Ageism at work

Maya Bhose was part of the recent INCLUSION Festival where she addressed ageism in the workplace by talking about the value of work placements. 

When Maya was made redundant from her 20-year career as a C-suite television marketing executive, she decided it was an opportunity to change careers into the charity sector.   

“I thought the charity sector would be tripping over themselves with the experience and skills I had at half the price I was being employed in the private sector. But I had no contacts and many job adverts state that charity experience is essential. I eventually managed to switch because someone took a chance on me.

“My story is so common. Lots of people get to a stage in life where they feel like they’d prefer to work with purpose, but, ironically, their experience counts against them if they’ve worked in the corporate sector all their life.

“Three years ago, I took what I thought would be a short break from work, but when I tried to get back in, that’s when I faced this massive obstacle of ageism in recruitment. I applied for more than 80 jobs and felt invisible in the job market. It was bewildering. I was getting nowhere.”

That’s when Maya was inspired to set up a not-for-profit, The Well Placed, introducing mid-life workers into the charity sector via paid six-month placements. 

“There is an acute skills shortage in the sector and poor retention rates. I saw a gap in the market to encourage charities to take advantage of transferable skills and this mid-life talent pool.”

At INCLUSION Maya talked about her successful pilot scheme working with leading charities to place mid-life workers into the sector. One advantage the employers she worked with noticed, is the benefit of the commercial mindset the associates came with. “Measuring impact is essential for those working in the charity sector – grant givers want to see the impact of the money they are providing to organisations. 

“With corporate sector experience, you apply that commercial mindset to everything you do.

“Some charities are having to cut back on services because they don’t have the resources to keep going, and yet there are so many people, with transferable skills, who would love to be in those jobs. It seems so obvious to me how to fix it.”

You can read the results of The Well Placed’ six-month pilot scheme and case studies from some of those involved at https://thewellplaced.org/

Maya Bhose’s presentation – along with more than 50 others – can be accessed on-demand here: https://diversity-network.com/inclusion-registration/

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