News

Tech-Heavy Silicon Valley Looks To the Over-50 Set for Expertise

At age 64, Jack Geisen thought his working life was over. The Silicon Valley-based software specialist had been rebuffed at job interview after job interview early last year, when he tried to re-enter the work force a few years after retiring from Lockheed Martin Corp.

Discouraged, Mr. Geisen sold his home in Los Altos, Calif., and bought a place in a retirement community a few hours’ drive north. Then, in June, he got a surprise recruitment call from Tibco Software Inc., a business-software maker attracted by his years of experience managing projects at a big company.

"They really pursued me like you wouldn’t believe," says Mr. Geisen, who struck a deal with Tibco that lets him work part of the time from home. "I think I was exactly what they were looking for."

Mr. Geisen’s story highlights what some recruiters say is a budding trend in America’s high-tech capital: Silicon Valley — long famous for young, hard-driving engineers and brash entrepreneurs — is becoming friendlier to over-50 workers. The shift stands out all the more because during the Internet-start-up frenzy of the late 1990s, many older technical workers complained they couldn’t find work in a region with virtually no unemployment.

By Phred Dvorak

Full Story: http://www.careerjournal.com/myc/fifty/20060222-dvorak.html?cjcontent=mail

Posted in:

Sorry, we couldn't find any posts. Please try a different search.

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.