Older workers show their expertise on the job hunt

MISHAWAKA, Ind. — Mike Bellovich put together the right mix of education and work experience that enabled him to climb all the way into an executive position as vice president of human resources at a national manufacturer based in Goshen.

Then a change in the company’s top management got some key professionals, including Bellovich, ushered out the door in February and onto the unemployment line. There he remains.

His résumé lists a career of leadership positions in the human resources field in both the public and private sectors as well as an MBA from Indiana University and 30 years of service in the U.S. Marine Corps (active and reserve duty combined). The obvious explanation for his difficulty finding work would be his age — 61-years-old — but Bellovich dismisses the slightest thought of age discrimination.

Age is not the problem and not even worth discussing, he said.

“(Finding a job) is more difficult now, certainly, because of the economy and protracted recession that we’re in,” Bellovich said as way of an explanation for his ongoing unemployment. “It’s gone on and on. I think more industries are down than up.”

All of that is true but workforce statistics highlight a curious trend among workers age 55 and older. In particular, they tend to be out of work for longer periods of time than their younger colleagues.

Comparatively, the unemployment rate for workers 55- to 64-years-old has been lower throughout the economic downturn than the other age groups. It peaked at 7.5 percent in July 2011 but has since fallen to 6.0 percent in November, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Adult workers age 20 to 24 posted a jobless rate in November at 13.2 percent.

However, BLS data shows the duration of time silver-haired workers spend searching for a job is considerably higher than other age groups. In 2010, job seekers aged 55 to 64 spent an average of 41.1 weeks looking for work while the 20 to 24 age group logged 26.8 weeks searching for a job.

The prevalent assumption is employers are shunning mature workers in favor of younger individuals who are viewed as being more energetic, mentally sharper, willing to work for less, and better attuned to technology.

“It looks like age but it’s not really age,” said Elizabeth Muellner, director of the career management division at Career Transitions LLC in Mishawaka.

She described the notion of age discrimination as a “common myth” and said in her 12 years of experience that personal traits like little energy and lots of emotional baggage, rather than age, gives the employer a negative impression of the job applicant.

Cynical, jaded workers, overweight and out of shape job seekers who struggle to get up from the chair in the employer’s office will likely not get the job, Muellner said.

As people age they can lose some of their enthusiasm and can get a little thicker around the middle but Muellner said in this economic environment, the worker who has good skills, diverse skills and can communicate how they will solve an employer’s problem usually get offered a position. Whether 20-years-old or 80-years-old, the individual who fills a company’s needs will be hired.

As evidence, Muellner pointed to seven people in a group of workers, all over the age of 45, who recently got significant job offers.

Like Bellovich, Chet Kaminski hesitates to blame his age — older than 55 — for his extended job search. He was handed a layoff notice the Friday before Thanksgiving 2008 and was unemployed for nearly two years before landing his current position in accounting at an Elkhart company.

Still a couple of encounters makes him wonder if his maturity did color an employer’s impression. One recruiter told Kaminski he did not “fit into the company culture” and a headhunter said Kaminski was not “marketable.”

Other experiences, conversely, taught him valuable lessons about getting a job in a sour economy. Seeing unemployed engineers, human resource managers and other accountants at networking groups indicated to Kaminski that companies were either not filling positions or were looking for very specific skill sets. Also, a promising interview that ended with the CEO hiring his neighbor underscored for Kaminski the value of “knowing somebody” when searching for work.

These situations reinforced his old-school approach to finding a job. Kaminski did not just fill out the online application but also visited the company, submitted a hardcopy of his resume, and asked to see the person in charge of hiring.

He persisted under the belief that the jobs were not going to come to him. He had to go get them.

“Every interview I went into, I went in with a positive attitude,” Kaminski said. “I said, `Yes, I can help you. Yes, I can do it.”’

His efforts finally paid off when a chance meeting with a friend at a local mall led to his re-employment. Kaminski said his take-home pay is about 25 percent less, which barely covers his expenses, and his workload is increasing as co-workers leave and are not replaced.

Yet he is not ready for retirement and feels fortunate to be back in the workforce.

Bellovich, who runs 4 miles a day and is a member of the Mishawaka City Council, is not ready to head for the rocking chair either. He wants to work another five years and emphasizes he can make a contribution to a company.

Age is not an excuse but, as with Kaminski, Bellovich has had an interview that left him questioning. Talking on the phone with the recruiter for an Elkhart-based company, Bellovich felt he was making a real connection and the interviewer was upbeat about his qualifications. Yet, when the Mishawaka native confessed his age, the conversation that had been going so well, ended a minute later.

While shying away from charges of age discrimination, Bellovich thinks a lot of employers have a “real misconception” that workers in their late 50s or early 60s do not have the energy or the desire to put in the work required to get the job done.

But that is an obstacle older workers can overcome.

“We certainly have to be more tenacious than the 25-, 30-, or 35-year-old and we have to be able to convince employers that we do have a lot of offer and that the energy and spark are still there,” Bellovich said.

“I think older workers have a considerable amount to offer. I really do.”