Unemployment in later life: The effects of a job search skills training intervention and development orientations on job search and reemployment of older job seekers.

Late-career unemployment has a demonstrated negative impact on individuals and society. Yet little is known about the mechanisms through which policy programs operate to support older unemployed individuals in finding reemployment. The present study aimed to provide more insight into how a job search skills training program facilitates older job seekers in their reemployment process and who benefits most from the program. Using a two-group field experimental design among 4,625 unemployed job seekers aged over 50, we examined the effects of the job search skills training intervention on participants' job search knowledge and self-efficacy, job search behaviors, and reemployment status and speed. In addition, the study examined whether the effects of job search skills training on job search knowledge and self-efficacy depend on older job seekers' development orientations (i.e., future time perspective and learning goal orientation). Job search skills training was found to increase older job seekers' job search knowledge and self-efficacy, and in turn their job search process quality, which then enhanced their chances and speed of finding reemployment. The positive effects of job search skills training on job search knowledge and self-efficacy appeared to be stronger for older job seekers with lower development orientations. The current findings advance training and job search theory by uncovering the explanatory mechanisms of a job search skills training program and by showing that individual attributes influence learning outcomes. Our findings also have important implications for the design, implementation, and evaluation of future policy programs aimed at older unemployed individuals and career counseling practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).