VANCOUVER - Paula Bradner was in her mid-50s when she found herself looking for a full-time job.
It was scary at first — the very thought of going up against applicants potentially half her age.
“It makes you feel that it’s not even worthwhile stepping up to the plate,” the West Vancouver resident recalled of her initial concerns.
But Bradner wasn’t without her own competitive strengths.
At 58, she is part of the country’s fastest growing labour force, according to the latest snapshot of Canada’s job market.
Statistics Canada has reported employment among women 55 and older grew by 29,000 in April.
Year-over-year, the numbers are up nearly eight per cent, the fastest employment growth rate of any demographic group.
Employment for so-called core-aged workers 25 to 54 was little changed for women during the past year, and up less than two per cent for men during the same period, the federal agency reported.
“If a woman in her 50s applies for a job, generally speaking, she really, really wants it and she is not using it as a springboard to go on to something else,” Bradner said of her age advantage.
“The generation we come from feels a responsibility to the company we are working for. We feel the obligation to work hard and give back the best way we can, whereas a lot of young people today that I’ve noticed, they never stop looking to move on to a better situation.”
Jan Snell, a Vancouver-based business developer with the staffing firm Hunt Personnel/Temporarily Yours, said she is seeing a definite shift among employers when it comes to hiring women in their 40s and 50.
“We are seeing women in this demographic getting jobs,” Snell said.
Increasingly, employers are seeing the advantage of mature staff. Older workers are more likely to remain in a job longer than the more-mobile generation of 20- and 30-somethings, and often bring a whole host of valuable life and professional skills to the job, Snell said.
Not that ageism doesn’t still exist.
“It’s definitely alive and well,” she said, noting a common misconception that older workers returning to the workforce are somehow less committed and less likely to keep up with technology and other demands of the office.
“There are a lot of pre-conceived notions out there, usually coming from younger managers who don’t understand,” she said.
It’s up to the job seeker to help dispel those ideas with a resumé that highlights their experience within the modern workforce, including updated computer and social media skills.
Listing a work history that dates beyond a decade is “the worst thing” an older worker can do, Snell said. Too often “they are nixed before they even get in the door.”
Jan Mansfield, 59, said she was uncertain what attitude she would find when she jumped back into the labour market in her mid-50s after taking time off to raise her children.
The former journalist turned communications professional said she had trepidations about how she would be perceived by younger clients and colleagues, and initially struggled to maintain her confidence.
That she wasn’t alone in her struggle proved an enormous comfort. She sought, and found, support among other professional women of a similar age and, today, runs a successful freelance career that includes managing communications for the provincial sporting agency, Team BC.
“I find that my friends my age, we don’t sweat the small stuff. We have the history and the experience to be able to put things into perspective and I think that is the most important thing that we can bring to any situation,” she said.
Bradner, too, recently found work after completing a course in Vancouver run by the Minerva Foundation tailored to get professional women back into the workforce.
The course, she said, gave her both the tools and the confidence to identify and land her dream job, coordinating events and promotions with the Dairy Farmers of Canada.
“It’s given me a whole bunch more self-esteem than I was operating on before. I love my brain working at this level again. I love the challenge,” she said.
“Sometimes I pinch myself and think, ‘Is this really happening?’.”
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It was scary at first — the very thought of going up against applicants potentially half her age.
“It makes you feel that it’s not even worthwhile stepping up to the plate,” the West Vancouver resident recalled of her initial concerns.
But Bradner wasn’t without her own competitive strengths.
At 58, she is part of the country’s fastest growing labour force, according to the latest snapshot of Canada’s job market.
Statistics Canada has reported employment among women 55 and older grew by 29,000 in April.
Year-over-year, the numbers are up nearly eight per cent, the fastest employment growth rate of any demographic group.
Employment for so-called core-aged workers 25 to 54 was little changed for women during the past year, and up less than two per cent for men during the same period, the federal agency reported.
“If a woman in her 50s applies for a job, generally speaking, she really, really wants it and she is not using it as a springboard to go on to something else,” Bradner said of her age advantage.
“The generation we come from feels a responsibility to the company we are working for. We feel the obligation to work hard and give back the best way we can, whereas a lot of young people today that I’ve noticed, they never stop looking to move on to a better situation.”
Jan Snell, a Vancouver-based business developer with the staffing firm Hunt Personnel/Temporarily Yours, said she is seeing a definite shift among employers when it comes to hiring women in their 40s and 50.
“We are seeing women in this demographic getting jobs,” Snell said.
Increasingly, employers are seeing the advantage of mature staff. Older workers are more likely to remain in a job longer than the more-mobile generation of 20- and 30-somethings, and often bring a whole host of valuable life and professional skills to the job, Snell said.
Not that ageism doesn’t still exist.
“It’s definitely alive and well,” she said, noting a common misconception that older workers returning to the workforce are somehow less committed and less likely to keep up with technology and other demands of the office.
“There are a lot of pre-conceived notions out there, usually coming from younger managers who don’t understand,” she said.
It’s up to the job seeker to help dispel those ideas with a resumé that highlights their experience within the modern workforce, including updated computer and social media skills.
Listing a work history that dates beyond a decade is “the worst thing” an older worker can do, Snell said. Too often “they are nixed before they even get in the door.”
Jan Mansfield, 59, said she was uncertain what attitude she would find when she jumped back into the labour market in her mid-50s after taking time off to raise her children.
The former journalist turned communications professional said she had trepidations about how she would be perceived by younger clients and colleagues, and initially struggled to maintain her confidence.
That she wasn’t alone in her struggle proved an enormous comfort. She sought, and found, support among other professional women of a similar age and, today, runs a successful freelance career that includes managing communications for the provincial sporting agency, Team BC.
“I find that my friends my age, we don’t sweat the small stuff. We have the history and the experience to be able to put things into perspective and I think that is the most important thing that we can bring to any situation,” she said.
Bradner, too, recently found work after completing a course in Vancouver run by the Minerva Foundation tailored to get professional women back into the workforce.
The course, she said, gave her both the tools and the confidence to identify and land her dream job, coordinating events and promotions with the Dairy Farmers of Canada.
“It’s given me a whole bunch more self-esteem than I was operating on before. I love my brain working at this level again. I love the challenge,” she said.
“Sometimes I pinch myself and think, ‘Is this really happening?’.”
Read more:
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