7 Tips for Finding a Job After 50

After quitting my job of 22 years in a large American city, and returning to my hometown , I was shocked at the frustration, and mental exhaustion of trying to find a job even with survival wages. I am 59, and unless you know someone through social networking, you are probably not going to get any response to your resumes. (After two months of continuous hunting)... I finally got a job at an hourly minimum wage, through a relative's friend of a friend, who owns a business. Job hunting is a demeaning, humiliating, frustrating, at times enraging, mentally exhausting effort , and I would not wish it on anyone. I don't have a college education, and I guess you could say I am a professional "nothing", but I couldn't even get a job as a waitress, in the local coffee shops. There were lots of openings, but I was passed over. I didn't state my age on the resume, but I guess it would be easy to figure out. I found most of the jobs I applied for were given to employees internally, and the interviews I managed to get...ended up in phone calls telling me a current employee had decided to transfer for the position. These were places where they seemed to be age-friendly..there were ladies employed there older than me, (very plain, no makeup, outdated hairstyles). Job hunting is highly commercialized, where employers use phrases like TEAM PLAYER, and THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX, ARE YOU A VISIONARY? on and on, until I couldn't look at another job description. Even for the lowest paying positions, (like the one I managed to get). The job description was always FAST-PACED, ABILITY TO MULTI-TASK, CUT, PEEL, SHRED, MASH, TAKE ORDERS, ANSWER PHONES, LEAP TALL BUILDINGS IN A SINGLE BOUND. I was out of breath after reading them. I have only 3 years left to retirement, and I'm hoping I'll be able to keep the job I was hired for.

Michelle 4:19PM February 09, 2013