Helene Högberg Kessy lost her job as sales manager at a staffing company after a reorganization two years ago. She was then 62 years old. She describes unemployment as a time characterized by anxiety about how she would cope with the economy and how she would find a new job.
– It is terrible to be without a job. If you have a job, you work eight hours a day. But if you are unemployed, you are unemployed 24/7, because your thoughts revolve around it all the time.
Nine out of ten believe that people under the age of 50 are most attractive on the labor market. This is shown by a new survey from the interest organization Pluskommisionen.
Find a job late in your career
Jonas Mauritzon, who helps the unemployed find new jobs, highlights the importance of making use of the network you have built up during your life.
– This is how most people get a new job thanks to their network.
He himself is an example of the fact that it is possible to find a new job late in one’s career, he got his job at the Security Council at the age of 56 after a period of unemployment. He points out that it is important to think about what you can add in the future instead of getting stuck in telling history.
– You are of course proud and happy about everything you have achieved over the years, but you must focus on the last ten years and what you can contribute going forward, he says.
No need to state age
Another tip is to skip the age in the application.
– The employer is not allowed to make selections based on age and therefore there is no reason for you to tell how old you are when you apply for a job.
Jonas Mauritzon confirms that there is ageism in the labor market. But he believes that there is a risk in raising the issue because it can make many people give up in advance.
– If you don’t believe in yourself and your own competence, then it will be very difficult to get someone else to believe in that competence.
“Wants to be in a context”
After just over two years of unemployment, Helene found her new job, at a company that helps other companies with customer relations and branding. The key was her wide network of contacts.
– It is contacts and networks that are absolutely decisive. Meet people, go to breakfast seminars, go to aw’s, mingle, contact companies. I would say those are the most important parts.
She is 64 years old and has not thought about retirement.
– I want to be in a context, I want to contribute and be able to be involved and influence. Then maybe you reduce your working hours when you get a little older. But to stop working completely, I never want to do that.
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