Where Will They Look for a Job?

Jobs4.0 was founded after years of hearing from job seekers all over the US about how traditional job boards too often seemed to be dead-ends for more experienced workers. I heard repeatedly that Monster, Hot Jobs, Career Builder - and the employers that post on them - all acted as if they were only focused on the 20 - or 30 -something candidate with 3 - 8 years experience looking to make their first or second job change. Job seekers over 40 told us that they could apply to hundreds of jobs on those sites and not get even one single response of any kind!

In addition, those 'major' job boards don't screen employers before allowing them to post jobs, they don't screen the types of jobs that are posted there, they don't even check that the jobs in fact are real jobs and not scams ("work from home, 2 hours a week, and make unlimited cash!!" - gee sounds like a great opportunity!)
They are driven far more by style than substance, and quantity over quality. What I saw from Monster.com at the recent national conference for HR professionals was enlightening... Monster spent an enormous amount of money on giveaways - stuffed animals, shirts, hats, funny hats, funnier hats, blinking lapel pins.. on and on... constant pushing of their logo and their name, merely for the sake of getting you to remember their logo and their name... is Monster worth the enormous posting fees? how does Monster attract quality candidates? does it try to attract mature workers and not just younger ones? .. these questions couldn't even be asked amidst the frenzy of dozens of purple clad Monster employees screaming and tossing around Monster logo giveaways in every direction.....

and now comes word today, just weeks later, that Monster is laying off 15% of its entire sales force - 800 people, without notice, b/c they can't afford them.
http://www.jobboarders.com/profiles/blog/show?id=882452%3ABlogPost%3A1511

They probably could have kept hundreds of them if they spent less on their entirely superficial convention exhibit, and the other, similar exhibits and ads they put on all over the US. But sadly the site has always been, and is, far more about style than substance. Employers are paying far too much to speak to candidates that respond to a purple monster, and now Monster's employees are starting to pay the price.

And quite frankly far too many HR managers seemed overly eager to grab the free giveaways. It was shocking to see so many HR professionals fighting over one another for Monster -logo'd hand sanitizers... ugh.. the convention was supposed to be about learing how HR managers could more effectively reach out to job seekers that can help their companies continue to grow, right?

And how is Monster going to spin this massive layoff news? Here's the internal letter from Monster's chief of sales to their employees.. http://www.cheezhead.com/2007/07/30/sue-hayden-message/

Meanwhile, while Monster is spinning, and designing new and bigger stuffed animals and the like, we'll get back to work finding real employers who want to hire job seekers over 40 that can help their companies prosper. We have far fewer jobs than Monster, but every job on our site is a valuable opportunity at a prominent employer, and job seekers using our site are overwhelmingly skilled, energetic job seekers that want to work for many more years,who need to find employers that will judge them on their skills and experience, not on how many birthdays they have had.

Steven

Articles of Interest

"Shifting demographics and new realities in the workplace are sending more and more adults back to school, either in pursuit of a lifelong dream or in search of a more rewarding (monetarily or spiritually) career. " So begins an interesting story I saw today on marketwatch.com. Take a look.. here's the link;


Also an interesting story in the Wall Street Journal (page B2B), about a recent study demonstrating that baby boomers want to do more volunteer work, but are frustrated by a lack of information, access to opportunities, etc. Of course, that mirrors what we see on the non-volunteer side of the labor equation.... the point is that mature workers are apparently too often ignored for opportunities, whether or not they want to be paid for their efforts... To me, this really highlights the bias that many employers have against reaching out to older workers --- if you're not hiring people even when they want to work for nothing, then what are their reasons?? In many cases it's because of discrimination against older workers - so don't buy the notion that employers aren't hiring workers over 40 b/c they are too expensive... too many don't hire them even when it comes to volunteering...

Steven

Why?

"Why are people over 40 looking for a job?" is a question I get asked a lot by employers. Of course there are many reasons.... I saw an interesting survey today, contained in a new book called Seduction and Risk: The Emergence of Extreme Jobs, that perhaps sheds light on some of them.

The survey, also summarized in the Harvard Business Review, reveals the very high hidden costs of high level, 'extreme' jobs.. Among those surveyed, 69 percent said their extreme jobs undermine their health, 58 percent said that their work gets in the way of a good relationship with their kids, 46 percent said it hurts their marriage. I wonder how many Jobs4.0 users share some or all of these feelings, and how many are looking a different job because of that....

Whatever your reasons - and of course there are many many other reasons beyond the 'burnout' ones noted in the survey - we've added a host of new jobs yesterday and today.... good luck....

Best,
Steven

Recent New Hires in the News, and What it Tells Us

We all know that ageism is alive and well at many many employers around the US, despite laws designed to protect workers over 40. And it's often a particular kind of ageism, a bias that seems to be most prevalent against job seekers for mid-level or entry positions, as opposed to very high level executive spots. This week's Wall Street Journal, at page B5, lists recent hires of note -- and of the 21 announcements, exactly 20 of them involved a person over age 40 getting a new job.

Many of these new jobs were promotions from within the company.... but an almost equal number were lateral hires for very top level management positions. Which leads to a question I never get a good answer to... if people over 40 are valuable enough, reliable enough, energetic enough to be hired for a very high level position, or to be promoted to a job where the level of stress is greater and the demands on them is far higher than what they've dealt with before, then how come those same employers won't hire people at that age for other positions at those same companies? If the employer will hire a CFO at age 52, then why is 47, or 57 for that matter, too old to be hired as a bookkeeper or comptroller?? The reason? There is no good reason... Ageism, like all forms of discrimination, is illogical and unfair.. but thanks to Macy's South, Vanguard and others, we are making some progress....

best
steven

Southern Comfort

Great news for job seekers in the 17 southern US States... you know who you are....Macy's South has joined our family of corporate partners.. they are making a big commitment to reach out to all of our job seekers over 40! They have several jobs on our site already, with many more to come, in a wide range of areas. Store manager jobs, merchandising positions and many more. please spread the word to anyone who you think might be interested in these spots. And thank you Macy's South.