Older job seekers in Oklahoma find experience not always enough for employers

About a year ago, Rosemary Isom, project director of the AARP Foundation Senior Community Service Employment Program, noted that more people 55 and older were walking through the door looking for help finding employment, switching careers or sharpening existing skills. Now there are even more, Isom said. "We’re getting more people age 58 to 63, and a lot more people living in shelters and more people on disability,” she said. But the good news is that more stimulus money will soon be funneled down to AARP from the U.S. Labor Department, she said. So the agency will be able to help more people. AARP programs have helped between 150 and 200 people get jobs in the past year, Isom said, and 144 are receiving assistance right now. Her office still has about 30 more people waiting for an assessment.