Over the last few days, I’ve had something of a revelation. A ‘whack around the head’ might be a better way of putting it.

You see, I’ve had the opportunity to speak to lots of ‘over 45s’ who visited our Age of Experience Network website and enquired about what we do. Seeking their feedback, I picked up the phone to talk to them about their career path plans and expectations. To be truthful, it was pretty heart rending to hear some of the stories.

I had really talented and experienced executive level people telling me of their despair at sending out hundreds of applications, (over 300 in one case), and not even getting an acknowledgement from employers. No wonder there’s so much talk about a mature age employment crisis!

But you know, the more I spoke to these fine individuals, the more I got frustrated. Frustrated that they’re actually MISSING the point.

They were, (how can I put this nicely?), going almost cap in hand asking for a job. That’s NOT the way to go.

I found myself workshopping on the phone with them to show them how to CHANGE that. To forget trying to get a ‘job’ in the conventional sense. (After hundreds of applications, it’s pretty clear that’s not working!)

Instead to show these grey hair EXPERIENCED people that they can CREATE work opportunities for themselves. Whether it ends up as full time or part time employment or consulting projects, they CAN make it happen.

When I pressed them, they agreed with me that thousands, tens of thousands of companies ‘out there’ have problems they can fix. But they didn't know how to go about approaching them. Or 'selling themselves'.

So let’s get one thing straight. There's LOTS of opportunity out there waiting for you to tap into. So what if you’re 55, or 65. Or 70. If you’ve got a solution, you can be the ‘Red Adair’ of your area of expertise! (I’m assuming you’re old enough to know who Red Adair is. If not, just Google him!)

And they also agreed that, in many cases, these companies out there are too inwardly focused to SEE that they have a problem, let alone have the people or skills to come up with a solution. In other words, lots of companies don’t even know that they DON'T know they have a problem!

Of course, the questions then came back to me, “Yes, but how do I get to TALK to these companies. I hate cold calling.”

The good news is, you simply don’t have to ‘cold call’ anyone. Cold calling is DEAD.

In these short discussions, I couldn’t go into the myriad of ways to get in front of potential companies who need expertise like this. That after all is why I created the “How to be IN DEMAND in the Workforce in the age of experience” program in the first place. It has ALL those answers.

But I learned something else from my discussion with these ‘grey hair experienced’ individuals too. That even with the online learning centre and tools, many said they crave having someone to be a sounding board. To counsel them and coach them. And I've made a commitment to making that happen as part of our Age of Experience Network program.

Now I can’t guarantee you'll GET the work you want … employment or consulting. But I can guarantee that through Age of Experience Networks new high level support program, we’ll give you every chance to break out of the doldrums and be in control of your employment destiny.

The rest is up to you. It’s the old adage, “If it’s to be, it’s (ultimately) up to me!”

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