Getting hired as mature workers: They got new jobs after age 55
Published on
19 Nov 2022
Published by
The Straits Times
SINGAPORE – When Ms Angela Mah applied for a new job in 2019, she did not expect to land the role. “I didn’t think I would be considered because I was already 55 then. I was pleasantly surprised,” she says.
Ms Mah is now 58 and a medical concierge with Prudential Singapore. She helps policyholders liaise with a hospital’s business office when claiming medical expenses.
The former corporate secretary, who has a diploma in business management from the Singapore Institute of Management, has had to learn new medical terms and processes for this role. She also delved deeper into discovering her interests and future goals through her employer’s in-house well-being coaching programme. The avid photographer who has taken up cycling plans to spend more time on such hobbies when she turns 60, and perhaps work part-time.
Work brings her psychological and emotional satisfaction as well as economic benefits. “It feels great to be able to work till the age I want to retire,” says Ms Mah, who often faced ageism while looking for jobs after being retrenched in her 40s.
The mother of grown twin sons has worked as a sports executive at a recreation club, a financial adviser and an operations executive, as well as in administration.
She has seen friends rehired on reduced terms as they age and appreciates not having to worry about that any more. In 2018, Prudential got rid of the retirement age for its employees. “It doesn’t feel that because I’m old, I’m not as productive and have to work at reduced terms,” says Ms Mah.
Older workers getting hired
In Singapore, the Retirement and Re-employment Act states that the minimum retirement age is 63. According to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) website, employers are not allowed to dismiss any employee based on age, and must offer re-employment to eligible employees who turn 63, up to age 68.
Companies which employ workers aged 55 and above can benefit from the Senior Employment Credit scheme, which can offset up to 8 per cent of an employee’s monthly wages.
According to the Labour Force In Singapore 2021 report issued by MOM’s Manpower Research and Statistics Department, the employment rate of seniors aged 65 and over rose to 31.7 per cent in 2021, compared with 28.5 per cent in 2020.
The situation may be improving further. According to the Labour Market Report Second Quarter 2022, issued by the same MOM department, the long-term unemployment rate has declined for residents aged 60 and above. It is down to 0.9 per cent, compared with 1.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2022.
Ms Linda Teo, country manager for staffing corporation ManpowerGroup Singapore, says a talent crunch in Singapore plus greater openness to flexible work arrangements have opened opportunities for older workers who want to keep working, but not on a full-time basis.
“Employers have also become more flexible with their hiring requirements due to the manpower shortage,” she adds. “They focus more on whether the person has the required skills, rather than whether the person fits all their desired criteria when hiring.”
She says older workers often want to keep working because of financial commitments, or because they want to stay active while contributing their knowledge and experience to society.
Experience, tech make many jobs ageless
Years of experience, a historical understanding of processes and specialised skills make older workers valuable to companies, especially in knowledge-heavy roles such as human resources, education and banking.
Ms Teo says: “Due to their years of working, older workers can be relied on to do the work with minimal assistance as they have accumulated the required knowledge and experience. They are also less likely to job-hop compared with their younger counterparts, and hence are more reliable workers.”
Ms Caryn Lim, chief executive officer of NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute), says older workers can serve as mentors to younger workers as well. “Older workers who have accumulated years of experience working with different individuals could be more adept at handling difficult situations, be it a difficult customer or understanding a co-worker’s plight,” she says. “Diversity, different backgrounds and skills contribute to a high-performing team.”
She adds that most sectors are open to hiring older workers today. Technology, too, can help older workers through physically demanding tasks. She cites the example of Chang Cheng, a Singaporean food-and-beverage company, where older workers used to have to carry delivered goods from the unloading bay to various chillers every day. This was time-consuming and strenuous.
With support from e2i, the company put in a walk-in blast chiller. With proper storage available, goods now need to be delivered only once a week and can be conveyed on trolleys. Older workers thus no longer need to manage daily deliveries, but can focus on food preparation, which increases their productivity.
“It is important to provide an inclusive work environment for our workforce, in particular as Singapore is ageing rapidly and we are working with more senior workers today,” Ms Lim says.
Ms Teo of ManpowerGroup Singapore says hiring managers often assume older workers are over-qualified or will not fit into the workplace because of their age. “Sometimes, older workers are also overlooked because the line manager is not comfortable managing older workers,” she adds.
One solution could be offering project-based work. Older workers often prefer flexible or part-time work, and this could suit companies which prefer to pay per project and keep their payroll commitments light. In November 2021, UOB rolled out a gig employment scheme to rehire its retired employees in areas such as customer service, operations and systems and processes.
Breaking biases
Ms Mah recalls worrying about her age when applying for jobs in the past. “When I was retrenched and looking for work, I would get the feeling that people prefer younger staff. People told me, ‘You’re overqualified’, even if I didn’t mind taking a pay cut,” she says.
“Perhaps they think that older people are less tech-savvy and have more health issues, so they will be more costly to the company. Maybe they think we are too slow to grasp new things.”
Career coaches that The Straits Times spoke to agreed that mature job seekers have to contend with such biases related to their age. Another observation is that older workers often need help with upskilling or identifying their strengths in resumes.
Ms Parameswari Seenivasan, a senior career coach with statutory board Workforce Singapore, says: “Once job seekers have identified a job role or industry, they should then identify the skills they are lacking as these would hinder the career switch. Bridge those gaps by pursuing courses or equivalent work-related experience. It is important to keep an open mind and keep learning, to stay relevant with the rapid changes in the workforce and society.”
Former tutor Jayne Goh, 57, has done several courses, including in online marketing and training, to be a private detective. The married mother of a grown son sent out dozens of resumes in 2021, but received no reply until 2022, when a childcare centre hired her as a manager.
It was a return to a sector she was experienced in and enjoyed. Ms Goh started her career tutoring students soon after completing her O levels. She also ran holiday study camps for foreign students from 2006 to 2012, catering to 366 students, mainly from Indonesia.
Though she thought she was enjoying retirement, her husband, an optometrist, felt a return to work would rejuvenate her. Ms Goh had stopped working at age 50. “My husband told me to go find work, make friends and have something and people to depend on besides him and our son,” she says, laughing. “I’m glad I did.”
Receiving no response to her many job applications dented her confidence, until a session with a job coach from e2i helped her refine her resume and identify her strengths. It gave her the confidence to pitch for her current role, even though she needed her son’s help to set up the Zoom job interview.
She still finds some technical aspects a challenge and often stays back at work to familiarise herself with data processing software. It is a struggle, but worth it, she says. “It still takes me a long time to make a data table, but the kids are so wonderful that it makes me want to come to work every morning.”
Source: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Reproduced with permission.
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