Posted by Eva McDermott on November 5, 2013 at 8:18 PM
Has anyone else out there been laid off in their prime years 55+ and find it impossible to find a new job due to age discrimination (more than just age but salary level, years of experience, etc.)? That is where I find myself now looking at other options like self employment to help grow maybe a photography business. My, our plan was to do this when I was closer to retirement age but things change and sometimes you are just thrown a curve ball. My husband is already retired (since he is older than me). Thoughts, challenges, etc. from anyone who has gone through this? I am actually quite relieved to be out of the toxic place where I worked for the last 13.5 years.
I go to a networking event every Tuesday in the greater Boston area and it is actually quite depressing since there are a lot of high power professional people my age in the same position. Several have been out of work close to two years. What is wrong with this picture?
WHAT WOULD YOU YOU DO IF YOU WERE IN THIS POSITION?
I would love to hear your thoughts, advice, musings.
Next generation beware, since it may probably be worse for you guys when you reach this age bracket. Something I keep telling our two sons.
Health insurance is the biggest concern since it is more expensive than our monthly mortgage payment on our condo even with Obama-Care-Less.
Posted by John Neukirch on November 5, 2013 at 8:57 PM
Eva I'm really sorry to hear of your misfortune. I can certainly relate as I'm right there in that age range and am somewhat familiar with the difficulty of finding new employment at this age. My wife retired a year and a half ago from a long career in teaching. She was ready to try something else. She had no success finding a job, in fact she rarely received any call backs. Ended up doing some very part time work at a local state university and has this year gone back to teaching (abate half time). Maybe this is a gentle nudge to take the plunge to start your photography business. It's a scary step, that's for sure. I'm still chicken to make the leap and leave the comfort and safety of a steady income.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Eva, SO sorry to hear of this turn of events. Sure wish I had some ideas for you, but I don't..
Good luck in finding something fulfilling and income-producing. Sounds like a very good time to start seriously marketing your excellent landscapes..
Sandy
Posted by Ross Warner on November 5, 2013 at 10:03 PM
With your talent this jump shouldn't be as difficult as it now seems.
Posted by Lorna Taylor on November 6, 2013 at 11:02 AM
Sorry to hear Eva, but as one door closes another opens ! I recently started back in the work force after being a mom for 16 years .I find selling prints time consuming so went the teaching and workshop route. I only offer one on one lessons due to health issues and only work 3 hrs a day,and on average 4 days a week.Yet managed to teach 427 people this year how to better use there cameras and learn to see the world in a new way. Now I am keeping it pretty low key as most of my clients are word of mouth and I still do the mom thing as well I continue to struggle with declining health. I have still managed to generate a good second income for our situation, after taxes,insurance and expenses I still managed to make 21k . Just be very mindful of your over head and get an accountant !
Good luck and I am sure what ever you do will be a great success !
Posted by Lon Overacker on November 6, 2013 at 12:38 PM
Eva,
So very sorry to hear this. Unfortunately I don't think I have any good advice for you. And after celebrating(?not really) 30 years with my company, I know I don't have a plan and wouldn't know what to do (sad statement.) 2 of my peers have been let go within the last month. Very scary and uneasy times.
I do agree with Lorna though - a new door will open for you! I'm confident of that. Hang tough Eva!
I'm very sorry to hear this bad news. My entire family enjoyed safe employment over their many years of employment. Most all of them worked for the government in some form or another. However, I was not near as lucky as it were, although, I was only really laid off once in my 45+ years in the working world. During those years in order to remain employed I worked for over 25 different private company names, although only really changing jobs voluntarily 5 to 6 times myself. Why so many names?......buyouts, mergers, bankruptcies, hostel takeovers, etc, etc. I had a very keen sense of hearing the ice breaking behind me as I moved forward in my career. Hence, changing jobs was a matter of survival.
You are correct, the younger generation should be ready to have a work experience similar to my own. It truly was like working on a beach with sand being undermined daily by the economic winds and whims, as well as business politics.
As for ideas on future employment I'm sure you're already underway looking for any and all options. Since the crash of 2007 these are extremely narrow options and only just now starting to have any small but somewhat solid returns. With that said, it always is in the service sector. The USA had moved sadly away from manufacturing to service type employment many years ago now. IMO that has also left us with a very flighty working environment. To be quite honest I'm not sure how we all survive with a primary workforce of all service type work, but here we are, the good and bad of that environment.
I would think that if the thoughts are to try self employment the lean would be toward service type employment that others absolutely seem to always need. If the appeal is photography it might not be exact type of it you like to do, but if it pays the bills then go for it and see how things work out during the time you're receiving any type of layoff compensation. Not knowing what your previous work was I cannot know what your thoughts are to try and return to that field.
Good luck in whatever venture you decide to try and with your drive I know you will make things work. Take care!
Posted by Wayne Jones on November 13, 2013 at 11:26 AM
Eva,
I'm very sorry about your unemployment. Even though there may be a silver lining in this storm cloud (freedom from that "toxic" environment), it is always scary losing the security of a steady job.
I hope your networking pays off; it can be extremely valuable. Before I retired, other groups that I had worked with were offering consulting jobs, which can be lucrative, even though most are intermittent and part-time situations. I think that the demand for consulting actually increases when corporations and agencies reduce full-time staffing. (I actually started a consulting job a week after retiring, but cancer interrupted that, and made me realize that other non-income-producing activities are much more important!)
If you want a photography-related occupation, I'll repeat some advice I recently gave to someone who asked me how to get started in photography-related work. After suggesting some successful photography businesses (including teaching other photographers) for him to look at, and giving NPN a plug, I ended with this thought:
"By the way, many nature photographers who make money on photography one way or another are part-timers who have regular "day jobs" in other fields, and quite a few have full-time photography businesses doing commercial photography, and/or event and wedding photography, where it's much easier to make a profit than selling nature pictures. Another thing to consider is that zillions of people are taking up nature photography these days. The result is that there are zillions of good nature photographs, and we all know that the more common something is, the less financial value it has. Some people do make money full or part-time selling nature photos, but in the field of nature photography, the real money is to be made FROM nature photographers, rather than BY nature photographers." (emphasis added just now)
I'll send you an e-mail with more thoughts about that.
You are blessed with superior intelligence, a excellent education, and marvelous talent, so remember to give thanks for your blessings, even in the face of adversity.
Discussion
7 repliesI go to a networking event every Tuesday in the greater Boston area and it is actually quite depressing since there are a lot of high power professional people my age in the same position. Several have been out of work close to two years. What is wrong with this picture?
WHAT WOULD YOU YOU DO IF YOU WERE IN THIS POSITION?
I would love to hear your thoughts, advice, musings.
Next generation beware, since it may probably be worse for you guys when you reach this age bracket. Something I keep telling our two sons.
Health insurance is the biggest concern since it is more expensive than our monthly mortgage payment on our condo even with Obama-Care-Less.
Good luck and keep us posted.
John
Good luck in finding something fulfilling and income-producing. Sounds like a very good time to start seriously marketing your excellent landscapes..
Sandy
Good luck and I am sure what ever you do will be a great success !
So very sorry to hear this. Unfortunately I don't think I have any good advice for you. And after celebrating(?not really) 30 years with my company, I know I don't have a plan and wouldn't know what to do (sad statement.) 2 of my peers have been let go within the last month. Very scary and uneasy times.
I do agree with Lorna though - a new door will open for you! I'm confident of that. Hang tough Eva!
Lon
I'm very sorry to hear this bad news. My entire family enjoyed safe employment over their many years of employment. Most all of them worked for the government in some form or another. However, I was not near as lucky as it were, although, I was only really laid off once in my 45+ years in the working world. During those years in order to remain employed I worked for over 25 different private company names, although only really changing jobs voluntarily 5 to 6 times myself. Why so many names?......buyouts, mergers, bankruptcies, hostel takeovers, etc, etc. I had a very keen sense of hearing the ice breaking behind me as I moved forward in my career. Hence, changing jobs was a matter of survival.
You are correct, the younger generation should be ready to have a work experience similar to my own. It truly was like working on a beach with sand being undermined daily by the economic winds and whims, as well as business politics.
As for ideas on future employment I'm sure you're already underway looking for any and all options. Since the crash of 2007 these are extremely narrow options and only just now starting to have any small but somewhat solid returns. With that said, it always is in the service sector. The USA had moved sadly away from manufacturing to service type employment many years ago now. IMO that has also left us with a very flighty working environment. To be quite honest I'm not sure how we all survive with a primary workforce of all service type work, but here we are, the good and bad of that environment.
I would think that if the thoughts are to try self employment the lean would be toward service type employment that others absolutely seem to always need. If the appeal is photography it might not be exact type of it you like to do, but if it pays the bills then go for it and see how things work out during the time you're receiving any type of layoff compensation. Not knowing what your previous work was I cannot know what your thoughts are to try and return to that field.
Good luck in whatever venture you decide to try and with your drive I know you will make things work. Take care!
I'm very sorry about your unemployment. Even though there may be a silver lining in this storm cloud (freedom from that "toxic" environment), it is always scary losing the security of a steady job.
I hope your networking pays off; it can be extremely valuable. Before I retired, other groups that I had worked with were offering consulting jobs, which can be lucrative, even though most are intermittent and part-time situations. I think that the demand for consulting actually increases when corporations and agencies reduce full-time staffing. (I actually started a consulting job a week after retiring, but cancer interrupted that, and made me realize that other non-income-producing activities are much more important!)
If you want a photography-related occupation, I'll repeat some advice I recently gave to someone who asked me how to get started in photography-related work. After suggesting some successful photography businesses (including teaching other photographers) for him to look at, and giving NPN a plug, I ended with this thought:
"By the way, many nature photographers who make money on photography one way or another are part-timers who have regular "day jobs" in other fields, and quite a few have full-time photography businesses doing commercial photography, and/or event and wedding photography, where it's much easier to make a profit than selling nature pictures. Another thing to consider is that zillions of people are taking up nature photography these days. The result is that there are zillions of good nature photographs, and we all know that the more common something is, the less financial value it has. Some people do make money full or part-time selling nature photos, but in the field of nature photography, the real money is to be made FROM nature photographers, rather than BY nature photographers." (emphasis added just now)
I'll send you an e-mail with more thoughts about that.
You are blessed with superior intelligence, a excellent education, and marvelous talent, so remember to give thanks for your blessings, even in the face of adversity.
GOOD LUCK