Part Time Sales Assistant Jobs Forum

Start a New Discussion

This Forum has been created for sharing knowledge, experiences and opinions between users and for professional growth.

  • Age and experience, good or bad? Last updated by Susan: 06-Oct-2017 View last comments

    The shop where I was working was hit badly by the crisis and had to close down. Although it was a local shop, it had a lot of costume in its day and it worked with a lot of suppliers and dealt with huge amounts of stock. When I lost my job about 6 months ago, I decided it was time to reshape my life and thought that part time would give me what I need now at 49. Well, since I started looking I have not been called to that many interviews but when I have, I have not got to the final stages. Whenever I’ve asked for feedback I’ve been told that my background is good and that I have a good record (I’ve very good references from my old job) but … nicely it always gets to the point when physical appearance and age appear in the scene. Right, left and centre we hear about equal opportunities, rights, no discrimination based on race, colour, religion, sex … but the sad truth is that some of us are left out of the equation no matter what.

    Add comment
    • I am in the same situation, my experience was good but for similar reasons I lost my permanent job more than a year ago. Since then I’ve only managed to get temporary posts, and I’ve come to the conclusion that being 53 is the problem. It’s like the experience acquired over all these years counts for nothing. Experience is more than 50% of the secret to dealing with people, and unlike in other fields, most of what you learn never goes out of date. So frustrating! I feel that those who look at me as a mere body who is 53 are not aware that I am more than that, I’m someone who was once as young, energetic and driven as they may be now, and that since then I have not stopped growing and I can contribute an awful lot!

      28-Sep-2017 Reply to Wayne
      • In recent years, experience has changed from being valued as the result of the acquisition of knowledge and skills over time, to become a question of intense exposure for relatively short spans of time, those of us whose experience has been earned over the years seem not to have the same worth.

        06-Oct-2017 Reply to Daniel
        • I've come to the conclusion that though this really is the general trend, there's also a number of companies that value experience and age in the traditional sense. I hope to come across one of them in my search!

          06-Oct-2017 Reply to Susan
    Add comment
  • My dream job Last updated by Rizwan Ahmad Khan: 01-Dec-2015

    If you could choose a dream job whether it be in your current field or something else what would it be?

    Add comment
    • My ideal job is to be a cricketer

      01-Dec-2015 Reply to Rizwan Ahmad Khan
    Add comment