There is definitely something wrong. Stable older people with high degrees (me) and evident intelligence (writing skills) but no recent experience are COMPLETELY UNWELCOME. I’ve spend hours on thousands of individual applications with kick ass intro letters of a variety of approaches and never gotten any response at all. Since I haven’t worked in a million years, I’m not counted as unemployed. And the worst reason to hire me, my having small kids that might get sick, is unknown to potential employers.
With thousands of applicants, getting a job with no specific experience is approaching impossible.
I think today a lot of places use algorithms to screen resumes up front. Stuff like age > 50 or degree year < 1980 may hit the trash folder automatically.
They laid off a lot of their experienced, older workers and they don’t want them back. Then cry about a skills gap. There’s lots of people with job experience that’s transferable to other jobs but can’t get the time of day from HR. Something is not right. Or they’re just beating the drum for more H1Bs which we don’t need.
Stable older people with high degrees (me) and evident intelligence (writing skills) but no recent experience are COMPLETELY UNWELCOME.
Since you are actively looking for employment, you are part of the labor force and count as unemployed.
I believe the reasons companies don’t hire the “stable older people” you describe is related to the assumptions that 1) they’ll need higher pay to deal with potential costs they may face (mortgage, families) that a younger worker more likely wouldn’t, and 2) their superior skills would lead them to move on quickly if the economy improved.
Unfair, but that’s how it appears to me.