serious Question finding a job

[blues90]

I have been at this for almost 5 months . I have had interviews , I was called based on my resume so I must fit the profile .

I checked my credit report and it is fine . I can't do a self background check but I assure you I don't have a shady past , never been even finger printed and my drivers record is clean .

The thing that troubles me is even when I am told I will be contacted either way I have yet to hear back from one place .

I am almost 57 , I don't look as my wife says more than 45 . They must know ones age if they do checks .

Is it that there are so many out there looking for work , it's not the money , they have the beginning wage listed so I'm not asking for more .

is it my age , is it something I'll never know . i call but always get voicemail and wait , leave a message and wait .

This is no joke , I am scared to death I will find nothing at all .

I feel lost and not viable after all these years of honest work , I am now garbage and expendable .

[femmocrat]

1. It is hard to find a job at any age.....

When my hubby was "phased out" (I still think it was age discrimination), he ended up with two part-time jobs. This could lead to full-time work.... and might be the way to go for now? I have read or heard somewhere that employers see you as a better "prospect" if you are currently employed. And when they ask why you want to leave your current job, you have a really great reason!

I remember your previous posts, about moving, etc.... I'm happy to see that you are still posting here. Let us know how you are doing, OK? Sending good wishes your way.

[mtowngman]

2. Maybe it's the field you're in

I started working in health care in my mid-forties and I don't think I'll ever need to worry about work. I know everyone can't be that flexible or willing to take a pay cut of any amount, but it could be an option.

[Chan790]

3. What are your work skills? (Help from my recent similar exp.)

I don't mean in terms of past jobs, but what types of experience? Think of ways that experience may be beneficial to some employer who nobody ever thinks to look at or in fields that may be out of the mainstream for your jobsearch.

For example, I'm just returning to the workforce after taking off 20 months to care for a dying grandmother (4 months of Grandma, 1+ year of looking.) I got a job someplace I never thought to look because apparently nobody else with my requisite skills does either...as a shift supervisor/management trainee at Starbucks, with no restaurant/barista experience, because of my background managing people, dealing with finance, dealing with clientele and coordinating operations. (My past field was fundraising development.) More to the point, they just-about told me in my interview (before they even offered me the job) that I can expect to be a store manager within 2 years and possibly move into the corporate side working on their philanthropic/community-involvement concerns soon after that. Why...because not enough people with the skills to do those things to meet their demand apply to Starbucks. They more-or-less fell over themselves to hire me.

I don't think it's your age, 57 isn't that old anymore, although ageism does exist. (I'm a lot younger than you and saw ageism in my search (in the other extreme) because people in my field don't become a development director in their early-twenties (like I did) so people assumed I was underqualified and/or lying.) I actually just knew what I was wanted to do my whole life and started gaining experience as a volunteer at eleven to get there.

A lot of employers now are swamped with resumes and this makes them simply discourteous to the non-hirees. I went through that too. Trust me, if they're that rude and disrespectful, you don't really want to work for them anyways.

[leftofthedial]

4. I meet occasionally (used to be weekly) with a technology professional

networking group, all looking for work. We first got together in 2002.

No one over 45 has even gotten an interview since then. Only one of us over 40 has gotten an interview. Not one of the original 12 people is working in our profession. What's even more troubling is that several start-up attempts within the group, despite excellent ideas and incomparable experience in the field, have all failed to garner the slightest response from venture capitalists to fund the start-up.

In corpo-fascist Murka, it's better to be a treasonous criminal than to be over 40 looking for work.

[blues90]

5. I have tried all sorts of related experience jobs

I worked in customer service at a large ford automotive dealership . I was responsable for the entire service dept with over 40 technicans , 8 service advisors , 3 cashiers , and all the customers with whatever their concerns may be . I was shop foreman , quality control , customers relations , tech advisor and trainer and had to get involved in diagnois and repair direction since I was a tech for 23 years with ford . I was also assistent service manager . I multi-tasked all these postions daily and talked to ford engineers to solve technical issues and dealt with lemon law issues if it can to this end .

So far there has been nothing in any ford dealership with in driving distance and nothing outside of this area , ford is hurting all the way down the line .

I have interviewed and submitted to any position dealing with customer service that I felt my experience applied and each was a low pay job that interviewed me but never contacted me back .

I even went to honda and BMW , all makes of dealerships and nothing but a few and even these have let me on hold .

I am willing to drive a truck or warehouse , I don't care at this point and have applied with no results , even home depot . Most of these companies require online application , there is no walk in application to even fill out .

Perhaps it's just southern calif and the youth a plenty , perhaps it is something in my past that is not true , i have no idea . The long term position I had last , and all the jobs i stay , all are 10 years or more , I don't job hope . the last long term I was terminated and was never given a clear reason , it was new management and 8 other people were fired a day after me . It could be the one termination in my life of what the employer says about me , I can't say , i was well liked but don't know the new people well enough to tell what they thought . There is nothing I can prove . It is that at will clause that allows this treatment .

So I am lost , I have had great response to submitting my resume online so it must look good .

[kwassa]

6. Most people will not contact you if there is no job to be offered

because most people can't stand to be the bearer of bad tidings. They just avoid the situation. My assumption now is that I WON'T be called back if I am not going to be offered the job. There are a few honorable and classy individuals who will turn you down but give you honest feedback, but they are few and far-between.

I am finally well-employed, but it took a long time to get there, and there was a lot of mistreatment along the way, and broken promises, too. It is the dysfunction of the job market. And yes, there is lots of ageism out there. Lots. I've met a number of the casualties. It depends a great deal on the field.

I was convinced during my job search that I had somehow soured my prospects with certain powerful people and been blackballed. It turned out not to be true at all, simply the wheels of a large impersonal bureaucracy turning slowly, if at all. I also met others screwed worse than me.

But, things have finally turned out very well. So, hang in there!

[CabalPowered]

7. How's the resume looking?

The best employees I've ever hired also had excellent resumes. One word of advice, try changing the layout to landscape, put your vitals on top, centered, then use two colums below the vitals. In the first column, put your education and work experience in the second column. It's a real pain to make it work in Word but it's definately worth it! The point is, whoever is evaluating resumes is forced to turn yours to read it. It also demonstrates that you have mastered Word. I'd also use a good paper. Nothing extravagant but something different than bleach white. Never, and I mean NEVER use resume templates supplied with Word or WordPerfect. I can pick those out at 50 yards and tells me that they didn't try very hard or don't know Word very well. Good luck! :thumbsup:

*edit: sp

[pitohui]

8. it's your age, unfortunately they can find out how old you are

the background check gives it away because they can find out when you went to high school, college, etc. pretty much gives it away

really there is no market for men in their 50s and 60s, well, women either, but we work for less so sometimes we can get something if they don't have to give us medical benefits

i would be scared too, because i am not aware of any way to pass a background check that would allow you to pass off your age as 45 -- and that, in itself, is not an easy age to get a job

i have no clue what to tell you or i'd be working myself and i'm younger than you are if it makes you feel any better