Five Ways Older Workers Can Stay Relevant In The Future Of Work

Much of the discussions around the future of work have been focused on millennials. But, what about the other older generations in the workforce? Just because millennials are expected to be 50% of the workforce by 2020 doesn’t mean that there still aren’t millions of other workers to think about. I specifically wanted to create something for workers who are 50 and over because I feel like they are the most neglected and overlooked. I also find that these older workers feel more obsolete than other workers (or are at least worried about becoming obsolete). So, I put together an ebook that anyone can download called 5 Ways People Over 50 Can Stay Relevant in the Future of Work, and I wanted to share some of the insights here. The actual ebook is around 12 pages long with nice visuals and clear actions items. These are the five things older workers can do to make sure they don’t become obsolete.

Team up with millennials instead of viewing them as a threat

It’s often human instinct to get territorial when new faces invade your turf. But older workers who give in to that urge are isolating themselves from valuable opportunities, as well as losing out on whatever the Millennials in their workforce could teach them. Come to conversations with younger workers with an open mind and you may be surprised by the quality of the discussions you can have about technologies, office culture, and other subjects of mutual concern. And, as always, there’s mutual benefit in building a cordial working relationship.

Don’t Resist Change

Listen to new ideas and be willing to give things a whirl even if you aren’t a hundred percent certain they’re right for you. For example, the annual employee review is a tradition — but it’s one that’s on its way out, and rightly so. Managers can give faster and more actionable feedback in a hundred different ways such as using real-time check-ins, a program that Adobe recently implemented while getting rid of annual reviews. Similarly, for many jobs there’s very little value in the “face time” culture of everyone sitting at a desk in an office for eight to 10 hours a day, five days a week. Don’t cling to traditions just because you can’t imagine any other way to work.

Leverage online learning sites and platforms to keep up to date on relevant skills

It’s one thing to agree that you need to keep up to date with new workspace approaches and technology, but figuring out how to go about doing this can be another thing entirely. Happily, the same technology that’s changing so much about the way we work offers a solution to that problem, too. Sites like Udemy, Lynda.com, Coursera, Khan Academy, and open courses from sites like MIT, Yale, and Stanford give you the opportunity to learn anything from robotics and programming to marketing strategy and philosophy.

Establish a personal brand

Personal branding — a term coined by management expert Tom Peters in 1997 — is the practice of marketing yourself and your career as a brand by establishing a very specific association. For example, my brand is “The Future of Work.” Anything I research, speak about, or write on ties back to that somehow. Your brand might be anything from “The Most Experienced Plumbing Company in the Metro Detroit” to “Bringing Six Sigma Strategies to Property Management.”

The trick to establishing a brand is to ask yourself what you want to be known for, then to refine that further until it’s specific enough to stick in people’s minds. Your brand should be the first thing people think of when they hear your name — so you want to select something narrow enough to be distinctive, but broad enough to give you breathing space. You don’t need to become a celebrity, but you should have enough of a personal brand that when someone searches for you it’s very clear what you stand for and where your thought leadership lies.

Don’t forget good old-fashioned networking

Even with all the changes business has seen in the last few decades, there’s still a lot of truth to the adage that who you know may be more important than what you know. Make the most of every networking opportunity by knowing what you hope to take home before you get to the event. If speaking to specific people makes the list, reaching out ahead of time to exchange contact info can go a long way toward ensuring the opportunity won’t slip through your fingers. And remember, you want to come across as a person, not a robot — ask about ways you can help the people you meet instead of spouting a pre-rehearsed spiel. Five good connections are worth 50 business card exchanges.

You can download the full ebook for free here.

Remember the world of work is changing, but just because you are over 50 doesn’t mean you don’t have a place in the workplace. The Future Employee is more about mindset and behavior than it is about age!

Jacob is an author, speaker, and futurist. You can learn more by visiting TheFutureOrganization.com

You can also subscribe to Jacob’s newsletter to get weekly content on the future of work and the first 30 pages of his new book, The Future of Work