Pete Kresky exemplifies a new breed of job seeker. He is 70 years old. He said he's had three distinct careers and retired once already. But right now he's looking for work.

The percentage of workers age 50 and older is expected to rise 52 percent in the next year as more Americans remain longer in the workforce and the job search. Like TheLadders member Kresky, many are re-entering the job search after resigning from it once already.

"Retirement that early is really a bummer," Kresky said. He sold his business and retired six years ago, but felt unproductive without a job. "I'm a business guy; I need to be in business."

For others, the decision to postpone or cancel retirement after it has begun is financial. There are many factors that prompt this move: Your mortgage has become more costly, your retirement savings was depleted by the decline in the stock market, your adult children now need support or your aging parents have their own trouble making ends meet.

The result is a workforce and pool of job seekers older than ever and desperate to overcome age discrimination in the hunt for work.

"The economy obviously is shedding jobs at a slightly decreasing rate but still a tremendously high level," said Dan Kohrman, a senior attorney at AARP who oversees age-discrimination cases. "Our experience at AARP is that whenever there's a downturn even much milder than this, the proportion of workers who lose their jobs who are older workers is greater, is disproportionate. And although older workers (may sometimes be costlier than other candidates), that's almost never the explanation."

Proving age discrimination

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has reported a significant, recent increase in age-discrimination complaints. While the number of complaints filed for age has steadily increased for the past 10 years, they jumped 25.8 percent in 2008. And those complaints are just for those who already have a job. Age discrimination on the job search is less visible and rarely reported, Kohrman said.

"When you're applying for jobs -- the difficulty there is it's frequently hard to tell if you've been discriminated against," Kohrman said. "You can get an interview, you can get a friendly interview, but you can also get an interviewer who takes one look at your resume and your appearance and says to themselves, ‘Too old,' and you'll never know."

AARP conducts sting operations to test hiring organizations for age discrimination and the results are clear, Kohrman said.

"The evidence seems pretty clear and dramatic that the treatment of job applicants is different for older workers, given all other circumstances being equal. But it's hard to detect."

Older workers also have, on average, a much longer job search than their younger counterparts, he said. "It can be more than a year right now."

Chuck Jordan's last job search lasted more than a year. Jordan worked 28 years as a salesman for a major technology company's federal government sales group before he retired. But six month later, he was back on the job search.

"For multiple reasons, like kids going to college, it was appropriate for me to keep bringing in some money," he told TheLadders.

Over the next four years, Jordan had three jobs and finally quit his job at a technology company in California that moved him to a sales territory that had him traveling "100 percent of the time." He decided to take some time off, thinking he could easily re-enter the workforce when he was ready.

"But then I realized that was not the case, and the environment had changed a ton," he said. "It was incredibly competitive trying to find a job. So I had an absence of more than a year out of the marketplace. It was traumatic because I spent a lot of energy looking."

Age vs. experience

Jordan said he thought of his experience, age and maturity as an advantage in the marketplace when he was competing for jobs against younger candidates and believes it was eventually what helped him land his current job, but "for the vast majority of my conversations and interviews, I think I was fighting an uphill battle."

Kresky also said he thought his age was a handicap, despite his energy. "The young are ruling the world, and they really think they know it all so they don't really need us," he said. "I've never personally been confronted with my age, but I know they figure it out, and they just don't call.

"It's a shame because I'm on top of my game, and I'm pretty bright, and I know there are a lot of guys and gals who can offer an awful lot to some of these young people who really... have no idea and think they know everything themselves."

Part of the reason older workers face trouble, Kohrman said, is the stereotypes employers have.

"[Some employers think] if you have a long career and a lot of experience, you have to get a job at equal to the highest salary you've ever had, which is not true," he said. The perception, he said, "is that if you can't equal the best job you've ever had, you'll never be happy. "

That's precisely how Jordan read the difficulties he had in his job search. "People thought they could find other candidates who were willing to work for a lot less, so I think that (my experience) was a disadvantage," he said.

Using age to your advantage

One way to get around the stereotypes of age is to promote a new one, Kresky said. He believes that many older workers don't need the large salaries they once did, and employers might see them as a bargain.

"I don't think I need the 30-year-old's salary like they do. I don't think we need that big a money hit," he said. "I don't say we come by the cheap, but we would be less expensive with just as much enthusiasm and knowledge, and just as much or more experience. So we bring a lot to the table, frugally. I think it's a good sell, from a business standpoint. to bring the 60- and 70-year-olds in."

Making that case - and showing the passion and energy you've still got at your command - may be one of the best marketing tools you have at your disposal. But your network may be the best way to get you through the doors in the first place, Kresky said.

"Letting people know that you're back, if that's right, from retirement," he said. "If you let the people with the kind of businesses you were in before, associates and former relationships know (you're looking), that's probably the best avenue for getting a response."