Barriers to finding a job when youre over 50

The expression on the faces of prospective employers seemed to give it all away. From the age of 50, Martin Smith felt he was considered “too old” for the job.

“When you are knocking on doors and see the look on people’s faces, you can read it,” he said. “As soon as you walk in the door you feel like you don’t have a chance against someone who is younger, fitter and clean cut.”

Martin Smith of Bateman’s Bay, aged 57, had a history of low-skilled work and long periods of unemployment. He now has a job at a manufacturing company. Credit:

After a long period of unemployment while living in Sydney, Mr Smith, now aged 57, eventually found work at a manufacturing company in Bateman’s Bay. That helped him find a stable home and enough money to buy a car.

“Just having a job makes you feel about six inches taller,” he says. “The job gave me normality. I’ve got food in the fridge and money in my pocket.”

Employment services provider MAX Solutions helped Mr Smith get qualifications in welding and powder coating and his job at Vision Railings and Glass. He is now the head painter, powder coating aluminium products that his employer manufactures.

Mr Smith was a printing machinist from the age of 17 until the late 1990s. But in his early 40s work in the industry dried up, and he struggled to find a stable work until he secured his job in Bateman’s Bay 18 months ago.

New data from MAX Solutions, shows that 30 per cent of Australian employers are reluctant to hire older workers even though they are highly skilled.

The Breaking the Age Barrier Report found that mature-age jobseekers were over-represented among unemployed people. It said people aged 55-64 were the largest unemployed group receiving JobKeeper payments during the pandemic.

Executive general manager of employment services at MAX Solutions Fiona Lamb said 17.8 per cent of Australians are aged 50-64, yet they represented 28 per cent of MAX’s 116,899 unemployed customers in May.

Despite the reluctance of some employers to hire older workers, 77 per cent of employers in the MAX Solutions study said they believed that mature-age employees bring valuable skills to the company.

“Whilst employers say older people have skills, the research suggests they are not prepared to hire people in the 50- to 65-year-old age group,” she says.

Ms Lamb said one of the biggest challenges mature-age jobseekers faced was a lack of self-confidence when experiencing unemployment.

“We often see older candidates being too modest at the interview stage or uncertain about how their previous skills are transferable to a different industry or position,” she said. “However, we know first-hand that they bring significant value to the workplace and are highly adaptable.”

MAX Solutions commissioned Decibel Research to conduct an online survey of 500 Australian employers. MAX Solutions also surveyed 735 mature age job candidates from its customer base in July.

The study found 85 per cent of MAX’s mature age customers believe employers often have some reluctance or uncertainty when hiring older people.

The research revealed more than half of employers said they found mature-age workers to be more skilled compared to their younger peers in areas including dispute resolution (57 per cent), mediation (55 per cent) and managing others (55 per cent).

For 60 per cent of employers surveyed, the main benefit they received from mature age workers was their “wealth of experience”, followed by “maturity and stability” (48 per cent) and “reliability and dependability” (43 per cent).

While many employers had assumed digital literacy was often a challenge for mature-age workers, 7 in 10 employers found older workers learned new digital and IT skills as quickly or more quickly than they expected. And while 65 per cent of employers surveyed have a diversity and inclusion policy, only 40 per cent said they were actively taking steps to attract and retain older workers.

Chief executive at The Council on the Ageing Ian Yates said that 62 per cent of employers surveyed had considered making changes to accommodate older workers.

“Adding ‘mature age workers’ to an organisation’s diversity and inclusion policies will help ensure employers are regularly thinking about what they can do to attract and retain older workers into their teams,” he said. “Even small businesses can make a change by removing ‘date of birth’ from job application forms.”

Jacqueline King from MAX Solutions Batemans Bay said Mr Smith’s employer “wasn’t after people of a particular age â€" he wanted someone who would turn up every day and do the job well. He was very open-minded about hiring a mature-age worker”.

“The challenge for Martin as an older worker is the same thing that many mature-age job candidates struggle with; he’s very modest, and isn’t in the habit of discussing his skills. Many older job candidates really find it hard to ‘sell’ their skills and experience to potential employers,” Ms King said.

“We worked with Martin to help him clearly articulate his particular skills and the benefits of his long experience in the industry. Beyond that, we helped him demonstrate the excellent qualities he has that are also common amongst older workers â€" such as being deeply reliable, and very keen to get in there and do the work to an extremely high standard. The value of those soft skills really can’t be over-estimated for employers.”

Anna Patty is a Senior Writer for The Sydney Morning Herald with a focus on higher education. She is a former Workplace Editor, Education Editor, State Political Reporter and Health Reporter.Connect via Twitter, Facebook or email.

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