Are you over 50? Or close? Did you know you were finished? Do you feel like punching someone? Yeah, well so do I.
According to Money, if you’re over 50 and laid off, you might as well pack your hobo sack and start riding boxcars, because you ain’t ever working again.
Okay, maybe not quite, but it’s bad news when you consider lots of us have young kids, our 401Ks just about disappeared, our jobs vanished, and the value of our houses just dropped by, well in our case, well over $100,000 in a year. Here’s an article that makes the case in even more stark terms.
I really do want to punch somebody, but I’m not sure who. Any suggestions?
My name is Avenger!!!!
You think that’s funny? Yeah, well, so do I.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Carl,
Thanks for the comment. I haven’t been posting lately, but it’s great to get some good feedback.
I agree completely. And if you don’t get laid off, working on that self-employment plan is still a very smart thing to do. Maybe you can work into it gradually.
Hello,
I have worked at my present job for 12 years, and my gut feeling is I am about a week away from being let go. The trend the past few years has been to hire younger, cheaper and foriegn workers. I have thought about what I will do if it happens, and I am leaning towards self employment. I am not against looking for a job, but I think for a lot of people, a good strategy is to work on a self employment plan on the side. I think it will cushion the blow of rejection, and I think its the future for people over 50. So thats where I am headed. If I do indeed get laid off I will write back.
Good luck to you all
Hello Joni,
I’m sure you don’t really love me, but thanks for the comment and compliment. I haven’t been posting near enough to this site or to Laid Off USA, mainly because I’m too busy and not always inspired. But on the rare occasions when I get a comment, it gives me new determination.
I’ll try to occasionally make subscribing worth your while. Take care.
I just bumped into your website. I love you, your attitude and spirit. Cheers for what you are communicating.. and I just subscribed : )
Hi jp,
Yeah, I know. You guys are getting a really bad deal. The last time we had a really bad recession, around 81, 82, I was recently out of college, and I couldn’t get a good job. I worked at a machine gun factory, a donut shop, a printed circuit board factory, and then I finally joined the army, mainly because my father-in-law was a recruiter and I was sick of printed circuit boards, and all of a sudden the army seemed like a good deal.
Not that I’m suggesting you do that. The thing is we so-called boomers (can’t stand that name) don’t have any time to recover. We lost tons of money we needed for our retirements. Believe me, I don’t want to be working forever preventing young people from getting jobs. It stinks for everybody.
So I’m on your side.
What about those under 30? The economy is hardly looking bright either for recent graduates. And we are also burdened by cumbersome student loans and the prospects of bailing out the boomers.
I graduated in June 2008 and have been unable to find work for a whole year now.
Well, I have dcided to take the high road and not let this insidious situation control my thoughts and emotions. I dont know what is in store for me, but what I do know, is that I am not looking back at a successfull life with regret and sorrow. I am proud of what I have accomplished and chose to accomplish even more! Thanks for listening and understanding what I thought, was just my pain!
As a matter of fact it is a family. And yeah, they did turn their back on me. But I think they hated doing it. Sometimes there’s just no money left.
WOW, did you cry? and then did ya call them and ask the “W” question, Why? A small company is the worst because its like a family that turned their back on you. Well, I hope you send him/her a handwritten Christmas Card this year with…..postage due! I am to broke to buy a stamp! Happy Holidays…..
All right, Kat, now you’re talking. And it’s true, it’s the ones who laid you off who are really stupid.
Of course, it can be more complicated than that. The people who laid me off were downright miserable about the whole thing. The owner even sent me a personal handwritten letter of apology.
There’s probably more heart in a small company in most cases.
Thank-you Aventure, but I have to say this…the people that laid me off, They sir, are the stupid ones! You did make me feel better and thank-you for this site, I found it by accident, but thats how I found my last job! FORGET THE PAIN, See the humor, and the pain will all go away and then, the right thing will kick in! I now have a smile on my face. For all of you reading this, its hard to be here, its hard to understand. Most of all, its hard to except. But its real, and its what life those to deal. Thank all of you for helping me tonight!
Kat, cheer up. First of all, a month isn’t that long nowadays. Second, it’s happening to everybody. It’s not you, it’s the stinking situation.
I had an interview over a month ago that went really well. I was perfect for the job. I gave them everything they needed and did quite well during the interview. Then nothing. Whenever I asked the recruiter who send me what was going on, he said he still hadn’t heard anything.
Today I got a call from another recruiter. She said she had a job that she thought I’d be perfect for. When she described it, I thought the same thing. This is perfect. Except, I realized it was the same job I’d interviewed for all those weeks ago. They still hadn’t filled the position.
So I called the original recruiter, and he told me he finally got some feedback. My background wasn’t what they were looking for. Well my background was exactly what they’re supposedly looking for. But I wasn’t good enough for them. Everywhere I’ve ever worked, they’ve loved me, but I wasn’t good enough for these people.
It doesn’t depress me at all, but it does make me angry. These people are stupid, and the people who didn’t hire you are probably stupid, too.
Okay, you feel any better? I know I do.
i feel depressed, useless, hopeless and most of all, USED. I have worked my whole life and just went for an interview after being home for a month. The interview went well and I felt my confidence back. I was happy!! I called them twice, they never called back. I guess I was not what they were looking for. Its O.K., I can still count flowers on the wall! have a good day
Hi Kristin,
I’ll visit your site and check it out. I’ve had kind of a lost weekend, lost week, actually.
I’ve read all of Gladwell’s books. I liked The Tipping Point best.
Speaking of working from anywhere, Radio Shack was selling an Acer Netbook computer for $79 the other day. Internet access from anywhere without the need for wifi. I looked at it. Pretty nice. The only draw back is you have to pay $60 a month to AT&T. But just imagine the hobo life, riding the rails with your Netbook in a sack on your back.
You could be homeless, but as long as you could come up with that $60 a month, you could still be connected. All you’d need is food, a place to sleep, and some darkness so you could see the screen.
re: WORK – the holy grail …(from home, from the park, anywhere…where are you, my old friend, WORK?
in the past few days, I’ve become a human oscillator – up, down, tired, energized…and then I saw Malcolm Gladwell ( you know, “Blink”, “Outliars”) on CNN… He said something that perked me up..
” ‘Talent’ means you like to practice” – meaning if you do what you love, you do it no matter what.
Something we all (should) know, but coming from an ‘expert’, it has more weight. I’ve written something on remote work, too tired to copy it here, but it’s on my site…
how’re you doing?
thanks avenger…i’m having fun, and freely sprinkling both your sites with witty (hopefully, substantive as well) barbs!
I’m working on an article for my site about the working-remote issue…i have a lot to say about that one!
Hello Kristin,
Why not spit, stomp on someone, and blog? And do the floating lab thing, too? I like your blog. I’m going to read more of it and link to it.
Thanks for stopping by.
Jack
to the avenger (I found you on linkedin)
arrrrG! I want to spit, and then stomp on someone…but i’m too busy blogging about looking for a new career, since the old one was tough enough with all the outsourcing these past years, but this is ridiculous now. i’m thinking of offering english tutoring to foriegn IT workers who can’t speak, write or spell, but seem to be the only ones getting the buzz-wordsy jobs.
in the linked-in post, i referenced a remote-at-home job that i was perfect for, it was perfect for me, but I did not get it when they found out my dob.
so, I’m volunteering for a save-the-river project, hoping they need some computer help. it would be cool to work on a floating laboratory, i think.
arrrggg
Hi John,
Thanks for the interesting comment. I agree with you totally, but can you make enough money that way? It’s fun and great working from home. But what about the health care and other benefits you don’t get? And how do you keep a steady stream of work coming in?
Avenger Jack,
I like your style. Personally I agree with the recommendation of becoming an independent contractor. It’s what I finally did after spending a while getting rejected or ignored by companies looking for younger cheaper labor. To me the advantages far outweigh the negatives. I don’t have to drive to work and I can work whatever schedule I want and vary it from day to day. Sometimes I work 5 hours in a day, sometimes I work 14. I have all the technology at home that I would normally have at work with the advantage that I don’t have to attend a lot of useless meetings.
My plan is to work either full or part time until I can’t see the monitor any longer, or no longer enjoy the work. Oh, and the other big thing is that as more and more companies get used to the idea of hiring people who work remotely, I will be free to move to wherever I want and still get a steady flow of jobs.
Some people say that they are not disciplined enough to work at home. I say grow up and face the new world and stop making excuses.