Anyone go from executive to unskilled labor due to the economy? (employment, consulting)
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In my home State of Oregon the unemployment rate is going sky high. Many people I know who were in very professional and even executive level jobs are losing their positions and thrown in the worst job market since the Reagan Recession in the early 1980s.
Good high paying jobs are becoming scarce and there is still a bias towards younger workers who will put in 12 hour days for little money. Most jobs do not really need someone with 20 years experience. Finally, good jobs usually take multiple interviews and a long candidate evaluation process, so these terminated executives need to expect to be out of work for months if not years.
Do you know anyone in this situation? What did they do to pay the rent and support the family while they spend months looking for their next executive position? Did they work at a job where you could be hired one day and start working the next? (unskilled labor)
What luck would an newly unemployed middle aged ex business executive have with a temp agency or retail job or fast food just to make a few dollars while unemployed?
Most interviewers wouldn't have a problem seeing a gap on a resume that could be explained by - a "hey I had to pay bills" type of job. As long as you could explain it. And yes, I saw this ALL THE TIME, here in IL.
Post 9/11 - Arthur anderson bust up and there were a couple big electronics corps that were hemorhagging jobs... like most other companies. I met many of the electronic corp workers at Best buy and in Radio Shack.
I hope their situations got better. Now IL unemployment is worse than post 9/11. Great. I hope there are enough retail jobs to float us all.
I went from being an executive for a vc firm to working as a laborer in the oil fields. It is one of the biggest mistakes I have ever made, and I have made some bad ones in my life. The fact of the matter is that not only could my ego not handle going back into a starting role of sales or even an assistant in VC or other areas, but the paycut would have been too drastic to do that, while I can make $70k a year working in the oilfield. What I have found is that many of the companies I have interviewed with to get back into my field understand the idea of having to pay the bills, but they do not understand the idea of changing into manual labor a long way away from the field that you were in. I have lost jobs to lesser skilled competitors simply due to the idea that most companies have that nobody in their right mind could accomplish what I have, and then take the job that I am currently doing.
So my suggestion is to figure out another way, maybe work for a friend or start a small business (like consulting in your field) that can provide a little income while you look for a new job in your career.
How can so many people be jobless? There is always the military to join. Either that or be homeless your whole life.
Last I heard the military had age and health restrictions, not to mention not paying enough to support a family (which is a sad commentary on our government). Otherwise I am sure many would love to join.
How can so many people be jobless? There is always the military to join. Either that or be homeless your whole life.
I think the lesson to be learned from the current economic situation is to always live within our means. So many people (myself included) buy clothes, cars, a house, jewelry, etc with borrowed money so during economic downturns we are most affected because we don't have any savings to support us during this time since we spent our lives working just to pay bills, instead of paying ourselves. If we all lived within our means, economic downturns would not affect us that much and unemployment would not even be a "CNN Headline News". When we are laid off, we just take some of our money we saved and take a little vacation around the world, relax and come back once things pick up. If we have to borrow to buy a car, house, etc we will all be slaves to Capitalism. So the question to ask is: do we want to be free or do we want to be slaves?
"There is always the military to join." yeah, they want 40+ year olds in the military...
I would try and keep something close to your field, if possible. Could you consult or freelance?
We lived relatively small compared to most people, but a layoff that comes out of NOWHERE will affect you.
What is worse, is not the layoff itself. But the fact that after you get a job, at least in my case, the last 3x, I have had to resort to taking a job that pays half of what I used to make. It takes like 5 years to get up to that salary level again... and then BOOM - another layoff and back down the salary ladder.
And what with inflation now, it has been really hard for us.
If you don't mind me asking, what kind of education is needed to get you to where you were (exec in a vc firm)?
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