Laid off at 55

[Anonymous]

First of all, yes it's tough, but it is by no means impossible. This is a strong job market for employees right now and employers are looking.

I think sometimes a switch of industry to use your skill set in a new way is most effective. He should check out larger nonprofits in the area and other places that might not discriminate on age and would welcome his skillset. It's an easier sell to say you were looking to do something meaningful after XX years in corporate America. These jobs will probably be a payout, but some can pay quite well.

[Anonymous]

I’m sorry this happened. Wishing you the best of luck.

[Anonymous]

That’s terrible. Abusive I’d say.

Might he try being a pharmaceutical rep? Might be a good fit and the pay is pretty good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That’s terrible. Abusive I’d say.

Might he try being a pharmaceutical rep? Might be a good fit and the pay is pretty good.

Healthcare reps too - saving insurance companies money is big business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s terrible. Abusive I’d say.

Might he try being a pharmaceutical rep? Might be a good fit and the pay is pretty good.

Healthcare reps too - saving insurance companies money is big business.

Can OP's father dance? Being a pharma/healthcare rep is not an "old mans" game... unless you receiving side of the lap dance.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-insys-opioids/insys-exec-gave-doctor-lap-dance-while-promoting-drug-witness-says-idUSKCN1PN2TF

I'm a technical sales person (the technical side of the sales team) and I've noticed over the past decade that more and more sales MEN are being replaced with attractive young women who have NO technical or sales knowledge or skill BUT because they are pretty they can easily get people to agree to meet them for lunch. Some of them learn to convert lunch meetings into sales but many get washed out after about 1.5 years after they can't hit their sales quota.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not me, my father. 55 years old, was recently told that he - along with the 8 others at his company with his title - would be let go from their company (large, F500 CPG, think Proctor and Gamble, Unilever, etc) due to a restructuring. I would love to get some feedback from the collective intelligence here on DCUM. His stats are as follows;

-55 years old, 25 years experience in marketing and product/brand management. BA in Journalism from state directional.

- has worked at this company for 18 years with steady promotions. He currently makes a salary of $110K with bonuses usually bringing that to around $150K.

-lives in a low COL where he's pretty much "topped out" in terms of salary/title. His company is one of the main white collar, high paying employers in the area.

-He does not LOOK 55. He is very trim, not balding/greying/overweight/etc. But still worried about age discrimination.

This is so scary for him! He wanted to retire at 63. My mom makes about $60K and just went through this exact thing a year ago (without a dime in severance) and managed to find a job but took a $25k paycut.

In tech industry this is common and accepted behavior. This is enabled by the huge influx of guest workers provided by Indian body shops. Will not change until we value our own citizens over corporate profits. So republicans we know don’t care about workers. Sadly Democrats have also abandoned workers by expanding h-2b and h-1b visas, creating H4b out of thin air and expanding f1/opt limits.

Good luck to your family

[Anonymous]

You should return to work even with a 50% paycut. You need to find a job where you can pay your living expenses. Every year you work and are able to pay your expenses is a year you don’t tap into retirement funds. There is plenty of education about investing early on and the power of compounding interest, but less education about the impact of delaying retirement (contribution to the 401k PLUS not removing money from the 401k).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder how your dad would do in real estate. You said he is in marketing, with a degree in journalism. And is physically fit. Those sound like thins that would fit in with selling real estate. And with real estate, it seems like they are always hiring. And being older would be an asset in a job like that.

And then there is advertising. I am always seeing help wanted ads for people to sell advertising for the local TV stations, for the local media publications, etc.

Beware: these jobs might be commission-only jobs. No salary, no base, you only get a percentage of your total sales every month. Can be a very stressful existence even for a young employee.

[Anonymous]

Very common

You have the gift of seeing what will happen to you

https://m.slashdot.org/story/332607

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
In tech industry this is common and accepted behavior. This is enabled by the huge influx of guest workers provided by Indian body shops. Will not change until we value our own citizens over corporate profits. So republicans we know don’t care about workers. Sadly Democrats have also abandoned workers by expanding h-2b and h-1b visas, creating H4b out of thin air and expanding f1/opt limits.

Good luck to your family

Let's be clear.. it was Rs in the last year that increased visa workers.

Trump increased H2B visas by another 15K in his first few months of office.

Orin Hatch-R introduced a bill last year to increase HlBs.

Trump wanted a known lover of cheap foreign labor for his Labor Sec.

This post and above should be removed because it doesn't belong in this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While I understand that this is scary, this happens to others, and they get new jobs.

My dad IS mostly bald with white hair and has a belly and is like 71 and got a new job in his 60's. Yes, he's known as "The old guy. No - the OTHER old guy" at work. But he and the actual other old guy are friends and they joke about it and it's no big deal.

Tell your dad to treat finding a new job like a full time job. Tell him to apply for unemployment as soon as he can. He needs to get comfortable applying for jobs online.

You are so naive.

[Anonymous]

I'm so sorry this happened.

The AARP has a job board with postings from companies who are specifically looking to hire people over the age of 50:

https://www.aarp.org/work/?intcmp=AE-WOR-W50-IL

A lot of other companies also look for age 40+ workers. Could he possibly get in touch with a recruiter to help him find something else?

[Anonymous]

Your dad is not alone — this article shows how common this is.
https://www.propublica.org/article/older-workers-united-states-pushed-out-of-work-forced-retirement

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry. This is a bad situation. Can he retire and then maybe lecture at a community college or such?

Why would he do this? That seems like the worst thing to do financially. And it's not easy to lecture at a CC (besides crap pay and no benefits).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder how your dad would do in real estate. You said he is in marketing, with a degree in journalism. And is physically fit. Those sound like thins that would fit in with selling real estate. And with real estate, it seems like they are always hiring. And being older would be an asset in a job like that.

And then there is advertising. I am always seeing help wanted ads for people to sell advertising for the local TV stations, for the local media publications, etc.

Beware: these jobs might be commission-only jobs. No salary, no base, you only get a percentage of your total sales every month. Can be a very stressful existence even for a young employee.

Also, there are zero benefits. No healthcare, no nothing.


With real estate, unless your dad has an amazing number of connections who are looking for houses and make good money, it's very difficult to break in, especially in a "weaker" market, and it sounds like his town/city is.