Saturday 7-Up
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Opening your first physical store is a seminal, coming-of-age moment for a retailer, particularly in the age of starting businesses online. Many entrepreneurs are enjoying rapid ecommerce success, building burgeoning brands. But opening and running a physical store is a different ball game.
It’s a juncture that the vast majority must cross, and one that’s crucial to get right. However, the rising costs of operating a business, especially with a physical location, have made this leap harder than ever.
Pop-up stores can bridge that gap. They allow retailers to experiment with in-store operations and experiences without the burden of fixed leases and overheads.
Retailers can experiment with their location and design, as well as experiences that could appeal to customers, while at the same time testing the logistics of running a store and physical point of sale. This is invaluable insight for business owners who have only sold products online, and can help them learn how to make physical retail work for them.
Much has been said about the “death” of the high street after 17,500 chain stores closed at the start of the pandemic, but this shouldn’t deter retailers from opening stores.
In fact, physical shopping is rebounding as a touchpoint for new brands and products, with Shopify data finding that nine out of ten (89%) shoppers are now just as likely or even more likely to discover products by browsing in a shop than they were a year ago.
If you think that a pop-up store could be a worthwhile investment for your business, here are some considerations and recommendations to help you make it a success.
Not all pop-up stores are created equal. There are different types, so it’s important to identify which is best for your business.
Perhaps you want to tie your pop-up to a time of year. In that case, seasonal pop-up shops can leverage seasonal characteristics to drive traffic and sales. The most common type is the holiday pop-up shop. These tap into peak shopping season, which, for some businesses, accounts for one third of their annual revenue.
Holidays such as Easter, Halloween, and Christmas can be open goals for seasonal pop-ups, given the loveable decor and treats that go hand-in-hand with these occasions.
Another popular option is experimental pop-ups, which help brands to trial the introduction of new products, markets, merchandising, or retail experiences. Clothing brand Blakely used a pop-up to launch its Life & Style collection, creating over 300 gift bags for customers and getting hundreds of consumers through the door in the process.
Delivering a slightly different concept to a business’ main offering, experimental pop-ups are an opportunity to gather valuable data, such as consumer interest in a new product or even brand identity.
Finally, there are pop-in stores. These are spaces within larger stores that small businesses can rent. Pop-in stores can be particularly valuable as they are typically within physical spaces that have been purpose-built for retail, and where consumers already have a higher intent to purchase.
If you’re considering expanding your ecommerce business into brick-and-mortar stores, launching a new product line, or pursuing a new target market, a pop-up shop may be the best way to run your experiment.
But, while a pop-up store can be a valuable mechanism to learn the nuances and operations of a high street presence, it’s important to have a full understanding of what it entails before committing to long-term agreements.
One key impact to factor in is rental costs and the additional utilities that you’ll need to pay for either upfront, or while the store is open. It is therefore critical to research different locations to identify the best option based on factors such as customer traffic, costs, and whether there are other similar companies nearby that could draw in more customers or even be competitors.
It is also important to plan a store layout that optimises the customer experience, while also factoring in the realities of the space, such as windows and countertops, to ensure displays and signage are maximised.
Ahead of and throughout the duration of the pop-up store’s operation, driving awareness to encourage customers to visit is paramount. A strong marketing strategy is therefore critical to success.
That marketing strategy should start with your existing customer base online, as they’re already advocates of your brand. If you don’t have one in place yet, create a newsletter to share with those customers, informing them about the store and what will be available. It may also be valuable to further entice them through in-store-only deals and discounts.
Social media is also one of the most powerful tools for driving interest and traffic to a store. Sharing behind-the-scenes content and deals, and encouraging consumers to post about your business, can be invaluable.
When coupled with influencer collaborations, all these efforts can help deliver results. Influencers bring their own engaged audiences and, by connecting with your brand, can potentially bring more customers into the pop-up. It may be best to target micro-influencers, which can receive up to 60% more engagement than larger influencers and so can be more cost-effective.
Another way to drive consumers to your pop-up store is by working with local publications that list events, or are relevant to your customer base, to raise awareness. This helps you connect with the local community in which you are operating.
Finally, a good point-of-sale (POS) system is key to your pop-up store running smoothly. By investing in a solution that can synchronise your inventory, payments, and customer data, you could gain access to live information and insights to manage the store more effectively. This will enable you to evaluate your store’s success using data on product sales, peak activity, and how much customers were spending.
You’ll take crucial learnings about your pop-up from the process of analysing your operations, so retailers need to capture as much data as possible.
Pop-up shops offer an affordable first step for online brands to establish a physical presence. While temporary, they enable businesses to explore how in-store selling operates and to test the most effective mechanisms.
Just as importantly, they can help identify any potential points of failure without the same level of risk that a long-term store could bring.
Online will always be a key sales channel, but when combined with a physical retail space, there’s an opportunity to create a unified online and offline storefront that engenders long-lasting connections with customers on the high street.
And, as UK inflation slows down according to the latest ONS figures, and consumers potentially start to gain more spending power, startup retailers have a huge opportunity to reach customers as fully connected omnichannel brands.
Deann Evans’ career spans over two decades in ecommerce and SaaS leadership roles. She currently oversees the European expansion of Shopify, the global commerce platform powering millions of modern, high-growth brands including Gymshark and Huel. This role enables Evans to empower merchants through Shopify’s substantial partners and developer community.
When you’re overwhelmed with stress, you may feel like curling up in a ball and not know how to pull yourself out of the funk. From watching hours and hours of TV to pretending the stress isn’t there, there are common “soothing” behaviors that we do to unwind that can cause more harm than good.
“I do things that exacerbate my stress,” Niro Feliciano, a psychotherapist and author, told HuffPost. “And I know that I’m doing them, but it’s natural as humans.”
Even therapists can fall into these stress traps, she said. But if we work on how we handle stress even just 50% of the time, it can drastically help.
We asked therapists about the one thing that they try to avoid for relieving stress because it can actually aggravate tension — and what they try to do instead.
“The one thing I try my hardest not to do when I’m stressed is get stuck in patterns of binging anything — Netflix, retail therapy, junk food, etc.,” Sadaf Siddiqi, a psychotherapist and content creator, told HuffPost. “As humans, we all need occasional moments of escape and indulgence, but this is not the same as creating coping mechanisms out of them.”
These types of behaviours are often a form of avoiding emotions, which can lead to even more stress.
“Research shows that suppressing … difficult thoughts for long periods of time can lead to poor mental health as well as physical health,” Siddiqi explained. “Strong emotions need to be felt, processed and managed.”
Instead of binging something, Siddiqi tries to focus on techniques that immediately relieve stress, such as going for a walk, dancing to a playlist or talking to a friend. Another option is to use breathing exercises, like breathing in through the nose, holding it, exhaling through the nose, and repeating until you feel a shift. Even taking a quick shower may help; warm water can relax your muscles and reduce tension, while cold water can improve your circulation and lower cortisol levels.
For long-term stress management, Siddiqi recommended creating a routine that includes movement, healthy sleep, meditation, whole foods, hydration and therapy.
“When I have catastrophic thoughts that something will turn out really badly … I do not avoid these thoughts,” said Calvin Fitch, a licensed clinical health psychologist.
He said this can lead to the “pink elephant problem,” in which a thought becomes more intense because you’re trying to avoid it. (For example, if you’re asked not to think about pink elephants for 30 seconds, it’s difficult to avoid.)
Alternatively, Fitch likes to imagine his thoughts as “boxes on a conveyor belt” that he can choose to open or not.
“When a catastrophic thought has no evidence to support it and/or there’s nothing I can do [about it] right now, I let that box pass because I know opening it and sifting through the contents is not useful and actually prevents other thoughts or boxes from passing,” he said.
Learning not to overcontrol your thoughts doesn’t just relieve stress, but can also help with mental health conditions like obsessive-compulsive disorder and panic disorder, according to Fitch.
“Sometimes when we’re facing a challenge, our tendency is to want … to consult [with other] people about it [and] get all sorts of opinions and feedback,” explained Tamika Lewis, the clinical director and founder of Women of Color Therapy. “And sometimes that can actually complicate things.”
Getting lots of different advice from others can distract from what you’re actually feeling. Instead, Lewis tries to sit in silence with the feeling and listen to what’s coming up in her body.
“I try … to trust that body wisdom, which usually is a better guide than other folks’ input,” she said. “It takes a lot of discipline to be still, but there’s a lot of wisdom in stillness and silence.”
She said it can also be helpful to let out stressful energy by moving the body, whether that’s through breath work, stretching or walking. “Usually that will lead you to more clarity than just stagnating,” she said.
MStudioImages via Getty Images
“For me, [white noise] causes my anxiety to increase,” said Priya Tahim, a licensed professional counsellor and the founder of Kaur Counseling. “I find that the sounds leave my thoughts spiralling, almost like my thoughts are on a caffeine kick.”
Though white noise can help some people unwind when used with meditation, others may find its higher-pitched frequencies too stimulating, according to Tahim.
She prefers to listen to her “calm” playlist, which includes “songs with a mellow or romantic vibe” and allows her brain to relax. Listening to music with slow, calming tempos can help physically relax and quiet the mind, she explained.
“When I’m stressed, I [try to] never take on additional things,” Feliciano shared. “When we begin to say ‘yes’ to things that we don’t have time for or don’t have the emotional or mental bandwidth for, we … start to feel resentful.”
This can increase stress levels and cause more anxiety, panic and depressive symptoms, she said. Instead, Feliciano focuses on setting firm boundaries and prioritizing.
“I start to say ‘no’ to the things that are nonessential,” she said. “I look at things that can be postponed and delayed and make more bandwidth in my life for self-care. … If we don’t intentionally make time for self-care, no one has time for it.”
For her, self-care can include walking with a friend, spending time in nature, meditating or practicing deep breathing (even just for five or 10 minutes a day).
As for the tasks that she needs to get done, she makes lists to rank them in order of priority. This helps organise her thoughts and reduce the pressure of remembering them.
“When we’re stressed, we’re in fight-or-flight mode and … our cognitive abilities become impaired,” Feliciano explained. “We actually use a lot of neurological energy just to remember a list. And when we write it down on a piece of paper, that energy can be directed to actually doing the thing.”
“Avoidance never works. It just compounds the situation,” Jeffrey Barnett, a professor of psychology at Loyola University Maryland, told HuffPost.
Barnett has found that pushing through stress like it’s not there only makes it worse. Alternatively, he tries to give himself permission to take a break to do something relaxing or rejuvenating.
He also emphasised the importance of stress prevention practices, like exercising regularly, maintaining a healthy diet, getting adequate rest and not being too hard on yourself.
Leanna Stockard, a licensed marriage and family therapist at LifeStance Health, agreed that the longer she ignores her stress, the more it lingers in the back of her mind.
“Even the ‘smallest’ things [begin] to feel overwhelming,” she said. “This [leads] to a cycle of continued procrastination and amplified stress, until [I’m] at my breaking point and [need] to address it.”
Instead, she tries to acknowledge her feelings and identify if she’s able to control any of her stressors (for example, by taking smaller steps toward a larger goal). For stressors that are beyond her control, she uses coping skills like deep breathing and journaling.
Siddiqi pointed out that managing your stress may require some trial and error. Just because a technique is effective for someone else doesn’t mean that it will work for you. The best thing you can do is to try new practices until you identify ones that are the most calming for you.
“Most importantly, don’t be afraid to ask for help,” Siddiqi said. “As human beings, we are not meant to heal alone.”
These days, it would surprise no one to hear you’re slathering yourself with asparagus extract balm and snail snot serum before bed every night. But no matter how committed you are to the latest and greatest in beauty trends, sometimes the best routines take a cue from old-school tricks of yore.
For example, if you ever wondered why your grandma’s hands always seemed so soft, it was probably from donning a pair of white cotton gloves every night — not because she needed to be ready for a 2 a.m. tea party, but because she wore fancy creams under the gloves, letting her skin absorb them completely.
We spoke to dermatologists about how and why this routine works, and how to make it work in the 21st century.
Your hands can take a beating from weather, regular washing and the frequent use of hand sanitisers. If you have a skin condition like eczema, psoriasis or allergic contact dermatitis, they can become especially dry.
It turns out that your hands don’t have much to protect them, unlike other body parts. “The major contributing factor to the hands drying out so easily is the lack of sebaceous glands,” said Dr. Regine Mathieu, a dermatologist. “The sebaceous glands produce a substance called sebum, an oily substance that lubricates the skin and helps it to retain moisture.”
“So, the palms of your hands are already susceptible to lack of lubrication,” Mathieu explained. “Once you add in different environmental factors that strip moisture from the skin, they’re even more susceptible [to] dryness.”
The cotton glove method beloved by grannies is also one that dermatologists still recommend. “Treating the hands overnight is a great option, because it allows you to soften the skin when you’re not using your hands,” explained dermatologist Dr. Josh Zeichner.
“It helps to maximise the effectiveness of moisturisers or emollients to deeply hydrate and repair the skin barrier,” said dermatologist Dr. Lauren Penzi. “Gloves help the emollient to stay on, and wearing them overnight helps to drive the moisturiser deeper into the skin.”
“Wearing gloves overnight is one of the most effective ways to boost hydration and support the skin barrier,” said dermatologist Dr. Carolyn Stull. “This can be a helpful technique for those with skin conditions like eczema, as well as for people looking to boost skin hydration and softness.”
And there’s a bonus: Your cuticles will love this, too. As dermatologist Dr. Brendan Camp pointed out, “you’ll also be keeping your cuticles moisturised, which prevents the formation of hangnails, which are really just bits of dried-out cuticles that peel back from the skin around your fingers.”
There are two things you’ll absolutely need: gloves and a good moisturiser.
First, let’s talk gloves. Plain white cotton ones, like these, are just fine. In fact, they may be better than their fancier counterparts. “There are many products on the market advertised as ‘moisturising gloves,’” Mathieu noted. “I would caution patients to make sure that they’re reading labels for ingredients, to make sure there are no irritants in them.”
annick vanderschelden photography via Getty Images
“You don’t necessarily need special gloves, but it’s important to use cotton gloves that are comfortable to wear throughout the night,” said dermatologist Dr. Hope Mitchell. Whatever you use, don’t keep using the same pair over and over — they need an occasional run through the washer, please. “Dirty gloves could introduce bacteria and potentially lead to irritation or infection,” Mitchell said.
Not digging the cotton vibe? “You can use a nitrile glove to provide even more occlusion, but a cotton glove is best for sensitive skin,” advised dermatologist Dr. Blair Murphy-Rose.
If you (or your sheets) don’t appreciate occasional goop smears, you can always add a protective layer. “I generally recommend a non-latex glove on top of the cotton one, since the cotton often becomes saturated with the moisturiser and may become sticky,” Zeichner said.
You’ll need to use a heavy moisturiser, experts agreed. “Opt for a thick, hydrating formula that contains ingredients known to moisturise and repair the skin barrier,” Mitchell said. Ingredients to look for include petrolatum, petroleum jelly, shea butter, glycerin, ceramides and hyaluronic acid. “Ultimately, choose a cream that suits your skin type and preferences,” she said.
“I like Lanolips 101 ointment,” Zeichner said. “It’s made of naturally derived lanolin, the same ingredient that makes sheeps’ wool waterproof.” Another favorite of many of the dermatologists we interviewed was Eucerin Advanced Repair Hand Cream.
The application process is fairly straightforward, according to Camp. “Soak your hands in lukewarm water for two to three minutes, which saturates the top layer of skin with water,” he said. “Pat your hands dry and apply a thick moisturising ointment.”
“Then put on your gloves, which will improve the penetration of the moisturiser into your skin, keep the moisturizer in place longer, limit the loss of water from the skin, and prevent you from spreading the greasy moisturiser all over your sheets,” he said.
As great as this method can be to improve the condition of your hands, there are some caveats to keep in mind.
“Be sure to use products that are non-irritating and that you aren’t allergic to,” Murphy-Rose said. “It’s always wise to perform a spot test before using a product overnight under occlusion, which refers to the process of covering skin with things like tape, gloves or impermeable dressings.”
“Don’t get cavalier and try this with a retinol or retinoid,” Camp said. “When applied under occlusion, retinols and retinoids can cause more side effects, like skin irritation, redness, peeling and stinging.”
Zeichner advised: “For people with a history of skin allergies, I recommend sticking to fragrance-free moisturisers.”
As always, your dermatologist knows best. If you have any underlying skin conditions, talk to them first. “If you’re experiencing chronic dry hands, especially if there’s cracking, it’s important to visit a dermatologist for the correct diagnosis,” Mathieu said.
If you’ve ever known the relief of a grandmother’s embrace or the comfort of pulling up in her driveway and knowing that a hot meal was waiting for you, then you probably don’t need any research to tell you that a grandmother’s presence has restorative effects.
Though we can’t precisely quantify the effect of a grandmother’s love, a new study offers statistical proof that grandmothers do help children weather life’s hardships.
Researchers at the University of Turku, in Finland, looked at data collected in a 2007 survey completed by 1,566 English and Welsh youth, ages 11 to 16. Youth who lived with their grandparents or who did not have at least one living grandparent were excluded from the study.
The survey included a behavioural screening questionnaire to measure the young people’s emotional and behavioural problems.
“Our main finding was that investment from maternal grandmothers seemed to be able to protect their grandchild from the negative influence of experiencing multiple adverse early-life experiences,” Samuli Helle, the lead researcher, told HuffPost.
“Adverse childhood experiences” is a phrase psychologists and others use to describe “traumatic events or difficult circumstances that happened between the ages of 0 to 17,” Whitney Raglin Bignall, associate clinical director for the Kids Mental Health Foundation, explained to HuffPost. Examples, she said, might include “abuse, neglect, having an incarcerated caregiver, witnessing violence,” living with a caregiver with substance abuse issues or living in poverty or in an under-resourced setting.
Though not every person who has an adverse childhood experience will go on to have issues, they are more likely to — and this likelihood increases with every additional trauma.
In childhood, Bignall said, these experiences may “change brain development and impact their body’s response to stress,” “negatively impact their ability to develop healthy relationships,” “impact their ability to pay attention, learn and make decisions” and “lead to poor mental health.”
In adulthood, a person is also more likely to experience mental health problems as well as substance use issues and chronic physical health concerns, such as diabetes, asthma and cancer.
So having the ability to prevent adverse childhood experiences, or to blunt their effect somehow, can have a positive influence on a person for many years. This is where the grandmothers come in. Kids who had adverse childhood experiences were less likely to show the negative effects of these experiences as they grew if there was a maternal grandmother in their life who offered support, such as child care or financial assistance.
Interestingly, the researchers found this protective, or “buffering,” effect only with maternal grandmothers, not other grandparents. Helle said that this finding was expected and in line with an evolutionary theory known as the grandmother hypothesis, which states that by helping to care for children, grandmothers increase their daughter’s fertility. Helle cautioned, however, that the University of Turku study reveals an average statistical pattern and that in real life there may be numerous examples of grandfathers or paternal grandmothers providing the same care to the same protective effect.
Helle also noted that this buffering effect isn’t powerful enough to completely erase the impact of trauma. “Not even the highest level of investment from maternal grandmothers seen in these data was able to fully safeguard grandchildren from the negative effects of adverse early-life experiences,” he said.
Because the effect of adverse events in childhood lasts for many years, so may a grandmother’s buffering. “By being able to protect their grandchildren from the ‘full impact’ of adverse life events, maternal grandmothers’ investment in their grandchildren can produce a long-lasting impact on the development and wellbeing of these children,” Helle said.
One of the best ways to counter the harm of an adverse childhood experience is for the child to have a strong support system, Bignall said. “This includes having an ongoing and trusting relationship with an adult. An involved grandmother who is consistent, loving and available can be an essential buffer for children,” she explained.
No matter what role you play in a child’s life, she recommended the following ways to support a child who is facing hardship:
With all of their experience and wisdom, grandparents in particular are able to pass along culture and traditions in addition to offering support and guidance.
“There is something that is very special about the love of a grandparent, and when given it is uniquely additive to children,” Bignall said.
Since she got laid off from her job in December, Donna Kopman, 57, has sent out over 300 job applications. From Sunday through Tuesday, the Lake Oswego, Oregon, resident spends eight hours a day at her computer applying for jobs. The rest of the week, she focuses on researching jobs she will submit applications for the following week.
So far, she has gotten only one job interview with a recruiter.
“It’s really frustrating,” Kopman said. “I’m not trying to shoot for the moon at this point in my career. I just would like gainful employment until I retire.”
Before her layoff, Kopman was a sales operation manager at software company Milestone Systems. She had two decades of sales experience and made $110,000 at her last job. Now she is applying for jobs that earn $60,000 and has broadened her search to include administrative or contract work, in order to get affordable health insurance.
Kopman said she regularly experiences highs and lows with her job search. First, she will get excited by a job and spend hours crafting a personalised application based on how the role aligns with her direct experience. Then, she will have those hopes dashed by an automated rejection 24 hours later.
“It’s like, did anybody even look at my résumé?” she said. That’s when Kopman questions: “Well, is it ageism?”
Amanda Lucier for HuffPost
Kopman is right to be concerned. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects U.S. workers who are 40 and older from being discriminated against on the basis of age, but the odds are stacked against older job seekers.
If you’re over 50, you are more likely to lose ― or be pushed out of ― your job. Once this happens, it takes much longer for older job seekers than their younger counterparts to land a job again, let alone a job that pays them what they are used to earning.
In fact, half of people in their 50s are laid off at least once and only 1 in 10 of these workers will ever again earn as much as they did before this setback, according to a 2018 data analysis by ProPublica and the Urban Institute of the Health and Retirement Study.
One major reason it’s so hard to get rehired? Because of machines that rank an older job seeker’s job application.
When older workers apply for a job, they often get rejected by automatic tracking systems that can sort out their résumé based on dates used and skills that they do not list, said Carl Van Horn, a public policy professor and director of the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. He gave the example of digital skills not being listed, even though they can be easily taught.
Employers “make this assumption and say, ‘Well, they probably don’t know how to do X, Y, and Z.’ Now, of course, on the other side, what we know is that [those] people have been successful in the labor market for a long time. They’re probably good workers,” he said. “But it flies against some people’s attitude about older people and what they can and can’t do.”
And as more employers adopt generative artificial intelligence into their workflow, Van Horn said he expects older job seekers to face potentially more rejections.
The common advice you’ll get as an older job seeker? Hide any suggestion of your mature age. That’s because hiring managers can make instant judgments based on what you share.
In one experimental study, economist Joanna Lahey sent out 8,000 fake résumés of candidates to hiring managers and tracked what they looked at with an eye-scanning lab. Hiring managers’ eyes were pausing at years of employment history and the year candidates got their education, and ultimately spent more time scanning the résumés of younger candidates.
Kopman said she no longer bothers applying to jobs that ask for a graduation date in their online applications.
Nina, a 55-year-old Allentown, Pennsylvania-based job seeker, said she keeps her 1987 college graduation date off her résumé and, when possible, she avoids including the years she worked at past jobs.
Nina, who asked to be identified by her first name since she is currently employed, said she also purposefully colours her hair for interviews. “I want to go grey so bad, but like our society, they just write you off as invisible anyway, so I’m still colouring my hair,” she said.
On top of these appearance biases, some employers still hold ageist beliefs that older employees are “too stuck” in their ways and that they will not adapt to new business needs, Nina said.
To fight against the assumption that older workers are unfamiliar with technology, Nina posts her LinkedIn and Instagram information on her résumé to show she is up to date on social media.
Kopman is aware of how her long-term unemployment is eating into her savings. She has not taken a break since her layoff. Her unemployment insurance will expire in November. She is currently paying $900 a month to retain her health insurance from her past job through COBRA.
“I’d love to take advantage of this opportunity of not working to enjoy myself and do things. But you can’t psychologically allow yourself to do that, because you have no idea what your next real paycheque is going to be,” she said. To stay positive, Kopman said she takes walks.
Amanda Lucier for HuffPost
People keep working and looking for work into their 50s through their 80s both because they want to and because they have to, for their budgets.
If you were born between 1943 and 1954 in America, you will not get full retirement benefits until you turn 66. And many older workers do not have enough saved up to retire comfortably. About 43% of people between 55 and 64 do not even have a retirement savings account, according to a 2022 survey of consumer finances from the Federal Reserve.
Washington, D.C.-based Elizabeth White, who is now 70, is the author of “55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal: Your Guide to a Better Life,” which is based on her experiences looking for work. After losing consulting jobs amid the 2008 Great Recession, White said she faced challenges with re-entering the job market, despite her advanced degrees and accomplished employment history.
To make ends meet, she got a roommate and started taking a Greyhound bus at times for job interviews in New York, among other cost-cutting measures.
“It was humbling to have the kind of background that I have and to have this whole thing [happen]. I felt like I had stepped on a banana peel,” she said.
And she’s not alone with experiencing financial insecurity as an older adult. White said a lot of older workers will eventually give up searching for the types of jobs they once had and start looking for what she calls “a casserole of work.”
“So they might [get] a little bit of Social Security, they might rent out a room in their place on Airbnb … that older guy you see at Trader Joe’s bagging groceries is probably not there because he wants to be,” she said, as an example of what this series of money-making opportunities might entail.
So if you’re an older job seeker, it helps to “get off your throne” and be open to changes and pivots, White said: “Sometimes you have to … go back a couple of steps before you can go forward.”
Mark Gyurina, chief program officer for job training nonprofit Operation ABLE, said a common challenge people in their 50s and 60s face is the reality of being single or widowed and needing to get back to work to support themselves.
Darla Jelley is a 57-year-old single mom of a 17-year-old teenager who lives in Boston. Now that her daughter is almost an adult, Jelley wants to re-enter the workforce full time after taking part-time jobs doing eldercare. In April, she graduated from Operation ABLE’s 12-week job training program for older job seekers who meet federal low-income guidelines and are interested in working for medical offices.
Jelley said the program taught her computer skills like how to craft a résumé and how to use Excel and PowerPoint. But more important than teaching her how to save files, the program boosted her confidence, Jelley said.
Before the program, Jelley didn’t have much contact with the outside world except for her home-care clients. “I didn’t think I had anything to offer,” Jelley said about her skills.
Studying to become a nurse has always been Jelley’s dream that she has not been able to afford doing. But through Operation ABLE, she has a few interviews lined up to be a hospital front office coordinator and a pharmacy technician that have tuition reimbursement programs. Recruiters came to her classes, which gave participants “a foot in the door for interviews,” Jelley said.
Jelley said she once used to view her goal of becoming a nurse at 61 as “crazy.” But after her job training, “I don’t consider that at all. Like, I would do it in a heartbeat,” Jelley said.
“People over 50 are not ready to be put out to pasture.”
– Donna Kopman
Even talking with fellow older job seekers can be a much-needed balm. When Greg Bailey lost his job at 56 in 2020, he joined an online job search support program called Who Ya Know four months into his search. He said ageism was one of the most common shared issues people talked about.
“That was a huge lifesaver for me, because it does get very painful, it gets very lonely, especially when you’re not interacting with other people,” Bailey said. “The things that I was feeling, they were feeling too.” Bailey has since found a new sales job.
Research finds that once you have been out of work for more than six months, it gets significantly harder at any age to find a job, but particularly for older job seekers. That’s why it’s critical for older job candidates to network to get past long-term unemployment biases on top of ageism.
“Emailing résumés is not going to get you employed, you really have to be out there in the community,” Gyurina advised older job seekers.
He said older job candidates should network extensively through internships, volunteering and part-time work to avoid résumé gaps and build references, and that they should take advantage of help that family or neighbors offer.
Amanda Lucier for HuffPost
You never know who might lead you to your next job opportunity, so make time to invest in your relationships.
“I often find that people in their 30s and 40s are much more knowledgeable about where the jobs are, who are the rising stars, where’s the money, where are the opportunities,” White said. “I’m applying for something now that I would not have heard of, but somebody told me about it.”
White gave a past career success as an example. She said she got into an entrepreneurial incubator, because someone in their 40s who was already in the incubator and had worked with her years ago, told her, “Oh, this would be a good opportunity for you.”
If you’re not finding success with getting a regular 9-to-5 job, it might be time to forge your own path.
White, who is now the founder of NUUage Coliving, which seeks shared affordable housing solutions for older adults, also pointed to entrepreneurship as a growing alternative path older job seekers can take. She cited 2019 research from the job nonprofit Kauffman Foundation, which found that more than 25% of new entrepreneurs were ages 55-64 ― a number up from about 15% in 1996.
Ultimately, older employees are an asset to any company. Research backs up that older workers are less likely to quit and are more likely to have higher performance ratings than younger colleagues. And at their best, multigenerational teams can share their unique knowledge, networks and experiences for better ideas.
But more hiring managers need to believe in this, too. Until then, don’t count out people just because of their age, older job seekers implore.
“At this stage of the game, I have no kids at home,” Nina said. “I don’t have to be home at 5. I can stay late, I can come in on the weekends, I’m not running out to drive anybody anywhere. To me, it seems like a no-brainer, like, ‘Give me this job.’”
Nina said losing out to job candidates who are 20 years younger than her can make her feel self-doubt, but ultimately, “It’s your age, and … it’s their loss.“
Nina is currently the oldest person at her video production job, and when she started, she believed she got “OK grandma” vibes from certain younger colleagues who avoided interacting with her. But the teammates who did take the time to know her now “lean on me for everything.” “You’ve got to be a trailblazer at a certain point,” Nina said.
So don’t be ashamed of highlighting the skills and experiences your long career has given you. In the eyes of the right employer, it’s what will make you stand out. In his job interviews, Bailey highlighted the fact that “I don’t have to learn those things; I already know them.“
Or as Kopman puts it: “People over 50 are not ready to be put out to pasture. We have so much experience and personal learnings to be shared with colleagues who are new to the workforce.”
We all know our pets have their own little personalities and human-like quirks (my childhood dog had favourite TV shows and hated on-screen wildlife).
But recently Reddit user u/AnonPinkLady shared a post to r/TrueOffMyChest which read, “I just realised my cat knows what a sunset is and purposefully tries to get a glimpse of them every day and my heart can’t take it.”
The post author shared that at around 5pm every day, the setting sunlight streams through a big door that leads to her apartment balcony. (Presumably, this changes as the seasons do.)
“Like most cats, she loves the warmth,“the poster shared. But “more than even that, she’ll meow and look at us curiously, until we scoop her up and hold her up at our eye level.”
The post author wrote, “She’ll reach her little paws forward and rest them against the glass and stare at the sun as it starts to drift below the city skyline.” Aww.
The poster was understandably touched by the realisation.
“I think I just realised my cat knows what time the sun sets and wants to look at it every day and that might be the most beautiful thing about her I have yet to discover. Help, why do I want to cry?” she asked.
But it turns out most cats do have somewhat of a sense of time, as anyone who can set their clock to their cat’s 6am cries for food will attest.
“Cats are crepuscular, meaning that they are primarily active around dawn and dusk. This is evolutionary, meaning all cats instinctively and naturally do the same,” cat behaviourist Anita Kelsey shared with Metro.
They may also pick up on context cues, such as when you come home from work and when you switch the kitchen lights on, to set their internal “clock” ― still, it’s sweet that this poster’s cat uses it for reasons other than extra kibble.
“For ages, my house had awnings. Once I got rid of them, my two sweet kitties discovered the aeroplanes that fly overhead. They always heard the noise, but never knew what was causing it,” one commenter shared.
“They’re strictly indoor cats. Now they hear the planes and jump onto the back of the couch or on their cat perch and watch. It really is sweet to watch.“
Yet another site user wrote, “You are only human, it’s okay to cry. Occasionally I glimpse little quirks of my cats and it makes me cry too.”
I’m not even a cat person, but… is someone cutting onions around here?
:quality(70):focal(1986x1328:1996x1338)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/PHEX24WDEKGRAWDBZBYAT4CC3Q.jpg?w=768&resize=768,0&ssl=1 "Family withdraws Trinity bursary in protest over college becoming ‘no-go zone for Jews’")
A prominent Jewish family has withdrawn a bursary for disadvantaged students at Trinity College Dublin in protest over the university becoming a âno-go zone for Jewsâ due to what it calls the universityâs failure to protect student welfare.
Dr Edwin Abrahamson, a UK-based consultant paediatrician, helped create the Maurice Abrahamson Bursary last year in memory of his father, a Trinity law graduate who went on to become a successful stockbroker in Dublin.
He wrote to the provost of Trinity this week after the university released a statement on Wednesday in which it pledged to fully divest from three Israeli companies in which it held investments in response to a student protest encampment, and to review other ties to Israel.
âTCD appeared to have yielded to mob rule in their decisions regarding Israel and have allowed the college become a no-go zone for Jews, with terrorist flags flying openly, racist placards and a culture of fear to prevail,â he wrote. âThere is complete shock in our community.â
He said in a follow-up interview the âterrorist flagâ reference was to a flag for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) â designated a terrorist organisation by the EU â which was waved by some masked students on campus this week.
Dr Abrahamson, a cousin of Irish film director Lenny Abrahamson, said some of the rhetoric used in student protests over recent months was âpure anti-Semitismâ, and appeared to have celebrated the October 7th killings in Israel that led to the current Israel-Hamas war.
âThe college has not only taken no action but rewarded them, yielding to every demand. No duty of care to your Jewish students or donors has been shown. This shames the pluralist ethos of the college,â he said.
Dr Abrahamson said his fatherâs name could not be associated with Trinity in the circumstances, and felt he had no option but to withdraw the bursary.
âMy ailing 94-year-old mother, whose maternal family were slaughtered in the Holocaust, is devastated. She was so proud when I proposed funding a bursary in Dadâs name,â he said.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for Trinity College Dublin said it was very grateful to Dr Abrahamson for the bursary, and regretted and respected his decision to withdraw it.
âTrinity has sought to support all of those affected by the war no matter where they come from or what their political stance,â the spokeswoman said.
[ Irish students have been protesting over Gaza for months. Why are we only noticing them now? ]
Trinity said that immediately after the October 7th attacks it had contacted students from Israel to offer support and to provide details on support services in the university.
The spokeswoman said staff have engaged with the Trinity Jewish Society â which has more than 100 members â and offered students a safe space to meet, and will continue to provide any support needed.
âThe university has already stated that all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, have absolutely no place here,â the spokeswoman added.
Trinity College Dublin Studentsâ Union did not respond to an approach for comment.
