Wrong.  I headed straight for the top advertising recruitment agency in Sydney, but the new job proved elusive.  Sure, there were a few nibbles.  But nothing materialised.  Finally, I asked the headhunter a direct question.  "Do you think my age is a problem?"   I got my answer:  "Yes, but it would help if you didn't wear a dress".

She went on to give her off-the-record, politically incorrect analysis of the job market in my chosen industry.  "Creative Directors are in their 30s now" she said. "There's no way they're going to employ someone older than they are."  It also seemed that the Sydney scene was something of a boys' club and that being older (Older?  I was in my mid-forties for God's sake) and female was the double whammy.  Uh huh.

My solution was to freelance.  When the client didn't know where the work came from, there was no problem.  I was coming up with the goods, without compromising the agencies' youthful images.

This not just a women's problem, although my preliminary research indicates that  women face an even tougher battle against ageism. The down-sizing of corporations and consequent loss of  management jobs has seen men and women in their forties, fifties and sixties suddenly facing a crisis. Here they are, arguably at the height of their powers, and no-one wants to employ them.  The spoils are to the younger up-and-comers.

I have since seen friends I used to work with made redundant for reasons that had nothing to do with their performance.  The Managing Director of one company, when asked about one of these sackings, commented "She must have known her use-by date was coming up".  Another friend, working for the same organisation for more than 30 years, was recently retrenched after the agency lost a big account.  There was no criticism of her performance.  She didn't even work on the account in question.  It's just that, at 50+ years old, she didn't look the part any more.

The reasons for writing this book are partly personal and I can't deny that my own experience  was the trigger.  However, in the light of recent pronouncements about people working longer, the retirement age being raised and the difficulties that are  likely to accompany an ageing society, it is important to examine the challenges confronted by those who want to remain self-supporting well into their 50s and 60s.

There are a lot of questions that need to be asked.   Is there evidence that performance actually declines with age?  Is Australian business being disadvantaged as people with a wealth of knowledge and experience are being unceremoniously dumped from the workforce? Or is the ascendancy of youth important in keeping Australia innovative and competitive?

At a personal level, what strategies can people use to prolong their working lives?  How do people cope with joblessness at the peak of their careers?  Which occupations have the worst, and which have the best, record when it comes to the ongoing employment of older workers? Taking this into account, which fields of endeavour offer the best "lifetime income potential"? 

Right now, I don't know the answers. There is still a stack of literature to wade through, research to conduct and analyse, dozens of people to interview and, oh yes, quite a lot of long nights at the keyboard.  However, at the end of it all, I hope to have a book that will shed light on a topic of major concern to Australians in my age group and, perhaps, suggest some directions for the future.

Do you have a story to tell?

If you have experienced "ageism" in the workplace, whether or not it resulted in your losing your job, I'd love to hear your story.  Please contact me at jan@thinktag.com

Chapter by Chapter

(OK, it's early days. But here's an idea of how the book might be structured.)

The Sound of Goodbye

Why older people are losing their jobs.  What their companies are saying to them. What the real story is.

A Hole in the Safety Net

What the Government is saying about retirement incomes.  Why you need to work for longer - if you can.  The shrinking tax base and the future of pensions.

Prime Time

When are you at your physical peak?  Your creative peak?  Your intellectual peak?  An investigation into thinkers and creative artists at their most productive.  The historical and psychological evidence. Some thoughts on the role of experience on intellectual productivity.

All About Burnout

Is the pressure of today's workplace sucking people dry by age 40?  Is constant turnover the only way to maintain vigour in an enterprise?

Booting Out the Boomers?

Are baby-boomers an obstacle in the path of the next generation of leaders?  Or are they a valuable source of mentoring and experience?  Are we making room at the top, or creating a vacuum?

Check the Use-By Date

Which careers currently have the best record for retaining older workers?  How does this relate to income scales and educational requirements?  In some occupations, it pays to plan on getting out early.

New Careers for Old Hands

How are older workers who lose their jobs coping with their new reality?  What options are available?  Can a second career begun later in life offer a better lifestyle?

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