Technology-driven job search strategies have left many older workers behind

There has been a huge transformation over the past decade in the way people search for employment opportunities. Printed resumes and cover letters, newspaper advertisements and face-to-face interviews have gradually given way to LinkedIn and Facebook profiles and personal websites, electronically transmitted career materials, job boards and searches. on the web, and the interviews by Skype.

While technological advances have certainly expanded the scope of opportunities for people to take advantage of to find great jobs, the benefits have not been equal among all job seekers. Research in recent years has shown that, in general, older workers have not kept pace with their younger counterparts in using technology to design and execute job search strategies.

This is worrying as there is plenty of evidence that older workers face greater challenges in finding worthwhile employment. Data from the 2014 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Dislocated Worker Survey show that people age 50 and older took 5.8 weeks longer to find employment than those ages 30-49 and 10 weeks longer than from 20 to 29 years.

Data from the 2015 BLS Current Population Survey found similar results; 44.6% of employed workers aged 55 and over lost their job after 27 weeks, compared to 22.2% of those under 25 and 36% of those 25-54.

Can older workers learn to use technology-driven job search tools?

Older workers are often stereotyped in ways that negatively affect their ability to find worthwhile employment. These stereotypes include:

• Lack of motivation,

• Less willingness to participate in training and use of technology,

• More resistant to change

• Less trust in superiors and coworkers.

• less healthy and

• More vulnerable to work-family imbalances.

Many of these stereotypes do not necessarily emerge upon closer examination of the behavior patterns of older workers in relation to employment. With respect to technology, there is evidence that older workers are willing to seek out and use technological tools, but that many face limitations and issues that need to be addressed. Some of these include:

• Vision and hearing problems that impede training efforts,

• Memory problems, memory and motor skills,

• Lack of perspective on the use of technology, unlike younger workers who grew up with technology in their lives, and

• Less acceptance of “learning by learning” and requiring a direct link between training/use of technology and job search/job success.

It’s clear that technology is a critical component to any successful job search campaign, and assuming that older workers can’t or won’t take advantage of technological tools hurts this group of people. Training programs that take into account the learning limitations of older workers are becoming more common and should be expanded. In addition, training should focus on clearly identified competencies with increased employability.