Why age is an advantage in the world of work

Those fresh faced graduates entering the world of work now don’t have something you can hold close to your chest when competing for the same job: experience.

It doesn’t matter if you are applying for a telesales position through CCJM or going for a Director role at a large corporation, you can always use your age to your advantage.

While you might believe many employers are dubious about hiring older people for their open positions, there’s plenty of ammunition you can throw their way to convince them – and your years of experience is just the start.

For example, if anything, being over the age of 40 means you will be more focused in your work. You’ve probably dipped your toes in a few industries and know what you enjoy and what you are good at. You have this advantage because of your age and you also have more experience for a role, over a younger applicant.

Age and life experience is a significant advantage, you know how to deal with people, you know what you want in life and you’ve experienced most scenarios before, to understand how to work through them. A younger applicant might feel intimidated by workload, an overbearing boss or a demanding client but to you these are old news and with your experience you can overcome them with ease.

Age is another advantage for you and employers when it comes to annual leave. If you have children they probably don’t require your help 24 hours a day and your employer will also enjoy not having to consider maternity or paternity pay for you in the future.

Your age is a significant advantage when it comes to the world of work and you shouldn’t feel like you can’t apply for a job because you are older than most of the applicants going for it. Unemployment figures dropped below 2 million in 2014, its lowest figure since 2008, as companies fully recovered from the recession begin to advertise and fill more jobs without putting pressure on finances. Older people are now among the 30.76 million employed who have found work.

There is however current debate here in the UK, concerning older people taking jobs from the younger generation. The Guardian recently reported that older job seekers, whom they refer to as the ‘having-it-all generation’, are using increasing retirement ages as an excuse to simply earn more money. This is because from 2018 you will not be eligible for a state pension until the age of 65, by 2044 you will have to wait until the age of 68, but you can use this calculator to work out when you will start receiving yours.

However, this is because many over 60s are not able to completely retire, they are continuing to work because they are firstly not ready to lay down the baton yet and secondly probably can’t afford to. After all, the younger generation will always need jobs, they just have some extra, more experienced competition out there to deal with now.