Course description

Looking for work after 50 can feel very different from the last time you did it. Adverts lead to online forms, CVs are read by software as well as people, first interviews happen on video, and you may wonder whether your age or a long time in one role will count against you. A long career is a real strength, but it helps to know how to show it in the way employers look for now.

This course takes you from taking stock to an application pack you can use straight away. You'll look at redundancy, money and your rights in general terms, rebuild confidence with evidence, audit your skills against real adverts, and turn a long career into short achievements with results. You'll write a modern two-page CV with honest, sensible choices about dates, a cover letter that values your experience and a LinkedIn profile, and learn to handle online forms, assessments, video interviews and assessment centres. You'll build an interview answer bank, answer questions about being overqualified, salary and technology calmly, and know where to get support. For general CV and interview skills in depth, CV Writing and Interview Skills: Get Noticed and Get Hired is a good companion course.

There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons, each with a worked example and a short task to try. You follow Azenor, a customer operations manager from Carlisle made redundant at 56 after 23 years with one employer, through her search in 2026, from her first money check to an offer she negotiated, slips included, alongside Hylke, who wants part-time work after 31 years in print, and Nolwenn, who changes direction at 53. Every section has a practice pack with a worksheet, example answers and a cheat sheet, plus a starting point check, a redundancy and money checklist, a skills audit, CV layouts as Word, plain text and PDF files, a model CV, an interview answer bank, interview practice cards, a rights and support guide, a job search tracker spreadsheet and a model application pack.

What you'll learn

• Taking stock: what has changed in job hunting and what hasn't, redundancy and your rights in general terms, money and pension checkpoints, free help and a starting point check.
• Confidence and direction: confidence after redundancy or a long role, age worries and the facts, what you want from your next role, your options and a clear direction.
• Your skills and experience: transferable skills from a long career, a skills audit against real adverts, achievements with results, digital skills and free courses at any age.
• How recruitment works now: the stages from advert to offer, applicant tracking systems and AI in recruitment in general terms, reading a modern advert and spotting job scams.
• A modern CV: two pages in a simple layout, which experience to include, honest choices about dates and age signals, a profile with evidence and a tailoring routine.
• Cover letters, statements and LinkedIn: letters that value experience without apologising, supporting statements, LinkedIn basics, networking and working with recruiters.
• Online applications and video interviews: online forms, timed online assessments, phone, video and recorded interviews, assessment centres and asking for adjustments.
• Interviews that value experience: an answer bank in STAR, the overqualified question, salary and hours, technology and a younger manager, and handling offers.
• Your rights, support and other routes: age discrimination law in general terms, what employers can and can't ask, Jobcentre and careers support, part-time and flexible routes and self-employment in brief.
• Keeping going and your final project: handling rejection, a 6-week job search plan and tracker, starting a new role well and your own application pack.

Who it's for

Anyone in the UK aged 50 or over who is looking for work: after redundancy, after many years in one role, after time away, or because you want a change of direction or fewer hours. You don't need any previous course. You'll need a computer, tablet or phone to read the lessons and a PDF reader for the practice packs; a word processor and a spreadsheet app help with the CV layouts and the job search tracker.

What this course is, and isn't

This course gives general information about finding work in the UK at the time of writing. It isn't legal, financial, pensions, tax or benefits advice. Rules on redundancy, benefits, pensions and employment rights change and some differ between the four nations, so the lessons point you to GOV.UK, nidirect, Acas and other official sources. The course doesn't name or recommend any employer, recruitment agency, job website, training provider or AI tool, and it can't promise a job. The people and organisations in the course are fictional.

What will I learn?

• Take stock after redundancy or a long role, including your rights in general terms, a simple budget and where to get free help
• Rebuild confidence with evidence, separate age worries from facts and choose a direction that fits your life now
• Audit your skills against real adverts and turn a long career into short achievements with results
• Understand how recruitment works now, including applicant tracking systems, AI in recruitment and reading a modern advert
• Write a modern two-page CV that leads with recent strengths and makes honest, sensible choices about dates and age signals
• Write cover letters and supporting statements that value your experience, refresh a LinkedIn profile and use your network
• Handle online application forms, timed online assessments, phone, video and recorded interviews and assessment centres
• Build an interview answer bank and answer questions about being overqualified, salary, technology and a younger manager calmly
• Know in general terms how the Equality Act 2010 protects you from age discrimination, and where to get support in each UK nation
• Weigh part-time, flexible, volunteering, apprenticeship and self-employment routes
• Keep going with a 6-week job search plan and tracker, start a new role well and finish a four-part application pack

Frequently asked questions