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Older job seekers facing tough market
By Margaret Steen
Mercury News

The economic downturn has been hard on all job hunters in Silicon Valley, but those in their 40s, 50s and 60s are having an especially tough time. Many talk about trying to hide years of experience by removing early jobs from their résumés or by dyeing their hair.

``They're told, `What you've done and all your accomplishments don't count for anything. Cover them up,' '' said Patti Wilson, founder of the Career Co.

Sometimes there are instances of outright age discrimination. But even when older job hunters seek professional work at companies that don't discriminate -- which by most accounts are a majority of employers -- they still get questions about their energy, technical skills or willingness to work long hours.

Employers may value experience, especially after the dot-com bust. But that doesn't mean 30 years of experience will be better received than 10 years. Some employers insist they want candidates with three to five years of experience, not more. Career counselors see younger workers being rehired after layoffs more quickly than older workers.

``In some societies, age and experience are valued,'' said Pat Stubbs, 60, who has been looking for a full-time job in instructional design, training or knowledge management for more than a year.

Stubbs, who lives in San Jose and is working on getting a Ph.D., has cut years of experience off his résumé. ``I feel like I am forced to market myself in less than an optimal manner because of the association of experience with age.''

Myriad factors

Research on the subject paints a mixed picture of just how difficult it is for older workers to find jobs, whether it's getting easier or harder, and how much of the problem stems from illegal discrimination.

• Age discrimination complaints from Californians to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have risen sharply in the past three years. That doesn't necessarily mean there's a higher rate of age discrimination; with the aging of the baby boomers, there are more workers eligible to file claims. Complaints filed by California workers to the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing have shown only a mild increase during the same time, and Santa Clara County complaints actually dropped.

• The statewide unemployment rate is lower for older workers than for younger ones. This could indicate that the job market is actually better for older workers, contrary to what many older workers report. But those who give up looking or take low-level jobs to pay the bills aren't counted as unemployed. And statewide numbers may not paint an accurate picture of Silicon Valley's job market, with its emphasis on technical skills and job mobility.

• A study of the national high-tech workforce by the National Research Council about two years ago found that among some groups, older workers were more likely to lose their jobs than younger workers were. But they were just as likely as younger workers were to find a new job within three years of a layoff.

• A survey done several years ago for the AARP by Marc Bendick Jr., a labor economist with Bendick & Egan Economic Consultants, found that when companies received résumés from similarly qualified workers of different ages, most treated them the same, but a significant minority preferred résumés from younger workers.

Despite concerns about age discrimination, the issue generates relatively few lawsuits. Many companies offer severance packages to laid-off workers in exchange for agreements that bar any legal claims.

And while it can be difficult to prove that a layoff was motivated by age, it can be almost impossible to prove that age discrimination was behind a hiring decision.

`Fewer slots'

Even when illegal discrimination isn't an issue, many older workers are at a point in their careers where finding a new job simply isn't as easy as it was when any entry-level job would do.

``It is a challenge. With the pyramid, there are fewer slots at the top,'' said Marlene Williamson of Los Altos, a former vice president of marketing with a Web services company who is in her 40s and has been looking for a job for several months.

Williamson points out that many experienced workers are flexible about what position or salary they receive. But companies may still prefer someone who hasn't spent years with a higher salary or more responsibility.

Older workers are also more likely to have spent a long time at one company because that was a more typical career pattern when they started working. Today, some employers may view that as a liability.

Romano Durini, a sales and general management executive with more than 25 years of experience who is still at pre-retirement age, said he thinks employers see him as having ``many, many years with a lethargic Midwestern company'' because most of his experience was at one non-Silicon Valley technology company -- even though he spent most of his time in California and later worked for a start-up. Durini has been job hunting and consulting for about six months.

Winning bosses over

Some observers say older workers have to overcome employers' misgivings about them.

Employers ``look at the younger workers as having more recent skills, being more recently educated and having more energy and productivity,'' said Sue LaForge, project director for the National Council on the Aging Work Centers for Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.

`Nothing to hide'

The solution for many older workers is to keep trying until they find an employer that is open to -- or even appreciates -- their experience.

David Koo, 51, of Fremont, said that during his six-month job search, he was sometimes told that he was overqualified. But he recently found a job doing auditing work for a landscaping company.

Some remain hopeful that potential employers will value their experience.

Shomir Dighe, 50, of Sunnyvale has been looking for an engineering and program management job for several months.

He has resisted advice to cut his early experience off his résumé, partly because some of his earlier work is relevant to what he's looking for.

``I worked for 12 years on one program alone, and I'm really proud of it,'' Dighe said. ``I have nothing to hide.''

A final frustration for some older job hunters, especially those nearing retirement age, is to be told that they need to find new careers.

``I'm certainly capable of doing that,'' Stubbs said. ``I don't have time to do that. What would you have me start over as?''