SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA JOB MARKET : PART TWO: MAKING THE BREAK : Late-Life Career Changes : Older Workers Retiring Myths About Role in Work Force

Maryon Lears’ most recent job interview went splendidly.

The young woman was hired as a buyer for Silverwoods’ Los Angeles stores, and her adeptness at decision-making soon landed her on the management ladder.

That was in 1944.

Just about every morning for the next 42 years, Lears went to the same workplace, where she put in 12-hour days and six-day weeks. The company rewarded her dedication with promotions and eventually named her an executive vice president.

Then, three years ago, the nationwide chain of specialty stores centralized its operation in Chicago. That meant that Lears would lose her title unless she was willing to move. “I was given the option of taking a general manager position in Los Angeles, but I thought that would be a step backward,” she said.

She also brushed off the idea of retiring, and at age 66 decided to make her first career change. “It was frightening,” she recalled. “I didn’t even know how to put together a resume.”

Inspired by a request for advice from a couple interested in opening a boutique, she decided to start her own business--Maryon Lears Retail Sales & Marketing Consultant agency.

Reaching retirement age doesn’t necessarily mean retirement anymore. Financial reasons--or just plain boredom--drive some people in their 60s to keep working or to re-enter the work force, and their contributions are increasingly welcome, career advisers say.

“We are beginning to feel the dearth of the younger work force,” said Denise Jessup, associate director of the Los Angeles Council on Careers for Older Americans--a government-supported referral agency that matches older job-seekers with interested employers. “Businesses are starting to look at alternative labor sources.”

By the turn of the century, the postwar baby boom generation will have passed middle age, and there will be 15 million fewer Americans between ages 18 and 25.

Many companies are initiating programs to recruit and retrain employees 55 and older to compensate for the growing shortage of under-25 greenhorns.

“It’s simple economics,” said Beverly Fuentes, vice president and employment manager for Bank of America. “We’re an aging society. As the years go on, the majority of the work force is going to get older. To remain competitive we must keep up with the pool of potential employees.”

So far this year, Bank of America’s recruitment efforts have attracted about 430 people over 50, compared to 300 in all of 1988. John Carrillo, 68, came out of a three-year retirement last winter to take on a job as a customer service representative with the bank.

Carrillo, of Monterey Park, had spent most of his adult life installing sheet metal for air conditioning companies. He had found retirement “boring,” and besides, he wanted to save money to buy a pickup truck.

“It’s fun to learn new skills,” Carrillo said. “I’ve enjoyed the challenge.”

He’s older this time around, but he’s also more settled. “Thirty or 40 years ago, when I was a young fellow, I was never satisfied,” he recalled. “I hopped from one employer to another. Now I feel content to stay at this job for as long as I have my health.”

Such maturity, stability and reliability are qualities that appeal to employers of older workers.

“They’re not looking to get training at Company A and two years later move to Company B,” said Helen Dennis, a gerontologist at USC who specializes in employment and retirement.

Training, however, is exactly what some retirees do need to get a foot in the door for a second career.

Trainees in Los Angeles City College’s Second Start program are all 55 or older, and many of them have lost jobs to advances in technology. “Clerical people often find themselves in this dilemma,” said Skip Mathieson, project director for Second Start. The program helps them update their skills.

Misperceptions and prejudices may work against older job hunters. “I was quite aware of discrimination,” said Kay Duquette, 61, who set out to find a job five years ago after she was divorced. “I went on interviews where everyone in the office was under 25. I could feel a sort of hostility: ‘What’s she doing here? She won’t fit in.’ ”

With the help of the Women’s Opportunity Center at the University of California, Irvine, Duquette, who had never worked outside her home, was hired as an administrative assistant for the university’s extension school.

“Age discrimination absolutely exists, although at an unconscious level--which is the worst kind of discrimination because you can’t get a handle on it,” USC’s Dennis said. “There’s the notion that older people can’t learn new things, and that they will call in sick a lot.”

In fact, older people call in sick less frequently than younger employees, according to a survey by the American Council of Life Insurance. It found that workers between ages 17 and 44 call in sick an average of 3.7 days each year, but those 45 and over do so only 3.1 days a year.

So prevalent are misconceptions about older people that McDonald’s Corp. puts young employees through a “sensitivity training” course.

“We address all those myths,” said McDonald’s spokeswoman Terri Capatosto. “We have found that older people absolutely train just as quickly as the younger ones.” The fast-food chain, long active in recruiting older workers, employs an average of three senior employees at each restaurant.

For some older workers, it’s the social setting that lures them back to work.

Phillip Stanton, 66, had worked for years in accounting departments at various firms. He signed up with Volt Temporary Services employment agency to supplement his Social Security income--an arrangement that gives him the freedom to travel between jobs. After a few weeks off, “I can’t wait to get back,” said the Burbank resident. “Especially living alone, I enjoy the social aspect of work.”