Older workers

[Snowysmom]

I thought I would ask a couple of questions about older workers on this Monday morning. DH, 45 years+, has been laid off and is looking for work. He has sent out at least 50 resumes, multiple to some companies with many job openings, and only applies for jobs for which he is qualified. He has not heard back anything in 3 weeks. Some resumes have been out for less than that but the longest is 3-3 1/2 weeks. The only thing we can come up with is age discrimination. He is a very good software engineer with up to date skills. He has kept up in the field. I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this or is it more prevalent in the northeast. We are getting very frustrated and frankly depressed. It seems like companies no longer value the older worker and all the experience and education that they have to offer. I do realize that the economy is still lousy and outsourcing has taken away alot of good jobs. We have one son in college and another one going inless than 3 years so being out of work is a big issue for us (as it is for anyone.) Does anyone have any ideas on how to try to minimize the age discrimination issue? Is it like this countrywide? I am venting but I also am concerned that older workers are getting pushed out of the job market. Thanks for listening!

 

[Missy1961]

I have a friend who also is in the software field--he's a developer. He's 46. He was laid off in May. It took him 3 months to find a new job. Unfortunely, it takes time. Someone told my friend that it is taking some people 6 to 8 months to find a new job.

Sorry. I know this isn't easy.

 

[Maleficent13]

Maybe I misread your post, but how would a company who only has a resume be able to practice age discrimination? He's not putting his age on the resume, is he?

 

[Missy1961]

Originally posted by Maleficent13
Maybe I misread your post, but how would a company who only has a resume be able to practice age discrimination? He's not putting his age on the resume, is he?

I thought of that too.

 

[caitycaity]

He has sent out at least 50 resumes, multiple to some companies with many job openings, and only applies for jobs for which he is qualified. He has not heard back anything in 3 weeks. Some resumes have been out for less than that but the longest is 3-3 1/2 weeks. The only thing we can come up with is age discrimination. He is a very good software engineer with up to date skills. He has kept up in the field.

i am not sure it's age discrimination. my dh is an IT manager and he has recently been hiring for a few positions. he gets inundated with 100's of resumes, many of the people who apply are actually overqualified. i think there are just too many IT people looking for jobs these days.

 

[LoraJ]

Originally posted by Maleficent13
Maybe I misread your post, but how would a company who only has a resume be able to practice age discrimination? He's not putting his age on the resume, is he?

Not hard to calculate when you factor in someone's experience as well as when they graduated from school.

 

[Christine]

First off, I would not consider your husband to be an "older worker." At first, when I read your thread title, I thought he was maybe 60! My company is not in the IT sector, but we are thrilled to get employees in the 35-50 year old age range. The only problem is that sometimes, because of their experience, they are asking a lot more money. Sometimes it is deserved and sometimes not depending on the field (some jobs don't require 20 years experience and we can get by with a less experienced person--not necessarily younger).

I think you DH might just be facing a glut of people needing IT jobs.

 

[Snowysmom]

DH is not putting his age on the resume but by looking at the experience he has, it is not difficult to see that he is not a young person. He has left off the year he graduated from college. Companies also want to see the years you worked for the companies so that is a giveaway too.

 

[Hillbeans]

Well, the best advice I can tell you and your DH is to be flexible.

My father, who is 71, retired from the Army (Civillian) at 55. He took one or two years off, and then contacted a temp agency and started working about 20 hours a week.

Fast forward to today, he still works about 24 hours a week, but he's so in demand now, that two advertising companies were fighting over him (he's an editor) and he's only working 4-4.5 hours a day. He loves his job (s).

I know that your DH is looking for FT, but he may need to change out of the IT area into another field. IT is pretty dead right now. The financial advisor who was showing us 529 plans last week used to be an IT manager, and he was about 50 as well.

Good luck!

 

[Pin Wizard]

It's not just IT. I have a stack of resumes I've sent out and haven't even had a response from. I agree the way to go is a head hunter/temp agency. I just started working for one last week. Sent me to a great place. The VP said mention to someone to call someone else to see if they can use me permanently. I've never seen people jump so fast! LOL! And I was just at a different agency this morning. They're sending me to a competing company of the one I'm temping for for an interview at 2:30 today! Good luck to your DH.

 

[piratesmate]

Just a thought - where is he getting the names of companies he's applying to? Many of the postings online don't really exist per se. Some companies will post "positions" because they want to see what's out there. They don't have actual jobs, but might call someone in if they look really good on paper. Also, a bunch of companies pay a retainer-type fee instead of for each ad. It's more cost effective. Again, no actual jobs.

I was going through this 2 yrs ago. The same job would be posted every other month. I interviewed for one that said they were definitely hiring 4 people. In the end they only hired 2. That job posting is still showing up.

As for discrimination - probably not, although as you say most HR people can figure it out from what's on the resume. I had a phone interview with one guy & in the middle, he asked me how I'd heard of their company. Like an idiot I told the truth & said I'd worked for them before - at another location now defunt. His response? "How old are you?!?!?!?!" He tried to backtrack immediately, but that was the end of the interview.

The outsourcing place I went to told me to "only give the past 5 jobs/yrs - whichever is less". Unfortunately, that didn't work for me since I'd been on my last job 11+ yrs!

I'm sorry it's so frustrating for you! I hope something comes up soon!

 

[Snowysmom]

Thank you for you replies. DH is applying to companies right on their websites. It is to actual job reqs. Some of the job req's have been open for months. A couple of the companies have actually been advertising on TV for engineers. He is flexible but it is hard to change fields today. Everyone wants so many years experience. If he were getting even two or three interviews we would feel better but so far, no bites. He has a plan in place which does eventually include going to an agency and trying to see if he can contract too. He is willing to take less money. His old boss says he would hire him back as a contractor but can't for at least a year and only if they have the money. We can't wait that long! Hopefully something will come along soon. Thanks again. I really just needed to vent because I am so frustrated and feel bad for DH since he is feeling bad about the whole thing.

 

[SC Minnie]

Be patient.

Our department added a person about this time last year. Between the time the posting went out and calling to set up interviews was about two months. Corporate policy was to wait until the posting 'closed' then they sent us about 30 of the over 200 resumes submitted to look over. It took the 3 of us over a week to find the time to look them over and discuss and decide which ones we wanted to interview. So, what I am saying is if these resumes are being sent to larger companies 3 weeks is not a long time to not hear anything.

DH has been sending out resumes for over a year. He has had a couple of interviews but no offers yet. He is still employed but is wanting a to get out of where is is. He had a called last week and the guy asked him to resend his resume in a word document instead of the online form that was originally submitted. DH got his hopes up a little but we haven't heard anything.

 

[chrissyk]

My DH and I are engineers from the NorthEast (although we are moving to FL). One of our friends is having a tough time finding a job in the Northeast too. His expertise is software/engineering management. He said that companies are just not looking for people with his expertise, whatever that means I don't really think that it's age discrimination. I mean, my DH has always worked with engineers of all ages. The "older" engineers are the most respected and in-demand.

Our friend who is having trouble getting a job since his layoff said that the economy is still bad in the NorthEast. I told DH that that is just his perspective because he is laid off, but maybe it's more of an objective perspective than I thought. My first thought would be crummy economy and not age discrimination. Also, New England is historically slow to come out of recessions.

One thing to consider would be leaving the NorthEast. The job economy elsewhere is better for engineers. Your house is probably worth a mint now too.

 

[Snowysmom]

We are not able to relocate right now between kids in school here and my elderly father. I would not leave him right now. He is 87. We do know that the economy here is slow but some defense contractors are actually advertising on TV for engineers including software. It is a tough situation for all and I just wish everyone out of work could find something good real soon. I guess we just need to be patient and comtinue plugging along.