When a young manager interviews an older job candidate, the manager may have some fears. It's human nature.

After all, the salt-and-pepper candidate sitting across the table may have more experience and skill than the manager - enough talent to perhaps even steal his or her job, or show them up.

It's one of the big obstacles facing the over-50 job seeker, says Barry Witkin, founder, president and CEO of Prime50 Employment Services, a nascent Toronto-based company that matches over-50 workers with employers across Canada.

"There's a perception that maybe that 55-year-old person knows more than the 35-year-old manager, and the manager won't hire him," says Witkin.

Barry Witkin

"We're trying to say the opposite. We're trying to explain to employers that he's a team player who wants to make the 35-year-old manager look better and make the department better."

In reality, all the 55-year-old wants is a chance, says Witkin, who believes today's older generation of workers needs to devise many strategies to deal with the myriad of myths it faces.

For example, to reduce the perceived threat a young manager may feel, Witkin advises plus-50 job candidates to volunteer to work on contract. It's a purely psychological tactic that makes the candidate seem more like a consultant and therefore less intimidating.

Based in Toronto, Witkin is a chartered accountant and former head of corporate finance for BDO Dunwoody, a national accounting and consulting firm. After retiring from BDO, he ran his own business for five years.

In January 2003, his life changed. He watched a 60 Minutes show on CBS and was "struck" by the lack of help unemployed older workers receive in the corporate world.

After extensive research, he launched Prime50 in October 2004, a web-based employment board that matches over-50 workers and employers. The company also offers career-service workshops, an online news journal, and this spring began building a national network of Prime50 centres across Canada.

A general manager - whose job is to approach employers and sell them on the benefits of hiring plus-50 workers - will run the centres. The manager will also provide career service workshops and other tools to aid the unemployed client.

Witkin explains that jobseekers, many of whom have worked with the same organization for 20 years, lack basic skills such as resume writing, have lost touch with their networks and feel disillusioned.

"A lot of jobseekers have lost confidence and their self-esteem has gone down the drain after looking for a job for a year."

As part of the coaching candidates receive in workshops, they are videotaped in a mock interview and shown where they've made mistakes. Image consultants scrutinize their appearance. And they're given tips that put them in a better light with employers.

"We suggest when they go into an interview they have a Palm Pilot and put it on the table," Witkin says. "It shows an employer that the person must be fairly tech-savvy."

Prime50 also offers job seekers advice on starting new careers, and puts them through various personality tests to determine where they are best suited.

Although people might want to start their own business, the tests may show they lack certain entrepreneurial traits. They may have a good idea, Witkin says, but may need guidance or face certain failure.

"As an example, a person may not be great with people but may be perfectly suited to the back end of a business. In that case, that person may need a partner at the front end, a person who is good with people ... (doing) marketing, sales and promotions."

Witkin says a key selling point for Prime50 is that it will eliminate frustration that employers and jobseekers face. Under his business model, job- seekers and employers register with the website for a fee. Employers know they are dealing with an older group.

Witkin explains that because many older job candidates submit resumes without their age on it, and only list their past 10 or 15 years of work experience, they often shock an employer who thinks he's getting a 35-year-old candidate.

"They may have talked on the phone and the jobseeker has a young voice. But when he walks into the interview, it's not what the employer expected. And bingo, they (older candidates) are finished.

"That's why we are specializing in this area. We're telling recruiters (employers) there are no surprises. These are the people you will be getting."

He adds that employers are becoming disenchanted by the trend where today's skilled younger workers stay on the job for a couple of years, then bolt elsewhere.

"It's costly and a drain on productivity. Companies are looking for an alternative, but there never has been one. We're saying there is an alternative and it's a big one. It's the 50-plus alternative."

Witkin launched his website in October 2004 and has 2,000 jobseekers registered. He expects the number to grow "dramatically" as he recruits general managers to operate the Prime50 centres.

He admits that he started his company because it presented a unique business opportunity. When he researched the plan, human resources specialists and economists confirmed he was onto something.

But it was just over a year ago when he received a resounding go-ahead. Witkin posted some ads at online jobsite Workopolis, explained his idea and asked for feedback from the over-50 crowd.

"Within one week I had 3,000 e-mails," he recalls. "I kid you not. I thought my computer would explode. Every single one said, 'Thank God there's somebody who is prepared to help us.' That's what they were saying."

The personal stories he heard, and continues to hear, have changed him.

"As I became more involved in seeing what was happening to the 50-plus (worker) and how the jobseeker was being discriminated against, the social side of me started to come out in a much greater way," he says.

"I now feel very passionate about helping them."

Web Watch: www.prime50.com

(Mike Dempster can be reached at miked@businessedge.ca)