We 'never had it so good' say 60+ generation
23 November 2009
Margaret Christopoulos, Continuing Professional Development co-ordinator for the International Centre for Guidance Studies
This report will be of value to all professionals who offer careers advice and guidance across the age range
”TAEN Chief Executive, Chris Ball.
Workers reaching the age of 60 believe that they 'never had it so good' by starting work when jobs were easy to come by, according to a new academic report co-published by the University of Derby, International Centre for Guidance Studies and TAEN - The Age and Employment Network.
The study, What does 'career' mean to people in their 60th year?, found that many people born in 1948 and 1949 were grateful for the opportunities which opened up to them because of the grants system for higher education, the expanding NHS and the jobs it created, and four or five decades of relative economic prosperity, without the shadow of world wars.
Most interviewees considered that they had fared better than their older 'siblings' in terms of having a wide range of occupations available to choose from. Jobs had been easy to find throughout their working lives despite redundancy at some point along the way. Some also felt that their career 'lot' was easier than their younger 'siblings' - as they would have experienced the impact of the 1980s at the wrong time of their career.
One interesting finding was the 'gender gulf' in the career experiences of men and women, some feeling that being female was a 'career obstacle' for them.
The report was undertaken by Margaret Christopoulos, Continuing Professional Development co-ordinator for the International Centre for Guidance Studies, at the University of Derby (a TAEN member), and Valerie Bromage, who contributed to the analysis of data.
Margaret Christopoulos, a former careers advisor, manager and researcher, who summed up the findings as the 'never had it so good' generation, reports that some of the respondents are looking forward to retirement while others are keen to continue in their professions, feel in their prime and are under no pressure to finish their working lives.
The study adopted a qualitative approach and used primarily one-to-one interviews with people from a range of occupations and employment levels. The research also reviewed literature in a number of related fields and the economic and social history of the 60-year period.
Key findings include:
- Gender was a key issue affecting the careers of those born at the end of the 1940s. Females of this age were often expected to fulfil a family role and a 'career' was less important than a series of 'jobs'. Most men interviewed had a career for life.
- Some of those respondents at the top of their career ladder wanted to retire early or reduce their working hours. This may indicate a hidden 'brain drain'; a loss to the economy of much needed know-how in some sectors, particularly the public sector.
- Some felt that they wished they had had a sense of direction.
- Interviewees offered theories for how people chose their careers; these included talent matching, opportunity, social structure, inertia and spiritual influence.
One respondent (see case study below) said: "When I left school it was easier to find work - people could pick their opportunities.
I think there is more pressure on young people to succeed today - more is expected of them and work is more target-driven. I would not want to be starting out as a school leaver today."
TAEN Chief Executive, Chris Ball, says: "People in their 60s today are in the unique position of being able to look both backwards and forwards and evaluate the impact of guidance or the lack of it on their careers.
"Reflecting on careers reminds us of how much remains possible at surprisingly later ages. Careers do not necessarily end at 60 or thereabouts. Increasingly people in their 50s and 60s embark on yet one more career paths which may demand nothing less than full-blooded commitment.
"This report will be of value to all professionals who offer careers advice and guidance across the age range."
The findings will be presented at an iCeGS symposium at the University of Derby on Thursday 26 November 2009 where careers experts will meet to decide how guidance and careers could be championed in the current economic climate, and to discuss the philosophy and theory of career guidance. The event will be chaired by Professor Dennis Hayes, Head of the University's Centre for Education and Career Development.
David Peck, iCeGS Visiting Senior Associate, says "It is time to look again at the whole philosophy and theory of career guidance and consider how it can best be applied to meet the needs of individuals, society and the economy in the next decade."
Case Study
One of the study's respondents, Chris Fensom, 60, a mother from Hallam's Lane, Chilwell, Nottingham, has enjoyed her career to date.
She said: "When I left school it was easier to find work - people could pick their opportunities. I think there is more pressure on young people to succeed today - more is expected of them and work is more target-driven. I would not want to be starting out as a school leaver today."
Chris studied at Nottingham's Alderman White Secondary School, leaving at 15 and securing work as a Junior Secretary with a chartered accountancy firm. One of her early jobs was taking the latest information from the Stock Exchange for her firm and sending the information to the local newspaper, the Nottingham Evening Post.
She had two further jobs as a secretary, the latter at a Chartered Accountancy firm, working both in Nottingham and in Long Eaton, before leaving - with no maternity leave or pay - in 1974 to have her first child Mark. While looking after Mark, and her second child, Sarah, three years later, Chris bolstered the family funds with Saturday work and teaching shorthand and typewriting at night school.
Since returning to work part-time in the late 1970s, she enjoyed some ten years as a medical secretary with the Queen's Medical Centre, and left to work full-time as a Secretary for The Boots Company for 16 years before being made redundant in 2004.
Chris said: "It was difficult for five weeks being out of work and I joined an agency to find temporary work. It was amazing that the first post I was offered was with Boots although it was in a different department."
Chris enjoyed it and is now a permanent member of staff as a packaging artwork administrator. She said: "I work four days a week and still enjoy work a lot and would like to continue until I am 65 if I can. I have had a varied career but I have enjoyed it and do feel it has been a good period of history to be in work."
For more media information please contact Deputy Head of Press and PR Simon Redfern on 01332 59142 or email: s.redfern@derby.ac.uk.
