at least placed in roles with minimal interaction with the rest of the staff.
• Violence prevention/response training and clear rules in the employee handbook while acknowledging that, in an individual situation, human judgment rather than rigid rules should prevail.

If you have potential to be violent in your workplace:

• Recognizing you are at-risk of becoming violent is a crucial first step. Congratulations if you are brave enough to acknowledge it.
• As soon as you feel the first sign of getting angry, without question, leave the room. For example, go to the bathroom and take 10 deep breaths.  That gives you time to reflect on whether it is wise to explode. Nearly always, you'll decide it isn't.

My Plan for Reinventing Health Care

I'm scared. Yes I believe health care is a right but fear that extending that right to all U.S. residents could kill me.

Already, errors by doctors, nurses, etc., kill over 100,000 people a year who shouldn't have died. Countless more get sick or stay sicker longer because of medical errors. Some of that is caused by shortages of health care providers, especially highly qualified ones.

If President Obama keeps his promise to extend health care coverage to the 48,000,000 U.S. residents who don't have health coverage, many more people will become victims of medical errors and all of us will have to wait longer for care, perhaps for inferior care.

My liberal side says all people have the right to health care but my libertarian side says I worked hard so I could afford to pay the many thousands of dollars in health care premiums in hopes of living longer and healthier. So why should I be forced to pay even more tax dollars to subsidize 48,000,000 people getting health insurance, including 13,000,000 illegal immigrants, and millions of others who took welfare instead of a job or refused to delay gratification and took a part-time and/or low-paying job rather than getting a degree and then a full-time professional job so they could afford health insurance? Worse, my paying for them to get coverage will mean that I am at greater risk of morbidity and mortality because of medical errors and long waits, for example, for an MRI exam or to see a specialist.

There's no perfect answer but if President Obama asked me (fat chance) to propose the ideal approach to reinventing health care in the U.S., here's what I'd propose:

1. Here's how I'd address the shortage of health care providers that would result from providing health care to all. Currently, training programs are unnecessarily long and expensive, largely because they're provided by university faculty, who want to teach their academic specialties (chemistry, calculus, etc.) Many a potentially good health care provider has been lost to the profession because of the training's unnecessary length and difficulty. Training should be shorter and based in hospitals, doctors' offices, homes, and other medical facilities, supplemented by a few courses taught at community colleges.

2. Everyone would, as a right of being human, get a basic-level single-payer health care--no paperwork required, no questions asked. "Basic-level" means, for example, that everyone would get exams and routine care not by a physician but by a physician assistant not of their choice,. They'd be entitled to receive cost-effective treatments administered by health care providers not of their choice. Wait times for non-emergency care would be moderate to long. That safety net of basic national health care would be funded as a surcharge on income tax--That would ensure progressivity.

2a. Individuals could purchase a higher level of health care on a fee-for-service basis or with private insurance. Those people could choose their doctor and other health care provider, have shorter wait times, and obtain less cost-effective treatments for example, an 80-year old who'd prefer bypass surgery over treatment with drugs.

3a. People with preexisting conditions would pay the same insurance premium as those without--It is wrong that a person already suffering with a condition should have to suffer additionally by having to pay more. However, insurance companies could add a surcharge for smokers and for people who abuse drugs or alcohol.

4. Health care providers would be incented to focus on primary prevention: weight, smoking/alcohol/drug prevention and cessation, teen pregnancy prevention. They would also be incented to focus on secondary prevention, for example, having medical assistants call patients to ensure they're taking their medication.

5. Health care providers would be paid a salary rather than piecework so there's no incentive to overtreat.

5a. Tort reform would limit physician liability, which would also reduce the expensive overtreatment and defensive medicine that is widespread.

6. Electronic medical records should yield improved medical care at lower cost. A patient's information, diagnoses, treatment, and outcomes are entered into a computer, using nationally adopted software. The results are aggregated anonymously, which provides health care providers with evidence-based data on the meaning of symptom clusters and on what treatments work best and most cost-effectively for what diagnoses. Of course, electronic medical records also benefit individual patients: records are readable (no physician scrawl) and instantly transferable to other health care providers. Patients would have access to efficacy data on individual health care providers, hospitals, and treatments--crucial to making informed choices.

Do you like my plan? Have a suggestion for improving it? Care to propose a totally different approach?

The Art of Storytelling

Whether in a job interview, cover letter, on the job, when networking, or in your personal life, the ability to tell a story well can be very helpful.

Actually, I decry storytelling's power because anecdote is the weakest form of argument, playing on emotion and a sample-size of  one rather than on solid data or reasoning.  But our shallow populus is more likely to be swayed by emotion than by fact or data, so storytellers we must be.  Principles of  compelling storytelling:

1. It's no more than two minutes long. 

2. In that short time, your story must include, as in a screenplay, a character you care about and a vivid retelling of how that character deals with a difficult situation.  

3. Include sufficient detail (interesting detail if at all possible) to make it clear that this is a true story--specificity is the antidote to listeners' skepticism.

4. A capstone sentence that ties it all together.

Here's an example that I believe would build rapport with coworkers, networking contacts, or friends:

My parents wouldn't let me play Little League or high school baseball because they were afraid I'd hurt my fingers. (I used to play piano at weddings and bar mitzvahs.)

What was the first thing I did when I went to college? Try out for the baseball team. 

I am not a laid-back person by nature and when I was trying out--with no organized baseball experience--my heart was leaping from my chest. But the manager let me on the team mainly because--so the manager told me-- I ran full tilt every time he called us over and because I cheered-on the other players who were trying out. Except for a strong (but wild) arm, I was talent-free. Indeed I was a near-permanent benchwarmer but I wouldn't trade that experience for the world. Somehow, putting on that uniform--including the sanitary socks--you know, those white socks that go underneath the stirrup baseball socks--was always exciting.  

And I had one success: We were playing Army and we were ahead by one run in the 9th inning. The manager brought me in to play left field as a defensive replacement. Army had a runner on second with two outs. The next batter hit a shot deep down the left field line.  I speared it and threw a strike, on the fly, to home plate to get the runner out, and we beat Army.  No matter what else I've accomplished in my life, that will always have a special place in my heart. 

Moral of the story: I invite you to always leave room in your life for that thing that--beyond the rational--you just love the heck out of.