A few people asked about school. I’m taking a two-week course (mornings only) called Experience in Motion. It’s for “mature workers” aged 45 and older. It’s sponsored by the Ontario government, as part of the “getting Ontarians back to work” program.
This two-week course has been running for six years, but this session will be the last one ever. They just lost their funding. The three trainers are going to be unemployed in two weeks. (In fact one of them had his last day yesterday.)
Also, remember that course I took a couple of months ago, with all the career interest tests and stuff? COPE? They just lost their funding too.
Anyway, this course is pretty interesting. The focus is on finding jobs in the hidden job market as opposed to the open job market where there’s so much competition. And it’s actually not so much on finding jobs, but on finding work. They emphasize the ways in which the job market has changed over the years, and how job search methods must change accordingly. For example, the kind of jobs we’re used to – permanent, secure jobs with benefits – have been replaced with more precarious forms of work.
The other thing, which is kind of weird, is the relentless focus on age. They keep trying to spin the positives of our age, but at the same time they’re advocating updating our resumes to remove any hints of our age (for example, removing the date of a degree). They talk a lot about ageism, and about how younger people don’t want to hire employees who remind them of their parents. This is because of stereotypes like older workers are set in their ways, and can’t adapt to rapidly changing technologies, and are just trying to kill time til they can retire. It’s also because young people aren’t comfortable with the idea of being authority figures to people their parents’ age.
Anyway. The whole thing is making me feel kind of old, which I don’t think is the purpose.
In other news, GC and I saw a coyote on Hunt Club Road between Merivale and Woodroffe yesterday afternoon. He was standing on the side of the road as we (and a guy on a bicycle) drove by, and was a very handsome specimen.
And someone stole GC’s hanging flower basket last night, which was hanging by his front door. It was stunning, and we just bought it a few days ago. I forget what kind of flowers they were, but they were a cascading mass of tiny blue flowers. Lobelia, I think.
Off to school!
Handsome? Blush…
Damn! I wonder what it would take to set up a security camera pointed at your door? I’m going to ask the expert and get back to you. That’s not the first basket to disappear and somebody should be held accountable. In the meantime, I suggest marking the basket on the bottom with Sharpie or something indelible so that we can tramp through the ‘hood to find the culprit. I hate stuff like that. Grr.
It’s true. We are set in our ways and can’t adapt easily and are just killing time until we can retire and sure don’t want to take direction from some kid young enough to be our kid. And what we would consider “assets” like our years of work experience are really liabilities in today’s market — mainly because our experience is irrelevant to how things are done now. I like that they’re showing you how to look for work instead of jobs because I really think that’s where we oldies will shine — in consultant-type positions.
I just spent two days at a training where I was one of the oldest people there. I have to take so many hours of training to keem my psych rehab certification and this room was full of young, starry eyed folks. I felt old. I listened to them ask their questions thinking “I know the answer to that”. I was in awe of their energy and enthusiasm. I like to think that I temper my enthusiasm with knowledge and maturity. I had an eye opening moment the other day. The job I have now may very well be the last “real” job I ever have. It’s a sobering reminder of my age. I’m only 52 but in this job market, that’s ancient.