Seniors and employment: when unemployment and hardship are the only horizon

The subject of senior employment is at the heart of ongoing discussions between employers and unions.

Catherine Pons, 60, goes around in circles

“In the fall of 2022, I was diagnosed with a serious health problem, for which I had to have brain surgery,” Catherine, a former state civil servant, modestly confides.

"My human resources department summoned me to see a doctor to find out whether or not I was suitable for taking up a position. The problem is that this doctor is a general practitioner and not a neurologist, better able to measure the consequences of the illness,” she regrets.

Declared capable, she could not claim incapacity to directly claim a full pension. She is currently unemployed without compensation and has multiplied applications in the public and private sectors.

“When I applied to the private sector, I did not communicate my age. And then I had interviews!”, she exclaims. “But as soon as I filled out the HR forms, it was over: the recruiter noticed that I was 60 and something and said that I was going to retire within the next 18 months.”

“We’re going in circles!”, annoys the sixty-year-old, for whom working is not an option even if she considers herself “lucky to be married”. “I would be a single woman, how would I cope with my responsibilities?”

Pedro, 55, with a career “behind him”

Pedro, who did not wish to give his last name, is a former manager of private higher schools, registered with France Travail (formerly Pôle emploi) since the beginning of November and compensated since the end of November.

“For those aged 50 and over, we already have a career behind us,” this Grenoblois told AFP.

So, when he "candidates for smaller positions, for which (he has) sometimes more experience and skills than the director, we don't take (him) seriously." And each time, his salary expectations seem “important”.

So how can we best support this executive?

“I have already had several contacts... with different advisors,” assures the fifty-year-old. The ace. "The first told me very quickly that she was not the one who was going to take care of my file. The second wanted me to do a business creation internship even though I had created my business since 1997. The third, who only deals with executives and business executives, must call me in the coming days,” says Pedro.

"Humanly, the agents are there" but that's all, "they don't know how to 'match' the reality of a CV with the person's intention or career desire".

Renan Ker, 63, in the hole

His job is cooking, a passion that he pursued at all levels, in the greatest starred restaurants before finding himself unemployed and without resources.

France Travail has been blocking his compensation since September, and is asking this Breton to prove to the Pension Fund that he does not have all his quarters. Proof that on average the agents of this public service take six months to establish.

In the meantime, his situation is deteriorating a little more every day: “I requested the payment of my compensation as a precautionary measure,” confides the sixty-year-old. In vain. "I'm down to -1.300 euros in my bank account. I haven't paid my rent for two months, my taxes... and I'm playing with deferred payments from the 20th of each month."

"I feel like I'm digging a bigger and bigger hole. At 63, I have to beg and beg for my rights to be enforced. That alone is demeaning and humiliating," he says.

Renan also believes he has "still something to pass on": "I want to support, put my qualities and skills at the service of people who, like I did 20 years ago, want to evolve."