Jobs and the Over-the-Hill Gang
A lot of old, talented guys/gals may need work, but can’t find it. You are too old; or at least many will say, you are well past your prime. Now, the article “Looking for a Job? Sell Your Destiny, Not Your History” was targeted at those looking for a job. It makes some valid suggestions about how to sell yourself. However, I want to go one step further by addressing the over-the-hill gang, like myself!
The above linked article is making an excellent point, which you may want to consider. Don’t talk about your past, show your future, show your passion. LinkedIn already tells more than most HR people want to know about your past 25 plus years. More important, what are you doing now? How are you moving forward? Remember, if you are too old to move forward, you are not worth hiring.
So, quit focusing on the past, focus on your future! And even, if you don’t have all the needed skills for your future endeavor, there is always synergistic partners, who do. So, talk about the partner you need on LinkedIn, because of the future you are building. You would be surprised about how many people on LinkedIn, who have a great title, that are looking for your defined opportunity.
One point, instead of telling your industry to go to h — -, you may want to think about how you can become part of its future! And the good news, you don’t have to ask for permission. In fact, you don’t have to beg for a job, just create one. However, I warn you, you may have to recreate a little bit of yourself!
I am 66 years old. I wouldn’t be able to buy a job in Europe, if my life style depended on it, which it doesn’t. However, I just don’t like retirement. So, a few years ago, I decided to end it; no not my life, my retirement! I spent a lot of time studying Blockchains, Agile, Scrum, Kanban, Atlassian products, etc. You get the point, I had no idea what I was doing. However, it moved me forward. I came back up to speed, ok, my speed.
I liked the idea of Docker containers and Kubernetes. The concepts of a Blockchain “Infrastructure as a Service” appealed to me. Well, my business juices started flowing, and new cloud business ideas started appearing within my old brain. I started building some basic cloud ideas, while talking to quite a few American Fortune 500 companies. The good news, I needed no hardware; I can do everything in the cloud.
I finally got to the point, I needed a location to host a new firm. For my idea, I wanted two, one in the EU, one in the USA. The USA was easy. I created one in Wyoming. The EU country I picked, well let’s say, it has been a nightmare. This prompted one of my articles, “Entrepreneur’s Need No Particular Country” that explained why countries need entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs can find enough countries to host their future endeavors. So, I will probably have to move on to a new EU country.
I could go on, but my future endeavors are not important, you are. You need to define your future, then act upon it. Remember, neither age nor money can hold you back, only you can do that! So, define a way forward, then move like the wind. Put nothing in cement, flow with the blows. If you do, you will soon be hiring people, not looking for a job.
