Although Bermuda’s economy is beginning to recover, that does not mean that unemployment is a thing of the past, or that people don’t need help navigating the jobs market.

Although young people have been hardest hit by the recession, those who are 54 or older have also suffered.

Fortunately, the jobless rate for people aged 54 to 65 has dropped — from nine per cent to four per cent between 2014 and 2015, The number of people working in this age group also rose — from 6,430 to 6793.

Still, it remains the second largest group of unemployed after 16-24 year olds, and faces unique challenges.

In terms of demographics, this group constitutes the bulk of the baby boomers — the people born when the birth rate surged between 1945 and 1964. Older members of this group are already of retirement age, but many more are now racing towards that milestone. In the meantime, they still need to work and to prepare for retirement.

The recession has also come as a shock to this group, who spent their adult lives in Bermuda in a period of rapid economic expansion for Bermuda as first growth in the tourism industry and then in international business produced a healthy jobs market and many opportunities to build businesses.

Several local and global trends have converged to knock confidence. Globally, increased automation and efforts to flatten business hierarchies has resulted in the redundancy of man of the middle management jobs that people in this age group would have expected to hold.

Changing technology has also been difficult for some to grasp, where their young colleagues have a more intuitive grasp of the changes and adapt more easily to new software and job processes.

Locally, employers may also have been eager to shed older workers, given their higher wage expectations (or demands) and the likelihood that an ageing workforce would add to health costs.

Older people face challenges in getting new jobs. These include:

• A reluctance by employers to hire older people because they do not believe they will remain in the job market for very long

• A preference by employers for people who are more comfortable with technology.

• The cost of health insurance for older workers.

• A perception that older workers will be less flexible than their younger, hungrier peers.

• Against that, older workers have several advantages that they need to emphasise:

• A good work ethic and strong soft skills (timekeeping, strong communication, experience within organisations)

• Versatility — this is the generation which has moved from typewriters and telexes to fax machines to the most modern technology.

• Experience — they have seen it all before. They have been through periods of growth and crises.

Still, people in this age group need to be prepared for some scepticism.

They should emphasise their experience, but not to the point that they appear too old — or overqualified for the job they are seeking.

They must make sure that they have kept their skills up to date. This is true for software like Microsoft Office, but also industry specific tools.

They should emphasise their ability to multitask and to work with little.

If they are back in the job market after a long absence, they should also make sure their resumes are up to date, that they are prepared to interview and have a plan for their job search.

It is also vital that they show that they have energy and enthusiasm. Remember that Donald Trump destroyed Jeb Bush’s campaign basically by describing him as “low energy”. Older people should not let the same thing happen to them.

What they need to know is that they are very strong candidates in this jobs market. They have tremendous strengths that they need to emphasise. They should not feel that age is a hindrance — it is an asset.

Bill Zuill is a director of Bermuda Executive Services Ltd, one of Bermuda’s leading business services companies. It was named Bermuda’s best employment agency for 2015 by The Bermudian Magazine. He will be speaking at Age Concern on Thursday on the subject of this weeks’ column. For more columns, see www.bermudaemployment.com