Laid off. Have now been rejected by three jobs I'm qualified for with a form letter.

[Anonymous]

OP, look for contract work to get some money coming it, relieves the pressure a bit.

It can take a while. Part can be age and that you cost more than a junior person, but there are also a lot of stealth layoffs going on right now.

Just be persistent and get support. Some libraries and churches have job hunting support groups. A neighbor found this one useful, was not a member and said it wasn't religious. They have a lot of resources, can help with practice interviews, fed job hunting tips, etc. https://www.mynetworkingcentral.com/networking-groups/career-network-ministry-cnm/

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in the same boat at 45. FWIW, I look to my faith tradition for perspective and to stay off the emotional roller-coaster as much as possible. My whole role in the tech sector pretty much got obliterated, so I'm starting over.

If you were in tech you have $$$, just retire.

dp... not everyone in tech made a killing off of RSUs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in the same boat at 45. FWIW, I look to my faith tradition for perspective and to stay off the emotional roller-coaster as much as possible. My whole role in the tech sector pretty much got obliterated, so I'm starting over.

If you were in tech you have $$$, just retire.

dp... not everyone in tech made a killing off of RSUs.

yeah. I've worked for ... 6 startups, got stock options at 5 of them. two paid out under $10,000 on acquisition (THIS IS A SUCCESSFUL EXIT, BTW). One ended up completely underwater, I did not exercise my options at all. One was moderately successful, I sold RSUs as soon as they vested, I think I cleared an extra $40k per year in RSUs, but that was part of my total comp, so not gravy, just risky income. Folks that exercised and held got screwed, stock is trading at 1/6th of where it was when I was there. And one did fairly well for a while, but I had to spend a lot of what I cleared over a multi-year unemployment, and again stock is about 1/6th of where it had been. The high winners in tech are few and far between, and if folks don't divest and diversify, a lot of them later end up in a very bad place.

Fed tech can be a nice pivot, as the government is one of the few places that will hire 40s and older tech folks.

My dad got hit by this in his 40s and pivoted to physical labor, which I absolutely do not recommend. Finding a new job is a grind, and it's a more brutal grind in one's 40s and 50s, especially if you haven't gotten to the point where you take rejection personally. The economy is in a weird place, you absolutely cannot take rejection personally. It's a numbers game on all sides.

[Anonymous]

When I was laid off, I took three days to recover:
Day 1 was drinking and venting to friends
Day 2 was filing for unemployment and taking care of things like that
Day 3 I went for a hike.

Then I applied for 5 jobs every day, six days a week. In addition to that I spend a few hours a day to improve my resume, reach out to contacts, got in touch with my university alumni office for career counseling. And in the evenings I took some free or cheap ($15) Udemy courses to brush up on skills that were in demand.
I got interviews by the second week and two offers by the third week. I was laid off October 2020 and by Thanksgiving, I had a job offer with a start date. I got to coast through the holidays and start after the new year.

This whoever was when tech jobs were hiring like crazy. The tech recession has stabilized a bit but don’t expect hiring like that for a few years. What you need to do is find the industry that is hiring and apply your skills to that industry. Brush up on any skills gaps you might have.

My unemployment schedule looked like this:
Monday through Saturday
8AM-12PM job applications and interviews
12 lunch
1-3pm resume work, cover letter improvement, finish up any more applications
3pm break
4-6pm Networking, researching for more openings
6pm dinner
7-10pm Take Udemy courses

I did not have kids or any other obligations. The first two months are key because when severance and savings dry up you may have to start taking on temp work and that will get in the way of your search, especially if it’s unrelated to what you want to be doing.

Good luck. It’s grueling but doable. It happens to the best of us. Recessions happen, restructuring happens, and you can rage about the cruelty of capitalism all you want (I certainly do) but we are all players in this game and it’s sink or swim.

[Anonymous]

What field are you in OP? In my industry, reaching out to recruiters is a great way to land a new role but I know that's not always the case.

Let us know what you are looking for and maybe we can suggest ways to tailor your search.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I was your age during the 2009 recession, it took me 5 months after layoff to get 2 full-time job offers, one of which was unsuitable and 30% below original salary. I had outplacement counseling.

It's a numbers game. Keep making high-quality contacts and sending in tailored apps.

If I were you I'd do that trick where you hide keywords in tiny white font at the bottom of the resume so the bots find it when they crawl your materials.[/quote]

Mind blown. Do you really just throw key words in there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I was laid off, I took three days to recover:
Day 1 was drinking and venting to friends
Day 2 was filing for unemployment and taking care of things like that
Day 3 I went for a hike.

Then I applied for 5 jobs every day, six days a week. In addition to that I spend a few hours a day to improve my resume, reach out to contacts, got in touch with my university alumni office for career counseling. And in the evenings I took some free or cheap ($15) Udemy courses to brush up on skills that were in demand.
I got interviews by the second week and two offers by the third week. I was laid off October 2020 and by Thanksgiving, I had a job offer with a start date. I got to coast through the holidays and start after the new year.

This whoever was when tech jobs were hiring like crazy. The tech recession has stabilized a bit but don’t expect hiring like that for a few years. What you need to do is find the industry that is hiring and apply your skills to that industry. Brush up on any skills gaps you might have.

My unemployment schedule looked like this:
Monday through Saturday
8AM-12PM job applications and interviews
12 lunch
1-3pm resume work, cover letter improvement, finish up any more applications
3pm break
4-6pm Networking, researching for more openings
6pm dinner
7-10pm Take Udemy courses

I did not have kids or any other obligations. The first two months are key because when severance and savings dry up you may have to start taking on temp work and that will get in the way of your search, especially if it’s unrelated to what you want to be doing.

Good luck. It’s grueling but doable. It happens to the best of us. Recessions happen, restructuring happens, and you can rage about the cruelty of capitalism all you want (I certainly do) but we are all players in this game and it’s sink or swim.

Just curious, but how did your resume need two hours per day of work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was your age during the 2009 recession, it took me 5 months after layoff to get 2 full-time job offers, one of which was unsuitable and 30% below original salary. I had outplacement counseling.

It's a numbers game. Keep making high-quality contacts and sending in tailored apps.

If I were you I'd do that trick where you hide keywords in tiny white font at the bottom of the resume so the bots find it when they crawl your materials.[/quote]

Mind blown. Do you really just throw key words in there?

This is super outdated and recruiters know about it. Don't do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2 months is nothing.

Agree. I was out of work over two years (with some temping here and there).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was laid off, I took three days to recover:
Day 1 was drinking and venting to friends
Day 2 was filing for unemployment and taking care of things like that
Day 3 I went for a hike.

Then I applied for 5 jobs every day, six days a week. In addition to that I spend a few hours a day to improve my resume, reach out to contacts, got in touch with my university alumni office for career counseling. And in the evenings I took some free or cheap ($15) Udemy courses to brush up on skills that were in demand.
I got interviews by the second week and two offers by the third week. I was laid off October 2020 and by Thanksgiving, I had a job offer with a start date. I got to coast through the holidays and start after the new year.

This whoever was when tech jobs were hiring like crazy. The tech recession has stabilized a bit but don’t expect hiring like that for a few years. What you need to do is find the industry that is hiring and apply your skills to that industry. Brush up on any skills gaps you might have.

My unemployment schedule looked like this:
Monday through Saturday
8AM-12PM job applications and interviews
12 lunch
1-3pm resume work, cover letter improvement, finish up any more applications
3pm break
4-6pm Networking, researching for more openings
6pm dinner
7-10pm Take Udemy courses

I did not have kids or any other obligations. The first two months are key because when severance and savings dry up you may have to start taking on temp work and that will get in the way of your search, especially if it’s unrelated to what you want to be doing.

Good luck. It’s grueling but doable. It happens to the best of us. Recessions happen, restructuring happens, and you can rage about the cruelty of capitalism all you want (I certainly do) but we are all players in this game and it’s sink or swim.

Just curious, but how did your resume need two hours per day of work?

I had separate resumes and cover letters intended for different types of jobs. I ended up with about six different versions. I also had a resume format and a one-page CV and a version that was aesthetically pleasing vs. one that was plain and simple, and so on.

[Anonymous]

Most job applications are silently rejected these days…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this...it? I'm 42. I'm scared. Been two months now.

Two months is nothing. Try 10.5. I'm turning 42 in a few months myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was laid off, I took three days to recover:
Day 1 was drinking and venting to friends
Day 2 was filing for unemployment and taking care of things like that
Day 3 I went for a hike.

Then I applied for 5 jobs every day, six days a week. In addition to that I spend a few hours a day to improve my resume, reach out to contacts, got in touch with my university alumni office for career counseling. And in the evenings I took some free or cheap ($15) Udemy courses to brush up on skills that were in demand.
I got interviews by the second week and two offers by the third week. I was laid off October 2020 and by Thanksgiving, I had a job offer with a start date. I got to coast through the holidays and start after the new year.

This whoever was when tech jobs were hiring like crazy. The tech recession has stabilized a bit but don’t expect hiring like that for a few years. What you need to do is find the industry that is hiring and apply your skills to that industry. Brush up on any skills gaps you might have.

My unemployment schedule looked like this:
Monday through Saturday
8AM-12PM job applications and interviews
12 lunch
1-3pm resume work, cover letter improvement, finish up any more applications
3pm break
4-6pm Networking, researching for more openings
6pm dinner
7-10pm Take Udemy courses

I did not have kids or any other obligations. The first two months are key because when severance and savings dry up you may have to start taking on temp work and that will get in the way of your search, especially if it’s unrelated to what you want to be doing.

Good luck. It’s grueling but doable. It happens to the best of us. Recessions happen, restructuring happens, and you can rage about the cruelty of capitalism all you want (I certainly do) but we are all players in this game and it’s sink or swim.

Just curious, but how did your resume need two hours per day of work?

I had separate resumes and cover letters intended for different types of jobs. I ended up with about six different versions. I also had a resume format and a one-page CV and a version that was aesthetically pleasing vs. one that was plain and simple, and so on.

This. EVERY resume and cover letter needs to be custom to the job ad. It takes time.
Use bullets in both to your advantage. If the ad says "we want x skills" then, on your cover letter, create a bullet, add the x skill (embolden and underlined) and write a paragraph why you excel at that skill. Give the reviewer what they want to see!
Also, use data. If you have x skill, then include stats that show how you use that skill to help the company ("My x skills allowed me to increase sales by 10% during my first year").
And you never know when you're going to be laid off or up for a promotion so start documenting your impact with that data.
Take control of your career as if your were a consultant or contractor and need to continually prove yourself.
You're worth it!