Great Conference If You've Decided To Go Solo

Freelancing isn't for everyone, but if you're one of dedicated and self-disciplined who work well without a supervisor leaning over your shoulder then this conference for International Freelancers Day is for you. Best of all, if you're unemployed (or even if you're not) it's FREE. 

Freelancing is not for everyone, but if you're over fifty you have developed the confidence needed to work as a freelancer.  Not only that you have the breadth of experience that makes a freelancer successful.

Their web site if full of information about International Freelancers Day and the online conference they're offering.  All you have to do is go to the International Freelancers Day site and sign up.  You can opt in to any session that interests you (see site for additional info). 

Some of the topics covered at this year's International Freelancers Day Conference are:

1.  The keynote address by Ed Gandia called "Forget About Being The 'Best'! How To Boost Your Income, Have More Fun, And Increase Client Loyalty by Being 'Good Enough'

2.  Jason Womack's 'Three Keys to a More Productive Day: How To Work Smarter, Think Bigger, and Make More.'

3.  Shane Pearlman presenting 'What Should I Charge?'

4.  James Clear and 'The 10 Keys to Effective (and Ethical) Self-Promotion for Freelancers'

5.  Charles Gilkey and 'How to Find (and Focus on) Your High Value Activities'

And those are just the morning sessions! The sessions are too numerous to list so visit the web site and see all the presentations being offered and then just show up on time and listen in. 

1+1 = 2 Happy People or Finding Unadvertised Jobs

Unemployment is at an all time high.  Colleges churn out new grads and you've just been laid off.  And it's been 35 years since you finished college. The few jobs that are advertised have so many applicants it's easy to get lost in the resume shuffle.  How can you find unadvertised jobs so you're not fighting to get noticed? NETWORK.

I know, you've heard all the stories about how to do it, but here's why you need to do it. Unadvertised jobs are filled by people who network. It's when the phrase 'it's not what you know it's who you know' is a real truism.

 Unlike many younger workers, you're in the better position when it comes to networking, face it, the longer you live, the more people you know and the greater the depth of skills you have to offer an employer.  And the longer you've worked the more contacts you have.

If you wait for jobs to be advertised you will be fighting off all those eager and hungry young things and your resume is likely to be one of thousands a prospective employer receives, not to mention dreads reading.  The first place HR managers look is in house, this won't help you.  But after that they let the people they work with know they're looking to fill the position.  Here's where your networking pays off--one or more of these coworkers are most likely to know YOU! Remember, more than 70% of jobs are not even advertised and are filled by "word of mouth," so your chances of knowing about a new job depends on 'who you know.'

All of a sudden you jump to the top of the class, knocking over all those sweet young things as you head into the coveted job interview phase.  Not only that, if someone has recommended you to Human Resources it's the equivalent of a pre-interview personal or business recommendation depending on how you know the person.  You still have to qualify for the job, but if you have good skills and present yourself well you have an excellent chance of landing that job. And the HR manager? He doesn't have to read all those thousands of resumes that Career Builder or Monster.com just sent him.
You've just made his life so much easier they are predisposed to like you.

One job seeker in their mid-fifties I interviewed found the job because their hairdresser was talking to another one of her clients and this HR manager happened to mention he was hiring for a research position.  The hairdresser knew her other client was in the middle of a job search--BINGO! The HR person gave the hairdresser their business card, the hairdresser gave her client a call to suggest she send a resume into Mr. Smith at Company Jones and passed on the HR person's business card.  Two weeks later she had two very happy clients. Serendipitous? You bet. Could a similar thing happen to you? It won't if you're not networking. 

When you network you are investing time in your future.  Best of all, networking if free. Not even the cost of paper for a resume or a stamp for an envelope or paying for your online service.  The moral of the story? God gave you a mouth for a reason...use it!

When Rolaids Become One of The Five Food Groups or Over 50 & Unemployed, An Uphill Battle

In this economy, being suddenly unemployed is a disaster.  Being over 50 and unemployed is worse.  The fact is, most of the people in this group aren't unemployed because they were bad employees.  They aren't unemployed because they are unreliable, incompetent, or any of the usual reasons people frequently end up fired or without a job.  Instead they are unemployed due to cut backs.  Cut backs that hit the best paid workers first.  Cut backs that hit when a company is looking for a 'more youthful image.'  Cut backs when companies are cutting out whole departments to save money so they can stay in business.  None of this helps you when you're suddenly pounding the pavement and HAD a job that paid you well. 

While you can collect unemployment that's not the answer, you need a long term answer--better known as a new job.  The biggest problem with being unemployed is it's demoralizing!  After working 65-70 hours a week to suddenly drop to not having a job is a huge change in lifestyle.  For a week it feels like a vacation where your main meal is Rolaids, after that it's just hell.  Being out of work after working your entire life is akin to a ticket on the Titanic.  Taking on water and sinking fast.  Get into that lifeboat fast or die.

The first week you hit the big sites, Career Builder, Monster etc.  Possibly you came across listings that flatly discriminated against the older worker or the unemployed.  You were probably appalled to read many of their listings stated 'must be currently employed' or 'the unemployed will not be considered at all.'  Words to strike terror to your heart if you know the statistics for older workers and the length of time they were typically unemployed--for the 55+ workers it will take most over a year to find a new job, and that's just an average.  We're not talking about a comparable job, we're talking ANY job.  The trick is to keep on trying.

Discrimination is rampant in the world we live in, and now the newest group to be discriminated against, the old and the unemployed.  Keeping up with the newest technology is no longer enough.  Looking youthful doesn't help.  Keeping on top of the latest ideas in your field won't save you.  Your age is what it is--a number you can't change.  Being unemployed is also something you can't change, staying unemployed hopefully is. 

What's you new job every day? Your new job is job hunting, every day make an effort to find a new job, network and look for work everywhere you can think of looking.  Your new job is promoting yourself. Onward and upward! You need to get your name and face out there. And you still have the worries about how you'll pay the mortgage and reoccurring bills.  As I said, Rolaids.  Clip coupons for them.  You'll need them before your job hunt is over.  Keep reading my blog for more tips for job hunting at over 50.