Looking for a job? Then follow Robert De Niro’s example, says MAGGIE PAGANO

In the hit film The Intern, Robert De Niro plays the role of Ben Whittaker, a 70-year-old widower and retired marketing executive.

Ben decides that retirement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, so he applies for a position as a senior intern at About The Fit, a Brooklyn-based online fashion startup run by workaholic CEO Jules Ostin, played by Anne Hathaway.

His cheeky charm and wise manner soon win over the skeptical staff. And before you know it, he’s transformed Ostin’s hectic work schedule and saved his marriage.

Since this is Hollywood, there are some conclusions to be drawn. Trying to find a new job, whether you’re older or retired, is difficult, so colleagues should be careful not to fall into stereotypes.

Even more pertinent is the fact that workplaces benefit when people from different generations work together.

Employers – and workers – should learn from these lessons if we are to overcome the crisis that is sweeping our labour market. Since the pandemic began, there are around one million “missing workers”, while the number of those who are “economically inactive” due to health problems and disabilities has soared to 2.8 million.

However, there are around 1.7 million people (many of them over 50) who would love to work, but many feel unable to do so, either because they lack the skills or, indeed, the confidence of the Bens of this world.

If you’re over 50, you’re two and a half times more likely than younger age groups to be out of work for at least two years. What will help them get back on track? For starters, they should try channeling their inner De Niro.

Chartered psychologist Lucy Standing is encouraging people to use less conventional ways to find work in a recruitment market she says is broken.

In a concept known as “sweat equity,” he says people should offer to work for free or, in rare cases, even pay for the experience of shadowing an expert. In exchange for investing time, they get job titles and the chance to learn something new.

It’s a concept Standing champions at Brave Starts, the nonprofit networking group she runs that mentors about 540 middle-aged professionals, from doctors to carpenters, who want to turn their lives around.

Some retrain or start their own businesses: “I’ve had engineers dream of running a B&B in the Lakes, for example. So I encourage them to do that for a week or two. Most get disillusioned. But it works as a wake-up call.” Conventional recruitment does none of this and the sector is ripe for disruption. In fact, most recruiters are so rude that they don’t respond to applicants – another reason why job seekers are so disheartened.

The irony is that in an age when everyone is obsessed with diversity, age diversity barely gets any attention, which is strange since the only thing anyone can be sure of, apart from death and taxes, is getting older.

However, attracting older people back to work is essential for their wellbeing, but also for the country’s wealth. By 2039, almost half of the UK workforce will be over 45.

Over the past 20 years, the number of people over 50 who are working has almost doubled to 10.7 million, or almost a third of the entire working population.

It is therefore so surprising that the Labour Party, which claims to be the most pro-worker party in generations, has not even dared to mention this ticking time bomb. It is not as big a problem as it seems. As The Intern’s advertising poster said, experience never goes out of style.