<p>After getting laid off in '09 from the job I had for 13 years and taking almost a year to find a new job, I was downsized from my new job today. 14 months and two stellar reviews later, boom goodbye. Of course since I was only there 14 months I get 2 weeks severance. Ten hour days, working at night- no one cares. </p>
<p>I just don’t have the mental stamina to do it anymore. I need to invent something. The corporate world sucks and some people are evil. I just can’t believe it. I feel I am doomed now after feeling so lucky at 50 to find a job.</p>
<p>I was a "victim " of a company wide downsize after being on the job for only 9 months. I have been through a bruital layoff just three years prior to that. Big hugs to you. I know it sound lame, but please don’t give up and please believe in yourself. You will be OK.</p>
<p>I am so sorry that you are being affected by this horrible job market, but you did say something interesting in the last part of your post. Is there something you have been interested in doing? When my husband lost his job in a large company wide downsize a few years back he tried desperately to get another job but things had become too difficult for us financially for him to continue after nearly two years of no income. Finally, he decided that he would join me and together we took the small business that I had started and we grew our business. I am not going to say we have not been touched by this economy because we have in the last few months, but he has never been happier not having to deal with the corporate world, traveling, and commuting. You sound like you are ripe for a business venture and there is no time like the present to consider turning an interest into a business. </p>
<p>Our business started very small and was nothing more than some extra income for our kids college funds. When he lost his job we had to learn how to make that money something we could live on, and yet expand to make enough to live on. It was tough going for a while but if you find something that you really enjoy you could make it work. </p>
<p>Is there anything you have thought about doing in the years you have been working? Is there a hobby that could become a business? Is there a service that your area needs and you could provide? Service businesses could still do well even in bad economic times…just do your homework. </p>
<p>This might sound crazy to you but when things got very hard for us I reminded myself that people have been coming to this country for decades with absolutely nothing and they found work, raised families, bought homes and felt fortunate to be an American. Granted we had both grew up in this country and we were not immigrants but we were facing the same situation…we needed to support ourselves and our family. I still remind myself that if we could earn a living anywhere we could do it here. As bad as things are with the economy we have managed to stay afloat. You will too…regroup and start looking for work, and in the mean time think about doing something you like that will bring some money into the home. I wish you all the luck in the world, and as you know you are not alone but things will get better.</p>
<p>On a side note…I assume you have a son or daughter in college. Be sure to notify financial aid that you have lost your job.</p>
<p>Ohh so sorry. As someone who just went through the same experience and also took over a year to land somewhere (and still has friends who haven’t landed) after being in the workforce for thirty years, your post sends chills down my spine. I don’t know if I have the mental stamina to do it again should that also happen to me and I’m older than you. My heart is in my stomach for you.</p>
<p>I am so sorry. After being downsized two years ago, and working for the last 18 months at an extremely low-level position that just barely paid most of our bills, I landed a job about a month ago that took me back to my previous salary level. While I cannot believe my good fortune (and clearly incredible luck and good timing was on my side) I can’t relax and enjoy it b/c in the back of my brain I’m thinking it’s too good to be true and won’t last. I’m over 50 as well. That being said, I also think that if you were able to land on your feet once, you’ll be able to do it again. My only advice is to jump back in right away - and remind yourself that you were able to land your last job b/c you are GOOD, and your next employer will see those same positive traits.</p>
<p>You are looking at transferable job skills and in this market, being able to do both things will pay off for you. (Even if those aren’t two words that you thought of yourself being, before.)</p>
<p>It is a horrible job market and the reports that the recession is “over” are laughable. Yes, perhaps we hit the absolute bottom, but unemployment is still very high and the prospects, especially for those of us who are 50+, are slim. I am so sorry you are in this position again.</p>
<p>That said, a lot of it is luck. There ARE people who get jobs- and jobs they love. Just take a few days to re-group and then sort it all out. Maybe something less stressful- even if it is less money- would be appealing for you at this point.</p>
<p>That really hurts…
I had the same experience 20 years ago and have not turned my head back ever since. But live without a steady job is hard, to say the least. I ended up doing small to medium business consulting and brokerage for a while. So I know a little bit of starting a business and became successful. I would advise to “buying into” a business that is already successful than start your own from scratch. The failure rate of the latter is much higher. And to find such an opportunity is hard, it may take years. It may also involve large capital outlay and physically relocate your home. Owning your business also involves work much harder than work in a 9-5 corporation, it is most likely you will be working 60 to 80 hours a week without vacationing.</p>
<p>However, a successful business owner has much control over his life, the hard work really pays and I wish you all the luck in the world.</p>
<p>“I just don’t have the mental stamina to do it anymore.” </p>
<p>I feel for you.</p>
<p>I keep thinking of my sis’s FIL, who had a really low manual labor job for 30+ years at the RR. I think if my own FIL, 30+ years at CAT with a GED. My dad, 30+ years at a government lab w/o a B.S.</p>
<p>Nowadays you need much more education and have much less job security. The weakest in our society, like the RR FIL, aren’t going to be able to withstand multiple job searches. They just aren’t. Not everyone is a go-getter, not everyone has intelligence.</p>
<p>Businesses are shaky too, at least service businesses. H is a very gifted photographer who did very, very well. After 9/11 (we’re in NY) not so well.</p>
<p>And now, with the digital revolution, everyone thinks s/he can be his/her own photographer.</p>
<p>Luckily, he is a techophile and has learned the entire digital thing as well, and of course, now he can do other things on the net.</p>
<p>Still, it’s hard.</p>
<p>I am grateful I have the same job, but I have had to double up with a second job in the same field to get through the college tuition thing without loans, but we are almost 60 so loans are less attractive than at 50.</p>
<p>Hang in there. A lot of us are swimming pretty hard.</p>
<p>I agree, cooker. Corporate America is lean and mean. And they don’t care how much you put in: if it’s in their (even imaginary) interest, they will let you go in a heart beat. And even if you KNOW you hated the job and hated many of the people connected to it - getting the boot is still just. absolutely. awful. All I can say is hang in there, and feel free to vent here if it makes you feel better because right now you should do just about anything (legal!) that will make you feel better…</p>
<p>I am so very sorry. H & I have been through a decade of economic devastation, and he just recently <em>finally</em> got a corporate-type job in his field with a good salary and benefits. I feel as if we have been plucked from society’s garbage heap. Then a few weeks a go we had a scare that his company might be part of some of the kind of restructuring that often results in layoffs. It turned out to be a false alarm, but for days until we found out we were reeling. I thought I just didn’t know what we would do this time. We were just so exhausted after the long struggle. So I really know how you feel.</p>
<p>On the other hand, last time you managed to find a new job in a year. I know that seems unimaginably long, but it very often takes people much longer, especially people over 45. That means that you are highly employable. My thought will be with you, and I will bean energy your way in hopes that you find something soon.</p>
<p>mythmom, with regard to photography, I sometimes wonder why pros don’t set up on the street or other public places. Maybe it’s illegal? If you caught passers-by, placed them under minimal lights, shot a few and printed them out right there for a reasonable cost, with minimal time investment, I have to think that some people would buy them.</p>
<p>Maybe that is a bit silly, but pros at weddings should have a standing offer for anyone to have their portraits taken. You buy wedding pix on line these days anyway. The last wedding we went to (all dressed up) they only shots we had of ourselves were snapshots. But if there had been a setup where attendees could have dropped by for a quick, well lit portrait, again I think some people would buy their own shots, and maybe a few of the wedding part as well. I’m thinking quantity profits here, not highest quality. But compared to people’s snapshots, almost any shot done by a pro would be a huge improvement.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your good wishes. It is kind of sad that the best thoughts I received have been from people I’ve never meant on this forum, but what can you do? Thank God for CC on many levels. People you worked with feel you are “contagious” now. I feel beaten, I think it will take a few days to get back to my perky self and figure out what the heck I am going to do.</p>
<p>So sorry to hear this. I hear your pain. This is such stressful news. I jsut want to add that I think this next phase will be better than your last phase of unemployment- don’t compare them as one is not predictive of the other. Sometimes it is a matter of good or bad luck, and sometimes that last stint on your resume makes a giant difference.</p>
<p>I have no words of wisdom, ldinct, just a lot of sympathy. I have been there too (25 years with the same employer, then boom…) All I can say is: this sucks. be good to yourself. we are rooting for you!</p>