Re: "Age-old" question
Jay,
On what do you base your estimate of employers wanting people around for 5-10 years? In my experience, it is only a very small fraction of permanent staff who hit the 5 year mark, and if anything, younger folks stay for a shorter time than older folks. Most people move on around the 2-3 year point, so if employers are discounting a 60 year old because they probably won't be working until they are 70, that seems a bit questionable. Consider that the age to retire with full social security benefits is 65-67, and that 60 year old very likely has a number of working years left in them. (My current employer is an exception to this, and it's one of the reasons I like them. I think more than half the staff have been around for more than 5 years, and people retire after many years of service. It's quite different from the Silicon Valley youth-oriented "don't trust a technical person over 35 to have a clue" culture.)
One thing that might be a concern -- because I've seen it in the industry myself -- is that some folks getting up near retirement age do the "pretirement downshift", where they cut back on responsibility and effort at work, rather than maintaining the enthusiasm and drive they might have had 10 years before. That type of person tends to not be a great fit for energetic offices, places with lots of tight deadlines, high performing documentation teams that expect everyone to shoulder their portion of the load, etc. And that probably describes many companies hiring tech writers, at least in the IT sector.
Kind regards,
Helen.
On Tue, Sep 13, 2016 at 9:16 AM, Jay Maechtlen <techwriter -at- laserpubs -dot- com <mailto:techwriter -at- laserpubs -dot- com>> wrote:
If an employer is looking for a perm position - that suggests they
want the person around for a while - maybe 5-10 years?
Why would they knowingly hire someone already at retirement age?
Unless you can convince them that you love the field, are having a
blast, and want to keep going for another 10 years+, why would
they want you?
Plan your pitch accordingly...
--
Jay Maechtlen
626 444-5112 office
626 840-8875 cell
www.laserpubs.com
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References:
"Age-old" question: From: Ken Poshedly
Re: "Age-old" question: From: Jay Maechtlen
Re: "Age-old" question: From: Helen OBoyle
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