By Lauren Otis, Staff Writer
Perhaps no segment of the population has been hit harder in the current recession than older workers and the retired. Downsized later in their careers, or unable to continue to pay high taxes and other living expenses on fixed retirement incomes, older workers have found themselves thrust back into a competitive job market.
In the Princeton-area this situation has been particularly pronounced, and the Princeton Senior Resource Center has recently expanded its programs to help prepare older workers for re-entry into a rapidly changing jobs market.
”This is not about basic how-to-find-a-job stuff, this is specifically aimed at older people,” said Carol King, director of the PSRC’s Center for Engaged Retirement and Encore Careers.
On top of its other programs the center will be holding a series of one-night sessions titled “Job Search Strategies for Older Workers.” The first free session is scheduled this Thursday, Jan. 28, at 6:30 p.m., at the Suzanne Patterson Center behind Princeton Borough Hall.
Ms. King said the program aims to help older workers confront the current job market and counteract a host of ageist perceptions in it, such as that they are tired, stuck in their ways, not flexible, and technologically challenged — “how do you get into the interview in the first place.” She said it will also help older workers develop directed strategies for seeking work, noting that “wishful thinking is not a job search method.”
The program and other efforts to help older workers came about after the PSRC looked at what was happening to the economy about a year ago, as well as the fallout for local seniors, Ms. King said.
”People aren’t retiring because they can’t retire and people have retired and have lost retirement income, or their investment portfolio or savings, and need to go back to work at least part time and hope to rebuild some of their lost assets,” Ms. King said.
This is coupled with the fact that “if you haven’t been in the job market in a long time, it is a very different place,” she said.
Ms. King, a retired college professor and administrator, said she will draw on her own experience for the Thursday program. “I am retired and I’ve had probably half a dozen jobs since I retired, six years ago,” she said.
Often the key to finding work is identifying and honing a skill that is in demand, Ms. King said.
”You have to have a skill that is current and a skill that is needed,” she said.
Ms. King said the skill she had mastered which brought in work was Intuit’s QuickBooks small business accounting software.
”People actually come to me. I mean it’s not glamorous,” she said.
Flexibility is a key, including an understanding of just how far in the direction of part-time contract work companies have moved, Ms. King said.
”People just don’t know about that,” she said.
Temporary and contract jobs are awarded at managerial levels, not just for unskilled hourly jobs, Ms. King said.
Ms. King said she did not have any idea how many attendees to expect at Thursday’s session, but those who attended would gain useful knowledge about today’s job market.
”Hopefully we can get some people into some jobs,” she said.
The first “Job Search Strategies for Older Workers” session is scheduled for this Thursday, Jan. 28, at 6:30 p.m. at the Suzanne Patterson Center, located at 45 Stockton St. behind Princeton Borough Hall. Admission is free. Subsequent sessions will be held on March 23 at the West Windsor Public Library at 7 p.m., and on April 13 at the Princeton Public Library at 7 p.m. For more information call the Princeton Senior Resource Center at (609) 924-7108.
[email protected]
