Laid off at 55

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

At his age networking is the ONLY way. Cast a wide net, call in favors, update LinkedIn and go to town.

Think outside his comfort zone, and brush up on recent tech and techniques. But honestly he will never hold a candle to a digital native, os needs to emphasize his strengths and wisdom.

Doesn’t matter if he doesn’t like 55; age discrimination kicks in at 40s, and a basic google will likely reveal his age.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At his age networking is the ONLY way. Cast a wide net, call in favors, update LinkedIn and go to town.

Think outside his comfort zone, and brush up on recent tech and techniques. But honestly he will never hold a candle to a digital native, os needs to emphasize his strengths and wisdom.

Doesn’t matter if he doesn’t like 55; age discrimination kicks in at 40s, and a basic google will likely reveal his age.

These are all good suggestions. I'm so sorry, OP. He definitely needs to be aggressive in his search. It will be hard because his ego will be bruised but he needs to build up his network like crazy. Even though he has been out of college a while, he should get in contact with his school and the career resource center and alumni club. They will have resources in place for him. If he belongs to any marketing / brand management organizations or associations then they may have job resources for him, too. Best wishes to your dad! He is very fortunate to have a kid like you to help him!

[Anonymous]

Really rough stuff there. Age discrimination will be tough to overcome — but not impossible.

[Anonymous]

Remove dates from CV

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Remove dates from CV

hm..maybe that's my problem. I'm 48. But, then how do you show what years you've worked where if you remove the dates?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Remove dates from CV

hm..maybe that's my problem. I'm 48. But, then how do you show what years you've worked where if you remove the dates?

You drop things over 10 years old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At his age networking is the ONLY way. Cast a wide net, call in favors, update LinkedIn and go to town.

Think outside his comfort zone, and brush up on recent tech and techniques. But honestly he will never hold a candle to a digital native, os needs to emphasize his strengths and wisdom.

Doesn’t matter if he doesn’t like 55; age discrimination kicks in at 40s, and a basic google will likely reveal his age.

Correct. Also, do not have him look a large corporations - they grow their own and crap on people who are older. He should:


- look for mid-market firms where age is not as held against you.

- private-equity owned companies might be interested.

- contact the college career development office. Many have services for alumni.

- join a professional organization like MENG.

- go to Coursera and take digital marketing/design courses and have it on LinkedIn.

- looking for a job sucks, but you have to maintain your confidence.

[Anonymous]

Networking is the only way and he may need to change careers. He may need to move.

IMPORTANT:

I've found that older workers are seen as viable in a direct competitor performing a very similar job function when the competitor see the older worker as being able to bring competitor specific knowledge that gives the new employer as perceived advantage.

I lost my job at 40 and I've got friends that lost theirs in late 40's and mid 50s. The results vary.

EXAMPLES:
Me: out of work for 18 months and needed to relocate, change careers and take a pay cut.
48 year old friend: Lived in low COL area (mid-west) with high-school aged kids. Could not find a replacement job. Found work as a soccer coach at his daughter school.
55 year old friend changed careers moved across country and right around the 3 year mark his old company ran intro trouble because the younger replacements could not solve some electro-static discharge issue during manufacturing and he was hired back to "save the project."
58 year old guy - went partners with another laid off guy from the same company and they bought a franchise selling cloud computing services to business and they lost almost all their savings after about a year.

SUMMARY:
There appear to be a few paths.

1. Those close enough to retirement with enough savings simply try to bridge the gap.
2. Some folks have to totally reinvent themselves and this can require massive change (re-education, re-location, pay cuts).
3. Some people (if there is not an economic down turn) through networking MIGHT be able to slide over to a competitor in a similar job title.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Networking is the only way and he may need to change careers. He may need to move.

IMPORTANT:

I've found that older workers are seen as viable in a direct competitor performing a very similar job function when the competitor see the older worker as being able to bring competitor specific knowledge that gives the new employer as perceived advantage.

I lost my job at 40 and I've got friends that lost theirs in late 40's and mid 50s. The results vary.

EXAMPLES:
Me: out of work for 18 months and needed to relocate, change careers and take a pay cut.
48 year old friend: Lived in low COL area (mid-west) with high-school aged kids. Could not find a replacement job. Found work as a soccer coach at his daughter school.
55 year old friend changed careers moved across country and right around the 3 year mark his old company ran intro trouble because the younger replacements could not solve some electro-static discharge issue during manufacturing and he was hired back to "save the project."
58 year old guy - went partners with another laid off guy from the same company and they bought a franchise selling cloud computing services to business and they lost almost all their savings after about a year.

SUMMARY:
There appear to be a few paths.

1. Those close enough to retirement with enough savings simply try to bridge the gap.
2. Some folks have to totally reinvent themselves and this can require massive change (re-education, re-location, pay cuts).
3. Some people (if there is not an economic down turn) through networking MIGHT be able to slide over to a competitor in a similar job title.

Those are very distressing outcomes

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

This also happened to my FIL at 55. He spent a year trying to find a full-time job in his field without success and took a commission-only sales job in another state. Unfortunately, he bought a condo there as a second home at the peak of the market. Later he sold the condo at a loss and decided to retire, to MIL’s dismay as she would be the sole breadwinner. He spent his time volunteering and taking on most of the household work. She ended up working until almost eighty to support them in retirement but they never made up the loss in retirement funds from him not working so we have subsidized their housing for years. My advice is for your dad to work whatever job he can find in order to bring money in to pay expenses and contribute towards retirement. Don’t let his pride make him retire.

[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.

That’s great for your dad, but I’m so tired of “old” jokes being acceptable. I mean, I’m sure everyone would go nuts if an employee was referred to a “the black guy.”