And suddenly I'm invisible to recruiters. I've sent out forty applications in two months. Not one callback. Three decades of building skills, leading teams, and delivering results don't seem to matter once you cross a certain age threshold. Everybody seems to want young and cheap.
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@be latching onto minor activities in your resume has been going on for 45 years.
Not surprising, unfortunately.
Nowadays the market doesn't value quality, but rather "good enough" and cheap.
Workers with 20 or 30 years of experience, especially in a fully developed countries, are considered expensive and their expertise useless, since companies don't need to deliver high quality.
It's a race towards enshittification, but apparently the market is happy that way.
I am over 50yo and I was out of work for almost 2 years. Even with 30 years of experience, it took going back to school and several academic awards to put me in play again. Good luck out there. After approx. 1200 applications I finally gained a job.
@bd that was 7 years ago....different world then. Good luck today with your skillset.
I'm right there with you in my 50s. My dream was to take my skills and go independent, but working at Dell for the last 20 years on essentially the same salary didn't allow me to build a safety net. The silver lining is that while the pay stayed flat, my skills only got sharper.
@OP I was 60 when Dell let me go. Cannot find ANY work other than gigs. Too old. The health insurance is the worst. Too expensive. Don't have any. I am in entitlement purgatory. Thank goodness no debt.
NEVER put 30 years experience. Dead give away as to how old you are. Keep it 10 and below.
@be the problem is they want everyone ready to hit the ground running and have all skills up front.
After all, you're competing with the H1B who lied on their resume and copy and pasted all terms from the job description into their "resume". They're gonna win every time at that level.
While there are a few decent ones out there, recruiters are not exactly the brightest bulbs in the box. Getting them to understand how skills in 1a are pretty damn close to being qualified for 1b is impossible. They tend to also obsessively latch on to any tool requirements in the job description. They don't realize that most of us in tech can learn a tool in an afternoon or 3 days max.
hmmm. Our site was shut down when I was 55, sent out 5 or 6 resumes, the last one on a lark of....well I could probably do that job....and I was hired a week after the interview.
So I suppose its the skill set you own. I do hardware design, PCB design, write some software, embracing AI.
I had 2 other offers, chose this one because it seemed interesting. Now I'm helping launch a new product. Moved from design to being a product lead.
Guess I'm saying...depends on where you are, what your skills are, and be aggressive and kind. Just turned 62. I could retire, but hanging on till medicade is active. Insurance will eat my million in retirement, so why spend it on that.
Is your resume ATS compliant? I find that most "older" employees looking for work don't understand how to ensure their resume isn't just being filtered out by AI review assistants and that it is structured and worded in the way the systems acknowledge them. Additionally, if you are not rewriting your resume (all entries) for each role you apply for, that is not helping you either. Good luck
Yep right there with you
To get recruited if you're an old timer (35+) really requires using your network. Hiring manager don't want old timers as they are too seasoned in corporate BS to always do as they're told. Fresh meat is more hungry and willing.
@b2 taking one for the team!
Over 40 and in tech? Sounds about right
@b4 You ASSumed I meant Trumps administration...
No...I said GOVERNMENT. All "parties".
Do you disagree that Dell is cutting over 40 at a prodigious rate?
Do you think OUR laws should protect us from being targeted?
I didn't make this Dem vs Con.
You realize that layoffs started to happen during the previous administration. Why didn't they stop it back then? Did they try to introduce a new Bill to stop it? This has been happening during every administration before this one. Every One Of Them.
They want us to fight back and forth between the left and right.
Some of you didn’t figure out you had middle aged white mans disease while in your 40’s. I certainly did. I kept my head low and often took it in the rear to keep my job. I survived 14 years at EMC and 8 years at Dell. I packed away as much money as I could which enabled me to quit/retire comfortably comfortably at 62.
@OP Same boat here at 59. 100s of applications. See you at Home Depot or Costco. FCK Dell!!!!
Unfortunately that's today's reality. And it's not just old folk. Young college grads are also feeling the pinch... AI has eliminated many of the entry level jobs that many aspired to fill straight out of college. Things will only get worst as politicians keep authorizing more unregulated hyperscale AI data centers and H1B visas. Soon we all will feel the pinch as the years go bye. The economy and unemployment will only get worse for the working class. The elite will make trillions. Maybe DSA candidates are the salvation for the America?
Good luck! Same boat here.
If only we had a gub'ment that didnt allow age discrimination.
Hang in there. I was laid off a month before my 60th birthday. It took me 9 months to find a new role, and sent out over 200 resume’s/applications, but finally landed a role I really like.
@OP I'll keep fingers crossed for you. Good luck.