At 68, am I really too old to get a new job?
HAVING spent a day filming with Anne Robinson as part of Are You Happily Married?, one of four programmes she’s making for the BBC, I can attest that she’s completely upfront about the work and maintenance regime she needs to keep up with the boys while flying the flag for ‘older women’ on TV (Mail). Why should women be castigated for daring to appear in public without makeup, making us sitting ducks for photographers who are themselves probably unshaven and unkempt? Knowing I was being filmed, I managed to get to the hairdresser’s the day before the shoot, but I simply didn’t have the time or money for a manicure, facial, eyebrow tint or even a new pair of Spanx in order to feel on a par with Anne. Having featured in the papers before, I know well how one unguarded picture can ruin your self-esteem, so full marks to anyone, including Anne, for being honest enough to celebrate the fact that she’s had work done. Among all the trolling remarks I experienced, the one that threw me was ‘she’s never a size 10’. Stupid to get upset over something so trivial — but that did me in. Where I am jealous of Anne and her contemporaries is that no one suggests they’re too old to do their TV jobs, unlike my attempts to find myself another reasonably high-flying secretarial/PA role at 68. For eight years I ran the liver centre at a top private hospital for a group of worldfamous consultants, travelling to London every day from an early start and not seeing home again until gone 10pm. I left at Christmas telling myself I’d have a few months off before looking for another role. Who was I kidding? I know I don’t look my age and don’t sound my age, act or dress my age. But how do I convey all this in my CV? How do I get through to employers that I’m just as capable as the 30 or 40-year-olds they’re shortlisting? I’ve run a motor-racing empire for a Formula 1 driver, been a legal PA, a freelance journalist, a trade magazine editor and am a fully qualified medical secretary, but my applications meet with not so much as an email in response. Is 68 really too old to find a new office job?
JANET CLEAVES, Takeley, Essex.