Stay relevant
Um auch als älterer Arbeitnehmer fachlich mithalten zu können und für den Arbeitsmarkt attraktiv zu bleiben, müssen Sie rechtzeitig agieren. MARGARET DAVIS erklärt Ihnen wie.
Would your boss hire you again with the skills you have now? If you’re an older worker, this is a question you should be asking yourself. And if the answer is no, career experts say it’s time to take action.
Don’t wait too long
Is your department facing lay-offs? Or are new employees mainly younger workers with tech skills? Don’t just sit there and expect to be offered a good severance package. “You can’t wait until the axe is falling to get out of the way,” warns Judith Gerberg, a career coach from New York. Instead, start networking now with younger colleagues. You could learn something!
“You have to break through your comfort zone and talk to that 28-year-old hotshot,” consultant Ellis Chase told The Wall Street Journal. “Seek her out and ask, ‘I’d love to learn more about this. Could you spend a half hour with me? I’ll take you to lunch.’”
Develop professional contacts
Jeff Fuerst, 52, spent eight years in inventory management at the US retailer Sears. He kept up with technology but also continued to make contacts with professional organizations. As a result, he was able to leave Sears before it filed for bankruptcy and is now an executive with a merchandising and marketing agency in Illinois. “If you don’t react quickly to change, it’s very hard to keep up,” Fuerst comments.
Judith Gerberg adds that it’s important to have friends inside your company, too. That way, if your department is a candidate for cost-cutting, you have a better chance of finding something in another part of the company.
Lifelong learning
Karen Alber, 54, knows it’s essential to learn new skills. Alber survived costcutting and restructuring at three different food companies. She did this by training in supply-chain management, a field that did not exist when she left college in the 1980s. In addition, she took courses in coaching so she could mentor younger employees, and attended professional conferences. “I sometimes thought: ‘Really? I have to get on a plane and go to a conference?’ But then I did it anyway,” says Alber, now a leadership coach in Chicago.
It’s a style thing
You don’t have to dress like a 20-yearold, but you should pay attention to your appearance. “If you’re in your 30s and you have stubble, maybe it’s hunky,” says Peter Cappelli, a management professor at the Wharton School of Business. “But if you’re 70 and you’ve got grey stubble, it looks like you’re homeless,” comments Cappelli, who is the author of Managing the Older Worker.