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64 and unemployed: One man's struggle to be taken seriously as a job applicant

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Re: 64 and unemployed: One man's struggle to be taken seriously as a job applicant

#91

Post by cyberferret »

As an aside from the OP, I am 52 and building a startup. I often get the feeling when talking to accelerators and angel investors etc. that they balk when seeing my age. Experience doesn't seem to count for much these days - they seem to be looking for 20-something old young people who are prepared to 'hustle' and 'crush it' and work 20 hour days.

I am willing to bet that most founders who started their companies 10+ years ago would struggle to get a job at those same companies now if they approach them as an applicant off the street today.

Re: 64 and unemployed: One man's struggle to be taken seriously as a job applicant

#93

Post by hackits »

thisisweirdok wrote: post #79

When I was in my upper 30s I was mistakingly included in a reply-all email from someone who interviewed me and said I seemed kind of old for the position. I was ready to lose my shit on them but my wife made me wait a day before responding when she saw how angry I was. I was considering hiring a lawyer to sue the shit out of them for discrimination, but at the end of the day I brushed it off with a snarky "at least I…

Playing devil advocate here. Have you considered you're too old? Maybe during the interview process they didn't consider the experience you could bring to the table with your knowledge and expertise would be a valuable asset to the business?

You deferred all your decision making to your (sic) wife. You should really take a step back and consider are you able to make decision without the consultation of your significant other?

To me, I would say the interviewer made a wise call and said he thought you where too old for the position. Your emotional outburst seems to be more a problem that the interviewer had a feeling about you?

[Replying to the down votes] You cannot grow as a individual without having a open discussion.

Re: 64 and unemployed: One man's struggle to be taken seriously as a job applicant

#94

Post by 09832 »

zmmmmm wrote: post #88
098328 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you only hire young people or would you hire older PhDs?

So far we hired 2 younger and one older. However the older person did have some issues (not completely relevant to this discussion but perhaps indirectly so - he had some family obligations that became extremely burdensome) that resulted in him leaving. It sort of illustrates that part of the whole complexity of the situation is that older people can have complex lives and that has a business cost. So part of the dis…

Would you consider hiring older PhDs in the future or does the previous incident make you hesitant?

Re: 64 and unemployed: One man's struggle to be taken seriously as a job applicant

#95

Post by nicolas_t »

x0x0 wrote: post #19
scottlocklin wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Divorce or family illness are two things you can't plan for, either one of which could wipe you out no matter how much you saved.

It's easy to say crap like have 6 months of savings. My partner was laid off during an industry-wide crash. She was unemployed for a year, and it took her 7 years (a complete career change) to regain anything like her former earnings. Very few people have the savings to be out of work, or earning 1/4 of what they used to, for years on end. Meanwhile, you've accumulated a life dependent on a certain income level. That…

This is why it's very important not to let your spendings increase with your income... As my income increased, I went from saving 30% of my income to saving 80% of my income... I did increase my spendings by a bit but not nearly as much as my income increased.

The other important thing to have is a good insurance.

The main reason I'm doing this is that I want to make sure I can retire at 40 but working toward that goal is a great way to protect oneself in case of setbacks.

Re: 64 and unemployed: One man's struggle to be taken seriously as a job applicant

#96

Post by cottsak »

If you're listening David, here are my suggestions. Keep in mind I don't have nearly the wealth of experience you would obviously have.

* Refresh both http://www.avidaid.ca/ your websites with a modern feel http://www.avidaidmedia.ca/ Hire a designer for a fixed price on https://www.upwork.com/ or other freelancer site. Your potential employers will look you up and they don't want to find dated visuals like these. If you don't want to refresh the look of both sites, then take one down. An asset should make you look good, not detract from the perception it might create for you.

* Make sure your site(s) are HTTPS. Get on google and figure out how to do this (or pay the upwork freelancer to do it) and then it can be a talking point in an interview (how passionate you are about security and privacy, for example).

* Remove the word "President" from "President, Senior Project Manager and Consultant at Avidaid Inc." on your CV/linkedin. If you're going to a PM or consulting role then you have to have other roles which show you've done this recently. The "President" thing could work against you: "wow, this guy probably wants way more then we're prepared to pay"

* Maybe try dressing down just a tad - a some nice chinos or a collared shirt but not tucked in perhaps. I'm kinda spitballing here so just have a think about it. If the companies have heaps of younger folks then maybe you could do something to make them feel a little more comfortable in the interview. I personally know I'd be pretty intimidated if a candidate came in all suited up for a PM role. I'm not saying you want the "golf course" look. Just something a little more relaxed perhaps?

* Lastly, the "corporation" and "us" language on your website avidaid.ca is not going to work in your favour I don't think. Your linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwimsett/ and the tired website suggest there are heaps of folks working at your consultancy. I can only assume this is a false pretence given the CBC article. I would prefer to see a portfolio which talks about "you"!!! (personally) and highlights projects, interactions and specific work-related interests which you are likely to be passionate about. This will excite me as a hiring manager.

I hope this helps mate.

Re: 64 and unemployed: One man's struggle to be taken seriously as a job applicant

#97

Post by [deleted] »

thisisweirdok wrote: post #79

When I was in my upper 30s I was mistakingly included in a reply-all email from someone who interviewed me and said I seemed kind of old for the position. I was ready to lose my shit on them but my wife made me wait a day before responding when she saw how angry I was. I was considering hiring a lawyer to sue the shit out of them for discrimination, but at the end of the day I brushed it off with a snarky "at least I…

[deleted]

Re: 64 and unemployed: One man's struggle to be taken seriously as a job applicant

#98

Post by snotrockets »

burtonator wrote: post #64
towaway1138 wrote: post #15

I'm only in my 50s, but this is very relateable. Did a couple dozen interviews a year or two ago before finally getting a bite. Somewhat amazingly, even passed the hiring committee at a FANG, only to get swatted down by a rare strike from the executive level. In one interview, was asked to produce a class that could serialize and deserialize a list of numbers, to/from a string of chars. Sure, it's not that hard. Took…

Link to your resume and I'll take a look. All this bullshit about inclusivity. What we SHOULD be doing is blinding the candidate and interviewer. No name. Just the last 2 years of job history. That's it. You don't know their gender. Don't know their age. Don't know their race. Just complete meritocracy.

It won't be, because different groups answer questions differently. One famous result (http://web.pdx.edu/~mev/pdf/PS471_Readings_2012/Lizotte_Sidm...) is that woman hold themselves to a higher threshold of certainty before claiming to know something.

An interesting solution would be to score differently based on known biases; but that would be a can of worms in itself.

Meritocracy is a lie used by the privileged. There is no such thing in the real world.

Re: 64 and unemployed: One man's struggle to be taken seriously as a job applicant

#99

Post by butterfi »

I'm starting to notice that in the Bay Area, older tech workers are more stable then fresh transplants, simply because we've been around long enough to get affordable housing. I make about 15k less then I might otherwise, but its not really an issue for me because I own my home.

Re: 64 and unemployed: One man's struggle to be taken seriously as a job applicant

#100

Post by slg »

burtonator wrote: post #64
towaway1138 wrote: post #15

I'm only in my 50s, but this is very relateable. Did a couple dozen interviews a year or two ago before finally getting a bite. Somewhat amazingly, even passed the hiring committee at a FANG, only to get swatted down by a rare strike from the executive level. In one interview, was asked to produce a class that could serialize and deserialize a list of numbers, to/from a string of chars. Sure, it's not that hard. Took…

Link to your resume and I'll take a look. All this bullshit about inclusivity. What we SHOULD be doing is blinding the candidate and interviewer. No name. Just the last 2 years of job history. That's it. You don't know their gender. Don't know their age. Don't know their race. Just complete meritocracy.

Blind hiring doesn't do anything to prevent or correct for bias outside the interview process for this specific position. Assembling a team this way would likely result in one that looks just like the rest of the industry. Meanwhile the hiring manager gets to pat themselves on the back for "doing their part" without actually accomplishing anything to address the problem.
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