Job hunt in late 40s
Hi folks, got laid off last year from a B2B SaaS Start up, had joined at a low base coz of equity upside.The company ran out of funds and struggled to pay salaries. I am a Marketer with 20 years of experience, it was a head of marketing role and my first stint in B2B. Past background was digital agencies and senior role in media companies. Problem is that I am not getting any calls for interviews, is it age? Or not having the rigjt CV for optics? Any tips would be helpful
One interview, 1000+ job opportunities
Take a 10-min AI interview to qualify for numerous real jobs auto-matched to your profile 🔑
I'm actually curious to know, after working for 20 years, don't you have enough corpus to retire ? or it's not about money ?
20 years ago, salaries in India were not of the level as they are now, they were much lower. Nor were there as many foreign companies and MNCs operating in India.
So people like us who started our careers 20+ years ago, did not earn or save much in the initial 10 years of our careers.
Most of the salary rises in the market, and our savings from them, have largely come within the last 10 years.
So no, most people with 20+ years of experience, have nowhere enough savings to be able to retire, and that is why senior people like us continue to work 😅
No bro, colleges are expensive for kids :) bulk of corpus got pushed into the property that I own which is paid off. So yeah need to work.
The market is definitely tough, but it's not so much about age, as it is about experience and the roles you might be targeting.
With 20 years of experience, and Head of Marketing tag in your past, if you try to regress and target any lower level roles, then bosses will be scared of hiring you.
If the managers hiring for any role, themselves have lesser experience, then they will be scared of taking you in their team, for the fear that they will not be able to manage you politically, and that you will outshine them in their work.
So your best bet is to apply to similar or higher roles - Head of Marketing, or Director, or VP of Marketing.
But those kind of senior leadership roles aren't always randomly picked up from the market, but come more through your background reputation and network.
So talk within your network, with your ex-colleagues and ex-bosses, for whom you did good work while working with them in the past, and they will be willing to refer you for these higher leadership roles in their current companies, and put in a good word for you with their bosses who are hiring. At these senior levels, a lot of hiring happens through reputation and word of mouth recommendations, and the interview is often just a formality, to say "Hey, you come highly recommended, and we have heard great things about you. From when can you start?"
Also, you can try working with specialized HR recruitment consultancy firms, that specialize in leadership hiring. The normal recruiters who do lower level hiring, will not be able to help so much.
I'm sure you understand that with 20+ years of experience and Head of Marketing past tag, you have now reached the rarified world of senior leadership / management.
At this level, companies expect you to be secure & with gravitas, unafraid, politically adept in the leadership game, and someone who chooses which company or senior role they will go to in order to have maximum impact. Not someone who's desperate to jump into the first job they can find like a junior level employee.
So make sure that your CV and your communication project that kind of image while networking with HR & senior management in different companies.
Also, if possible, bypass the recruiter layer completely, and reach out to senior management people directly on LinkedIn, and talk with them as peers, in the companies where you see relevant open positions listed.
Wish you all the best for your search!