Boomers & Millennials: never mind the kids, try finding a job when you’re over 50

It wasn’t supposed to work out this way. I look back at my father and his friends in the 1990s when they were my age now. Most, if not all were living large and in the prime of their productive working lives. There was an investment property here and there, a caring professional network where opportunities were shared; one had even recently made the “crazy” decision to outlay over a $1.5 million for an apartment in the “toaster” in Circular Quay!

This confidence was despite 17.5% interest rates and the recession we had to have. Official unemployment rates were peaking around 10%. The excesses of the 80s were being righted and it was to be a period of consolidation. I had been working since 1984 and had always had a job. There were times when we worked three days and had four off…but, I always had a job to go to, and so had my father.

60 Pieces of Gold – 1990 – “A Recession We Had to Have” from The Hallway on Vimeo.

A country apprentice’s wages were miserable, so I “upgraded” to a sole proprietor business the day my apprenticeship completed. I had recently been awarded Apprentice of the Year, so thought contracting, installing and servicing air conditioning plants for around $20.00 per hour was going to make a healthy living. After six years, around the mid 90s, my accountant gave me the news I was neither wanting nor expecting.

“You are effectively working for the same paid rate as a McDonalds drive-thru attendant.”

The money made on the tools was OK, however the accompanying administration, quoting and other unpaid follow-up work was mountainous. I was about to be out of work. Something that is not taught in trade schools is that for every hour you spend on the tools, you need another hour to support that with paperwork. (PPS, invoicing, debtors, creditors, insurance, licensing…)

There is a huge blow to your ego when you work your butt off and are dealt that hand early in your 30s. What followed was a “standard” breakdown checklist; a failed marriage, bankruptcy, depression, self-pity.

Late in the 90s, the time seemed right for a change. So, like every responsible 35-year-old does, (early midlife crisis?) I ran away to join the circus. This one was called SOCOG. The Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games. My first role was horrendous. A narcissistic pair of bosses who had us working 60-hour weeks for a $33,000 a year (less than my 4th year apprentice salary but I was keen for a new start in a new industry). We arranged the entertainment for the Olympic Torch relay and travelled the length and breadth of the country.

Olympic Torch Relay, Sydney Summer Olympics 2000 (photo Robin Hutton – flickr)

Just nine months in, thankfully a position opened in the IOC Relations and Protocol Management team and I grabbed it with both hands. Great team, successful outcome. Move forward five years and I was the NSW General Manager of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia. Three years after that, I was living my dream and being paid to visit and ski the world’s best ski resorts. After eight years, it would seem I’d made the right move, but alas…the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) was about to deal a very bad hand to me, and many like me.

The 2009 stimulus handouts were waved agonisingly beyond reach courtesy of a small redundancy package. #Irony. I tapped back into my mechanical engineering background and a government stimulus to secure part time work selling Solar PV installations on commission. I also enrolled to update my skills, finishing a Training and Assessment qualification and starting an MBA.

This career sideshow served me well as it piqued the interest of a head-hunter who had seen the potential of a person who understood technical and commercial benefits of sustainable power use. A German Electromechanical engineering company was looking for an Area Sales Engineer. I didn’t think I was a fit for the company as the incumbent wanted a “business as usual” approach. I am far from that person. Besides, I came from a mechanical engineering background — not electrical engineering as they had sought. Having challenged the status quo at every opportunity for the past twenty years, I gave little hope to a job offer. Six weeks later I started. Eighteen months after that, I was running the place.

Initially, the role was far from a step up. In fact, financially, it was a leap backwards. I had earned significantly more five years beforehand. However, I saw huge commercial opportunities and some very lacklustre leadership. After becoming MD, our head office decided not to replace my Sales & Commercial position. I would fulfil both Primary Sales and General Management duties and be paid less than my predecessors for the privilege. The business turnover was on a strong upward climb post the GFC. We were a service-based company supplying essential maintenance to utilities and the mining industry. I needed more support, not less.

Fast forward six years, our team was smashing every KPI set forth by our German head office. We had taken a stagnant 25-year-old subsidiary that was largely operationally non-compliant (with regards to WHS standards) to ISO standards. We had achieved premium service provider status, whilst doubling the turnover and tripling the profits. We were paying the owners healthy twice-yearly dividends.

The achievements were great confidence builders. I was proud of our team and showcased their accomplishments in the global staff magazine whenever possible. I drove the team hard and expected results. All staff received double digit % pay rises each year I was at the helm. I held them accountable and called them out when we slipped back into a laissez faire work attitude.

Still, the support for me was excruciatingly slow, if not stagnant. The last straw was a salary and headcount freeze in 2016. I was done. I was growing angrier and more frustrated by the day. I shifted my office downstairs so our growing team could work without my regular “colourful conversations” to head office being overheard. After a final fruitless resource request mission to Germany, and with the black cloud building on the horizon, I moved it out the door.

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I had figured that I had given the company six years of loyalty, record growth, world best practice continual improvement and was unwilling to risk the company or my reputation due to short cuts and service delivery failing. I had a duty of care to my staff and stakeholders and I foresaw circumstances soon where I could not meet those obligations. I left with six months’ gardening leave that allowed me to finalise my MBA and a flawless written reference from the Global CEO.

That was May 2016. Surely now the world would be my oyster? Fifteen years recent senior leadership positions, tangible-sustainable growth, best practice compliance, global experience, a freshly minted MBA just five months away…. Surely?

I had been applying for leadership roles for quite some time beforehand testing the waters. “Too soon” I lied to myself. I had written about the decline of accountability and support for company directors in my 2016 MBA Corporate Governance Research Paper. I took the findings to the Australian Institute of Company Directors, The Australian Institute of Management and more than just a few legal and consulting firms. All recognised the glaring gaps in governance — none were willing to provide a platform to expose my findings. These included 87% of people running Australian Subsidiaries had completed no formalised director training… The decline of accountability laid bare.

Ironically, some of these institutions had had their own CEO’s leave their roles to depression and lapses in good governance whilst in office. In 2017, I took my learnings into accountability and continual improvement a step further completing a diploma in WHS. Surely now? Sort of.

After a very tedious and lengthy interview process which included board presentations and four different psychometric tests, I secured a role in within one of Australia’s most iconic brands. I was to overseer change to a toxic culture the caretaker manager described as a “Cluster$^$*”. I discovered embedded cronyism, blinkered “now’s not the right time” management, ridiculous levels of HR micromanagement, salary underpayment, all formalised to senior management.

I was soon to learn that I was supposed to spot clean the stains and iron the creases, and not to do the dry cleaning. I had already packed away most of my things before the inevitable parting of ways occurred. It was clear that change was only wanted if it didn’t ruffle feathers; or jeopardise bonuses. Once again, the decline of accountability laid bare.

In July 2018, I reached out to my local member with an email entitled: “Ageism in Australia: A perspective from a 52-year-old from the Shire”. It was worded to gain the interest of the then treasurer, Scott Morrison. I outlaid my experiences as I have done here. After a few months, there was some courteous to and fro, meetings offered, none secured and then came a leadership spill. In short, the now prime minister’s office communication was disingenuous and unprofessional. I was inconvenient. Eight months passed before a meeting was finally offered…with the Electorate Manager. I declined.

I’m still looking. I’ve completed some 320 job applications and have secured just two interviews. I’ve had my CV critiqued by head-hunters, HR professionals and senior leaders of global icons. I have a list of favourable referees and recommendations as long as your arm. In desperation I even succumb to the professional resume writer (cut, paste, thesaurus, keyword, format).

I’m now approaching 54. I have a further 13 years until I can officially retire. I am more qualified and more experienced than at any other time in my life. I don’t fit into a pigeon hole. I have excelled across four different sectors. HVAC, Tourism & Events, Not for Profit Membership and Electromechanical Engineering. I am alert, in good health, fit and more than capable to fill any challenge afforded me.

To help make ends meet, I teach overhead powerline safety and white card construction industry inductions. This provided me with 45 days paid work in 2019. I am now also a qualified and recognised SafeWork facilitator. Over the past seven years, I’ve come to realise that most organisations see WHS and compliance as an inconvenient tick box, and not the search for continual improvement it’s intended to be. The decline of accountability laid bare.

Interestingly, I also approached SafeWork to be a Mental Health ambassador. That experience is best left unwritten.

Last week, I received another of the many “Unfortunately on this occasion your application for this position has not progressed to the next stage” emails I receive each week. My best mate had given me a heads up. They hadn’t been able to fill this role for three months. It was for a WHS coordinator in regional NSW that paid 55K per year. Not even an interview…

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

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