A dear friend has a daughter who is having unemployment problems.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

He wrote me today for support and possibly, help.

I told him I would ask all of you for ideas.

She is past 50 and had worked for the County. She is running out of money and ideas. Unemployment insurance is short term and inadequate.

She does not live in a metropolitan area, so perhaps her options are limited.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[LuvLoogie]

1. You didn't mention what state or what county.

It matters. Also what did she do before? Any pension?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. She lives in California, and her pension is mostly gone.

Her job was helping people get off welfare.

[LuvLoogie]

12. She can start here. WIA/WIOA Funds available for training...

http://www.edd.ca.gov/jobs_and_training/Eligible_Training_Provider_List.htm

[CaliforniaPeggy]

13. Now, that looks very promising. I will pass it along, and thank you!

[mnhtnbb]

18. Sounds like she has experience in an aspect of life coaching

which helps people define the skills they have (or need to get) in order to find
a job requiring those skills.

Suggest she take a look at these job categories and see whether something is listed where her skills would be a match.

https://www.flexjobs.com/jobs

[CaliforniaPeggy]

19. Your response, and all of them, are exactly why I suggested to her father that I post this.

I knew that there would be a lot, and good ones at that.

I will pass this along!

[democratisphere]

2. Couple of part time jobs in the interim while still scouting for something better.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. At her age, that might be difficult. But I will pass your idea along, and thanks!

[democratisphere]

10. Home Depot, Walmart, McDonald's and the like.

[Skittles]

20. go for evening hours

leaves the day open for job interviews

[dflprincess]

3. Not knowing anything about her skills and where she lives

my advice would be to look for contract work - it saved me until I found something permanent. (And I was in my 50s then.)

And, of course, resume on every possible job site.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. Thanks for all the good ideas!

[shenmue]

4. Indeed.com

Sending lots of hugs.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. Thanks!

[applegrove]

9. Get her to think up the very places and jobs where she would be a good fit.

Write them and offer to do an unpaid internship for a few months. Send in your resume and cover letter. If she doesn't get a job she may at least have more experience to add to her resume and references.

Also get her to look up the names of places, that sound like places where she might like to work, in the phone book. Call them, find out about what they do, don't say anything else. Then write letters to all the places that sound like a fit. Send in her resume. A different cover letter. I can't tell you enough how important it is to call and find out who they are. I once sent a resume into what I thought was a human rights organization. It was actually a Catholic anti abortion anti birth control organization. I went for the interview anyway to get practice. But yeah. Up the experience by volunteering. And get at the hidden job market by getting your resume on file.

That would be two separate mail merges. Don't know how one finds work in the digital age.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. Thank you, applegrove, for all of this. Very helpful.

[marylandblue]

14. If she is willing to move or have a long commute

She could look at other counties, cities or state government. They usually like prior government experience and age discrimination is not as bad as the private sector.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

17. Don't know if she's thought about that, but I will pass your good ideas along! Thank you.

[mnhtnbb]

15. Has she investigated telecommuting job sites like this one?

https://www.flexjobs.com/searchLocation

[CaliforniaPeggy]

16. I don't know if she has looked into things like this.

I will pass it along!

Thank you so much, my dear mnhtnbb...

[bluecollar2]

21. check your local afl-cio labor council out

Some of the affiliated locals may be offering apprenticeship training.

Had a friend who became a journeyman electrician that way...

And union don't discriminate based upon age/gender...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

22. Thank you!

[Laura PourMeADrink]

23. Top companies who pay more than minimum wage

Yikes for Ben and Jerry's. May not have any of these companies where she is...

https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/8-companies-pay-above-minimum-wage

Maybe some kind of work at home? someone was telling me about companies that hire contractors to file and track insurance claims. Like at $50/pop

[CaliforniaPeggy]

24. That's a good thought, and thank you!

[mvd]

25. Hi Peggy. Here they have a list of some possibly helpful sites:

https://www.thebalance.com/job-search-sites-for-those-50and-2388410

Good luck to her! She can also look into starting her own business.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

26. Wow, and thank you!

[mvd]

27. You are welcome

Hope they help.

[milestogo]

28. Tell her not to give up. You never know what is just around the corner.

I am 60 and was laid off a year ago. I was unemployed for 7 months, had a crap job for 3 months and got laid off again. Then I got 2 job offers in 2 weeks.

I got a really great job. During those first 7 months I applied for over 200 jobs. I can't tell you why it took me so long the first time and it happened so fast the second time. I just don't know.

There is age discrimination, but there are also exceptions.

[Nwgirl503]

29. Contract work

Set up a biz - Sec of State website has a checklist. Make some biz cards and maybe a brochure - vistaprint is great. Set up a free website and email acct.

Start cold calling non-profits that serve people from her previous line of work. Some larger churches hire out for outreach workers.

Search local, state and fed govt databases for contract work - women owned businesses have lots of opportunities and if she's a minority even better as they have quotas to fill.

She could partner with other similar, non-competing businesses and offer specialized workshops or bundled consulting programs to industry service providers for training.

She could get certified to provide CE classes for people in her industry who's jobs require ongoing education.

She could offer to write articles for industry based newsletters or blogs.

I got lots more but that's a good start. Contracting is the way to go if you have any kind of relevant experience in a specialized field.

[Hortensis]

30. Applegrove mentioned volunteering. That'd

get her inside an organization, making contacts, showing her abilities off, etc. Including right back in county government if it offers volunteer opportunities. The socializing and contributing would hopefully help keep her spirits up also.