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Wife got her Bachelor's Degree (Business/Accounting) in 1997 and she is 67 years old. She's been working in the Banking/Mortgage industry since Nov 2011, but may lose her job next week due to "job performance". She has been with this bank since Nov 2011. Anyway, two months ago, she was written up by her supervisor for "job performance" and given 60 days to improve it. This "Write Up" was approved by the Dept. VP who is over the supervisor. Anyway, she has been trying very hard to improve, but thinks her 35 yr. old supervisor just wants her gone due to her age/memory/mistakes.
This past January, the department she works in was told that it was going to shut-down by the end of this year. So, she redone her resume and was able to get a few interviews, but that was it. Fortunately, in April, it was announced that the department shut-down wasn't going to happen. So, she stopped looking. She wanted to stay with this bank until she turned 70, so she could retire with SS and get more money for Late Retirement.
She remembers, before getting this job, that a Temp Job Manager told her that her BA Degree was too old to depend on it to help her get a job. He told her, "too many things have changed since you got that degree." And, at age 67, she doesn't want to go back to college for a Masters or get a CPA. We just can't afford that anyway. I'm SS retired (Early Retirement) and can't work currently due to a rotator cuff surgery I had.
Question is: Is her BA Degree too outdated, like she was told AND will her age really affect her when looking for a new job (if she has to)? People often say "age is just a number", but "age" is more than a number when looking for a job as a Senior.......right?
When you are older it is not the DEGREE that gets you the job. it is the experience and what you can do after decades of working in a field.
Having said that- there are two things that could be going on here: maybe a performance problem, maybe age discrimination, and maybe both. If there is ANY evidence for age discrimination you should probably consult an employment lawyer.
A few more thoughts. HR is not on your side, their job is to help management do what it wants to short of actual violations of the law. Once the writeup procedure starts it will be very hard, verging on impossible to change their minds. It may be possible to negotiate for a termination package, especially if there is anything that tends to support a claim of age discrimination.
Unfortunately it is quite difficult to get a new job after normal retirement age.
The BA degree is not a problem. In fact being in Business/Accounting is probably a lot better than most. Accounting is in demand and women seem to be doing quite well in the field..
When I hired having a degree was a screening tool. If you did not have one you probably would not be invited in for an interview. But if your experience fit what the job needed you would probably get a phone interview and an invitation to come into the office. What employers what is someone that can do the job and has good work experience. At 67 a degree will probably not be important at all. It is the skills she has. Yes what she learned could be outdated in some areas due to the computer but she should have picked up these skill in her work life. Accounting rules also change as laws changes and the AICPA comes out with new procedures. Assuming she is in accounting did she keep up with the changes that affected her job?
You mentioned mistakes. I do not think customers would like errors in their accounts and I can not see a bank keeping someone of any age that is making serious mistakes.
Age is against her as a new employer is probably looking for someone that will be with then for years and able to grow with the company. With a 3 year time frame I think she would have to look at part time work. Probably through a temporary agency.
I'm not surprised that a Bachelors degree obtained in 1997 could be out of date in many fields.
I'm also not surprised that employers would not want to hire a 67 year old.
Also severance packages are almost never given to an employee who is being let go for poor performance. Employees are on their own in most circumstances, let alone when being let go for poor performance.
I was in demand in my field at age 57, but I am certain demand would be lessened at age 67.
I minored in Accounting for my MBA degree received in 1986 (Engineering undergraduate degree), and have held accounting jobs until I retired in 2013. At no time were my Accounting skills found lacking. For the most part, accounting has not changed for eons (Debits go on the right and credits go on the left). FASB/GASB reporting requirements have changed, but very few changes will alter one's work in a large organization. If a change does affect your position, there are continuing education seminars that will go over them.
What's likely happening is they're using non-age related excuses to discriminate against older workers. For the most part, many organizations don't want to hire someone who might only work for 2-3 years and may not want to advance. They look at it as if they're wasting their time and money training an older worker, even though younger workers are just as likely to move to another company after they've been trained and gotten experience.
The body of knowledge in a field that one person holds is not always equivalent to the body of knowledge another person with the same degree holds in that field.
All Bachelors degrees in a field are not equivalent.....institutions of higher learning differ.
So your wife's employers may be telling her that her abilities are lacking or that she did not learn enough in her Bachelors degree program or she has not retained enough knowledge or she does not apply the knowledge in the best way.
loveboating, you also mentioned mistakes made by your wife and some memory problems, if I understand you correctly. Those 2 factors could have a large effect.
What's likely happening is they're using non-age related excuses to discriminate against older workers. For the most part, many organizations don't want to hire someone who might only work for 2-3 years and may not want to advance. They look at it as if they're wasting their time and money training an older worker, even though younger workers are just as likely to move to another company after they've been trained and gotten experience.
It is kind of silly though to think older workers won't be around for long so why hire them...as if those kids getting into the job market TODAY have any loyalty. They job hop every 2-3 years - they're constantly looking for the next job. Hiring managers have their own biases and see and believe what they want to, regardless of the facts in front of them, unfortunately.
I don't think you'll get far trying to fight this thing. And you could spend a lot of money and time litigating.
So if I were her, I'd try to get the biggest severance package possible.
Age discrimination is pervasive. Unfortunately if it is illegal at all that's in name only. Case law has upheld employers' making hiring/firing decisions "for the economic health of the company" (or some such rot).
Your wife's degree isn't a problem at her present job, it is her performance. You mentioned they weren't happy with such things as her memory. If her performance has deteriorated, then the employer has cause to let her go. If her performance has not deteriorated but they say it has, then you might have a case for age discrimination. This is hard to prove, so she would need evidence, which she should be gathering now.
I think if she is let go, she will have difficulty finding a new, comparable job because of her age, not because of her degree.
She might be able to do temp work or part time work somewhere.
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