Part 3: Re-entering the Job Market

by KYW's John Ostapkovich

Getting a job when you're an older worker can be a lot of work, but there's reason not to despair.

On a rainy October day, the parking lot of the Bensalem Senior Center was a body shop owner's dream as cars jostled for scarce spaces.

The attraction?  The "55+" job fair inside.  Herb Utain (above) was the organizer:

"Bux-Mont provides busing from senior centers, and they come in every 15 minutes.  And at 12:30 we had over 400 people here."

Matching seniors with employers is the job of Judy Cherry (right), with JEVS Human Services:

"When I started on this program about seven years ago, the average age was approximately 62. Now it's about 70."

One major issue is computer skills, because seniors aren't going to be digging ditches.  Cherry says it takes three weeks to get the basics, or longer if the person can't type.

And she has to actually trim the résumés of older applicants.  Employers don't care what you did 30 years ago, she says.

Herb Utain, the job fair organizer, says older workers have some major senior selling points for employers:

"If they work 20 hours a week they don't have to pay for anything but Workmen's Comp.  They don't pay for the insurances. They don't pay for the medicals.  And they get someone with integrity."

It can be a long, tough fight to get a job in this economy, but what the senior worker often gets is...priceless.

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