Changing jobs after age 40 challenging, but possible

Loyalty and longevity on the job are no longer virtues, particularly for older workers.

A resume looks better if its subject has had four or five jobs over a 20-year period than just one, said Robert Barkhaus, owner of National Career Consultants, a Fort Wayne outplacement consulting firm.

Many northeastern Indiana workers have learned that lesson the hard way in the last few years.

The 2001 recession hit older workers in this part of the state particularly hard, and the pain continued even after economic indicators showed the recession itself had ended.

An estimated 15,000 manufacturing workers in the six-county Fort Wayne metropolitan area had lost their jobs through layoffs and plant closures by the end of 2003, according to the Community Research Institute at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. Mergers and acquisitons in the insurance and banking industries also cost hundreds of tenured workers their positions here.

"I've been dealing with a lot of people in their 40s, 50s and 60s who are losing their jobs," said Barkhaus, whose company is hired by corporations to provide outplacement services for employees whose jobs are being cut.

"That doesn't mean that younger workers haven't lost their jobs, too," Barkhaus said. "But this time a disproportionate number of older workers were affected. A lot of companies hadn't been hiring over a long period of time, so you had a lot of them laying off people who'd been there 20 or 30 years," he said.

That longevity becomes a problem for prospective employers.

"If people have been in one position for a long time, they're perceived as being over-qualified or maybe too specifically qualified," Barkhaus said. "Being somewhere a long time anymore isn't a real plus."

The higher compensation that often comes with a long time on the job contributes to the problem. Pay levels on a new job are likely to be lower, and employers don't want to hire someone who is going to start a job dissatisfied about taking a significant cut in pay.

"The rule of thumb is no more than 20 percent less," Barkhaus said.

Older workers also may find they have to brush up on their skills. But it's not always economically feasible for older workers who have lost jobs to take a year or so out of the work force to go back to school and get training on their own. And a new employer may be leery of investing in training for someone who is taking such a cut in pay her or she is likely to leave as soon as something that pays better comes along.

An then there are the emotional considerations. Losing a job is tough for anyone, but it can be particularly distressing for an older worker.

"A lot of time people have kind of mapped out their whole future. It could mean less money for their retirement, less prestige...it's a total life adjustment," Barkhaus said.

"The key thing to look at is, life is ever changing," Barkhaus advised. "Don't expect to get a job that you'll have for the rest of your life. I tell people to think in five-year blocks."

Barkhaus advises all workers who've lost jobs and are back in the employment market to keep three "Ps" in mind.

The first is to be positive. Believe that the right job is out there, he said.

The second "P" stands for persistence. A lot of people give up if they don't find what they want.

And third, be patient. "Don't take something that's not a good fit," Barkhaus said. On the average, job seekers get one interview for every 25 resumes sent out, "and when the economy's tight, you have to do more."

For workers aged 40 and over, Barkhaus adds a fourth "P", which stands for presentation.

Be wary of using words like "mature" or phrases such as "32 years of experience" on a resume. Emphasize more recent work experience, leaving out or briefly summarizing jobs held years ago, and don't put in graduation dates or other clues that will tell your age, he advised.

Being older can't be changed, but looking and acting older can.

"Dress not to look old. Present yourself as an enthusiastic, flexible, energetic person," he said.

And, above all, "Focus on the development of skills. Your value in the marketplace should not be tied to your employer," Barkhaus said.

"If you have valuable skills that companies need, you will always have a job."