Starting a New Job Late in Life 3AW 693AM Radio Melbourne with Tony Moclair

By Sue Ellson

Topic: Starting a New Job Late in Life

Date: 10 October 2025

Media Outlet: 3AW 693AM Melbourne https://www.3aw.com.au

Broadcaster / Interviewer: Tony Moclair

Producer: Rebecca Chin

Duration: 00:03:50 – 00:12:31 Total 00:08:41

Time of show: 12:12pm

Audio Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJGjzAeqAlc

YouTube Video:

Using AI on Resumes and Cover Letters on 3AW 693 AM Radio Melbourne with Tony Moclair and Sue Ellson

Transcript

But right now, well, I guess this actually does seriously mirror Neil’s fate, the pot plant. But how late in life did you start a new job?

I’m keen to know 133693 if you’ve had a late career change, one that was either voluntary, initiated by yourself or forced upon you?

I ask because there’s an article in The Age that detailed the story of a 65 year old who had recently been made redundant and is struggling to look for another job.

Now I know statistically it is a tough battle I think for especially men in their 50s, it’s 25% that go on to another form of employment.

So you do have the barrow in front of you and with the pension age now at 67, more Australians are needing to work longer in order to keep up with the cost of living, which is daily growing at an alarming rate 133693.

How late in life did you start a new job?

Have you been in this position?

Maybe you are in this position.

Give us some idea of what you’re facing.

I would love to know.

133693 Unemployment figures do show that there’s been a rise in the number of old Australians who are out of work.
So if you’d like to give us your experience of that incredibly stressful situation.

I would love to hear from you or if you started a new career later in life on 133693.

Sue Ellson knows something about this. She is a career expert. Good afternoon Sue.

Hi Tony.

So that that figure I mentioned 25%.

Mmm.

Of I think I remember reading, it was men who find other forms of employment. Does that gel with your own experience?

Well yes, definitely once you get a little bit older, it is more difficult to find work. The scarier number is for women.

Okay.

It can take them two and a half years.

Wow.

To secure another job if they’re more mature and looking for work. So yeah, it’s across the board and something that we’ve talked about many times before, the skills to get a job are different to the skills to do a job, and a lot of people throughout their career have got their jobs through friends or something happened.

Mmm.

Or you know, some things just sort of falling into place whereas at this age and stage you’ve got to be a lot more strategic about your approach.

And does that mean employing social media?

Well, poor Neil failed that job.

Yeah

The pot plant.

Yeah, Yeah, true. Yeah.

But yes, at some level, because if people Google you, ’cause everybody will be Googled before they’re offered a job and nothing comes up, then the hiring decision maker gets very nervous about that because they can’t do their own due diligence.

So, if you had a rogue social media account with lots of political views, that probably wouldn’t help either.

But I definitely encourage people to have a professional LinkedIn presence, which I’ve talked about before as well.

Yep.

And that can definitely showcase their skills. But if they’re not working now, if you want to play tricks on the algorithm, you can put in that you’re doing career research.

Yeah.

So it looks like according to the algorithm that you’re working, but then when somebody finds you in that search result, they can see, Yep, you’re currently open and available.

133693. How late in life did you start a new job? Have you experienced this of, let’s say an employment dislocation later on in life? 133693 There’s obviously pros and cons to hiring older people.

Mmm.

By let’s say middle age you are a lot more responsible and grown up you’re going to be at work every day without a hangover and weather having been to a music festival there’s that on one side, however, it seems every business these days is run on some sort of by some sort of technology and that’s just meat and drink to anybody under 30.

Mmm.

So as an employer, is that the kind of choice they’re faced with?

Well, it can be, and there’s a lot of people who are acquiring new skills. I’ve got a friend who’s in his late 60s and he was telling me how he uses ChatGPT for practically everything now. So there’s definitely people, older people with those skills.

Yeah.

I think we need to remember that as we age, we’ve got a lot more lived experience. So we can actually look at a situation and say is technology going to help or hinder this process? Whereas a younger person might do 64 things with technology and take twice as long.

So for instance, I was in a situation recently where somebody it was a will situation and they were using ChatGPT but, you know, you know, it’s not right, this person can’t change the will, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I said, well, can we just speak to a lawyer and find out? And the lawyer turned around and said, yep, they can do whatever they want, you know, But they’d spent three days.

Yeah.

Using AI.

Yeah.
To try and justify the answer that they could contest the will. So there’s a lot of wise people around and there’s another story, I don’t know whether you heard it.

The guy who that this machine couldn’t work that brought in lots of people, nobody could work out how to fix the machine.
And so he comes in, bangs it once with a hammer and charges them 10 grand and it works.

Right. Yep.

And the guys said, how could you charge me 10 grand for fixing this machine? Well, I’ll charge you $1.00 for hitting it, you know, the hammer and $9,999 for knowing where to hit it.

Oh, thank you.

And that’s what happens with an older person. They bring that in. So in that Age article it talked about the guy being in the clothing industry and not being able to lift because he had osteoporosis and so on.

But because he had those production level skills, he could have transferred that to another production line and been able to monitor that and perhaps come in, I don’t know, once or twice a month.

Mmm.

To check how things are going. Charge 10 grand for that, not have to rock up 8 hours a day and be paid 30 bucks an hour like a younger person would be. So, you know, I think you’ve got to be much more strategic about how you go about these things.

Sue Ellson is a Career Expert.

We’re talking about, well, changes of career later on in life based on an Age article about somebody who’s been made redundant and is struggling to look for another job.

133693 if you’re in that position or you been through that position or you know somebody who is currently going through that, there are, I would imagine, laws on the books against discriminating against the basis somebody on the basis of their age. That’s all well and good, but it’s I guess it’s hard to prove and harder still to litigate. Is that, is that the sad reality?

It is a sad reality and a lot of people try and get around it by only putting the last 10 years, you know, in their application.
And then I say, do you want to be rejected before the interview or after the interview ’cause if they didn’t want to hire you because of your age, you know, it’s not gonna make any difference if you if you get an interview or not.

So I like to suggest, and I remember when I was in my 20s doing recruitment, I thought anybody over 30 was old.

Mmm.

Now I’m 60, I’m twice that age, my goodness. So what is going to be more likely is if you target decision makers who are 10 years older or younger than you.

And I’ve got clients who are 79 and 81 and whatever and they love me because you know, I, I speak their language.

Mmm.

And I can communicate with them. So if you go looking reconnecting with people you know, say look, I’ve recently lost my job. Anything you can suggest your friends are likely to be in a similar age range.

Yep.

And even they’re going to know your value and the capacity that you bring and the fact that you do turn up and as we age, yes, our cognitive capacity is different.

Yeah.

We don’t operate as quickly, but we do have all that lived experience. So we know what’s going to work and what’s not going to work. So I think remembering that and not trying to compete and do the quickest social media post that ever lived, but to say no, let’s do three posts a week and focus on these elements because that’s what’s gonna bring us business or whatever it is.

You know, that’s what an older person is going to bring to the table.

Well, and on that, if you’re an employer, I’d ask you to look at the diversity of the ages.

Mmm.

Of your workforce. It’s a word we get clobbered over the head with daily it’ll be nice to see it invoked certainly when it comes to employing people over 50 Sue Ellson, career expert thank you so much for your time as always.

Thanks Tony.

133693.

Social Share

STARTING A NEW JOB LATER IN LIFE // Have you voluntarily or involuntarily started a new job later in life? 🤔 Did you encounter ageism during that process? I discussed this topic with Tony Moclair on 3AW 693AM Radio Melbourne including:

✅ the difficulty of finding work after age 65
✅ 25% of men in their 50’s going on to another form of employment
✅ mature women taking two and a half years to find other employment
✅ skills to get a job being different to the skills to do a job
✅ being more strategic about your job search
✅ having an online presence for when people Google you
✅ creating a professional LinkedIn presence
✅ beating the LinkedIn algorithm with a current Career Research position
✅ use of technology and social media in business
✅ using ChatGPT and wasting time compared to talking to an expert
✅ charging for your expertise, not your time
✅ transferring the skills you can use somewhere else
✅ discrimination on the basis of age
✅ targeting decision makers 10 years older or younger than you
✅ cognitive capacity changing and the value of lived experience to focus on what works
✅ increasing age diversity at work

Enjoy the show online at https://sueellson.com/blog/starting-a-new-job-late-in-life-3aw-693am-radio-melbourne-with-tony-moclair

This link also includes further information you may find helpful.

Thanks to Producer Rebecca Chin for reaching out!

➡️ Are you over 50 and finding it difficult to secure work?

I would love to continue this discussion and hear your perspectives.

#3awmelbourne #startingover #careers #tonymoclair #sueellson