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September 29, 2007

Baby boomers seek better jobs

Alice Collinsworth

EDMOND — At age 50-something, Edmond resident Valerie Spencer is unexpectedly finding herself looking for a new and different career. And she’s not alone.

Spencer, who has a degree in industrial engineering, said she was laid off in December from her position as a mortgage loan processor. She was one of hundreds of job seekers attending the Oklahoma City Employ the Older Worker Job Fair at the Omniplex on Tuesday.

Several of the job seekers said they were looking for new fields of work due to unexpected layoffs or other life events.

“Now I’m at the point where I’m just looking for a good-paying job,” Spencer said as she made the rounds of potential employers.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in 2000, 13 percent of the U.S. workforce was 55 or older. By 2010, that figure likely will increase to 17 percent.

In response to an aging workforce and a tightening labor market, the AARP Foundation and The Employment Guide teamed up to sponsor a series of job fairs across the country, including Oklahoma City.

“The Employee Guide has figured out that one in three employees will be over age 50 within three years,” said Justin Thomas, general sales manager for the publication. “We wanted to partner with the AARP foundation to match up older workers with companies who are looking for employees.”

TCIM Services of Edmond, a telemarketing company, was one of the companies seeking workers at the job fair.

“We do see a lot of older workers continuing in the job force,” said Summer Jones, TCIM recruiter. “They are great workers — reliable and dedicated, and we’re glad to hire them because we know they have been dedicated to other companies in the past.”

Jones estimated that about 5 percent of TCIM’s workers are age 50 or older.

Spencer said it isn’t always easy for a person past age 50 to find a good job.

“”I feel like some employers are just looking at my age,” she said. “Some tell me I have too much experience.”

For now, she is hoping to find work as an administrative assistant in order to have a steady income. It’s not the career path she had planned for midlife and beyond.

“They told me the mortgage industry is just too soft right now,” she said. “At age 50, you really don’t want to start over; I’m at the age when I’m trying to finish up.”

Terri Owens also was looking for administrative work Tuesday. She has a wealth of clerical and office experience, but was laid off after eight years with her most recent company.

She and her husband are in the process of starting their own business, but she needs to provide income until their enterprise is up and running.

“There’s a certain amount of money I need to make,” she said. “I can’t afford to work for $5 or $6 an hour any more.”

Employers at Tuesday’s job fair ranged from banks to restaurants and furniture stores. The event was sponsored in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Labor’s National Employ Older Workers Week.

“This will be an ongoing partnership with the AARP Foundation,” Thomas said of Tuesday’s job fair. “It’s been very successful in other cities and it appears to be quite successful here, too. We’ll definitely be doing this again in the Oklahoma City area.”



acollinsworth@edmondsun.com |

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