As of April 2022, Canada’s working-age population is older than it has ever been with more than in five working adults nearing retirement. This finding from Statistics Canada suggests a demographic shift that will create challenges for the Canadian workforce in the coming decade. Here are resources that career professionals can use to help mature clients in their job search.
Advice for mature workers in their job search (Career Builder) [Article]
This article offers tips on updating resume and cover letters, highlighting unique skillsets, addressing employee concerns and expanding a client’s network. It also suggests focusing on small companies and fields such as health care and sales.
Beyond the Boom: Practical Tips for Helping Baby Boomers Thrive in Their Third Act (Career Convergence) [Article]
Retooling work identity, enhancing employability skills and promoting age as a strength are among the strategies that career professionals can apply to help older workers continue to develop in their careers.
Helping Clients Overcome Ageism in Their Job Search (Career Convergence) [Article]
This piece gives career professionals five strategies to empower older clients. This includes learning new technologies, highlighting experience working with or for younger colleagues and preparing for salary negotiations.
Helping mature clients navigate job search trends (CareerWise) [Article]
In the context of COVID-19’s impact on the job market, this article covers how career professionals can help mature clients address challenges in the job search. It lists concrete actions from understanding the job application cycle, to understanding achievement-based resume structure.
How to Help Third Age Job Seekers Find Work (Career Professionals of Canada) [Article]
The “Third Age” is generally defined as life between ages 55 to 80. This piece identifies barriers that jobseekers in this group are likely to face and how career professionals can focus on their clients’ strengths and support them to market themselves.
Older But Wiser – Tips for Mature Job Seekers (Monster) [Article]
Highlighting qualities such as wisdom and loyalty and intentionally showing knowledge of technological trends in the workplace are among a few tips to help older jobseekers deal with potential bias.
Videos
Job Search Advice for Mature Workers (Job Cast by Indeed) [Video]
This video offers steps to older workers overcome unconscious bias when applying for jobs. Key takeaways cover signs of potential ageism in the hiring process, resume tips for mature candidates and how to avoid potential bias during the interview. Links to resources like resume templates and interview techniques are included as well.
Job Search Tips for Older Workers 50 + (Bill Benoist) [Video]
Career coach Bill Benoist is based in Silicon Valley and mainly works with clients around 55 years old. The tips he offers are around resume improvement and how to demonstrate awareness and curiosity on new tech trends in the workforce.
Additional resources
- How to Support Clients Age 60 Plus (Career Professionals of Canada) [Article]
- Older Workers: Exploring and Addressing the Stereotypes (Government of Canada) [Report]
- Research and resources to help older workers succeed (CareerWise)
- The ‘un-retirement’ trend could help increase the available pool of workers amid this hot job market, analyses find (CNBC) [Article]
Older workers, (sometimes this means workers over 35 as employers think differently about workers over 35), have accomplished many things. Older workers often have difficulty assessing the cumulative value of their accomplishments. This occurs partly in relation to the ever-changing labour market, as well in relation to seeing a clear path from what they have accomplished to what the current trends are – and the interface between the two. Yet this is the starting point. Professional career development services, both private and public, need to focus on this interface, this starting point, in order to build confidence between potential employers and potential employees.