Know any Middle Aged Executives forced to work minimum wage (after a fruitless job search)? (job hunting, alternative)

[total_genius]

I use to work for/with a man who at the time was on top of the world. He was making over $100K a year and was promoted to Vice President of IT Operations for a division of a Fortune 500 Company. He had a large staff, corner office and quite a bit of authority. His sponsor the Company COO kept him on because he was a friend from a long time ago, even though he was not really all that competent.

Anyway, the Vice President of IT, was fired after his boss left the company and no matter how hard he tried he just could not find a new job. He applied at all kinds of places in many cases for jobs that paid less than what he use to make with less responsibility. He was not hired because they thought he may be overqualified and would not stick around and would get bored. He went to job hunting classes, worked with head hunters, and agencies. Nothing, he was just striking out. Maybe to old, who knows!

A year passed and he ran out of money and hope. He had to accept just about anything. A friend of his was a manager at a 7-11 Store and hired him as a $8.00 an hour clerk. That is where I ran into my old boss and heard his story. His confidence and ego was gone. He was now a shell of his former self.

Know anyone else in a similar situation? Can you relate?

[gardener34]

I can so relate. I have been laid off 3x in 11 years.

That overqualifed thing is such BS - really. Just tell me the position, what it entails, what the pay is... let me decide if I am overqualified. JEEEEZZ... that is SO annoying. If I need the job I am going to it to the best of my abilities.

And I really can't understand why they are worried about it, because places don't keep you around for more than 4-5 years anyway. So why would they care if you maxxed out there and left?!

[brassbin]

he should've followed his former boss, nepotism runs rampant even if private sectors

[brightdoglover]

I see a man at the convenience store who just has the air about hiim of having been a white collar worker. Also one at the pizza shop. Hey, as my music teacher used to say, "A gig is a gig."

[b75]

Yeah the only problem is how is it even worthwhile for him to work? I mean at minimum wage he probably can't even pay his mortgage!!

[brightdoglover]

With zero income, you can't pay for anything. Of course, people can continue to look for better jobs while getting some walking-around money. Shift work is good that way.

[b75]

I get that something is better then nothing, but honestly isn't there a point where it becomes counterproductive to work? If you make minimum wage most people still can't pay their bills at all either. So unpaid bills are unpaid bills & now you are spending money you don't have to go to work to top it off. It just sounds like working for the sake of working when in reality it may just be digging you in further, and the very least not helping you gain any ground. Not saying there is an alternative way to earn money but the mortgage co. doesn't care that you tried real hard to make $ to make their payment but couldn't do it. So in the end what is that effort really worth?

[gardener34]

After 9/11 - I met one guy who was working at a radioshack. He worked at a huge electronic corp around here (there are a few) and he had been a v.p. and responsible for some pretty heavy duty stuff overseas and here. He was an electrical engineer with a EE degree. And laid off, working at the radioshack... yeah, we need more H1B visas for the electronics industry... NOT.

So, yes to the original question. I have heard it plenty around here. The key is to network, network, network. And keep your skills updated, this can be a tall order though, since skills in some fields, change every other year.