Career Change

A former colleague of mine, who’s already in his 50s resigned two months ago from his job as Executive Secretary in the IT Department, moved to a small business unit and again quit his present post.  Today, he sent an email to our HR Manager requesting for a job.  He wanted to join our organization but basing on our salary scale, he’s too expensive.  I doubt that we’ll even grant him an interview.

Our recruitment policy states that we should be transparent in our recruitment process.  We believe in selecting the right man for the right job.  But business realities like the salary budget are often considered in the recruitment process.  In the case of my former colleague, he’s in his 50s and his asking price is beyond the budgeted amount for the skills that he can do.  In fact, for his skills, we only pay half of what he’s currently earning from his present job.  Why would our organization hire him when the money we will be paying him can pay for two staff? 

If his skills are different and specialized, there’s a possibility that he can get more.  If you have specialized skills, the more experienced and mature you are, the higher your pay will be.  If you honed your skills, chances are companies will be looking for you and not the other way around.  Sadly it’s not the case for administrative and clerical professionals.  That’s the reason why if you’re an administrative and clerical professional, you should learn new skills so you’ll be promotable. 

One of the best examples in changing your career path is to enroll in the post graduate degree.  Actually it’s not just the academic qualification but it also pays if you’re well read. 

 Going back to my former colleague, I pity him because he had not realized that his greatest disadvantage is his age and his asking price.  Forgive me for saying this but because he has no specialized skills, no company will be willing to give him his asking price.  The worst scenario is that he’ll file for final exit or accept a job that pays lower than what he’s currently receiving.  From what I’ve heard, he resigned from IT Department because of a little misunderstanding and he resigned from his present job because of workload.  I think the only factor that made him resign from that job was his pride.  He did not consider a lot of things when he made the decision.  He never realized that he’s already old.  If companies have a choice, they’ll bring in a younger employee who’s still trainable, knows the latest technology and has no preconceived notions.