I wrote this some time ago - republishing now on November 2019 May need revision
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A Review of Some Second Career jobsites
Introduction
Very often people retire
early under VRS or opt for early retirement arising out of frustration: “Enough
is enough” feeling overpowering them temporarily. Very soon such people get
bored with retired life which is boring caused by empty, “nothing worthwhile to
do” realization. They wish to be re-employed and get back to active work
culture. Personal finances could be another major reason for looking for jobs
again. They are still young, healthy and bubbling with energy to go on for
another decade easily. Many seniors
might have retired at the ‘normal’ age to retire as dictated by the employer’s
rules. They too may be seeking jobs
again. What are the resources available at our disposal for these specific
needs? Let us briefly review a few of these.
Review of Jobsites for
Seniors
1.
Society for
Serving Seniors based in Secunderabad runs a blog site called: APSCCON Second
Careers Blog. The URL is: http://apsccon-second-careers.blogspot.com/
Here a list
of vacancies, primarily suitable for senior citizens, is uploaded every week. The list is culled from popular
websites like Naukri, Jobahead, Monster India, Clickjobs, Careerjet and others. Twitter feeds for
similar vacancies are also regularly added. The latter has the advantage of
being highly current and nascent. A
reader can go to the concerned jobsite for more details.
It is
primarily meant for members of APSCCON (Andhra Pradesh Senior Citizens
Confederation).
However
anyone can benefit by it. The usage is
strangely minimal.
2.
Run by Ms Shivani
Mehta of MS University of Baroda, jobsforelders is a website started in September
2007 as a part of academic project work. (http://www.jobsforelderly.in)
There is a
decent list of employers in Gujarat who prefer to take up senior citizens. The
site is not up dated regularly and as a job site may not be of great use.
“Profiles”, intended to be job listings under various categories, is not
clickable – perhaps it is out of date and hence the links are dummied.
3.
One of the recent
entrants in this field is http://jobsfor60plus.com/.
As of now only very few jobs are listed but they promise to expand very fast.
This site is hosted by an NGO based in Chandigarh.
4.
Another slightly
older jobsite exclusively designed for senior citizens is: http://www.talent58.com/ This site can not
be used effectively unless the job seeker registers. You can not see jobs
available just by searching or by categories or city etc, unless you are
already approved as a job seeker. However if you are an employer, even without
any registration you can get list of candidates seeking re-employment by
searching categories. When you see the list you can not find out if the
candidate is still available (may have registered a decade ago and may not be
interested now) or the date of registration etc. Some links do not open (broken links).
5.
http://www.anubhuti.biz/ is yet another
site taking care of senior citizens, disabled persons, and women wo would like
to take up jobs after a gap. The last category is called the ‘come back’ group.
Job postings are occasional. Some years ago this site was vibrant and active
but now it is dormant with no updates.
6.
Dignity
Foundation in collaboration with ICICI Prudential has started a website called http://dignitysecondcareers.org/ This site also has provision for registration
as an employee, employer, volunteer, volunteer seeking NGO, etc. Unless you
register no information is available for the casual visitor for assessment. No
search is possible.
You need to
pay Rs 1200 as a lifetime fee to enroll yourself as a volunteer which includes
a free subscription to Dignity Dialogue – a monthly newsletter.
If the senior citizen is net savvy another very useful
source one should not miss out is the Twitter database. I find searching tweets
for second career vacancies highly rewarding.
Apart from the above specialized job sites, regular
job portals like: Naukri, Jobsahead, Monster India, Clickjobs, Careerjet have regular job posts feeds.
Searching such sites is easy, useful and very user friendly. While registration
helps maximise the usage, it is not mandatory. The problem with a ‘pucca’
registration as an employee seeking job info is that the process involves
tedious data entry running to several pages. You need to wait to be admitted.
Finally the site will turn out to be disappointing with no updates or suitable
jobs. I find this Registration Requirement very irksome and a great hindrance.
Though I am job seeker, in how many sites should I register, wasting my time?
Alternatives
Why does one seek a second
career or re-employment? Is it not for augmenting financial resources? In that
case, I would like to suggest two slightly out of the way alternatives. As a
substitute for re-employment, some single seniors look out for second or
re-marriage opportunities. Here the consideration is that the other party will
be financially sound and be willing to share the burden of household expenses.
Availing Reverse Mortgage Loans by pledging one’s property for generating a
steady stream of income is an alternate way tackling money worries, if a person
does not succeed in getting a job suitable to his requirements or expectations.
Summary
From the foregoing, we can see that, although many job
sites are coming up for the older people, none is maintained well or updated.
This is a great disappointment. Any job site for elders should: be easy to use,
not insist on elaborate registration procedures, be kept updated with current
listings, and delete vacancies that are filled up. I am not in a position to comment on second
career counseling centers run by Dignity Foundation, Harmony, Heritage etc as I
have no personal knowledge of their current functioning.
