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Well, it looks like over-40 job seeking can be stressful.
I would expect this to be the case in private companies but less so in professional services firms (accounting firms, law firms, etc.). I thought that because the applicants generally present the right degrees and some kind of professional license.
Take law, for instance. How made times have we heard of politicians returning to practicing law? That is, they are in their early 50s. They have been public servants for 15 or 20 years, but were attorneys before then. So there's a gap in their practice of law. But, they still return to being a lawyer and someone has obviously hired them. The same is true of women who have taken time off to raise a family. They return to being lawyers or CPAs when the kids are grown.
So what's the deal? I wasn't expecting to see this in the professions. I am sure this WOULD NOT be the case for a doctor or nurse who wanted to go back to work after a detour, time off or rearing children.
Well, it looks like over-40 job seeking can be stressful.
I would expect this to be the case in private companies but less so in professional services firms (accounting firms, law firms, etc.). I thought that because the applicants generally present the right degrees and some kind of professional license.
Take law, for instance. How made times have we heard of politicians returning to practicing law? That is, they are in their early 50s. They have been public servants for 15 or 20 years, but were attorneys before then. So there's a gap in their practice of law. But, they still return to being a lawyer and someone has obviously hired them. The same is true of women who have taken time off to raise a family. They return to being lawyers or CPAs when the kids are grown.
So what's the deal? I wasn't expecting to see this in the professions. I am sure this WOULD NOT be the case for a doctor or nurse who wanted to go back to work after a detour, time off or rearing children.
Any thoughts?
CONFUSED Are you asking an actual question or are you hvaing trouble finding work in a law firm???
Age discrimination is alive and well in the legal field. The politicians can get back into law because they are famous and high profile and that looks good to a firm. The average person has a much harder time (at least from my experience).
I've never known a doctor to take a few years off. I have known many many attorneys take a few years off (as in 5 or less years) and it's tough to get back in, but not impossible. More than 5 years I would think it would very very difficult even if CLE was maintained. Support staff can get into trouble finding work by not knowing the latest software.
Also some law firms can get very top heavy with their partners not retiring and they need to bring in younger people to help the cost of insurance and to balance things, like attitude and productivity.
CONFUSED Are you asking an actual question or are you hvaing trouble finding work in a law firm???
I am commenting on the situation. Yes, my batting average has been low at getting interviews. It is in a financial firm as opposed to a law firm. All of the pieces (experience, education, certifs.) are there, so I'm scratching my head. I was just looking to see what others have experienced or thought of such a situation.
The politicians can get back into law because they are famous and high profile and that looks good to a firm. The average person has a much harder time (at least from my experience).
Is it because practice has changed (it can't by that much) or just that they are judgmental and want to pooh-pooh the fact that there's a gap or that the person had the audacity to do something else? In those 5+ yr. "sabbaticals," what have most of those people gone off to do?
There are tons of age descrimination. Employers want young vibrant people. If you are in your 50,s and you look your age who might have a hard time as I am sorry to say. Only if you were in congress (older people) can you get a job as head of a company no
matter age you are. look what will happen to dick channey after he leaves office.
For the most part, it's been women leaving to be stay at home moms. There are lots of changes in the legal field just in the 10 years I have been in it. Used to be everything was paper, now it's electronic. Tort reform has changed a lot of rules. Employment laws change. New laws are enacted that change things. Tax law changes lead to companies changing how they are organized. New areas of law emerge and other areas become... not profit-making anymore.
Most women I know who leave to be stay at home moms never go back to work in the legal field. A few do. Not many.
Gaps can be an issue. At the last firm I worked at, they hired support staff who had gaps because they could low ball them easy enough (they were so cheap and desperate!). Anyway, many of them were worthless employees. They had been out of the groove for too long. They didn't know the latest word processing tools. They couldn't sustain their attention all day. A couple were overwhelmed with guilt for "leaving" their kids and sat at their desks and cried. Many had to be fired. Some quit. I had an intentional gap of 3 months once and the first question in interviews was Explain the gap, please. I was lucky because prior to the 3 month gap, I had excellent tenure at a job. I don't think I will ever leave another job without having one first again. Too risky at my age.
my thought in the medical vs. legal and financial fields, is that the medical field is so rapidly changing, that taking a year off by itself will require a large amount of time to retrain yourself etc.
Financial ideas change very slowly, and all it'd take is to figure out the market again, and legal stuff also moves very slowly, such that it'd be easy to get back into poring over the law. Also, politicians are directly involved with the law on a day to day basis, so those skills useful to a law firm are still being cultivated.
Also, politicians are directly involved with the law on a day to day basis, so those skills useful to a law firm are still being cultivated.
Politicians don't really practice law once they return. Their offices sit empty. They mostly network and bring in new clients through their extensive contacts and keep current clients happy with meet and greets. At least from what I've seen.
my thought in the medical vs. legal and financial fields, is that the medical field is so rapidly changing, that taking a year off by itself will require a large amount of time to retrain yourself etc.
Financial ideas change very slowly, and all it'd take is to figure out the market again, and legal stuff also moves very slowly, such that it'd be easy to get back into poring over the law.
As logical as your argument is, it actually works the other way around as far as I can see.
First, there is a physician shortage and they are using PAs. Physicians are an insanely tight fraternity, from what I can see. I would never image a physician who is absent from 42 to 47 (using those numbers as an example) not being able to get back in. Now, granted, it may not be their own practice but health departments, governmental hospitals, univerisity health centers and the like all need physicians. They'll get a job.
For lawyers, accountants and consultants, it's kind of nauseating that 50% of their job is image. Let's face it, even middle class people rarely need them. So, it's about courting the affluent. What you look like, what you drive, what your extracurricular sports are all matter...a lot. Am I right? I think so. Therefore, even though you are the most capable, and even presentable/attractive, the external B.S. counts for a lot. And that's why being in your 40s is an issue, even though you have 20 years left until you retire. The other thing is that, excluding law from this argument, the financial fields (CPA, CFP) are not as rigorous as the others. Guys and gals with 2.8 GPAs can get there, so the learning curve goes flat fast and one can get all they need to know by the time they are 35, assuming they started at 22 or 23 after school. It would be a cold day in hell before a 2.8 in biology made it into an American medical school, so it's more about actual knowledge (nerds welcome) than it is in the shallower business world (and here I'm including law, since they are businesspeople too).
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Are you asking an actual question or are you hvaing trouble finding work in a law firm???
