Failure? Not so sure about that.

I happened upon a broadcast radio essay yesterday and it was about failure. This particular writer preferred to celebrate failure over success because of the lessons and rewards that can only come through the struggle and learning through failing.

He talked about chefs who compare chopping wounds and other kitchen-related battle scars. The more scars (failures) the greater the evidence of learning through experience. We all know the old adage, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." Well, is that so different from the learning through failure to find a job over 50?

Just think of what we learn. Instead of a few resume rejections, I hear from Jobseekers who send out hundreds of resumes and job applications with not ONE response. Instead of one or two interviews that turn into job offers, there are a dozen rejections just to start.

I am always affected by the many emails and stories that come my way every week. Stories about the struggles of 50 plus jobseekers actively seeking jobs with no success. In a couple of weeks, I'll tell you more about Marla (not her real name), an administrative assistant seeking work in the Midwest. I'll tell you about how she went back to school at 62 to hone her skill set and how she drives over an hour for each job interview. I'll give you the inside story on how her friends assure her of her inability to find employment and how even the ten temporary staffing agencies cannot find her one day of work. But I'll also share with you Marla's tenacious determination to find a job. And how the fact that she is willing to drive an hour each way to work and back every day, just for the privilege of working, will be an asset to her future unknown employer.

And I'll tell you how her inability to find a job...the skill set she has employed throughout her failure to secure employment, is the very essence of why someone will, in fact, decide to hire her.

Oh...and if you want to hire Marla, let me know. I can easily contact her...she tracked me down with detective-like skill!