I am 54 and miss less work than my young counterparts. My work performance is better, too, along with quality. I am faster and have a better attitude than the young kids who think they are too good to put in eight hours work for eight hours pay. My kids are grown so I don't have to stay home with kids who have measles or fart sideways. I am available for off-hours that no body wants to work. Yet, it is me who will be overlooked because of my age. What you stated is mostly wrong. Aches and arthritis don't keep us from working, we are accustomed to a modicum of discomfort. Let some young girl have her monthly and she is off for a week or moaning and groaning like death warmed over! Everything that is a part of me works as good now as it always did; it just looks a tad different.
I am 54 and miss less work than my young counterparts. My work performance is better, too, along with quality. I am faster and have a better attitude than the young kids who think they are too good to put in eight hours work for eight hours pay. My kids are grown so I don't have to stay home with kids who have measles or fart sideways. I am available for off-hours that no body wants to work. Yet, it is me who will be overlooked because of my age. What you stated is mostly wrong. Aches and arthritis don't keep us from working, we are accustomed to a modicum of discomfort. Let some young girl have her monthly and she is off for a week or moaning and groaning like death warmed over! Everything that is a part of me works as good now as it always did; it just looks a tad different I congrat you on your attitude. That is exactly the type of attitude you are going to need to convey to employment managers, that a willingness to be flexible on pay. Perhaps one way you might leverage that attitude is to go into business for yourself and offer what ever service you were providing to companies from offsite. Only hitch is benefits but that is one of the big reasons they are less likely to hire you.
Regardless of attitude, what I stated in my earlier post is exactly what employers think (and for most older employees, they are atleast somewhat true). As far as health, we are not talking about arthritis and other aches and pains. We are talking about heart disease, cancer, and other biggies whose odds increase substantially with age. Someone with one of those maladies can cost the insurance company over $100,000 a year if they are lucky.