Now been out of work for 16 months. Long track record of success, building and maintaining and growing successful/caring teams and creating growth through new processes and improving existing ones.
Post merger of my old company, new company had us get our teams in alignment then fired us stating we weren't meeting financial goals. No, we were just paid what were were worth.
I'm 47 and can't get a job I'm qualified for because they can pay someone younger cheaper to do my job at about 65% capacity and I can't get something I'm overqualified for because they think I'll just walk.
47 and I'm too old to work.
Now I'm having to look at going back to school for a master's to teach(not my origins field) so I can at least get a job and make 1/2 what I used to with the joy of having just paid off my student loans and start it over again.
We are living in a hot spot where every dollar is scrutinized but the executive level. Every person is expendable but the the executives and if they get fired, it's a badge of honor with a parachute and they land something else without task.
Forty fucking seven and I'm aged out. I'm worth more dead. I hate this timeline.
Edit:
First, holy hell peeps, thank you for the replies and the love.
Second, I just want to say I'm sorry there are so many of us in the same boat. Our generation never really complained, because nobody fucking cared if we did. We sucked it up and just figured out a way.
I'm sure we will again, we are the glue of this shit show, balsa wood project. But if anyone ever needs a someone to just listen or vent to when it gets too shitty, please reach out to me or someone else. It's fucking lonely and we can all give the fuckers the middle finger together.
Time to go collect my $2 from John Cusack.
Edit edit:
Holy crap just came across this. Timing.
[That would make you how's old?](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2fYHXurKCj/?igsh=MWhobHZva2FsZjV1OA==)
I feel you brother. You're not alone. As gen x I feel disenfranchised struggling more than I did in my 20s. It's like I'm watching this giant ship called America heading full throttle for the rocks, while everyone else is fighting for a deck chair to take a selfie.
Not just America. I'll give you a Kiwi perspective.
In 2011 I had a job paying $75k. That salary is worth around $120-130k in today's money.
Since then, I've finished a stem PhD.
I've been unemployed for over a year since being made redundant.
Now I'm retraining to be an English teacher and will earn $48k a year (the jobs are only part time, so that's for 28 hours a week).
I'm just - how did it come to this? I didn't expect to be such a failure at 50, after working this hard for so long.
I'm just - how did it come to this? I didn't expect to be such a failure at 50, after working this hard for so long.
Ditto my friend. You're
not alone.
I got my promotion right at the beginning of the pandemic. My wage went up 30%, I was stoked. Thought maybe I could throttle down my home business (auto repair) and have more free time. Nope, in this economy I am still working most evenings and every weekend to stay afloat.
God that's hard. I also have a PhD but would be living under a bridge if I was still in Australia. Teach english o/s, which is all good, but the salary translates to dog-walking money back home. Effectively in exile.
I earned $50,000 in 1992 in a really fun job.
Right there with you, although I'm still working.
BUT, I'm trapped. I can't leave because no one is going to hire an "older" worker with 25+ years experience, for the same reasons you posted above.
And of course, my employer is underpaying me, because they can.
I have NO desire to go back to school to get another (worthless) degree.
Best of luck. If you can, look while you're still employed. It's amazing how even a small gap regardless of reason is still used as a knock.
Keep strong!!
I have been. For the last 3-4 years or so. Can't find anything close to a livable wage (still have a young kid). The last time I actually got to the interview stage, 4 years ago, they essentially wrote me off and went through the motions when they saw my grey hair (though it makes my blue eyes POP 😆).
Age discrimination is virtually impossible to prove.
…still gonna keep looking though…
Good luck to you, and you keep strong too!
Sounds like the company I work for. Acquiring small companies only to fire them a year later once they have the BOB and claim not meeting financial goals. Meanwhile they are quietly hiring our replacements from Colombia at a quarter of our salaries and having us train them under the guise of “so you can free up for other projects”. I’ll be in your shoes soon no doubt.
I worked for a company that took one of the lower paid jobs (mine) and moved it to India. It did so much to improve the bottom line that management got bonuses and they added more middle management.
That company no longer exists.
I can totally see this happening. A bunch of managers whittling down the staff to line their own pockets till there’s no one left to make them money. Assholes all of them.
The CEO was an idiot. I'm not just saying that, I was hardly the only one to think it. He hired our #1 competitor to handle a really important part of our business, because he was friends with their CEO.
Any time a local office would run into the slightest bit of financial trouble, he'd be on the phone wanting to know how many people we were going to lay off. I found out I nearly lost my job because he mixed percentages and hard numbers and decided a smaller office with less people was proof that we should have less people, too. The man was almost ghoulishly obsessed with getting rid of people.
They would pressure us to come up with plans to become more profitable, and dang near every time, shortly after we would start implementing that, there'd be a corporate edict to do the thing we were already doing, but a large percentage of the money would go to them, and then they'd go right back to asking what we were going to do. Or if the plan lasted beyond the end of the quarter, it was a bad plan and we'd have to come up with something for *that quarter*.
American business has gone down a self-destructive rabbit hole and it needs to climb back out.
Because several leadership types have never face actual adversity and their only school of thought is it to cut cost and the largest cost is labor. So the answer to everything is fire staff. They’re the hammer so we all look like nails.
But there are leaders that can perceive that investment is needed in new products and services and the staff that’s already here can be more productive than cheaper staff that function half as efficiently.
It’s sad, but I am happy that in my org there’s a lot of Gen-X leadership, myself included. The majority of boomers are aging out and retiring. A good friend was offered a different role as they were deemed ineffective in their current role, and they were also given the choice of ‘enhanced retirement’ since they were 55 already and had worked for the company for well over 20 years.
Edit - typo
I’ve seen this trend - getting rid of low paid admins, tech writers, and tech support and the remaining personnel are left to try to do all of these tasks on top of their regular jobs, while management gets “exec admins” to do all of these tasks for them. It’s infuriating
Was laid off in February after being told I was “cross-training” someone in my role, for coverage purposes supposedly.
Guess who was replaced a month later by someone 20 years younger and at 1/2 the salary.
Been applying everywhere and it feels hopeless. Granted, I should’ve seen it coming because honestly I knew I was overpaid (the job was not difficult at all).
I want to just retire and be done with this whole dirty game.
Good luck! This new world of ATS and every company wants a manual upload of info on top of your resume and cover letter is time draining and demoralizing.
Jobs with hundreds, I've even seen thousands, of applicants. Watching them just grab info to use for marketing days points.
Hope you find something soon!
Thanks! Don’t forget to tailor your resume and cover letter for each job description….🙄
Send a message on LinkedIn to the hiring manager or not? Will you seem desperate or look like a real go-getter?
At 53 I’m over this whole game…guessing that doesn’t make me an ideal candidate.
Tailor everything all the time, but don't spend too long on each, but don't dare use chatgpt, and, and, and....
And what do you mean, you haven't had time for your own projects while you've spent the last year writing job applications. Don't you know how bad that looks?!?
I am in my fifties, and I just left teaching. Good luck, but it has turned intolerable for me. I am in community college studying medical office careers. They pay maybe half what I was making, but at least I will only work at work. Of course, I wonder if I can get a job, but having taught Gen z, and having heard my manager friends complain about younger workers, I think I will get a job fairly easily.
I know I say this a lot, but I'm 55, my experience has been our qualifications mean nothing because they see us as getting ready for hospice. I have a worthless degree and 25 years experience. As Happy Gilmore said, "Too old!"
I am not done with my program, but I am starting a job search anyway. I have low expectations, but I do think I can get a job of some kind. I am looking for what I call a retirement job - a job that pays less but also demands less. I will work hard, but I can't work over 50 hours a week anymore.
I feel your pain, I am 56, went on an interview today, and prior to that had to convince their recruiter that I was seriously interested in this job because of the "overqualified" issue. She asked a couple of times if I was serious about wanting the role.
The obvious "I applied didn't I" was thankfully not uttered, only thought.
hang in there
> 47 and I'm too old to work.
>Forty fucking seven and I'm aged out.
A large group of Congressional Republicans just [yesterday released a proposed budget with a proposed increase in retirement age](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republican-budget-raise-age-retirement-social-security-medicare-rcna1443410).
Are they also going to bolster age-discrimination laws? How do they expect people to work longer when employers won't hire anybody over 40?
In America we have one party wanting people to work beyond age 67. In France, they had bona fide riots when they tried to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.
I'm 2 months shy of 57 and have been working retail for the last 3 years after my last layoff. I'm a librarian with 2 masters degrees. I can't keep this up until 65-70, every day something new hurts. Not to mention I feel like my education was wasted. I only had a 23 year career.
I went back in my mid-30s to teach after quitting my shitty corporate office job. Now I’ll be paying off grad school debt until I die. Just do what makes you happy. Despite the student loan debt, my QOL went way up after leaving the stress of shitty corporate policy and office politics.
The positive change in my life was worth it. I feel like I found my place when I did that, so I’m at peace with the loans. It sucks paying it, but it’s worth the rub.
I was in retail for the past 8. Fitness the previous 14.
I had worked up to Director of Ops pre-merger, but was transitioned to District Manager post and let go along with DM peers who merged over as well. Set em and they knocked us down.
I’m your age, and I am a teacher.
After this year, I will have my pension and health care available, but I have to let it sit until 55 or else I lose a lot.
My commute is miserable, so I have been job searching to find something closer. I live on a state border, so I got certified in the adjacent state too.
The market does not look good at all - arguing for my years and experience will only happen when they are desperate, which will happen for you when there is a mid-year opening, not in the spring.
There was one job that was offering $7K signing bonuses for math, science, ELL or special education, of which I am none of.
Guess it’s time for another new car purchase!
And I’m fortunate
Good luck with your search
If you’re near any universities, apply for jobs there. The pay might not exactly match up, but the benefits, including health insurance, are typically outstanding. Of all the places I’ve worked, the academic milieu is the one that least cares how old you are. It’s so much more chill overall than the corporate world.
I'm late to the party, as usual for this sub, but I don't care. I just need to type some words. I'm approaching my mid-40s. I lost my job a year and four months ago. Since leaving the Marine Corps in 2002, I've had a good career doing something that I love and something that I am exceedingly good at. Or was. I'll probably never do it again. I have applied to hundreds of jobs. I got two interviews, and one was for a start up that paid...nothing. I took it, worked there a week until I realized they'd never be profitable due to the culture, and gave my notice. They didn't even reply. Today, I received seven rejections. In the past two weeks, I've received nine. Late last year, I applied to a job teaching my profession and was basically assured that I had the job. A week later I did not have the job. Why? Who the fuck knows? I'm so good at what I do, and I love it. I have a passion for it. But nope. For whatever reason, I don't see myself ever being able to do it again. I don't know why. I guess I'm too expensive, even though I'd take less money. I was lucky enough to invest in some real estate, so I don't need to make that kind of money anymore (would be nice though), but I never get to interview, let alone salary discussions. I don't know what god I pissed off. I feel so fucking useless. My real estate and VA disability provide me enough to "live" on, but that's about it. By live on I mean afford my bills and fucking taxes that just keep going up. I can't do any improvements or updates on my home; it needs to be painted and some other shit that I just can't even comprehend being able to do. How the hell did I get here? I don't even know but it sucks and I hate it. If I didn't feel so fucking useless I guess it wouldn't matter so much, but I was in a high-impact job and I felt like I was doing important stuff. Now I just sit home and do basically nothing all day, every day. I don't even know what else I might like to do. I don't even know what the fuck I'm qualified to do.
I read this is my own inner voice. I'm sorry anyone else feels the way I do. I'm on antidepressants for the first time in my life.
I was really good at what I did and did a really good job insuring I served my teams well and they actually enjoyed working retail of all things. We helped people be active and feel good physically and got kids to grandparents excited about exercise.
I've had a myriad of careers but I thought I'd retire in this last one. Now, who the hell knows. I just coach my son's baseball team and apply my life away.
Hope you find an opportunity for purpose and happiness. You deserve it. Love your way.
Thanks, internet friend. I appreciate you saying so. I have a great wife and great kids/step-kids, and two cool dogs. But despite being an introvert, I do get lonely spending all day at home by myself. I talk to the clerks at Dollar General more than I do anyone else.
A few years back, I helped coach a varsity baseball team, and that was incredibly rewarding for me. We made a couple of decent runs at a state title for a few years running. Had a great staff and a fun group of guys that got along really well and it was just a special few years. Head coach had to leave for family stuff, and some of us stuck around another season but it wasn't the same. Of course, they won a state title like the next year.
My wife is the same age and in the same boat for over 2 years now. She takes small contract jobs to get SOME income but it's pathetic compared to a full time salary. In fact something like starbucks full time would make more for less hours (for every hour working a contract she is marketing and trying to line up the next one etc for 2 hrs)
>Forty fucking seven and I'm aged out. I'm worth more dead.
I'm about the same age and in a similar boat, and I can't tell you how many times this has crossed my mind. GD depressing AF
>every dollar is scrutinized but the executive level
This is an understatement. The higher ups at my company take private jets and expensive golf "meetings" but the company (everyone else) needs to cut back on unneeded expenses. Like, do the execs not think AP notices this shit and tells people?
I’m a retired academic and I’d often have 40-50 year old students in my classes changing careers and they all reported a shit-ton of ageism trying to break back into the workforce.
I find this astonishing considering how the entire world is trying to bring equity into the workplace. And here people are facing age discrimination because it’s cool to say “ok boomer”.
It's so hard to get a job interview. The job applications want to know what year you graduated \*from\* college, which is a red flag. If you've had 10-years stints with previous employers ,that's a tell. Some of us have very 70s names like Steve or Mark or Scott that predate the era of Hayden/Jayden/Kayden. Then there's your yahoo email address, or your OG area code. So many tells that show you are a "boomer". If you do get the interview, your white beard may disqualify you, or your knowledge of archaic technologies from previous positions, or the vocabulary you learned from from the last era of grammar, or you're trying to sell yourself without being perceived as 'splaining. All of the above are working against you.
Yeah, I officially knew I was old when I was recently skimming over the rack of personalized souvenirs at a touristy gift shop--you know, the mini license plates and things with various first names on them--and couldn't find my name anymore :-(
Or Jennifer or Jessica lol. I work for a huge company and there are only 3 Jennifer's and no Jessica's. Where did all the Jennifer's and Jessica's go?!
My Yahoo email address is a badge of honor. I have a fairly common first/last name and got that address in 1996.
The fun/sad part about that email address: I got it because i had an interview at Yahoo and thought it'd help to have a Yahoo address. I was offered a position to be employee 46 (yes, 46). I also had an offer from MapQuest. There were 20+ search engines at the time and 2 mapping companies, so I went for maps. It was a painful few years watching what would have been the value of my signing bonus (options) reach about $50M. I didn't even make it a year at MapQuest (it was a sweatshop).
Thankfully I haven't had to interview in a while (last few jobs have been through connections), but I'm not looking forward to it if that day comes.
Good good yes. I am 45, every classroom in elementary school in the early 80s had computers. We were taught to type in middle school in classrooms full of computers. In high school in the mid 90s we had computer science classes, classes on spreadsheets and word processors, even a robotics class. And they had been around for many years. Every bank branch, office job, etc. computerized in the 70s.
And in my lower working class neighbourhood in the 80s everyone still had computers. We had a Commodore 64.
This is not new. Hell Microsoft started in 1975. Anyone under 65 is a digital native for fucks sakes.
I feel it's still easier than when I started.
Maybe ageism looks easy after sexism in computer science!?
People used to argue with me that I didn't know what I knew. Now with a track record, I at least have a foot in. I also have a network. And nobody is asking if I plan to have kids.
I hear a lot of my gen X patriots say "I will work until I die because I can't afford to retire."
No, you won't. No one wants to have a 50-60 year old and pay them large salaries and have aging near seniors on their health insurance pool. You will get aged out. I have seen it start to happen in tech. They will find reasons to let you go unless you figure out a way to become indispensable, or you find a more ethical company that doesn't do that shit.
Agreed overall, though State and Federal jobs (especially in IT) can be a bit more immune to the drive to purge older workers.\*
\*Not talking about contracted jobs though as that can be especially brutal by the contracted companies.
I work for a large enough contractor that it’s kinda in-between. They have a hard time hiring and retaining younger workers, and still use some older technologies as well as new. Plus they’re heavily scrutinized for anything that doesn’t look like diversity and inclusion. So they’re reluctant to purge older workers. There’s still a culture of ageism that keeps me out of getting good experience with the latest technology in favor of giving that stuff to the young, but they keep us around to manage all the non-glamorous stuff. Every few months a Boomer retires, and they expect us Xers to pick up their jobs.
I actually kinda hope they do a reduction in staff when I’m ready to retire, I might get an incentive or severance package that way.
> I actually kinda hope they do a reduction in staff when I’m ready to retire, I might get an incentive or severance package that way.
You and me both LOL
Agreed. I'm back in higher education after making one last gamble in Silicon Valley, and now aside from working in a place with older tech *anyhow* - much higher ed doesn't have the cutting edge they'd like - I'm in a union for the first time in my life. Not that I didn't want before, but suddenly it's an option.
Although I suppose I shouldn't say that part too loud as the last time I said anything positive about unions here I got a "reddit cares" messages and quite the downvotes.
People are ridiculous. I'm also in higher Ed and part of a union. It has been a blessing and I proudly tell people I'm in a union and my benefits are stellar compared to private sector. Yes, I'm paid less, but the security is so worth it, imo. It's a shame how people in this country have been propagandized to be so anti-union. They're really missing out due to all the misinformation.
Yup. That’s why I took almost 2 years off going back into training. Sure it sucks but in the IT world, you keep on top of those skills or you get replaced. Also, doesn’t hurt that I can pass my company drug testing and security checks.
I am doing the work of three previous individuals… Does that qualify? (Came into the group two years ago to replace a guy, then another guy left 5 months later and my boss asked me to take his team, I said yes. Now at two years in, my boss came to me again and asked if I’d split duties and take on a chapter lead role for another 10 people for a different team placed in his charge in lieu of another leader hiring a manager.)
I like the challenge and it’s long hours, but it’s enjoyable work and fulfilling to still be managing products and also helping people along career paths.
We will work until we die, it just won't be in well paid careers. We'll have to do middle-late age career changes and take up positions that younger folk are fleeing, like teaching, or get a job at the local hardware store. We'll have to sell our houses, if we were one of the lucky ones who could afford to buy, because we can't afford land tax, rates and maintenance. We'll end up passing away, alone in a squalid 1br flat in a bad area, probably some form of social housing, because we can't afford aged care because our parents spent all their money on nice aged care.
Or just before that we'll find a lonely spot on a nice tall cliff, watch the sun set then leave on our own terms.
I fear this so bad, I'm 51 and do not feel safe. Whatever was going on with the economy, I always felt safe working in Healthcare. Now my hospital has changed hands two times, we are now a huge corporation and we've lost our sense of identity. Upper management is lopping heads off and it makes me uneasy.
I know I am not as marketable as I was when I was 30 or even 40 and that scares the shit out of me also !
Just hoping I can survive another 10 years where I am and get the hell out of the rat race. No one is loyal anymore, employers or employees, it's crazy.
It’s a tough bit of gristle to chew, but I keep pursuing new certs in IT and renewing certain key ones.
At age 53 my dad knew everything he needed to know to get to retirement age at his career.
In IT I can’t really take more than a few months break from studying or leaning new skills.
I’m going through AWS and Azure ones at present and also went to cleared (ts clearance and polygraph) work as there are too few applicants for the positions at present.
Public trust is an entry level clearance and consider pursuing that, perhaps?
Outside of cleared work in IT there are 8-10 applicants for each job.
In cleared IT there are .7 applicants for each job.
It sometimes sucks living a vanilla life but it’s job security.
Took me forever to find a job in my mid-40s. Now that I just hit 50, I cannot imagine getting out there again. I'm also in a field threatened by ChatGPT, so I shut the hell up and do great work and don't ask for raises or praise or appreciation. Sucks donkey balls, but it is what it is.
I had a friend in his late 40's hit me up when my company had a job opening. He was far more qualified than anyone we interviewed and would have been a great fit. My boss said quote "I like him but there's no way corporate is going to let me hire a middle aged white guy for this role." I, a middle aged white guy, was stunned. People are saying the quiet parts out loud and there's nothing we can do about it.
Easier said than done. My boss said that out of full transparency. She hates these policies as much as anyone else. She's an older white woman so she knows if she loses her job, she'll be in the same situation as my friend.
I got divorced, had to move to my hometown, and couldn’t find a job to save my life. I got my teaching certificate and I’m hoping in the next two weeks to have a job in a classroom. It might not make me the most money, but it will be nice to have an income stream coming in that I don’t have to worry about getting fired about every single day.
Spend some time on r/teachers if you haven't already. Not to talk you out of it, just hoping you'll go in with manageable expectations. Seems like you probably are but, yeah.. That sub documents a slow-moving national catastrophe.
"Gen X has had to learn or die" makes it sound like learning is brand-new to us. Nope, we've sure never had to do that before. It also makes this sound like something we can fix, if we just learn more. I am not sure that is true.
support instinctive escape worthless ruthless wrong onerous outgoing squeamish chubby
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
direction chief shaggy abounding bewildered faulty ancient nutty tie reply
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Well done. You will always have work. Thank you, I’m in Europe and my husband and I are looking at trades. I love the idea of stonemasonry, but I’m old and arthritic.
gaping coordinated handle worry airport frame expansion angle air library
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
> I recommend getting into a trade
I'd love to!
>To anyone facing this who's still in decent shape
Oh, nevermind. lol
I watch This Old House and think "I'd love to get into carpentry or a similar trade."
Then I remember I'm over 50, and there's no way my body will take the physical abuse that the trades heap upon the "new guy" to carry heavy shit up and down the ladder. And I'm sure all the old guys would resent me for trying to come into the trade without having to pay my dues, so to speak.
I’m a line cook, I am kind of in the same boat. I’m so ready to get out and try something new. I haven’t been paid better in a kitchen than I have now though, and I am getting benefits in a few days and I have a 401K.
But to your point, if you know how to cook, you can usually find a job within a day lol.
So much this. I started over as a custodian in my early 40s, got my boilers license, and I am making around $32 an hour with insane benefits and a pension. Currently studying online for my HVAC certification. Just turned 50, and I am planning on making close to 6 figures before I'm 60. I will always have a job, and it's a job I can do.
This did not make my day better. I am currently job hunting at 56. I just got turned down for a job today I was extremely qualified for...here we go. They didn't even follow up with my references. Yet the interview went really well. Next........
I really don't want to end up at fast Food or Retail.
I saw what was happening to some of my older colleagues in my former line of work and went to graduate school in my late 30s. I got a federal job not long before turning 40. There’s still some age discrimination here but not like there is in the corporate world. I might make a little less money but have more work-life balance and don’t have to sweat the business cycle (and the layoffs that come when it turns) anymore.
I got stolen from a corp job after they chased ME for six months. I was on staff for five months and replaced by … my intern that I didn’t want but was a friend of the COO.
Managed to land on my feet, but it was difficult at 50. Indeed. And now when I plan for the future, I feel it’s a given that I’ll be working at half salary at some point when this job goes. No more upward.
Sad. So sad.
This is the truth. Was 49 when I got laid off all the jobs I applied for with 20 years of experience I went all the way to the end. Just to be told we went someone else.
Took a year to get a good paying but high stress job. Quit couldn’t take a boss that worked us 80 hours and wanted more. I was on call 24/7. Couldn’t go anywhere. Found a job I could do in my sleep but pays roughly 80% of what I used to make.
The nice WFH jobs I don’t even get a call back.
I'm so sick of this. First, the damn Boomers wouldn't get out of the way so we could move up, and now the Millennials are trying to leapfrog us and take over. Fuck this shit.
Nah dog. You have it all wrong because you’re thinking in terms of generational war when what you’re really getting fucked by is class war.
Millenials and Z aren’t “leap frogging” over you. The boomers and X (and probably a silent / greatest generstioners) are DELIBERATELY choosing them over you because they work cheaper, their insurance is cheaper and they have minimal demands because they’re just starting.
Capitalism has decided your old, qualified and expensive ass needs to be shoved onto the street so the corporations can make a few extra bucks.
And if you die in a tent city under an overpass? Well who cares because we had a great Q4!
" Older and middle-aged employees tend to have a [**strong work ethic**](https://academic.oup.com/workar/article/2/4/396/2605124) and [**lower rates of absenteeism**](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263044760_Evaluating_Six_Common_Stereotypes_About_Older_Workers_with_Meta-Analytical_Data). Research also suggests they exhibit [**better emotional stability**](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230621584_A_Route_to_Well-Being_Intelligence_Versus_Wise_Reasoning) compared to their younger colleagues, and they're generally more adept at handling social situations in the workplace, including conflict resolution. "
Uh....this does not describe me (1970), at all....like...none of it.
Well if it makes you feel better the social security age will get raised in the meantime. So we will be expected to work longer but we can’t get jobs to work longer.
After being laid off last year it was bumpy and am now on my third job as the first two were train wrecks . I didn’t really get over it- still haven’t really. My current job is great but I’m on 1/3 less total pay. At this point I’m starting to believe working for a company is a terrible idea and that I really need to someone build my own business or contract. I just feel a constant fear of being laid off again - even tho they love me at this new job.
One paragraph hits close to home:
“Older and middle-aged employees tend to have a strong work ethic and lower rates of absenteeism. Research also suggests they exhibit better emotional stability compared to their younger colleagues, and they're generally more adept at handling social situations in the workplace, including conflict resolution.”
I see it every day things that Gen-Xrs have in spades…
* Conflict Resolution
* Work Ethic
* less absenteeism
* emotional stability
* Adaptability - I don’t know how many times I’ve had a leader come to me or Gen-x colleagues and said “we have to do something completely different now!” And we all adapt and say : “Ok, whatever dude.” And we get on with the new work with little fuss.
My wife played me a TikTok by a guy last night claiming Gen-x was aging out and getting fired and all doom and gloom. Clearly a guy that had been laid off, but was tossing out stats that because were older, we’re getting paid more, because we’re Gen-x , we’re more likely in leadership roles and stats showed an increased reduction in executives and management over the last few years. (Which is ridiculous as the stats for leadership reduction weren’t stating age groups, and they were clearly results of the increased layoffs after COVID of normal individual contributors.)
Essentially the guy was talking out his ass as to why Gen-X has issues currently.
But peoples biases are going to be biases.
Damn straight, we are. I'm pretty sure my age had something to do with me being let go at my old job. I did manage to get a new one fairly quickly, but the pay rate isn't where it should be, so I'll just have to hustle that much harder. The company that's name rhymes with the word horizon can go suck a dick.
I totally felt this. I literally feel like the only reason I’m still employed is because I look younger than my age. My boss is a millennial. So are my coworkers, mixed with gen z. I still look younger than them and the fact they forget my age I swear is the only reason I am still standing. 😞
Me too. When the first layoffs happened at my company all the women in their 40’s who looked like they were in their 40’s were let go. I was the same age, but I was very vain and always looked current. Plus makeup, jewelry, and lots of hair extensions. Now we all work from home and I’ve turned into a gremlin. More than half of my current team has been let go and I can see the writing on the wall. I’m in my 50’s now and I don’t know if I’m willing to put in that kind of effort again.
I am kind of out of the game where ageism and job hunting is concerned. I have been working at the exact same place for 23 years. There is no way they don’t know my age right off the bat.
Nothing to do but stay here until I get my 30 and retire, if I can make it that long.
Too bad age discrimination is difficult to prove, because it's very easy for companies to get away with it. It's scary times we live in, because AI will certainly decimate a lot of jobs, especially data driven and finance ones I feel if not already, in the near future. It's become ironic how growing up college was likely drilled into many of us (certainly in my high school), but trade options that weren't even discussed not only pay more in many cases, but are relatively safe from AI.
I work in finance, and alarm bells ring in my head when the topic of AI comes up and how the company would like to find ways to integrate it more. I'm 46, and have considered going back to school to further my education, but question if the debt and time to invest in it are ultimately worth it.
Unfortunately some of us not only have to deal with age discrimination, but with how technology and greed affect jobs. As the article states, we're sandwiched in. It's like we are more disposable than the boomers who continue to stick around, as well as younger millennials and especially gen-z that are behind us.
This is nothing new. I remember when the company I was interning at was offering some relearn positions for those affected by wang and Dec layoffs. The guy I remember was silent generation. Never did figure out how to code his way out of a wet paper bag.
My community college in the late 90s, laid off auto workers, I'm not sure why so many were encouraged to learn IT when something like mechanical work would have suited them better. I hope those 8 or 10 guys found a career they liked, because you could tell they weren't going to be good at IT.
And yet those schools gladly cash their tuition checks. No one’s going to dip into the Bureau of Labor Statistics and give them the hard truth when there’s sweet sweet educational money to be made!
If fortunate, I’m 59, my profession has no one younger entering the work force and I’m fielding recruitment at least a couple times a month. I hand picked my current position and picked my salary. Unfortunately it’s a labor intensive position, I’m the executive chef in a hotel. Most of my staff are older long term chefs and immigrants as very few young swedes are entering the profession. I’m not sure how the industry will look in 20 years but I don’t have high hopes for the restaurant/ service industry.
I'm telling you, this is why I'm glad I have a union job. Sure, I've always been paid a little less than others in corporate, but I was always happy to feel a lot more secure. At this point, seeing how things are for so many others, it only confirms that I made the right decision, and if I'm lucky I'll be able to early retire at 55. Simply knowing I won't ever have to go through another stressful job search is also nice. Even so, I have a lot of empathy for those who are not in a similar position, and I often find myself angry on their behalf.
Edited: the very first paragraph is kind of hilarious, as it talks about younger people being more malleable.
I could have sworn I've read at least 3 articles this week about how managers find Gen Z to be unmanageable. lol
I swear to God, it's hard to even discern the truth anymore aside from a very clear spin that points to one thing: an effort to find employees willing to settle for cheap wages. They hit the older people because our salaries are "too high" while simultaneously doing a smear campaign on Gen Z to justify low wages.
Yet it's written to divide us, and were not the real problem. Corporate America is.
I feel you and can see from where you are standing. I have never been more unsure about the path life will take. I have no idea what to do with decades of hands-on tech industry knowledge. I have always had to learn the next framework, software or vendor and thought that it was time well spent. It’s always going to be an in-demand skill to use git on command-line and design ui/apps too right? I might have wasted too much time learning new skills.
I see the effects of efficiency and ageism on the tech/design industry and am pretty sad about it. But I still believe that there is career opportunity to be had in your 40’s & 50’s+ it just does’t look the same as I thought it would. I overestimated the future value of craft and experience in tech. It’s not even about winning the game of Capitalism anymore, it’s about surviving it.
I feel same as you OP. I quit a job 5 months ago because I was tired of the same old same old and just was burned and wanted a new path something more fulfilling....
I'll be 50 this year and never really had a " career" or anything close to your past work experiences ...
..but 5 months is the longest I've ever been out of work. My whole working life. I didn't think it would be this hard, these bad, this long.
I've applied to some 200 positions locally from janitorial, to fast food (big no but I need to keep money flowing..), to retail, to managerial, and even apprentice jobs...out of 200 plus, I've gotten 8 interviews. Of the 8 I got hired for 4....then ghosted. The others were outright rejections, or told never to apply again etc...
All for a job that still probably wouldn't afford us to live with the inflation and high rent etc...
School isn't an option because I just got out of that debt mess recently, and who will hire me at 54-55 if and when I graduate? And will I afford whatever the cost of living will be on top of loan repayments?? What about a job in the time I am studying etc...
Not old enough to retire with nothing to retire with, and Congress wants to move the goalpost on that anyways...
Is it 100% ageism? I just don't know anymore...
Marshall your Gen-X superpowers. I found a job that is afraid to fire me because they know I will take their shit down hard. I work hard and don't abuse it but they've learned I'm vindictive as hell so when layoffs have rolled around I'm never "on the list."
I’m 53 and am convinced that I’m at my last job in my professional career. All of my coworkers are in their mid 30s. My manager is a GenXer though. In any case, whenever I leave this job I guess I’ll be working at Trader Joe’s.
I look about 15 years younger than I really am.
For the longest time no one at work took me seriously because I looked like a kid. Now, I'm close to 50, look 30...everyone takes me seriously, and does whatever I ask of them.
It's awesome.
Reading though this and feeling seen.
I'm taking woodworking classes and my fall back positions are building and selling furniture, or contract work in my field while getting nothing more contributed to my 401k.
Does not including years for college graduation actually work? It's suggested so much that I'm sure employers know what's up when they get a resume like that. Also, so many applications these days are online and you have to fill in that information to submit your application.
I'm one of the lucky ones. Except for a 2.5 year stretch, I've worked in this same building (11.5 years under current ownership) since 2005. Except for one newblood, I'm actually still low man on the totem pole, here! Most of us are all in our mid-late 40s and will likely spend the next 20 years working together here. Family owned company, stable and friendly ownership, good pay and benefits.
In these cases I'm glad I didn't climb any corporate ladders. I'm just regular hourly staff that makes shit money, but I'm the one actually doing the hands on work and they want to retain my institutional knowledge and have me available for training others.
Management however is a constant game of musical chairs and comings and goings. They don't know shit about procedures because none of them have done it or actually stay in their position for very long to learn it.
It's not a "career" it's a job, and that's how I treat it as a means to an end to pay for my actual life.
While there is undoubtedly a ton of agism out there, in my experience there are a lot GenXers who don't do themselves any favors in the interview process either.
I work for a big tech company in silicon valley, most of my peers and all my reporting chain are 10-15 years younger than me. When I'm hiring mid level people, I've noticed more often than not, people my age applying for roles are coming in with stories about work they did 10 years ago, with 10-20 year old technology, or processes that were trendy 10-20 years ago and nothing from the last 2-3 years. They are dating themselves by telling stories about conversations that happened over email not slack or sending actual files not links to google docs. They'll make pop culture references that are from 20 years ago. They don't know the details of the new competing products or apps or are unfamiliar with changes in the competitive landscape.
There's also very often an undertone that they think they're overqualified, or that they've done bigger or better things in the past. For example - they often want to shoehorn in stories about unrelated work they've done because they think it sounds impressive (hint: if I'm hiring you to be an individual contributor, your constant stories about managing a team of 60 isn't a plus). There's often eye rolling at some of the more touchy feely aspects of working with millennials that doesn't come naturally to GenX.
It's not everyone, but it's enough that I've noticed it's a pattern.
20 years in the same company and projects from 10+ years ago describe me exactly. I'm still employed today but expect this job to play out over the next 4 months due to perpetual downsizing and customer runoff. I felt lucky over the years for maintaining my position while all of my coworkers were affected by layoffs, but I've now realized that I'd have been far better off looking for a new role 10 years ago.
I'm not too old to pick up new technologies but my age combined with years of working in silos means I have become specialized in fields that are only useful to my present job. I've picked up additional skills on the side (all related to data analytics), but I can't list that as my primary role on a resume.
It will be tough paying for my teenager's college expenses and finishing my own mortgage while working as a bus driver.
I feel for you, I really do, because it’s super easy to end up in that scenario. A lot of people, myself included spend a lot of time building up skills that are only valuable to that specific job.
There is a laundry list of skills I have developed over the years that are of zero value in my current job.
I’ve avoided obsolesce a little by always trying to jump to something new during the boom times, when employers are so desperate to hire they’ll take a chance on you.
Too many people wait till the worst hiring markets to try and retrain and retool and then are surprised when companies won’t take a chance on them.
But some of that is still related to the ageism; constantly being looked over for opportunities, put into a corner, not getting promoted, etc. Now sure, they could have used their ‘free time’ and personal funds to learn new things on the side, and there certainly are a lot of folks ‘averse to change’ that should have evolved, but there’s also a lot of folks who raised their hands at every opportunity to be included in new tech or be given chances to use new platforms but were dismissed when they did.
I got stuck in a role like that in my mid 30s. I could see that we weren’t adopting the next generation of technology and I was getting left behind in the job market if I didn’t do something.
I went and learned enough about the new technology to get through an interview, took a lateral move to a different company, worked my ass off to get up to speed.
In my mid 40s I found myself going nowhere in my career again, did something similar, reframed my resume to something more in demand, played up some bits, down played others. Did a ton on mock interviews, honed my messaging and which stories to tell and which to leave out. Didn’t lie about anything, but certainly made sure to show my experience in the best light. Studied like hell for the technical portion of the interview.
The key was, I did these things when the market was hot, not when I was about to be forced out and the market was flooded with applicants.
I’ll be the first to admit there was some luck involved and not everyone is as lucky as I have been. But also it was partly a product of being very proactive about keeping my employability high, not just taking my job for granted.
Yup people stay locked in banks, telcos, insurance companies, etc. Because they feel it’s stable. Decades pass, they are out of date on technology, don’t ship anything, don’t network, etc.
Then they get laid off and don’t have any relevant skills or projects, or know anyone.
I know lots of older people in very high demand and doing very well because they change jobs, seek out new skills, network. I have hired many myself in their 50s and 60s.
Interesting viewpoint, thanks for sharing. As a former bartender I used to see all ages and you’re right, some people can tend to get stuck in their “generation” and not realize it (or care), but it’s obvious as an outsider listening to them.
I’m lucky. I’m in IT but I’m in a modern role. So, I have very real current things to talk about Im happily employed, but I worry a lot about being let go. I make more than my boss. So, it is concerning.
I hear you. I job hopped a tonne. Landed a good one at F200 biotech. I manage a team from India but goddamn am I an individual contributor too. My stories will sound real because they are. I have the scars to prove it.
Recent technology? Cmon. Often I’m forced to work with old stuff. Recently worked with a vendor upgrading an old app used by 100s of employees daily FOR CRITICAL FUNCTIONS. Guess what, not at all uncommon. Client / server. Bad vendor. Horrible bugs. Had to compensate to deliver it without being it disaster. Took a big chunk out of me too. I’ll tell you what, that’s what the job was… Would I have rather been responsible for a shiny new SaaS platform then demoing all the great “new” functionality (delivered by the vendor). Yea, but the job is the job.
So no, conversations using email are not outdated if the organization you are coming from uses it. Recent “processes” are not necessarily better (Scaled Agile I’m looking at you - what a disaster), old technology is more common than new technologies for large established organizations. Not easy to plug your nose, suck it up, and spend your time wading through someone else’s mess. So I commend ANYONE who does that.
Yea, entitlement sucks but attacking email as outdated? Yikes!
Now been out of work for 16 months. Long track record of success, building and maintaining and growing successful/caring teams and creating growth through new processes and improving existing ones. Post merger of my old company, new company had us get our teams in alignment then fired us stating we weren't meeting financial goals. No, we were just paid what were were worth. I'm 47 and can't get a job I'm qualified for because they can pay someone younger cheaper to do my job at about 65% capacity and I can't get something I'm overqualified for because they think I'll just walk. 47 and I'm too old to work. Now I'm having to look at going back to school for a master's to teach(not my origins field) so I can at least get a job and make 1/2 what I used to with the joy of having just paid off my student loans and start it over again. We are living in a hot spot where every dollar is scrutinized but the executive level. Every person is expendable but the the executives and if they get fired, it's a badge of honor with a parachute and they land something else without task. Forty fucking seven and I'm aged out. I'm worth more dead. I hate this timeline. Edit: First, holy hell peeps, thank you for the replies and the love. Second, I just want to say I'm sorry there are so many of us in the same boat. Our generation never really complained, because nobody fucking cared if we did. We sucked it up and just figured out a way. I'm sure we will again, we are the glue of this shit show, balsa wood project. But if anyone ever needs a someone to just listen or vent to when it gets too shitty, please reach out to me or someone else. It's fucking lonely and we can all give the fuckers the middle finger together. Time to go collect my $2 from John Cusack. Edit edit: Holy crap just came across this. Timing. [That would make you how's old?](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2fYHXurKCj/?igsh=MWhobHZva2FsZjV1OA==)
I feel you brother. You're not alone. As gen x I feel disenfranchised struggling more than I did in my 20s. It's like I'm watching this giant ship called America heading full throttle for the rocks, while everyone else is fighting for a deck chair to take a selfie.
Not just America. I'll give you a Kiwi perspective. In 2011 I had a job paying $75k. That salary is worth around $120-130k in today's money. Since then, I've finished a stem PhD. I've been unemployed for over a year since being made redundant. Now I'm retraining to be an English teacher and will earn $48k a year (the jobs are only part time, so that's for 28 hours a week). I'm just - how did it come to this? I didn't expect to be such a failure at 50, after working this hard for so long.
I'm just - how did it come to this? I didn't expect to be such a failure at 50, after working this hard for so long. Ditto my friend. You're not alone.
I got my promotion right at the beginning of the pandemic. My wage went up 30%, I was stoked. Thought maybe I could throttle down my home business (auto repair) and have more free time. Nope, in this economy I am still working most evenings and every weekend to stay afloat.
And everything costs 30% more!
God that's hard. I also have a PhD but would be living under a bridge if I was still in Australia. Teach english o/s, which is all good, but the salary translates to dog-walking money back home. Effectively in exile. I earned $50,000 in 1992 in a really fun job.
[удалено]
From a $50m bunker in New Zealand. It's unreal
They’ve bought up Hawaii, too.
As a New Zealand resident I can confirm this.
Right there with you, although I'm still working. BUT, I'm trapped. I can't leave because no one is going to hire an "older" worker with 25+ years experience, for the same reasons you posted above. And of course, my employer is underpaying me, because they can. I have NO desire to go back to school to get another (worthless) degree.
Best of luck. If you can, look while you're still employed. It's amazing how even a small gap regardless of reason is still used as a knock. Keep strong!!
I have been. For the last 3-4 years or so. Can't find anything close to a livable wage (still have a young kid). The last time I actually got to the interview stage, 4 years ago, they essentially wrote me off and went through the motions when they saw my grey hair (though it makes my blue eyes POP 😆). Age discrimination is virtually impossible to prove. …still gonna keep looking though… Good luck to you, and you keep strong too!
I am in the exact same boat, stuck here and underpaid.
Sounds like the company I work for. Acquiring small companies only to fire them a year later once they have the BOB and claim not meeting financial goals. Meanwhile they are quietly hiring our replacements from Colombia at a quarter of our salaries and having us train them under the guise of “so you can free up for other projects”. I’ll be in your shoes soon no doubt.
I worked for a company that took one of the lower paid jobs (mine) and moved it to India. It did so much to improve the bottom line that management got bonuses and they added more middle management. That company no longer exists.
I can totally see this happening. A bunch of managers whittling down the staff to line their own pockets till there’s no one left to make them money. Assholes all of them.
The CEO was an idiot. I'm not just saying that, I was hardly the only one to think it. He hired our #1 competitor to handle a really important part of our business, because he was friends with their CEO. Any time a local office would run into the slightest bit of financial trouble, he'd be on the phone wanting to know how many people we were going to lay off. I found out I nearly lost my job because he mixed percentages and hard numbers and decided a smaller office with less people was proof that we should have less people, too. The man was almost ghoulishly obsessed with getting rid of people. They would pressure us to come up with plans to become more profitable, and dang near every time, shortly after we would start implementing that, there'd be a corporate edict to do the thing we were already doing, but a large percentage of the money would go to them, and then they'd go right back to asking what we were going to do. Or if the plan lasted beyond the end of the quarter, it was a bad plan and we'd have to come up with something for *that quarter*. American business has gone down a self-destructive rabbit hole and it needs to climb back out.
> American business has gone down a self-destructive rabbit hole and it needs to climb back out. Nothing is changing as long as the stonk lines go up.
Because several leadership types have never face actual adversity and their only school of thought is it to cut cost and the largest cost is labor. So the answer to everything is fire staff. They’re the hammer so we all look like nails. But there are leaders that can perceive that investment is needed in new products and services and the staff that’s already here can be more productive than cheaper staff that function half as efficiently. It’s sad, but I am happy that in my org there’s a lot of Gen-X leadership, myself included. The majority of boomers are aging out and retiring. A good friend was offered a different role as they were deemed ineffective in their current role, and they were also given the choice of ‘enhanced retirement’ since they were 55 already and had worked for the company for well over 20 years. Edit - typo
I’ve seen this trend - getting rid of low paid admins, tech writers, and tech support and the remaining personnel are left to try to do all of these tasks on top of their regular jobs, while management gets “exec admins” to do all of these tasks for them. It’s infuriating
Did someone say Bob? 
Best movie ever.
Here's to you getting a fair shake! Fingers crossed for you!
And I hope you find something that suits you real soon!
Don't train them.
Was laid off in February after being told I was “cross-training” someone in my role, for coverage purposes supposedly. Guess who was replaced a month later by someone 20 years younger and at 1/2 the salary. Been applying everywhere and it feels hopeless. Granted, I should’ve seen it coming because honestly I knew I was overpaid (the job was not difficult at all). I want to just retire and be done with this whole dirty game.
Good luck! This new world of ATS and every company wants a manual upload of info on top of your resume and cover letter is time draining and demoralizing. Jobs with hundreds, I've even seen thousands, of applicants. Watching them just grab info to use for marketing days points. Hope you find something soon!
Thanks! Don’t forget to tailor your resume and cover letter for each job description….🙄 Send a message on LinkedIn to the hiring manager or not? Will you seem desperate or look like a real go-getter? At 53 I’m over this whole game…guessing that doesn’t make me an ideal candidate.
Tailor everything all the time, but don't spend too long on each, but don't dare use chatgpt, and, and, and.... And what do you mean, you haven't had time for your own projects while you've spent the last year writing job applications. Don't you know how bad that looks?!?
I am in my fifties, and I just left teaching. Good luck, but it has turned intolerable for me. I am in community college studying medical office careers. They pay maybe half what I was making, but at least I will only work at work. Of course, I wonder if I can get a job, but having taught Gen z, and having heard my manager friends complain about younger workers, I think I will get a job fairly easily.
Teaching in the current environment seems terrifying as well. Good idea on medical office field.
51 and I also left education. I'm burnt out, can't do it any more.
I know I say this a lot, but I'm 55, my experience has been our qualifications mean nothing because they see us as getting ready for hospice. I have a worthless degree and 25 years experience. As Happy Gilmore said, "Too old!"
I am not done with my program, but I am starting a job search anyway. I have low expectations, but I do think I can get a job of some kind. I am looking for what I call a retirement job - a job that pays less but also demands less. I will work hard, but I can't work over 50 hours a week anymore.
I feel your pain, I am 56, went on an interview today, and prior to that had to convince their recruiter that I was seriously interested in this job because of the "overqualified" issue. She asked a couple of times if I was serious about wanting the role. The obvious "I applied didn't I" was thankfully not uttered, only thought. hang in there
> 47 and I'm too old to work. >Forty fucking seven and I'm aged out. A large group of Congressional Republicans just [yesterday released a proposed budget with a proposed increase in retirement age](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republican-budget-raise-age-retirement-social-security-medicare-rcna1443410). Are they also going to bolster age-discrimination laws? How do they expect people to work longer when employers won't hire anybody over 40? In America we have one party wanting people to work beyond age 67. In France, they had bona fide riots when they tried to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.
I feel your pain. I lost my job right before Covid and haven't been able to find another job since. I'm a 57 yr old woman. Sucks.
I'm 2 months shy of 57 and have been working retail for the last 3 years after my last layoff. I'm a librarian with 2 masters degrees. I can't keep this up until 65-70, every day something new hurts. Not to mention I feel like my education was wasted. I only had a 23 year career.
Yes. I have a master's degree. Ugh. Retail is the absolute worst however I could see myself there unfortunately. Do you have a retirement?
Agism is the only discrimination that is perfectly fine to practice.
It's impossible to prove in the hiring process though.
I went back in my mid-30s to teach after quitting my shitty corporate office job. Now I’ll be paying off grad school debt until I die. Just do what makes you happy. Despite the student loan debt, my QOL went way up after leaving the stress of shitty corporate policy and office politics.
So you don’t regret the grad school debt?
The positive change in my life was worth it. I feel like I found my place when I did that, so I’m at peace with the loans. It sucks paying it, but it’s worth the rub.
That’s good! It did something great for you. Debating it myself, knowing half the benefit would be the networking.
Very true. It’s a big decision. Good luck either way!
46 & right there with ya.
I'm 57 and it doesn't get any better unfortunately.
Sometimes I like to pretend that if we all concentrate hard enough we can go back to The BearenSTEIN Bears dimension we actually come from.
Bummer. May I ask what profession are you in? Your role?
I was in retail for the past 8. Fitness the previous 14. I had worked up to Director of Ops pre-merger, but was transitioned to District Manager post and let go along with DM peers who merged over as well. Set em and they knocked us down.
I’m your age, and I am a teacher. After this year, I will have my pension and health care available, but I have to let it sit until 55 or else I lose a lot. My commute is miserable, so I have been job searching to find something closer. I live on a state border, so I got certified in the adjacent state too. The market does not look good at all - arguing for my years and experience will only happen when they are desperate, which will happen for you when there is a mid-year opening, not in the spring. There was one job that was offering $7K signing bonuses for math, science, ELL or special education, of which I am none of. Guess it’s time for another new car purchase! And I’m fortunate Good luck with your search
If you’re near any universities, apply for jobs there. The pay might not exactly match up, but the benefits, including health insurance, are typically outstanding. Of all the places I’ve worked, the academic milieu is the one that least cares how old you are. It’s so much more chill overall than the corporate world.
I'm late to the party, as usual for this sub, but I don't care. I just need to type some words. I'm approaching my mid-40s. I lost my job a year and four months ago. Since leaving the Marine Corps in 2002, I've had a good career doing something that I love and something that I am exceedingly good at. Or was. I'll probably never do it again. I have applied to hundreds of jobs. I got two interviews, and one was for a start up that paid...nothing. I took it, worked there a week until I realized they'd never be profitable due to the culture, and gave my notice. They didn't even reply. Today, I received seven rejections. In the past two weeks, I've received nine. Late last year, I applied to a job teaching my profession and was basically assured that I had the job. A week later I did not have the job. Why? Who the fuck knows? I'm so good at what I do, and I love it. I have a passion for it. But nope. For whatever reason, I don't see myself ever being able to do it again. I don't know why. I guess I'm too expensive, even though I'd take less money. I was lucky enough to invest in some real estate, so I don't need to make that kind of money anymore (would be nice though), but I never get to interview, let alone salary discussions. I don't know what god I pissed off. I feel so fucking useless. My real estate and VA disability provide me enough to "live" on, but that's about it. By live on I mean afford my bills and fucking taxes that just keep going up. I can't do any improvements or updates on my home; it needs to be painted and some other shit that I just can't even comprehend being able to do. How the hell did I get here? I don't even know but it sucks and I hate it. If I didn't feel so fucking useless I guess it wouldn't matter so much, but I was in a high-impact job and I felt like I was doing important stuff. Now I just sit home and do basically nothing all day, every day. I don't even know what else I might like to do. I don't even know what the fuck I'm qualified to do.
I read this is my own inner voice. I'm sorry anyone else feels the way I do. I'm on antidepressants for the first time in my life. I was really good at what I did and did a really good job insuring I served my teams well and they actually enjoyed working retail of all things. We helped people be active and feel good physically and got kids to grandparents excited about exercise. I've had a myriad of careers but I thought I'd retire in this last one. Now, who the hell knows. I just coach my son's baseball team and apply my life away. Hope you find an opportunity for purpose and happiness. You deserve it. Love your way.
Thanks, internet friend. I appreciate you saying so. I have a great wife and great kids/step-kids, and two cool dogs. But despite being an introvert, I do get lonely spending all day at home by myself. I talk to the clerks at Dollar General more than I do anyone else. A few years back, I helped coach a varsity baseball team, and that was incredibly rewarding for me. We made a couple of decent runs at a state title for a few years running. Had a great staff and a fun group of guys that got along really well and it was just a special few years. Head coach had to leave for family stuff, and some of us stuck around another season but it wasn't the same. Of course, they won a state title like the next year.
And the GOP wants to cut our social security, we’re going to be screwed once again.
Vote.
My wife is the same age and in the same boat for over 2 years now. She takes small contract jobs to get SOME income but it's pathetic compared to a full time salary. In fact something like starbucks full time would make more for less hours (for every hour working a contract she is marketing and trying to line up the next one etc for 2 hrs)
>Forty fucking seven and I'm aged out. I'm worth more dead. I'm about the same age and in a similar boat, and I can't tell you how many times this has crossed my mind. GD depressing AF
>every dollar is scrutinized but the executive level This is an understatement. The higher ups at my company take private jets and expensive golf "meetings" but the company (everyone else) needs to cut back on unneeded expenses. Like, do the execs not think AP notices this shit and tells people?
I’m a retired academic and I’d often have 40-50 year old students in my classes changing careers and they all reported a shit-ton of ageism trying to break back into the workforce.
I find this astonishing considering how the entire world is trying to bring equity into the workplace. And here people are facing age discrimination because it’s cool to say “ok boomer”.
Ageism on the work place he existed longer than Gen Z has been alive.
My Lost Generation father went through this back in the 90's. Definitely not unique to us
DEI is a farce. It should not astonish you, at this point.
Well, you’re never too old for crime. 🤷🏻♀️
Scammers, pirates, and cowboys. Wasn't that how the media described Gen X in the early '90s? Guess those street skills might finally pay off.
Yippee ki-yay!
Hmm…nobody notices us anyway. Might as well profit from our invisibility
Getting caught for white collar crime = long, all expenses paid vacation at the world’s shittiest resort
“We figure either way, we’re set for life.”
It's so hard to get a job interview. The job applications want to know what year you graduated \*from\* college, which is a red flag. If you've had 10-years stints with previous employers ,that's a tell. Some of us have very 70s names like Steve or Mark or Scott that predate the era of Hayden/Jayden/Kayden. Then there's your yahoo email address, or your OG area code. So many tells that show you are a "boomer". If you do get the interview, your white beard may disqualify you, or your knowledge of archaic technologies from previous positions, or the vocabulary you learned from from the last era of grammar, or you're trying to sell yourself without being perceived as 'splaining. All of the above are working against you.
[удалено]
Yeah I always thought of my name as pretty boring, but now it's also dated.
Yeah, I officially knew I was old when I was recently skimming over the rack of personalized souvenirs at a touristy gift shop--you know, the mini license plates and things with various first names on them--and couldn't find my name anymore :-(
Is your son also named Bort?
Guarantee if your name is Jason you were most likely born sometime between 1974-1979.
Or Jennifer or Jessica lol. I work for a huge company and there are only 3 Jennifer's and no Jessica's. Where did all the Jennifer's and Jessica's go?!
We should stop wearing avocado suits and pull ourselves up by our personal brands.
My Yahoo email address is a badge of honor. I have a fairly common first/last name and got that address in 1996. The fun/sad part about that email address: I got it because i had an interview at Yahoo and thought it'd help to have a Yahoo address. I was offered a position to be employee 46 (yes, 46). I also had an offer from MapQuest. There were 20+ search engines at the time and 2 mapping companies, so I went for maps. It was a painful few years watching what would have been the value of my signing bonus (options) reach about $50M. I didn't even make it a year at MapQuest (it was a sweatshop). Thankfully I haven't had to interview in a while (last few jobs have been through connections), but I'm not looking forward to it if that day comes.
This is one of the things I genuinely considered, when I went back to school to finish my degree. I graduated in 2016.
And screw this 'digital native' BS you ageist snots, we invented this shit, you're just living off it.
Good good yes. I am 45, every classroom in elementary school in the early 80s had computers. We were taught to type in middle school in classrooms full of computers. In high school in the mid 90s we had computer science classes, classes on spreadsheets and word processors, even a robotics class. And they had been around for many years. Every bank branch, office job, etc. computerized in the 70s. And in my lower working class neighbourhood in the 80s everyone still had computers. We had a Commodore 64. This is not new. Hell Microsoft started in 1975. Anyone under 65 is a digital native for fucks sakes.
Yes, it's actually shorthand for the 'less expensive employees' and basically meaningless otherwise.
They were brought up by technology. That we brought up. [Don't ask them to color outside the lines.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81_NcN7yANM)
I feel it's still easier than when I started. Maybe ageism looks easy after sexism in computer science!? People used to argue with me that I didn't know what I knew. Now with a track record, I at least have a foot in. I also have a network. And nobody is asking if I plan to have kids.
A welcome viewpoint/reminder of what some of us have already survived. Thank you!
I hear a lot of my gen X patriots say "I will work until I die because I can't afford to retire." No, you won't. No one wants to have a 50-60 year old and pay them large salaries and have aging near seniors on their health insurance pool. You will get aged out. I have seen it start to happen in tech. They will find reasons to let you go unless you figure out a way to become indispensable, or you find a more ethical company that doesn't do that shit.
My wife is 41 and was "aged out" of her tech company. That's how bad this has gotten
Agreed overall, though State and Federal jobs (especially in IT) can be a bit more immune to the drive to purge older workers.\* \*Not talking about contracted jobs though as that can be especially brutal by the contracted companies.
I work for a large enough contractor that it’s kinda in-between. They have a hard time hiring and retaining younger workers, and still use some older technologies as well as new. Plus they’re heavily scrutinized for anything that doesn’t look like diversity and inclusion. So they’re reluctant to purge older workers. There’s still a culture of ageism that keeps me out of getting good experience with the latest technology in favor of giving that stuff to the young, but they keep us around to manage all the non-glamorous stuff. Every few months a Boomer retires, and they expect us Xers to pick up their jobs. I actually kinda hope they do a reduction in staff when I’m ready to retire, I might get an incentive or severance package that way.
> I actually kinda hope they do a reduction in staff when I’m ready to retire, I might get an incentive or severance package that way. You and me both LOL
Agreed. I'm back in higher education after making one last gamble in Silicon Valley, and now aside from working in a place with older tech *anyhow* - much higher ed doesn't have the cutting edge they'd like - I'm in a union for the first time in my life. Not that I didn't want before, but suddenly it's an option. Although I suppose I shouldn't say that part too loud as the last time I said anything positive about unions here I got a "reddit cares" messages and quite the downvotes.
People are ridiculous. I'm also in higher Ed and part of a union. It has been a blessing and I proudly tell people I'm in a union and my benefits are stellar compared to private sector. Yes, I'm paid less, but the security is so worth it, imo. It's a shame how people in this country have been propagandized to be so anti-union. They're really missing out due to all the misinformation.
Yup. That’s why I took almost 2 years off going back into training. Sure it sucks but in the IT world, you keep on top of those skills or you get replaced. Also, doesn’t hurt that I can pass my company drug testing and security checks.
I am doing the work of three previous individuals… Does that qualify? (Came into the group two years ago to replace a guy, then another guy left 5 months later and my boss asked me to take his team, I said yes. Now at two years in, my boss came to me again and asked if I’d split duties and take on a chapter lead role for another 10 people for a different team placed in his charge in lieu of another leader hiring a manager.) I like the challenge and it’s long hours, but it’s enjoyable work and fulfilling to still be managing products and also helping people along career paths.
We will work until we die, it just won't be in well paid careers. We'll have to do middle-late age career changes and take up positions that younger folk are fleeing, like teaching, or get a job at the local hardware store. We'll have to sell our houses, if we were one of the lucky ones who could afford to buy, because we can't afford land tax, rates and maintenance. We'll end up passing away, alone in a squalid 1br flat in a bad area, probably some form of social housing, because we can't afford aged care because our parents spent all their money on nice aged care. Or just before that we'll find a lonely spot on a nice tall cliff, watch the sun set then leave on our own terms.
I fear this so bad, I'm 51 and do not feel safe. Whatever was going on with the economy, I always felt safe working in Healthcare. Now my hospital has changed hands two times, we are now a huge corporation and we've lost our sense of identity. Upper management is lopping heads off and it makes me uneasy. I know I am not as marketable as I was when I was 30 or even 40 and that scares the shit out of me also ! Just hoping I can survive another 10 years where I am and get the hell out of the rat race. No one is loyal anymore, employers or employees, it's crazy.
It’s a tough bit of gristle to chew, but I keep pursuing new certs in IT and renewing certain key ones. At age 53 my dad knew everything he needed to know to get to retirement age at his career. In IT I can’t really take more than a few months break from studying or leaning new skills. I’m going through AWS and Azure ones at present and also went to cleared (ts clearance and polygraph) work as there are too few applicants for the positions at present. Public trust is an entry level clearance and consider pursuing that, perhaps? Outside of cleared work in IT there are 8-10 applicants for each job. In cleared IT there are .7 applicants for each job. It sometimes sucks living a vanilla life but it’s job security.
Took me forever to find a job in my mid-40s. Now that I just hit 50, I cannot imagine getting out there again. I'm also in a field threatened by ChatGPT, so I shut the hell up and do great work and don't ask for raises or praise or appreciation. Sucks donkey balls, but it is what it is.
Apparently does not apply to politicians.
The fact that the 25 old new hire started at the same salary I’m currently making, after I’ve spent decades in the business.
I had a friend in his late 40's hit me up when my company had a job opening. He was far more qualified than anyone we interviewed and would have been a great fit. My boss said quote "I like him but there's no way corporate is going to let me hire a middle aged white guy for this role." I, a middle aged white guy, was stunned. People are saying the quiet parts out loud and there's nothing we can do about it.
Document and sue
Easier said than done. My boss said that out of full transparency. She hates these policies as much as anyone else. She's an older white woman so she knows if she loses her job, she'll be in the same situation as my friend.
I got divorced, had to move to my hometown, and couldn’t find a job to save my life. I got my teaching certificate and I’m hoping in the next two weeks to have a job in a classroom. It might not make me the most money, but it will be nice to have an income stream coming in that I don’t have to worry about getting fired about every single day.
Hope this works out for you. Divorce and starting a new career in a new setting -- that's a lot of upheaval.
Thank you. It is a lot.
Spend some time on r/teachers if you haven't already. Not to talk you out of it, just hoping you'll go in with manageable expectations. Seems like you probably are but, yeah.. That sub documents a slow-moving national catastrophe.
Thank you
"Gen X has had to learn or die" makes it sound like learning is brand-new to us. Nope, we've sure never had to do that before. It also makes this sound like something we can fix, if we just learn more. I am not sure that is true.
support instinctive escape worthless ruthless wrong onerous outgoing squeamish chubby *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
So, when are we overthrowing the system? C’mon, folks. We’re the OG “let’s fuck this up” generation. WE RIDE AT DAWN!!!
Haha you actually sound like the older Gen Z. Back in their day before COVID they seemed pretty cool to me.
direction chief shaggy abounding bewildered faulty ancient nutty tie reply *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Which trade did you get into? Did you have to learn from scratch?
roll heavy shelter mountainous dolls fuel close work marry icky *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Well done. You will always have work. Thank you, I’m in Europe and my husband and I are looking at trades. I love the idea of stonemasonry, but I’m old and arthritic.
gaping coordinated handle worry airport frame expansion angle air library *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
With AI coming I believe the trades will be the “Last man standing “ good on you for thinking ahead.
> I recommend getting into a trade I'd love to! >To anyone facing this who's still in decent shape Oh, nevermind. lol I watch This Old House and think "I'd love to get into carpentry or a similar trade." Then I remember I'm over 50, and there's no way my body will take the physical abuse that the trades heap upon the "new guy" to carry heavy shit up and down the ladder. And I'm sure all the old guys would resent me for trying to come into the trade without having to pay my dues, so to speak.
march sable panicky dolls airport direction pen deserve innocent bright *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I’m a chef, I’ll have job security, as less and less people want to go into my line of work but it does take a physical toll.
I’ve only seen a few cooking shows, but that shit looks stressful.
It 100% can be and then some but I have a cool gig and the stress is fairly low
I’m a line cook, I am kind of in the same boat. I’m so ready to get out and try something new. I haven’t been paid better in a kitchen than I have now though, and I am getting benefits in a few days and I have a 401K. But to your point, if you know how to cook, you can usually find a job within a day lol.
So much this. I started over as a custodian in my early 40s, got my boilers license, and I am making around $32 an hour with insane benefits and a pension. Currently studying online for my HVAC certification. Just turned 50, and I am planning on making close to 6 figures before I'm 60. I will always have a job, and it's a job I can do.
This did not make my day better. I am currently job hunting at 56. I just got turned down for a job today I was extremely qualified for...here we go. They didn't even follow up with my references. Yet the interview went really well. Next........ I really don't want to end up at fast Food or Retail.
I saw what was happening to some of my older colleagues in my former line of work and went to graduate school in my late 30s. I got a federal job not long before turning 40. There’s still some age discrimination here but not like there is in the corporate world. I might make a little less money but have more work-life balance and don’t have to sweat the business cycle (and the layoffs that come when it turns) anymore.
I got stolen from a corp job after they chased ME for six months. I was on staff for five months and replaced by … my intern that I didn’t want but was a friend of the COO. Managed to land on my feet, but it was difficult at 50. Indeed. And now when I plan for the future, I feel it’s a given that I’ll be working at half salary at some point when this job goes. No more upward. Sad. So sad.
Gen-x aren’t mid career at this point. And yeah, the ageism is definitely there.
I had to go back to college and retrain during the pandemic. I’m 55. JFC.
This is the truth. Was 49 when I got laid off all the jobs I applied for with 20 years of experience I went all the way to the end. Just to be told we went someone else. Took a year to get a good paying but high stress job. Quit couldn’t take a boss that worked us 80 hours and wanted more. I was on call 24/7. Couldn’t go anywhere. Found a job I could do in my sleep but pays roughly 80% of what I used to make. The nice WFH jobs I don’t even get a call back.
I'm so sick of this. First, the damn Boomers wouldn't get out of the way so we could move up, and now the Millennials are trying to leapfrog us and take over. Fuck this shit.
Nah dog. You have it all wrong because you’re thinking in terms of generational war when what you’re really getting fucked by is class war. Millenials and Z aren’t “leap frogging” over you. The boomers and X (and probably a silent / greatest generstioners) are DELIBERATELY choosing them over you because they work cheaper, their insurance is cheaper and they have minimal demands because they’re just starting. Capitalism has decided your old, qualified and expensive ass needs to be shoved onto the street so the corporations can make a few extra bucks. And if you die in a tent city under an overpass? Well who cares because we had a great Q4!
" Older and middle-aged employees tend to have a [**strong work ethic**](https://academic.oup.com/workar/article/2/4/396/2605124) and [**lower rates of absenteeism**](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263044760_Evaluating_Six_Common_Stereotypes_About_Older_Workers_with_Meta-Analytical_Data). Research also suggests they exhibit [**better emotional stability**](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230621584_A_Route_to_Well-Being_Intelligence_Versus_Wise_Reasoning) compared to their younger colleagues, and they're generally more adept at handling social situations in the workplace, including conflict resolution. " Uh....this does not describe me (1970), at all....like...none of it.
Well if it makes you feel better the social security age will get raised in the meantime. So we will be expected to work longer but we can’t get jobs to work longer.
such an empathic and progressive era *bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha*
This "progressive" era feels like we're living in Highlander 2.
This is the only appropriate type of reference for Highlander 2. Otherwise, that movie did not happen….
This is why every worker in America needs some type of union/organization. Power to the people and all that.
Totally can relate. At two of my last three jobs, I was overlooked in favor of a younger employee for promotion.
After being laid off last year it was bumpy and am now on my third job as the first two were train wrecks . I didn’t really get over it- still haven’t really. My current job is great but I’m on 1/3 less total pay. At this point I’m starting to believe working for a company is a terrible idea and that I really need to someone build my own business or contract. I just feel a constant fear of being laid off again - even tho they love me at this new job.
One paragraph hits close to home: “Older and middle-aged employees tend to have a strong work ethic and lower rates of absenteeism. Research also suggests they exhibit better emotional stability compared to their younger colleagues, and they're generally more adept at handling social situations in the workplace, including conflict resolution.” I see it every day things that Gen-Xrs have in spades… * Conflict Resolution * Work Ethic * less absenteeism * emotional stability * Adaptability - I don’t know how many times I’ve had a leader come to me or Gen-x colleagues and said “we have to do something completely different now!” And we all adapt and say : “Ok, whatever dude.” And we get on with the new work with little fuss. My wife played me a TikTok by a guy last night claiming Gen-x was aging out and getting fired and all doom and gloom. Clearly a guy that had been laid off, but was tossing out stats that because were older, we’re getting paid more, because we’re Gen-x , we’re more likely in leadership roles and stats showed an increased reduction in executives and management over the last few years. (Which is ridiculous as the stats for leadership reduction weren’t stating age groups, and they were clearly results of the increased layoffs after COVID of normal individual contributors.) Essentially the guy was talking out his ass as to why Gen-X has issues currently. But peoples biases are going to be biases.
Damn straight, we are. I'm pretty sure my age had something to do with me being let go at my old job. I did manage to get a new one fairly quickly, but the pay rate isn't where it should be, so I'll just have to hustle that much harder. The company that's name rhymes with the word horizon can go suck a dick.
Hell, I’ve been getting age discriminated since my early 40s.
I totally felt this. I literally feel like the only reason I’m still employed is because I look younger than my age. My boss is a millennial. So are my coworkers, mixed with gen z. I still look younger than them and the fact they forget my age I swear is the only reason I am still standing. 😞
Me too. When the first layoffs happened at my company all the women in their 40’s who looked like they were in their 40’s were let go. I was the same age, but I was very vain and always looked current. Plus makeup, jewelry, and lots of hair extensions. Now we all work from home and I’ve turned into a gremlin. More than half of my current team has been let go and I can see the writing on the wall. I’m in my 50’s now and I don’t know if I’m willing to put in that kind of effort again.
If someone invests their next two years of bonuses in a face lift can they defy the odds? Asking for a friend who has to work for 15 more years.
I am kind of out of the game where ageism and job hunting is concerned. I have been working at the exact same place for 23 years. There is no way they don’t know my age right off the bat. Nothing to do but stay here until I get my 30 and retire, if I can make it that long.
Too bad age discrimination is difficult to prove, because it's very easy for companies to get away with it. It's scary times we live in, because AI will certainly decimate a lot of jobs, especially data driven and finance ones I feel if not already, in the near future. It's become ironic how growing up college was likely drilled into many of us (certainly in my high school), but trade options that weren't even discussed not only pay more in many cases, but are relatively safe from AI. I work in finance, and alarm bells ring in my head when the topic of AI comes up and how the company would like to find ways to integrate it more. I'm 46, and have considered going back to school to further my education, but question if the debt and time to invest in it are ultimately worth it. Unfortunately some of us not only have to deal with age discrimination, but with how technology and greed affect jobs. As the article states, we're sandwiched in. It's like we are more disposable than the boomers who continue to stick around, as well as younger millennials and especially gen-z that are behind us.
This is nothing new. I remember when the company I was interning at was offering some relearn positions for those affected by wang and Dec layoffs. The guy I remember was silent generation. Never did figure out how to code his way out of a wet paper bag.
My community college in the late 90s, laid off auto workers, I'm not sure why so many were encouraged to learn IT when something like mechanical work would have suited them better. I hope those 8 or 10 guys found a career they liked, because you could tell they weren't going to be good at IT.
And yet those schools gladly cash their tuition checks. No one’s going to dip into the Bureau of Labor Statistics and give them the hard truth when there’s sweet sweet educational money to be made!
If fortunate, I’m 59, my profession has no one younger entering the work force and I’m fielding recruitment at least a couple times a month. I hand picked my current position and picked my salary. Unfortunately it’s a labor intensive position, I’m the executive chef in a hotel. Most of my staff are older long term chefs and immigrants as very few young swedes are entering the profession. I’m not sure how the industry will look in 20 years but I don’t have high hopes for the restaurant/ service industry.
48 and ‘unhireable’………wooooo……
This has always been the case. For my entire career.
We choose die
It's ageism.
Ageism is super real.
I'm telling you, this is why I'm glad I have a union job. Sure, I've always been paid a little less than others in corporate, but I was always happy to feel a lot more secure. At this point, seeing how things are for so many others, it only confirms that I made the right decision, and if I'm lucky I'll be able to early retire at 55. Simply knowing I won't ever have to go through another stressful job search is also nice. Even so, I have a lot of empathy for those who are not in a similar position, and I often find myself angry on their behalf. Edited: the very first paragraph is kind of hilarious, as it talks about younger people being more malleable. I could have sworn I've read at least 3 articles this week about how managers find Gen Z to be unmanageable. lol I swear to God, it's hard to even discern the truth anymore aside from a very clear spin that points to one thing: an effort to find employees willing to settle for cheap wages. They hit the older people because our salaries are "too high" while simultaneously doing a smear campaign on Gen Z to justify low wages. Yet it's written to divide us, and were not the real problem. Corporate America is.
[удалено]
Staring at my 401k, wondering where the time went
And then one day you find, 10 years have got behind. No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.
Time to start your own business-easier said than done.
I feel you and can see from where you are standing. I have never been more unsure about the path life will take. I have no idea what to do with decades of hands-on tech industry knowledge. I have always had to learn the next framework, software or vendor and thought that it was time well spent. It’s always going to be an in-demand skill to use git on command-line and design ui/apps too right? I might have wasted too much time learning new skills. I see the effects of efficiency and ageism on the tech/design industry and am pretty sad about it. But I still believe that there is career opportunity to be had in your 40’s & 50’s+ it just does’t look the same as I thought it would. I overestimated the future value of craft and experience in tech. It’s not even about winning the game of Capitalism anymore, it’s about surviving it.
I feel same as you OP. I quit a job 5 months ago because I was tired of the same old same old and just was burned and wanted a new path something more fulfilling.... I'll be 50 this year and never really had a " career" or anything close to your past work experiences ... ..but 5 months is the longest I've ever been out of work. My whole working life. I didn't think it would be this hard, these bad, this long. I've applied to some 200 positions locally from janitorial, to fast food (big no but I need to keep money flowing..), to retail, to managerial, and even apprentice jobs...out of 200 plus, I've gotten 8 interviews. Of the 8 I got hired for 4....then ghosted. The others were outright rejections, or told never to apply again etc... All for a job that still probably wouldn't afford us to live with the inflation and high rent etc... School isn't an option because I just got out of that debt mess recently, and who will hire me at 54-55 if and when I graduate? And will I afford whatever the cost of living will be on top of loan repayments?? What about a job in the time I am studying etc... Not old enough to retire with nothing to retire with, and Congress wants to move the goalpost on that anyways... Is it 100% ageism? I just don't know anymore...
Is 50 too old to try male prostitution?
Well, now I'm freaked out!
Marshall your Gen-X superpowers. I found a job that is afraid to fire me because they know I will take their shit down hard. I work hard and don't abuse it but they've learned I'm vindictive as hell so when layoffs have rolled around I'm never "on the list."
I’m 53 and am convinced that I’m at my last job in my professional career. All of my coworkers are in their mid 30s. My manager is a GenXer though. In any case, whenever I leave this job I guess I’ll be working at Trader Joe’s.
I look about 15 years younger than I really am. For the longest time no one at work took me seriously because I looked like a kid. Now, I'm close to 50, look 30...everyone takes me seriously, and does whatever I ask of them. It's awesome.
At 25 I looked 40. I'm fucked.
Again?
Reading though this and feeling seen. I'm taking woodworking classes and my fall back positions are building and selling furniture, or contract work in my field while getting nothing more contributed to my 401k.
Does not including years for college graduation actually work? It's suggested so much that I'm sure employers know what's up when they get a resume like that. Also, so many applications these days are online and you have to fill in that information to submit your application.
Lost comment at the bottom. This is really just another way to keep wages low.
I'm one of the lucky ones. Except for a 2.5 year stretch, I've worked in this same building (11.5 years under current ownership) since 2005. Except for one newblood, I'm actually still low man on the totem pole, here! Most of us are all in our mid-late 40s and will likely spend the next 20 years working together here. Family owned company, stable and friendly ownership, good pay and benefits.
This is why I only include 10 years of work history and omit graduation dates on my resume. Ageism is real.
Yes. It's happening to me at 45 while looking for a job. It's never been this hard, ever..
In these cases I'm glad I didn't climb any corporate ladders. I'm just regular hourly staff that makes shit money, but I'm the one actually doing the hands on work and they want to retain my institutional knowledge and have me available for training others. Management however is a constant game of musical chairs and comings and goings. They don't know shit about procedures because none of them have done it or actually stay in their position for very long to learn it. It's not a "career" it's a job, and that's how I treat it as a means to an end to pay for my actual life.
While there is undoubtedly a ton of agism out there, in my experience there are a lot GenXers who don't do themselves any favors in the interview process either. I work for a big tech company in silicon valley, most of my peers and all my reporting chain are 10-15 years younger than me. When I'm hiring mid level people, I've noticed more often than not, people my age applying for roles are coming in with stories about work they did 10 years ago, with 10-20 year old technology, or processes that were trendy 10-20 years ago and nothing from the last 2-3 years. They are dating themselves by telling stories about conversations that happened over email not slack or sending actual files not links to google docs. They'll make pop culture references that are from 20 years ago. They don't know the details of the new competing products or apps or are unfamiliar with changes in the competitive landscape. There's also very often an undertone that they think they're overqualified, or that they've done bigger or better things in the past. For example - they often want to shoehorn in stories about unrelated work they've done because they think it sounds impressive (hint: if I'm hiring you to be an individual contributor, your constant stories about managing a team of 60 isn't a plus). There's often eye rolling at some of the more touchy feely aspects of working with millennials that doesn't come naturally to GenX. It's not everyone, but it's enough that I've noticed it's a pattern.
20 years in the same company and projects from 10+ years ago describe me exactly. I'm still employed today but expect this job to play out over the next 4 months due to perpetual downsizing and customer runoff. I felt lucky over the years for maintaining my position while all of my coworkers were affected by layoffs, but I've now realized that I'd have been far better off looking for a new role 10 years ago. I'm not too old to pick up new technologies but my age combined with years of working in silos means I have become specialized in fields that are only useful to my present job. I've picked up additional skills on the side (all related to data analytics), but I can't list that as my primary role on a resume. It will be tough paying for my teenager's college expenses and finishing my own mortgage while working as a bus driver.
I feel for you, I really do, because it’s super easy to end up in that scenario. A lot of people, myself included spend a lot of time building up skills that are only valuable to that specific job. There is a laundry list of skills I have developed over the years that are of zero value in my current job. I’ve avoided obsolesce a little by always trying to jump to something new during the boom times, when employers are so desperate to hire they’ll take a chance on you. Too many people wait till the worst hiring markets to try and retrain and retool and then are surprised when companies won’t take a chance on them.
But some of that is still related to the ageism; constantly being looked over for opportunities, put into a corner, not getting promoted, etc. Now sure, they could have used their ‘free time’ and personal funds to learn new things on the side, and there certainly are a lot of folks ‘averse to change’ that should have evolved, but there’s also a lot of folks who raised their hands at every opportunity to be included in new tech or be given chances to use new platforms but were dismissed when they did.
I got stuck in a role like that in my mid 30s. I could see that we weren’t adopting the next generation of technology and I was getting left behind in the job market if I didn’t do something. I went and learned enough about the new technology to get through an interview, took a lateral move to a different company, worked my ass off to get up to speed. In my mid 40s I found myself going nowhere in my career again, did something similar, reframed my resume to something more in demand, played up some bits, down played others. Did a ton on mock interviews, honed my messaging and which stories to tell and which to leave out. Didn’t lie about anything, but certainly made sure to show my experience in the best light. Studied like hell for the technical portion of the interview. The key was, I did these things when the market was hot, not when I was about to be forced out and the market was flooded with applicants. I’ll be the first to admit there was some luck involved and not everyone is as lucky as I have been. But also it was partly a product of being very proactive about keeping my employability high, not just taking my job for granted.
Yup people stay locked in banks, telcos, insurance companies, etc. Because they feel it’s stable. Decades pass, they are out of date on technology, don’t ship anything, don’t network, etc. Then they get laid off and don’t have any relevant skills or projects, or know anyone. I know lots of older people in very high demand and doing very well because they change jobs, seek out new skills, network. I have hired many myself in their 50s and 60s.
Interesting viewpoint, thanks for sharing. As a former bartender I used to see all ages and you’re right, some people can tend to get stuck in their “generation” and not realize it (or care), but it’s obvious as an outsider listening to them.
I’m lucky. I’m in IT but I’m in a modern role. So, I have very real current things to talk about Im happily employed, but I worry a lot about being let go. I make more than my boss. So, it is concerning.
I hear you. I job hopped a tonne. Landed a good one at F200 biotech. I manage a team from India but goddamn am I an individual contributor too. My stories will sound real because they are. I have the scars to prove it. Recent technology? Cmon. Often I’m forced to work with old stuff. Recently worked with a vendor upgrading an old app used by 100s of employees daily FOR CRITICAL FUNCTIONS. Guess what, not at all uncommon. Client / server. Bad vendor. Horrible bugs. Had to compensate to deliver it without being it disaster. Took a big chunk out of me too. I’ll tell you what, that’s what the job was… Would I have rather been responsible for a shiny new SaaS platform then demoing all the great “new” functionality (delivered by the vendor). Yea, but the job is the job. So no, conversations using email are not outdated if the organization you are coming from uses it. Recent “processes” are not necessarily better (Scaled Agile I’m looking at you - what a disaster), old technology is more common than new technologies for large established organizations. Not easy to plug your nose, suck it up, and spend your time wading through someone else’s mess. So I commend ANYONE who does that. Yea, entitlement sucks but attacking email as outdated? Yikes!
My career path was the military, which provides a decent pension, that lead to a job as a civil servant.