After four months of diligent job searching, neighborhood resident Gail Worrall discovered the Senior Employment Source and attended her first seminar.
Two months later, she found employment with a Dallas electronics company.
“The Senior Employment Source has helped me tremendously,” she says. “I have such a better outlook now than when I was doing it on my own.”
During her job search, Worrall was most discouraged by entering an interview only to see what she describes as “the look” on an employer’s face when they realize her age.
“It is such a relief to go on interviews through the Senior Employment Source, because the employer already knows you’re older,” she says.
The Senior Employment Source, a joint project of the Senior Citizens of Greater Dallas and the City of Dallas Office of Senior Affairs, is in its third year of helping older workers conduct a successful job search.
Through a series of free seminars held each month, SES is able to direct adults 59 and older to area companies that have jobs available.
Elizabeth Childress, the program’s communications director, says one of the challenges older job seekers face is a wide-spread misconception among young people that senior citizens are “well-off.”
“The fact is there are very few senior citizens who can afford to not work,” she says. “There tends to be the idea among younger people that older people no longer need to work.”
Last year, SES placed 270 older workers in permanent jobs through its jobs-lead database, which houses about 6,000 job listings.
The next seminar will be held Jan. 30 at the Center for Community Cooperation, 2900 Live Oak. For information about this or other services offered by Senior Citizens of Greater Dallas, call 214-823-5700.
