I’m delighted to have a new Big Read published in the i Paper: Too young to retire, too old to hire.
I write regularly for the i, but this one feels particularly important to me. It grew from something I’ve been seeing, and becoming increasingly concerned about, through my work and my writing about longer lives, work and ageing.
For decades, I’ve worked in career development, helping people navigate redundancy and find their way back into work. I even wrote How to Get a Job in a Recession after the 2008 financial crash. But something has changed. We’re being told we need to work for longer, yet many people in their 50s and 60s are discovering that employers seem to have decided they’re already too old.
I wanted to write this piece because the contradiction is becoming impossible to ignore. People with decades of experience are applying for jobs they could do well and hearing nothing back. Being described as “overqualified” can sound almost flattering, but when you need an income, and may have another decade before retirement, it is anything but.
This isn’t simply about finding work. It’s about money, confidence, identity and what happens when society expects you to keep working while the labour market appears to be telling you otherwise.Read the full Big Read in the i Paper:
This is also part of the much bigger question I’m exploring through my work on Olderhood: if longer lives are changing the shape of later life, our assumptions about work, retirement and age need to change with them.
