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I have a MS in Applied Physics, and 25+ years as an engineering manager, and 12+ as an engineer.

I can’t get a job. I can’t get past the EEOC screening. A white, middle-aged male, non-disabled, not gay (yes I’ve seen/been asked this).

Found myself out of work when the Exec-C suite decided that their failures were everyone else’s fault.

I go to interview(s) and you can see the unmistakable and stunned look in their eyes of “Oh...you’re older than I thought”. It’s pretty much over at that point and the conversation descends into some oddly worded question about how I would do X.

I’m 56 and in good shape and sharp as a tack.

Defense work might be a good option. Sure, they’re looking for veterans and people with existing security clearances — and you may not fit that profile. But in Defense work, the average age of the workers is higher than average. Not a lot of millennial hipsters are trying to build weapons. Therefore, the people who conduct the interviews are just expecting to see a bunch of older white guys come in the door. They can’t afford to turn away skilled people just because they have gray hair.

I’m 56 and in good shape and sharp as a tack.

Well, if you are applying at universities and government institutions, the EEOC thing could be a problem. Usually employers should be able to deduce your age based on your year of graduation. I have certainly tried to obscure mine. I actually got hired on the basis of a phone interview, and my wife claims I sound youthful, for what that's worth.

When my job was eliminated and the company was moved from Illinois to North Carolina, I took a substantial pay cut to take a contract position 90 miles away to pay the bills. The job wasn't great, but I was able to use it to redefine myself from IT Generalist to backup specialist, which isn't glamorous, has a low ceiling, but absolutely has to be performed. My pay picked up when I went from contract to full-time with the regional bank. Now I work for a large IT firm where I can work out of my home, and the only image anyone has of me is the one I put as my Skype/Circuit Avatar.

If you have skills in demand, there's stuff out there. It picked up NOTICEABLY after the Trump Tax Cuts.