There are some moments in life you just don’t want to think about. And yet you have to. One of those moments is job loss—especially for executives over age fifty in this economy. A new book tackles the crisis head on. It’s called Fired at 50: How to Overcome the Greatest Executive Job Search Challenge, by Tucker Mays and Bob Sloane, coprincipals and cofounders of OptiMarket LLC. (Full disclosure: Mays is married to Gabriella Mays, the publisher of this magazine.)
The duo has developed a practical step-by-step plan for executives to position their age as an advantage. They cover sophisticated job-search tactics (networking, interviewing, negotiating, and organization and time management) practical case studies and tips.
Most job seekers over fifty “have no idea how to conduct a successful job search,” says Mays, who began his career on Wall Street with Goldman Sachs and later held marketing-management positions with leading consumer products companies, including Chesebrough Ponds, and served as EVP/COO at Avia, Spinergy and Diamondback.
“Smaller companies tend to be less concerned about age,” says Sloane, who was in senior management at a number of companies, including Colgate-Palmolive. He’s also the cofounder of the Executive Forum for Senior Executives.