Working and getting older

[mshultz]

Originally Posted by mlb

Better be an essential worker in government. Learn how salaries are achieved.... if it’s sales tax like my former employer - and there’s a recession like there was in 2008 - sales tax numbers take a dive.

Layoffs of non-essential workers happened and it was not pretty.

It was said that the City of Wooster did not have any layoffs during the great depression, but they did have layoffs during the 35 years I worked there. Enough people retired during the great buyout of 2010 that there were no layoffs. A few people transferred to the Water & Sewage plants, because the funding by utility bill was a more secure source of revenue than departments that relied on income taxes.

[mshultz]

Originally Posted by charlygal

I'm over 50. I have a BS and MBA degrees. Six of the top certifications in the field, and numerous years of experience. I don't get interviews for every job I apply to and NO, it's not age discrimination. Without seeing your resume, there could be a valid reason why you aren't getting calls.

By the way, in 2021, you will be surprised how many people can match our resumes. We aren't as special as we think.

I remember a former boss telling me that his brother, the factory manager, needed a lawyer. He hired the applicant who also had an MBA degree (the applicant may have also been a CPA). It's a tough world out there.

[HB2HSV]

Originally Posted by eliza61nyc

agree with many others, you have two separate issues going on.

now I fully acknowledge that my company tends to shy away from senior citizens. for one thing, our experience is they really don't stay very long. We've found that in the past when we hire someone 60 or older, the nanosecond they are eligible for ss they are history. I'm in research and development in the chemical industry and rehiring is expensive.

I am in my 60s and my experience is it depends on the company. The companies that have average younger employees tend to shy away from older ones. One can speculate as to why but it's not difficult to imagine the "culture difference" between the young ones and the "experienced".

Just to give you a personal example, in my job I collaborated with another company that has majority of young engineers. They are smart and work hard but the problem is they don't know what they don't know due to a lack of experience. It's not a cliche but it has a real programmatic impacts. Just because you're "book smart" doesn't mean you know what you're doing. At the end, they (we as "we" are a team) lost a major (billion $) government program because their lack of experience. OTOH, the winner company also has a majority of young employees but they have "seasoned old farts" at the helm on key leadership positions so they were able to provide guidance and shape how the proposal was developed.

one other issue we run into is that older scientist that come in usually have 20 or more years work history and it's hard to let that go. case in point we have a new employee (less than a year) older gentleman I'll call Sam. Sam has ticked off just about everyone, how? he's going around constantly saying "that's not how we did it at XYZ corporation". "When I was at XYZ corporation we were much more efficient" people now groan when he comes in.

It maybe an individually based. In this case, it was "Sam" who chose to handle this that annoys the young employees. But that's the problem, young employees including young managers do not like to be told what they don't know and their lack of experience. Especially the managers, they like to be worshiped and praised for their insights and superior management skills.

I had an ex-colleague who's in his 70s. He comes to work because his wife would not allow him to stay at home and interfere how she runs her household. He enjoys my praises on his previous accomplishments, especially when I do it in front of others. I know this but I did not mind to stroke his ego. In our business, it's important to have a good understanding of history in order to manage risks. These "grey beards" are valued simply because of their memory on how sh*t happened.