Experience Works is a national not-for-profit organization that offers job training and job-search assistance for people 55 and older who want to join or rejoin the work force.
It worked for Bettie Walls, who used the job training program to upgrade her basic computer skills.
Bettie had held good jobs in her younger years, but as she approached 60, her family suffered a financial setback that led to the loss of their Grand Forks house. A bad divorce aggravated the situation.
Left with responsibility for two teenagers, she cobbled together three part-time jobs that gave her flexibility to spend time at home with the kids. But she was treading water and vulnerable to another jolt, so she applied to Experience Works in 2008.
And it didn't take long for her improved skills to come in handy.
"I was there when the director of the North Dakota Job Service office came in and said he needed a customer service representative," Walls said. "He asked my manager if he had anybody who could do that.
"I've been here (at Job Service) about a year now, and I really like it. I help with unemployment questions and job searches, and sometimes I'm just there to listen. Sometimes you have to let people vent because they've lost something big in their lives."
Her son is finishing a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Her daughter, 17, is getting ready to graduate from high school. "We're doing pretty well now," Walls said. "As a family, we're back on our feet." With federal stimulus money, the regional office of Experience Works has extra slots available for job training and placement for older workers who are back in the job market at age 60, 70 and even 80. "A lot of people have taken a beating," said Ed Finch, coordinator of the Experience Works office in Grand Forks, which serves northeastern North Dakota. "If they had a nest egg, they took a beating when the stock market went down. The higher prices for gas and everything hurt. There's just a lot more need out there." Big medical bills among triggersIn July 2009, about 2 million Americans age 55 or older who wanted work were unemployed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It was the highest unemployment rate for that group since the bureau started tracking it in 1948. Many older workers did not plan to be looking for work in their 60s, 70s and 80s, but something -- the death of a spouse, huge medical bills -- triggered their need to find employment despite an economic recession and increased competition for jobs from younger, more highly trained workers.
North Dakota received about $500,000 in federal stimulus money this year, Finch said, and his region's share is about $100,000. "We're always recruiting people to get into our program, and this extra money means we'll have about 20 training slots" above the usual 50. Applicants must be 55 or older and qualify as low-income. "We have three or four in their 80s," Finch said. If applicants have been out of the labor market for a while, maybe retiring at 65 and "un-retiring" at 70, it can take them twice as long as younger job seekers to find a job in times of high unemployment, according to Labor Department statistics -- on average, 18 months. "We enroll them, evaluate their skills and abilities, look at what jobs are available in the local area and see if we can make a match," Finch said. "We also help them prepare resumes and practice job interviews, and sometimes we can help with money for uniforms, shoes" or other things that may be required by an employer. Trainees are paid minimum wagePeople in training are paid federal minimum wage, $7.25 an hour, and receive 20 hours of pay a week. "It's not a tremendous amount of money, but it helps," he said. "Of the people who came out of our program last year, about 60 percent went right into jobs. We put people into food service, custodial work. One is a meat cutter, and another is a manager" of a retail store.
"Some fall off training because of their health, or they decide to retire," he said. "Some try the training but just can't manage it." People may have misconceptions about what older workers are capable of doing, Finch said, including some prospective employers who believe that older workers call in sick more often. "But statistically that just isn't true," he said. You might also be interested in reading:Managing Change in the WorkplaceJob Seekers Need Emotional SupportLaunch Your Career Change
