2015-06-30

BELGIUM - "Whoever has a good résumé will find work anyway." This is what Belgian politician Bart De Wever said in the run-up to the elections of May 2014. But is that so? Especially for people over fifty it is becoming increasingly difficult to get a job, no matter how long their CV is.

Frank Van Laeken would have been inclined to follow De Wever in his reasoning until a few years ago. Until he himself fell out of work in mid-2012, after a failed adventure at his favourite football club and his richly filled resume turned out not to be enough to quickly find a new job. More than a hundred applications, less than a handful of invitations for interviews or tests, no work.

Why is it that people over fifty find it so difficult to get back to work? Is it the companies that don't want an awkward, expensive or worn-out workforce? Is it the over-50s who are too demanding or no longer ambitious? Or is it due to a combination of factors, which means that a 'five' at the beginning of your age will make it difficult for you to get back to work? Van Laeken searches for answers, in his own story and that of others.

Frank Van Laeken

Frank Van Laeken is a Belgian freelance journalist and former editor-in-chief of the sports editorial staff of the Belgian public broadcaster VRT.
€ 4.000 allocated on 11/05/2015.
ID
FPD/2015/1189
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BOEK (in Dutch)

Title: Als het werk stopt
Subtitle: 50+ en zonder job
Author: Frank Van Laeken
Editor: Houtekiet
ISBN: 9789089243362
Price: €19,99
Date of publication: 20/04/2015