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Employment Resources for Older Job Seekers
By Jim Miller
While
the U.S. job market has improved slightly over the past year or so,
challenges persist for many older job seekers. Fortunately, there
are a number of free online tools and in-person training centers
scattered across the country today that can help you find employment.
Here’s what you should know.
Online Resources
If you have Internet access, there are a number of 50-and-older online employment
networks that can help you connect with companies that are interested in hiring
older workers.
Two of the best are workreimagined.org, a resource developed by AARP that combines
career advice, job listings and online discussion tied to LinkedIn’s professional
networking platform. And retirementjobs.com, which offers a job search engine
that lists thousands of jobs nationwide from companies that are actively seeking
workers over the age of 50. It also provides job-seeking tips and advice, helps
with resume writing and allows you to post your resume online for companies to
find you.
Some other good 50-plus job seeking sites to try are workforce50.com, retiredbrains.com,
retireeworkforce.com, and encore.org a resource that helps older workers find
meaningful work in the second half of life.
In-Person Help
Another good place to get help finding a job is at a Career One-Stop center.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, these are free job resource centers
that can help you explore career options, search for jobs, find training, write
a resume, prepare for an interview and much more. There are around 3,000 of these
centers located throughout the country. To find one near you, call 877-348-0502
or go to careeronestop.org.
Depending on your financial situation, another program that may help is the Senior
Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP). Also sponsored by the Department
of Labor, SCSEP offers access to training and part time job placements in a wide
variety of community service positions such as day care centers, senior centers,
governmental agencies, schools, hospitals, libraries and landscaping centers.
To qualify, participants must be over 55, unemployed and have poor employment
prospects. To learn more or locate a program in your area visit or call 877-872-5627.
Work at Home
If you’re interested in working at home, there are many opportunities depending
on your skills, but be careful of rampant work-at-home scams that offer big paydays
without much effort.
Some of the more popular work-at-home jobs include “customer service agents” who
fields calls from their employers’ customers and prospective customers – you
don’t place telemarketing calls. Agents earn an average of $8 to $15 an
hour and many also receive incentives and commission, too. To find these jobs
see arise.com, alpineaccess.com, liveops.com and workingsolutions.com.
If you have good typing skills there are “transcriptionist” jobs
that pay around $10 per hour for typing verbatim accounts of board meetings,
presentations, conference calls, etc. Companies that hire transcriptionists are
tigerfish.com, ubiqus.com, ctran.com.
And if you have a college degree, online “tutoring” or “proofreading” jobs
are always available. See tutor.com to find tutoring opportunities which pay
between $10 and $15 per hour. Or, if you have some writing or editing experience,
proofreading pays $12 to $20 per hour. See firstediting.com and cactusglobal.comto look for proofreading jobs.
Start a Business
If you’re interested in starting a small business but could use some help
getting started, the U.S. Small Business Administration offers tips, tools and
free online courses that you can access at sba.gov.
This page and its contents ©2013
Metropolitan News Company, Inc.
