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The Over 50′s – An emerging market
The over 50′s have the money!
It’s taken marketers and advertising agencies a long time to get over their obsession with the “youth” as being the main target market. Now the attention is shifting to where the dollars really are – the “grey dollar”.
There is a lot of interest, too, in the longer-term marketing implications of the apparent “war of the generations” being discussed internationally by savvy business leaders now, and two issues jump out:
- If millennials really are significantly delaying some of the traditional milestones of adulthood – marriage, first job, first kids, first home – then this throws into disarray the “consumer life cycle” model on which so much of traditional mass marketing is based.
- If multi-generational families, or “grandfamilies,” are an important emerging niche, then this, too, throws into disarray the traditional model of which consumers make the key buying decisions at which stages of life. All of a sudden, grandparents may become important purchasing influences over kid’s products, for example.
The over 50′s have the experience!
In the job market this has been the case for some years, it’s just that the “youth-culture” focused businesses have not seen it coming.
They are calling it the “grey workforce”, and they bring a stabilising influence and experience to a workplace and, more importantly, they bring an understanding of other workplaces and cultures. There’s an appreciation that “grey” workers often have decades of skills, and tend to be more loyal to their employer. These are all positives that the employing business can leverage and benefit from.
In late April, the Federal Government announced that it is offering to pay $1,000 bonus to 10,000 employers who recruit and retain a worker aged 50 years or over for more than three months. That’s a great incentive, but not the only benefit an employer is going to receive by employing a 50+ person.
It is expected that the numbers of “grey” workers will grow in the coming years; they will be employed and cashed up, making them a marketing target for savvy businesses.
Refer to http://www.deewr.gov.au/Employment/Programs/ExpPlus/Employers/Pages/Overview.aspx#1 for more information about the Federal Government Jobs Bonus.
What are ‘soft skills’ and how to present them to get a new job
7 soft skills and how to use them
Soft skills are the personal qualities that will make you a great person to work with, and are usually universal for all employment positions. While many jobs require specific qualifications, trade certificates, or skills that are relevant to their industry, soft skills are the more general qualities that will help you work productively, contribute in the workplace and be a valued member of a team.
Soft skills can cover:-
Soft Skills #1 -
Values & Motives – an individual’s work ethic and personal motivators within a business environment.
Your employer will want you to have the right personal values and the right character to fit well within the team. Your personal work ethic, the things that motivate you to succeed, and your overall personality and attitude will determine if you have the right soft skills that will make you the right person for the job.
Soft Skills #2 -
Cultural Fit – the match of an individual’s attitude and value system with the overall company culture and value system.
Soft Skills #3 -
Personality – the personality fit with team dynamics and management/ leadership. Employers are always seeking someone they can work with easily, without fuss and complications. They will seek to hire someone who has the soft skills of being both a leader, and a follower. In the workplace you will need to alternate easily between these roles, and have an amicable personality that makes you pleasant to work with.
Soft Skills #4 -
Future Potential – the career potential, highlight areas of strength and areas for development.
Soft Skills #5 -
Cognitive Abilities – an individual’s aptitude for learning and their ability to apply new and abstract information including comprehension skills and spatial awareness. A potential employer will also want to know that you will grow well within the company, and strive hard to improve yourself and your status within the company. They want a team member with soft skills who is committed to on-going learning and someone who can adapt to a variety of roles and responsibilities.
Soft Skills #6 -
Reliability & Character – the reliability and character of an individual. An employer wants to know that you are emotionally stable, and are prepared to work hard, be reliable, be amicable, and get the job done. These are all valuable soft skills.
Soft Skills #7 -
Confidence – is another of the soft skills that is often overlooked in resumes and job interviews. Confidence does not mean over confident. You don’t need to be fake or too self-assured. An employer simply wants to hire someone who can make confident and quick decisions, displays an impression of competence, and is an all-round positive person.
In the workplace you will need to have confidence in your own abilities, and also in the company you work for. Your confidence will transfer onto your colleagues, especially if you are in a management position, and also to your company’s clients and customers. Your confidence will be used to promote the company you work for, and is one of the valuable soft skills. You can list this quality in your resume, but most importantly, your confidence will truly shine during the employment interview, where you can maintain eye contact and answer their questions clearly and competently.
Demonstration of Soft Skills
You can demonstrate these soft skills by giving examples of your previous conflicts or social challenges, and explain how you successfully solved them, so the situation was win-win for all involved. You can provide these details, along with other soft skills, in your cover letter, but also refer to them in a job interview if it relates to one of the questions that the interviewer asks you.
What makes up a Successful Resume?
We do emphasise that Successful Resumes is not a typing service and we do not use commercial templates to create your resume.
A dynamic layout and a professionally designed front cover are key elements of the visual impact needed for your resume to be successful in the battle to gain attention.
Strategic development of your resume with the aim of injecting a marketing orientated approach to selling you and to maximising your potential of winning that interview in a competitive employment market.
A personal profile because employers hire people based on more than just experience and skills, they are highly motivated by personal qualities and attributes especially when this information is presented in our unique and proven style.
A highly readable, succinct writing style, enabling the employer to reach a positive decision to interview you without having to wade through numerous pages of rambling text.
Your successful resume will be a powerful “selling tool” as opposed to being just the traditional list of employment and task related details created by most people.
We pay special attention to grammar and syntax as well as to the tense and tempo of the language. Our Resumes are written in a neutral, third person style (widely considered by most employment industry specialists to be the most dynamic and credible style for Resumes).
Interview Advice is included with every Successful Resumes package and is a professionally written summary of how to handle the interview process with advice on how to prepare yourself.
If copies of references are available, we may use ‘excerpts’ from them within the body of your resume. We have found this to be a highly effective marketing and image building strategy because it brings the positive opinions of past employers into clear and dynamic focus.
Each successful resume is a carefully personalised document written by caring professionals who have many years of experience in business as employers, employment industry specialists, public relations consultants, teachers and copywriters.
Each document results from a process that involves careful consideration of all the facts and of the environment in which you are seeking employment.
At Successful Resumes we believe you cannot afford to simply put your career potential in the hands of people who are going to just ‘type up’ your resume.
Contrary to the opinion of some people who purport to be resume writers, most employers will not be motivated by a traditional ‘humdrum list’ of boring dates and task related facts. See our Testimonials Page.
You have a unique opportunity to make the right first impression and that’s what we do for our clients; first time, every time.
Resume Services
Resume Writing and other services
Interview skills coaching and career advice, Entry level and graduate packages – ask your nearest branch for their special prices. Our clients range from entry level positions, administration and middle management through the professions to senior management up to CEO (check with the branch of your choice about their individual prices):
- Each client’s needs are individually assessed before work commences.
- Packages include Personal Profile because employers have always selected people on more than just skills and experience.
Resume Services can include variations of the following:
- Specially tailored information gathering process for interstate & international clients.
- Personal Stationery with Cover/Application Letter.
- Interview Techniques and Govt Selection Criteria brochures.
- Soft Copy in Word & PDF
- Life long electronic storage.
Resumes include (according to individual assessment of client needs):
- Personal Profile.
- Objectives.
- Summary of Professional Assets.
- Summary of Work History.
- Educational Qualifications & Attainments.
- Technical Skills.
- Key Experience & Achievements.
Resume Special Features (included with all resume packages):
- Designer covers (a hard copy feature).
- Multiple Copies.
- Free Binders.
- Premium papers.
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