Being made redundant or looking for work in later life can be an unsettling experience. Every year, Lucy Standing, co-founder of Brave Starts, helps hundreds of people aged 45 to 75 to explore their next steps in the world of work. Here’s her tips on how to explore your options and boost your chances of finding the job you want.

1. Understand it’s not you: recruitment is broken

In a recent poll of Brave Starts members, 87% agreed “recruitment is broken”.  It isn’t unusual to hear nothing back or get ‘ghosted’ when applying for jobs. Some jobs boards and agencies are better than others, particularly for people in midlife:  Try Working Wise, Jobs Redefined, Career Returners and CJ Talent. You can read why we recommend these sites on the Brave Starts website . Another site full of useful resources is Careers Can Change.

2. Take back control

When you’re nervous, it’s not uncommon to fire off hundreds of applications. Fewer than 10% of our members find work this way. It quickly erodes your confidence because it focuses time and energy on things you can’t control (how many other people apply, who screens your CV, the state of the market and so on). Instead, focus on things within your control, such as reaching out to old networks, interviewing people doing jobs that interest you and going to industry-focused events.

3. See your age as an asset

You’ve lived and learned a lot. As we get older we become more resilient. Our values move from being self enhancing (what can I get?) to self transcending (what can I give?). And with age comes crystallised intelligence: our understanding of what people need and how to treat them, and our skills in handling a crisis get better. You should be proud of your age, and being open about it will help you to stand out.

4. Target your job search

Many NHS managers looking for work will be aged over 45 — the very demographic that OECD research shows employers are least likely to hire! The jobs market is ageist. So try to identify organisations that are targeting older recruits (visit mip.social/age-friendly for help). Don’t rely solely on job boards: according to the CIPD, 47% of organisations advertise jobs on their website while only 23% use jobs boards. And find out the age of the person recruiting, if you can. Someone over 45 is 38% more likely to interview you than someone younger.

5. Two heads are better than one

And four or five are even better! You can’t introspect yourself into a job. Peer-to-peer learning is far more effective: this is a process of talking, sharing, meeting others, asking questions and experiencing. Try to build a cohort of people in a similar situation and meet every few weeks to share progress, motivate and support each other.

6. Be realistic

Don’t follow your passion or try to find a job you ‘love’.  This feeling is the reward of time and effort. If you stand under the finish line of a marathon without running the race, do you feel a sense of achievement? No! Love and passion are realistic goals in 12 to 18 months, but this bar is too high for the job search phase. Research shows the main drivers of satisfaction at work are learning, flexibility, autonomy and working with people you like. Look for a job that meets those criteria instead.

7. Look to learn new things

There are four fundamental human drivers: acquiring, defending, bonding and learning. As the first three tend to get met with age, the drive to learn becomes relatively more important: we get bored; we want to learn as well as share and ‘give back’ what we know.

8. Look for flexibility

As we get older, we often acquire more commitments outside work and need to spend more time on physical activity to stay healthy. Many organisations have more appetite to support flexible working than is described in job descriptions and recruitment literature. Often established working patterns have simply not been questioned, so ask!

9. Look for autonomy

As an experienced manager, you’ll want a reasonable degree of autonomy. Asking about how much decision making responsibility you’ll have or how you’d be expected to solve a problem will give insight into how micromanaged (or not) you’ll be.

10. Look for colleagues you’ll like

You can’t know this before you apply but if you get to interviews you can ask to meet the team. Reviews on Glassdoor will also give some idea of the culture and how an employer treats their staff. 

• Lucy Standing is a chartered psychologist and co-founder of Brave Starts, a non-profit organisation that supports people aged over 45 to explore next steps in the world of work. Visit bravestarts.com to find out more.