[Jukesgrrl]

I wish I was a sushi chef. I'm just sayin' ...

But seriously, if you do this (and you sound like you're going to, no matter what people here say, and I totally get that "roll the dice" mentality), use all your experience and talent to market your chef and get him a job first. While every category of employment is terrible throughout the SW (except for parts of Texas) a sushi chef is at least a distinct specialty.

And I see you say you don't act 40, but do your best not to look it either. Hair dye, diets, Botox, whatever it takes -- both of you. And make sure there are no clues on your resumes (which should be classy, yet colorful, and if either of you do happen to look really young, put a small head-shot of yourself on your resume). Make a sushi Website; start a blog. Other than LA, I can't imagine a better place to re-invent yourself than Las Vegas.

Take it from one who knows. People over 45 may as well be dead in this job market.

[unf0rgiven6262]

Originally Posted by Jukesgrrl

I wish I was a sushi chef. I'm just sayin' ...

But seriously, if you do this (and you sound like you're going to, no matter what people here say, and I totally get that "roll the dice" mentality), use all your experience and talent to market your chef and get him a job first. While every category of employment is terrible throughout the SW (except for parts of Texas) a sushi chef is at least a distinct specialty.

And I see you say you don't act 40, but do your best not to look it either. Hair dye, diets, Botox, whatever it takes -- both of you. And make sure there are no clues on your resumes (which should be classy, yet colorful, and if either of you do happen to look really young, put a small head-shot of yourself on your resume). Make a sushi Website; start a blog. Other than LA, I can't imagine a better place to re-invent yourself than Las Vegas.

Take it from one who knows. People over 45 may as well be dead in this job market.

I'm not over 45 but I would have to disagree with most of what you said. First, not every category of employment is terrible. There are plenty of sectors hiring. If you have no skills, you will be up against the throngs of people for jobs and even then those sectors are hiring daily. Second, crafting yourself into someone you are not to the degree you suggest is only asking for trouble. The truth will show itself at one point or another.

[Jukesgrrl]

Originally Posted by unf0rgiven6262

I'm not over 45 but I would have to disagree with most of what you said. First, not every category of employment is terrible. There are plenty of sectors hiring. If you have no skills, you will be up against the throngs of people for jobs and even then those sectors are hiring daily. Second, crafting yourself into someone you are not to the degree you suggest is only asking for trouble. The truth will show itself at one point or another.

I stand corrected in saying every category of employment is terrible. The healthcare market in Arizona seems quite healthy, for one example. I guess it's just the categories that apply to moi. That's why I supposed that the sushi chef had a greater possibility for employment. It's a less-than-typical skill.

And I'm not suggesting that anyone aggrandize his or her qualifications. Quite the contrary. Anyone who does that IS usually caught. What I'm suggesting is cosmetic and, in some cases, a minimizing of one's experience, neither of which is unethical. I send out my real resume and I get NO responses. I send out my resume with 15 years of my experience totally deleted and I get responses. I even get better responses when I leave off that I have a master's degree! It doesn't matter what the level of the job applied for may be.

In today's job market, everyone who has been employed for over 40 years, even if they started as teenagers, as I did, is considered "over-qualified" for practically every corporate job (even skilled ones such as engineering or IT work). In the business world, the definition of "over-qualified" is, "we anticipate that you will expect too high a salary and your health insurance will cost us too much." Ask anyone over 45 who is applying for a job. Youth is valued over experience unless perhaps you're a surgeon, a bridge-designer, or a construction manager. Or the hiring manager has had a lot of instances of hiring young people who were very unreliable (e.g. retail jobs).

The OP says she is over 40 and is interested in bartending. I think it's only realistic to say that success in bartending anywhere, but ESPECIALLY Las Vegas, is heavily dependent on appearance and youth. It used to be traditional in employment to think that experience was one's most valuable attribute. But today's hiring manager thinks too much experience is going to cost them and, in the case of bartending, most pretty, personable, YOUNG people can be taught to make drinks. I'm just suggesting the OP try her best to be one of those people if she wants a bartending job in a quality operation.

Face it, Las Vegas is a city where the more upscale properties don't even demand "pretty and thin" for cocktail servers -- they demand "model-quality appearance." And 21st century models are more likely to be 14 than 40.

[Starsushi]

Jukesgrrl,

I totally get what you're saying and appreciate your candidness.

I was actually in international marketing for years. Once I was laid off I ran into all kinds of thinly veiled ageism. That's why I restored to my old skills of bookkeeping and bartending.

I'm under no illusion that it will be easy to get a bartender job at 49. Especially since I am totally far from being beautiful. Although I do have a rather unique look.

Hopefully I can find something in a more casual neighborhood type of place or something like that.

[BornInVegas1972]

Being new to City-Data but old to Las Vegas, I can let you know that you should do your best to get into the Culinary Union and get a union job as a sushi chef and/or bartender. I know most unions are pretty corrupt and tend to destroy some businesses/government's budgets, but the Culinary Union provides a decent livable wage, a small pension, and great health insurance.