The Official Unemployed Discussion Group

tybrad

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I envision this thread as a place for those of you who are in their last 10-15 years of a working life and have found themselves unemployed and looking to re-enter into a job. It will help us to hear from others, provide some support and feedback- discussing with others sometimes allows one to see something new.

I am 56.5 and have been out of work since mid-Sept. I negotiated an exit with my former employer (a school system). I was a classroom physics teacher or 20 yrs. and I'm not going back into K-12 education I REALLY though that taking a Trainer or Instructional Design position would be something easy to slide into. Not so much- 4 months unemployed. I had to learn the new ways to seek jobs and have come to realize that
1. I am very narrowly educated BS in Physics and education, MA in STEM education.
2. There are too many people in the world.
3. Hiring processes are lengthy and obnoxiously complex from bloated HR departments.

It is affecting my mental state and self value.
Who else is there? Lee, I know that you'll hopefully chime in.
 
My job definition is to work myself out of a job. 5 employers last year, and 5 the year before. 22 different companies in 14 years. I NEVER have any problems paying my bills. But I do feel like human toilet paper at times.
I carry physical tools, and I also carry another set of tools, my skill set. I learn different ways to apply my skill set to accomplish a task using the same tools I have used before.
 
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I envision this thread as a place for those of you who are in their last 10-15 years of a working life and have found themselves unemployed and looking to re-enter into a job. It will help us to hear from others, provide some support and feedback- discussing with others sometimes allows one to see something new.

I am 56.5 and have been out of work since mid-Sept. I negotiated an exit with my former employer (a school system). I was a classroom physics teacher or 20 yrs. and I'm not going back into K-12 education I REALLY though that taking a Trainer or Instructional Design position would be something easy to slide into. Not so much- 4 months unemployed. I had to learn the new ways to seek jobs and have come to realize that
1. I am very narrowly educated BS in Physics and education, MA in STEM education.
2. There are too many people in the world.
3. Hiring processes are lengthy and obnoxiously complex from bloated HR departments.

It is affecting my mental state and self value.
Who else is there? Lee, I know that you'll hopefully chime in.


Sorry to hear about the bump in your journey. Education can wear you thin. SMART Goals, Responsive Classroom, Cultural Competence, CLT, PLC, etc etc, or whatever the new 'catch term' in education is these days can be a challenge especially at the HS level... yup, I know the drill. Did you consider the admin route or community college instruction? Education has become a 'suit' driven business for sure.

I disagree with #1 above. You are top tier material! The other two points are a firm yes. You just have to constantly watch the vacancies open up and quickly pounce on them. I have thought about a secondary job (like retail or working in something completely opposite that I like to do aka a hobby), to decompress, YMMV. Best to you in your search!
 
I'll be 45 this year. All total, I worked for my last "real" job for over 5 years. Regional rent to own company who has became notorious for not keeping anyone. Loyalty no longer matters to them now that the "old guard" is retiring and the "new guard" has taken over. I worked for them about 4 years and 3 months the first time. They fired the store manager for driving under the influence and losing his license; it wasn't on company time, but they still decided to make a public example of him. The assistant was promoted and I took his spot. Old manager opened his own spot and took tons of business. Instead of them realizing the problem, they looked at the new management team. I was given the choice of stepping down to a much lower rate of pay or being let go; let me go! The store manager was let go a few months later.

June of 2016, I went back to work for them as an assistant. My old manager, the one fired as an example, was rehired, and I transferred to be with him. I hurt my back, though I never claimed it to be an on the job injury. I assured my manager that I wasn't looking to sue anyone, wasn't looking for anything extra, and I just wanted to do my job and be left alone. He kept telling me that I basically had a target on my back and to be cautious with every move I made because I was "scaring" corporate office when I brought back a note saying I couldn't lift over 10 pounds. Then came the fateful day-March 27, 2017. A coworker turned in her notice. I've known the girl all of my life, and we still remain friends. I'm the one who convinced her to take the job. In my normal teasing manner, I tagged her on Facebook "good riddance, don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya lol!!!" Somebody took a screenshot and it got to corporate. Oops, we're sorry, that's harassment and you're fired. You are setting a bad example for our public image. Oh, so rehiring a convicted felon is good for your image, eh?

Around September, my unemployment ran out. I started to work for a local home health company as an office manager in October. I worked there about a month and a half and they closed the office. They were nothing but nice. They told me if I could get unemployment that they wouldn't fight it, and that I can still show I'm employed with them and get a good reference. The possibility exists that they could call me back to work at some point.

So what's something always in demand? Insurance! I had my license until around 20 years ago. I was a brash young kid who thought he would set the woods on fire, but I fell flat on my face. I'm ready to try again. I've been studying to get my Life, Health, and Accident licenses back. My dad's been doing it for over 40 years, and he has a friend who got me all of the study material for free. Yes, I may have to work another job for a while, but I'm at a point in my life I want to be able to do my thing instead of being told what to do, when to do it, etc.
 
Since nothing is panning out and the retirement that I pulled out in order to survive is dwindling (wife is also unempl., no retirement, unemployment benefits done in one week), I have considered sales. I have had Aflac, Allstate, Symmetry, and a couple of others contact me from my job board resume uploads. I am no salesman but it my have to be the way to go. :dunno:
 
I envision this thread as a place for those of you who are in their last 10-15 years of a working life and have found themselves unemployed and looking to re-enter into a job. It will help us to hear from others, provide some support and feedback- discussing with others sometimes allows one to see something new.

I am 56.5 and have been out of work since mid-Sept. I negotiated an exit with my former employer (a school system). I was a classroom physics teacher or 20 yrs. and I'm not going back into K-12 education I REALLY though that taking a Trainer or Instructional Design position would be something easy to slide into. Not so much- 4 months unemployed. I had to learn the new ways to seek jobs and have come to realize that
1. I am very narrowly educated BS in Physics and education, MA in STEM education.
2. There are too many people in the world.
3. Hiring processes are lengthy and obnoxiously complex from bloated HR departments.

It is affecting my mental state and self value.
Who else is there? Lee, I know that you'll hopefully chime in.

Are you pretty well networked with ex-colleagues, ex-students, parents? If you built good relationships there, I would try to get get in touch with some of those contacts and have them spread the word that you're looking for a new opportunity. Over 20 years, and considering that whoever you talk to will be able to talk to multiple others, you should be able to get a lot of feelers out there.

Esp as we get older/farther along into our career, my experience is that new jobs are landed through contacts rather than applying without a referral or inside connection. Could be a friend of a friend - doesn't have to be direct.

Also, though you may not want to go back into the public K-12 education system, are you open to private schools? Some of the bureaucracy that might be embedded in a public system could be better in a private system where there's more autonomy and if good administrators are there. I only mention that because it's often easiest to get hired into a role very similar to what you have experience in.

Try to remain positive and realize that others are in the same position. I do believe there is age bias against older workers. So difficulty you may be having landing a job isn't necessarily related to you, specifically, but to your demographic group, which is beyond your control. You (and anyone else in your age group) will have to fight harder than someone younger to overcome that bias.

But to reiterate my first point, I would really try and get back in touch with people that you have good relationships with and can be good referrals and, ideally, are also well networked themselves to help you spread the word.
 
Since nothing is panning out and the retirement that I pulled out in order to survive is dwindling (wife is also unempl., no retirement, unemployment benefits done in one week), I have considered sales. I have had Aflac, Allstate, Symmetry, and a couple of others contact me from my job board resume uploads. I am no salesman but it my have to be the way to go. :dunno:

Just be careful not to get pulled into a situation where things don't feel right and they make you pay for training. Some places cast their net wide, charge for training, and I get the feeling that a lot of their profits come from training fees rather than the increased sales of the people they've trained. Of course not all situations are like this - but just be aware.

Also, consider whether it's a reasonable fit for your skillset and personality. For example, a strong introvert might have a hard time in a sales role and be miserable doing it. Again, this may not apply to you either, but as someone who's inherently introverted myself, I'm mostly speaking from my perspective.

But if it sounds like a possible fit, there's definitely no harm in checking it out and seeing how it looks once you have more info.
 
In 2016 my employer, a Fortune 100 insurance company based in Boston, announced a major shift in how our software applications would be developed and maintained: Agile is the new methodology being implemented. As a result of this transformation an entire employee job class is being eliminated: Business System Analyst. I am a BSA, just one of many hundreds. On January 8 I learned my position is being eliminated on March 9. I am scrambling to find a new position within the company. Like you @tybrad I find the HR process frustrating. Granted our HR is being bombarded with applicants for every opening as a result of this. I am 61 and had anticipated the next 5 years to be filled with challenging work in my current position (CTI: computer telephony integration) and had planned to retire at 66. Alas I am scrambling to find anything remotely suitable for me.

I wish you success in finding gainful employment. I hope I have success as well.
 
I envision this thread as a place for those of you who are in their last 10-15 years of a working life and have found themselves unemployed and looking to re-enter into a job. It will help us to hear from others, provide some support and feedback- discussing with others sometimes allows one to see something new.

I am 56.5 and have been out of work since mid-Sept. I negotiated an exit with my former employer (a school system). I was a classroom physics teacher or 20 yrs. and I'm not going back into K-12 education I REALLY though that taking a Trainer or Instructional Design position would be something easy to slide into. Not so much- 4 months unemployed. I had to learn the new ways to seek jobs and have come to realize that
1. I am very narrowly educated BS in Physics and education, MA in STEM education.
2. There are too many people in the world.
3. Hiring processes are lengthy and obnoxiously complex from bloated HR departments.

It is affecting my mental state and self value.
Who else is there? Lee, I know that you'll hopefully chime in.
BS in Physics; how's your electronic theory? There is a real need for good techs who can repair audio equipment. You can make a decent living on it, but you'll have to pay your own health insurance. If you have the aptitude for it, consider starting your own repair business at home.
 
Since nothing is panning out and the retirement that I pulled out in order to survive is dwindling (wife is also unempl., no retirement, unemployment benefits done in one week), I have considered sales. I have had Aflac, Allstate, Symmetry, and a couple of others contact me from my job board resume uploads. I am no salesman but it my have to be the way to go. :dunno:

My son was a chef for years with no real benefits. Now that he's getting close to forty, he realized he needed to get health insurance without paying through the nose.

He found a job with Verizon. He has never been in sales but he is one of his office's top sellers. He told me many of the workers just do enough to meet their quota. You are a very intelligent person and I know if you get into sales, you'll do fine.
 
I absolutely hated being unemployed. My company closed, (well, corporate killed us). The 18 months between jobs was very depressing. I felt worthless to everyone. Money was tight, to say the least, having and extra $20.00 now and then was a Godsend. My wife worked, carried our insurances, so health care did not get set aside. When I was in a deep funk, I was talking to a friend of mine about being laid off, then his alcohol kicked in, and he started complaining about working 50 hrs. a week. Do you realize when talking about working too much, how hurtful it is to someone unemployed, wants to work, but cannot find work? I did not speak to him for months. I eventually found work, (not exactly my vocation, but close), and have been steadily employed for 7 straight years. I guess to all unemployed, that may be reading the posts in this thread, I'd say, keep your head up, and spirits too, work will come.
 
Due to a strange turn of events, it became clear to me in October, 2015 that God wanted me to become a truck driver. Not one to disobey the Almighty, I went to Swift Academy.

December 21, 2015, I take and pass my CDL road test. :thumbsup:

January 8, 2016, I get with my mentor.

Feb 24, 2016, I am issued a truck. The truck was nice inside, but Swift sucked as an employer.

May, 2016, I part ways with Swift and get recruited by a gypsy paving company only to end up working for a different gypsy paving co.

Working for these clowns is a real trip. Every morning, we are unemployed until and unless the bosses find a job. Most days they do find work. However, you just never know. Basically, I'm partially employed right now. :whip:
 
I could retire any time I want. I would like to work two more years to get to Soc Sec age (62). I have worked at the same manufacturing plant for the last 28 years. So, I am "lucky", I guess, in that jobs like mine are disappearing from our country. I could have gotten my son a job here, But, I don't think that this place will be here much longer. Between off-shore outsourcing and Contracting-out our jobs to low-pay temp labor companies that work for not much more than minimum wage. And, they certainly won't be paying anything close to what I make. So, I encouraged him to get into the "Trades". So, he is learning to be an electrician. He will, not only earn a living wage, but will be able to pick up "Side-Work" that will help supplement his income. He loves it. Have you considered something like this?
 
Since nothing is panning out and the retirement that I pulled out in order to survive is dwindling (wife is also unempl., no retirement, unemployment benefits done in one week), I have considered sales. I have had Aflac, Allstate, Symmetry, and a couple of others contact me from my job board resume uploads. I am no salesman but it my have to be the way to go. :dunno:
My dad sold electronics for Bluff City Electronics for a long time. They closed his location in Blytheville, AR. and merged it with Memphis. He reluctantly got into the insurance business in 1977. 41 years later? He's starting to semi-retire from the business. I have spoken with Aflac myself and found them to be a good company to work for as far as commission and what they'll do for you, but the only problem I found is that you are sometimes competing with other agents in the same territory.

Just be careful not to get pulled into a situation where things don't feel right and they make you pay for training. Some places cast their net wide, charge for training, and I get the feeling that a lot of their profits come from training fees rather than the increased sales of the people they've trained. Of course not all situations are like this - but just be aware.

Also, consider whether it's a reasonable fit for your skillset and personality. For example, a strong introvert might have a hard time in a sales role and be miserable doing it. Again, this may not apply to you either, but as someone who's inherently introverted myself, I'm mostly speaking from my perspective.

But if it sounds like a possible fit, there's definitely no harm in checking it out and seeing how it looks once you have more info.
Aflac told me, at least the agency I talked to, that they would pay for my licensing (around $100) if I paid for half of the schooling. Not a bad deal, plus you're not a "captive" agent and can sell for other companies.
 
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