WorkSearch: Finding Jobs
and Training for Work
In 2009 and 2010, the national unemployment rate reached its highest levels
since 1983, and older workers were
much more likely to be out of work
longer than younger people.
Our WorkSearch programs responded
in a big way. In 2010 alone, we provided
direct job search or training services
that enabled nearly 79,000 older people
to achieve some measure of financial
independence.
Laid-Off Marketer Kick
Starts Job Search
Harper Harris had been a marketing
and new-product consultant to a major
credit card company for six years. But
late in 2008, along with thousands of
others in the financial services industry,
she was laid off.
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AARP Foundation has a long history of
operating successful employment and
training programs. For more than four
decades we have provided subsidized
training opportunities for low-income
individuals age 55+ through the Senior
Community Service Employment
Program (SCSEP), supported by a grant
from the U.S. Department of Labor.
“It felt lousy,” she says. “In fact, maybe
because of the industry I was in, I felt
paralyzed. So many people had been
let go, and banks all over the country
were turning people loose at the same
time. They literally shut down hiring.
Lots of really talented senior people
were without work, and there wasn’t a
job to be had in financial services.”
In 2010, we operated more than 70
community-based SCSEP training sites
in 22 states and Puerto Rico. We are
proud to have remained the most successful national sponsor of SCSEP, in
both the number of people served and
the number who were hired.
She tried transitioning to the health
care industry, but acknowledges,
“I was impatient. I had many good
conversations, but no job offers. I just
wasn’t finding the things I needed.”
The eligibility requirements for SCSEP,
unfortunately, leave some older job
seekers just out of reach of SCSEP
help. To provide a safety-net of job-search assistance for this population, the Foundation developed the
WorkSearch program, which helps
an additional segment of vulnerable
seniors with skills assessments, connections to online and community-based
training opportunities—all at no cost to
individuals.
Although Harper kept busy by joining
a support group in the Twin Cities area
of Minnesota and volunteering for a
religious nonprofit, she says, “I still felt
like a zombie sometimes.”
Then, in May 2010, a friend told her
about WorkSearch. Harper applied,
and before she knew it, Washington,
DC-based WorkSearch volunteer
Charles Talley called her. Together,
they kick-started her job search into
high gear.
