- What are the difficulties that seniors will encounter when looking for a job?
一般年长者觅职会遇到什么困难？
Seniors face a range of challenges at the workplace. Much depends on the nature and demands of the jobs themselves. Unfortunately, some challenges appear to be due to the attitudes of the employers. From our working with seniors, these are some of common difficulties that were faced during the job search process.
Job demand challenges
- Job roles that are too physically-demanding. These include operational or frontline roles in F&B, retail, hospitality, security, which require standing for long durations at a time. Senior generally prefer back-end administrative roles or roles with lighter physical demands (e.g. packing jobs)
- Job roles that require a lot of travelling, which exerts a physical and mental toll on seniors. Seniors prefer to work closer to home to minimise the need for long commutes.
- Job roles that require significant time at work such as six-day work weeks, which take away time from other social pursuits. Seniors prefer a balanced work schedule in order to have quality time for family and friends.
- Job roles that demand immediate application of new skills. Like younger workers, our seniors are game to take on jobs in new and emerging areas but will require time and proper training to get up to speed.
Employer-mindset challenges
- Seniors not being considered by employers for job roles, despite submitting the relevant application documents and meeting the job requirements. Seniors perceived they were not the employers’ preferred group, based on the tone of the interview sessions.
- What are employers’ requirements for their workers?
一般雇主会提出什么要求？
From our engagements with employers, their demands on young and older staff appear uniform. They desire employees with the relevant skills and experience, coupled with strong work ethic. Seniors with the required skills, valuable work experience and a positive attitude should therefore be in a good position to contribute to the employers and their workplaces.
- How do we change the employers’ mindset and attitude, so that they will be more readily accepting of our seniors?
(如何改变雇主用人的心态和态度，让他们更容易接受我们的年长者)？
Employers should first adopt a more enlightened mindset with regard to employing seniors, for the benefit of themselves as well as our seniors. Senior workers can be a valuable contributor to the workplace, if they can be deployed in a way that plays to their strengths. Many bring with them years of experience, wisdom, loyalty and dependability, and offer a different value-proposition compared to younger workers. In particular, baby boomers form a sizeable demographic pool of our population today. With their education, capability, and means, there is much they can offer to employers and colleagues around them.
But having the right mindset alone isn’t enough. Employers can help bring out the best in their seniors by tailoring their workplaces to harness their fullest contributions. This includes having in place mixed-age work teams as much as possible to allow both sides to work together and leverage each other’s strengths. This also includes organizing programmes for staff to understand the cultural differences in terms of management styles and communications between workers of different age groups.
Of course, employers should also introduce progressive work arrangements such as flexible work, which benefits all staff – not least senior workers. For instance, just as we provide flexible work-arrangements for expecting and new mothers, the same should be similarly considered for senior workers to lengthen their productive years. Many of the age-friendly workplace changes are inexpensive, and are easily and quickly implementable. They can be as simple as colour-coding for easy reference, providing working tables with brighter lighting, and stretching stations, etc. We encourage employers to tap onto the various government schemes to support job re-design and transformation of their workplaces. These workplace investments will pay off handsomely in form of appreciative and dedicated workers.
4.What is the mindset that the senior should have?
(年长者本身应该有什么心理准备？)
Of course, seniors must certainly play their part, and make a good case of their employability. They should embrace a growth mindset, and take changes and challenges in their stride. This means being pro-active in engaging their younger colleagues and supervisors to learn, contribute, and to demonstrate their value. Dispel the negative stereotypes by showing everyone otherwise.
My humble wish and advice to our senior job seekers is to adopt the 4S in their approach towards work and life
- Stay Positive
Stay positive and motivated. A job change is not the end of the world. If anything, it can open doors to new opportunities in new fields. A national effort is afoot at creating quality jobs across all sectors and skill levels, as well as encouraging more flexible work arrangements by employers. To take advantage of these opportunities, the first step is to adopt a sunny outlook, trust in your abilities, and believe that there are more good years ahead.
- Stay Active
The next step is to get to work. Research for the jobs of interest and apply for them with confidence. Attend workshops and training classes to keep abreast of your areas of interest, as well as your strengths.
And do not hesitate to seek help in doing so. There are agencies such as SkillsFuture Singapore, Workforce Singapore, NTUC e2i, and CFS, providing a range of employment and training support services for jobseekers to find their way back into the workforce. Help is available on many fronts. So get started and seize the day.
- Stay Hungry
Third, be realistic with our expectations and nimble to change. This means being receptive to other types of work as well as remuneration packages. It is no surprise that the jobseekers who insist on the same work with the same perks as their previous job, are often those who find it hardest to transit to new jobs. Approach a new job with the same hunger as the very first job, except that we now have the added benefit of experience and wisdom to accompany the application.
- Stay Healthy
Lastly and most importantly, maintain an optimal state of well-being through a combination of healthy eating, exercise, and rest. The benefits of good health require no explanation and cannot be overstated. Be well, to enjoy everything that falls into place.
(By Lim Sia Hoe)
- What are the difficulties that seniors will encounter when looking for a job?
一般乐龄人士觅职会遇到什么困难？
Seniors face a range of challenges at the workplace. Much depends on the nature and demands of the jobs themselves. Unfortunately, some challenges appear to be due to the attitudes of the employers. From our working with seniors, these are some of common difficulties that were faced during the job search process.
Job demand challenges
- Job roles that are too physically-demanding. These include operational or frontline roles in F&B, retail, hospitality, security, which require standing for long durations at a time. Senior generally prefer back-end administrative roles or roles with lighter physical demands (e.g. packing jobs)
- Job roles that require a lot of travelling, which exerts a physical and mental toll on seniors. Seniors prefer to work closer to home to minimise the need for long commutes.
- Job roles that require significant time at work such as six-day work weeks, which take away time from other social pursuits. Seniors prefer a balanced work schedule in order to have quality time for family and friends.
- Job roles that demand immediate application of new skills. Like younger workers, our seniors are game to take on jobs in new and emerging areas but will require time and proper training to get up to speed.
Employer-mindset challenges
- Seniors not being considered by employers for job roles, despite submitting the relevant application documents and meeting the job requirements. Seniors perceived they were not the employers’ preferred group, based on the tone of the interview sessions.
- What are employers’ requirements for their workers?
一般雇主会提出什么要求？
From our engagements with employers, their demands on young and older staff appear uniform. They desire employees with the relevant skills and experience, coupled with strong work ethic. Seniors with the required skills, valuable work experience and a positive attitude should therefore be in a good position to contribute to the employers and their workplaces.
- How do we change the employers’ mindset and attitude, so that they will be more readily accepting of our seniors?
(要如何改变雇主的心态和态度，让他们更容易接受我们的年长者)
Employers should first adopt a more enlightened mindset with regard to employing seniors, for the benefit of themselves as well as our seniors. Senior workers can be a valuable contributor to the workplace, if they can be deployed in a way that plays to their strengths. Many bring with them years of experience, wisdom, loyalty and dependability, and offer a different value-proposition compared to younger workers. In particular, baby boomers form a sizeable demographic pool of our population today. With their education, capability, and means, there is much they can offer to employers and colleagues around them.
But having the right mindset alone isn’t enough. Employers can help bring out the best in their seniors by tailoring their workplaces to harness their fullest contributions. This includes having in place mixed-age work teams as much as possible to allow both sides to work together and leverage each other’s strengths. This also includes organizing programmes for staff to understand the cultural differences in terms of management styles and communications between workers of different age groups.
Of course, employers should also introduce progressive work arrangements such as flexible work, which benefits all staff – not least senior workers. For instance, just as we provide flexible work-arrangements for expecting and new mothers, the same should be similarly considered for senior workers to lengthen their productive years. Many of the age-friendly workplace changes are inexpensive, and are easily and quickly implementable. They can be as simple as colour-coding for easy reference, providing working tables with brighter lighting, and stretching stations, etc. We encourage employers to tap onto the various government schemes to support job re-design and transformation of their workplaces. These workplace investments will pay off handsomely in form of appreciative and dedicated workers.
4.What is the mindset that the senior should have?
(乐龄人士本身应该有什么心理准备？)
Of course, seniors must certainly play their part, and make a good case of their employability. They should embrace a growth mindset, and take changes and challenges in their stride. This means being pro-active in engaging their younger colleagues and supervisors to learn, contribute, and to demonstrate their value. Dispel the negative stereotypes by showing everyone otherwise.
My humble wish and advice to our senior job seekers is to adopt the 4S in their approach towards work and life
- Stay Positive
Stay positive and motivated. A job change is not the end of the world. If anything, it can open doors to new opportunities in new fields. A national effort is afoot at creating quality jobs across all sectors and skill levels, as well as encouraging more flexible work arrangements by employers. To take advantage of these opportunities, the first step is to adopt a sunny outlook, trust in your abilities, and believe that there are more good years ahead.
- Stay Active
The next step is to get to work. Research for the jobs of interest and apply for them with confidence. Attend workshops and training classes to keep abreast of your areas of interest, as well as your strengths.
And do not hesitate to seek help in doing so. There are agencies such as SkillsFuture Singapore, Workforce Singapore, NTUC e2i, and CFS, providing a range of employment and training support services for jobseekers to find their way back into the workforce. Help is available on many fronts. So get started and seize the day.
- Stay Hungry
Third, be realistic with our expectations and nimble to change. This means being receptive to other types of work as well as remuneration packages. It is no surprise that the jobseekers who insist on the same work with the same perks as their previous job, are often those who find it hardest to transit to new jobs. Approach a new job with the same hunger as the very first job, except that we now have the added benefit of experience and wisdom to accompany the application.
- Stay Healthy
Lastly and most importantly, maintain an optimal state of well-being through a combination of healthy eating, exercise, and rest. The benefits of good health require no explanation and cannot be overstated. Be well, to enjoy everything that falls into place.
(By Lim Sia Hoe)