Jobless baby boomers feel out of touch with today's market

St. Louis Post-Dispatch ^ | 07/04/2003 | Adam Geller

[demlosers]

NEW YORK (AP)- The last time Ginny Westermayer was looking for a job, the job seemed to find her.

She was 26 then, and a friend tipped her to another position and told her whom to call. It was 21 years ago, and she hadn't looked for a job since.

[RLK]

Jobless baby boomers feel out of touch with today's market

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There is no market. For people at their age and background/experience there is especially no market.

[SLB]

I see problems with the soldiers that transition from the Army to civilian sector in preparing resumes that are meaningfull to future employers. How do you equate being a tank platoon sergeant or first sergeant so that XYZ company knows what your accomplishments and skills are. That is why so many ex-military stay in the defense industry.

[Lazamataz]

I see problems with the soldiers that transition from the Army to civilian sector in preparing resumes that are meaningfull to future employers. How do you equate being a tank platoon sergeant or first sergeant so that XYZ company knows what your accomplishments and skills are. That is why so many ex-military stay in the defense industry.

If you emphasize your ability to kill your opposition and physically destroy their resources, most employers will find that valuable.

[skinkinthegrass]

There is no market. For people at their age and background/experience there is especially no market.

Repeat..reworked the resumes, but still lookin' :|

[doosee]

There is no market. For people at their age and background/experience there is especially no market.


Lot of truth to what you say. However, the problem with many of these people is that they only want what they just lost, a risk free job with tons of benefits with guaranteed income increases no matter whether they are helping the company bottom line or not. It may be cruel to some but when this happens it is time to start your own "market" and go do something that people want to pay for.

[varon]

If you emphasize your ability to kill your opposition and physically destroy their resources, most employers will find that valuable.

Especially the US Postal Service ;-)

[jocon307]

"There is no market. For people at their age and background/experience there is especially no market."

I am afraid you are right. I am so afraid if things don't improve FAST I too may lose my job. I sincerely doubt I could get my current salary somewhere else today. And I am in a "last-to-go" position, so imagine how bad it really is. Of course, due to my position I actually know how bad it really is, which others at my company do not, so maybe I worry too much. But, it is very bad.

[Helms]

With two degrees, “the opportunities at Wal-Mart are absolutely endless”

[A. Pole]

If you emphasize your ability to kill your opposition and physically destroy their resources, most employers will find that valuable.

Or if you hint what you can do to them when you go postal after being rejected they will hire you in a second! (Just kidding)

[Helms]

Try putting resume in PDF, looks very good and differentiates you.

[Alouette]

I've been a contractor for the past 5 years, so I have to keep my resume up to date because contracts don't last as long and are rarely renewed.

I have applied for a number of jobs that are at a lower pay rate and skill set than I have, but then I thought, what the hell, and started to apply to high-level positions that I would have felt unqualified for just a year ago.

It's just weird that I get more response from the "high level" applications than for the "you want fries with that" type jobs.

[A. Pole]

If you emphasize your ability to kill your opposition and physically destroy their resources, most employers will find that valuable.

Or if you hint what you can do to them when you go postal after being rejected they will hire you in a second! (Just kidding).

I was told a story by my relatives in Poland, that one WWII veteran partisan put his pistol on the table during the interview.

[ARCADIA]

go do something that people want to pay for

Easier said then done. No want wants what you have practiced for decades. That is why there are no jobs in the field. What are you going to start over as? I always thought brain surgery looked lucrative, but my experience is in bean counting.

Probably wouldn't work; would it? It would take around 12 years of training to get there, and by then you would be retired.

You can forget about most of the trades since those require years of documented hands on before you can land a license. People tend to get nervous about structures falling down or catching fire.

So we are left with mowing the lawn and wiping down windshields on street corners. Perhaps if you are really lucky you can land a job as a cashier, burger flipper, or ditch digger. What a waste!

[grania]

There is no market. For people at their age and background/experience there is especially no market

To a great degree, these are the people who lost their 401Ks and mutual funds to the stock market decline. It's pretty clearly accepted that a lot of these people took the low-interest equity out of their houses to tide them over. Bank-interest is down. It's a problem for those in that category that can't find job; it also impacts the job market that a lot of people who lost their nest eggs now have to work at least until Social Security kicks in, clogging up the job market.

Last year, the learning center closed by locking the door, and screwing everyone...the employees, the parents the kids, the landlord,...who knows where the money went. No warning, no pay for six weeks, no unemployment, heck, we couldn't even get recommendations.

Anyway, I was shocked to find that just because I'm more qualified and more competent than many doing what I do (math remediation and SAT prep), those who are unqualified have just destroyed the concept of quality and qualification...professional jealousy and all of that.

For me it worked out nicely. The combination of private tutoring and substituting (yup, found a place I could stand, the HS I retired from and swore I'd never step through the door of again) actually gives me more part-time income than I had with a great feeling of accomplishment.

But, not everybody is that lucky or that lacking in financial need. It's amazing what a small pension and a paid-for mortgage can do. For many others, the problem doesn't seem to have a real long-term solution for them to get back on their financial feet again.

[DraftAshcroft2004]

It's not just the twentysomethings. What about all the downsized people in their mid-50s?

[Recovering_Democrat]

I have a baby boomer relative...who is out of a job. S/he's out of work because s/he is being incredibly LAZY, and has been all of his/her life.

Not to indict unfairly you baby boomers who're hard working, but lots of your generation are freaking LAME.

[Huck]

My grandma used to say " the world doesn't owe you a living." She survived the depression as a single mom with three kids, so she would know. These "boomers" aren't dealing with anything folks haven't had to deal with before.

[whipitgood]

Many jobhunters are people who want to sell what others have produced. These 'professional middlemen' are finding out the real cost of manufacturing jobs going overseas. The US economy will not recover until we start producing what we consume. The question is, how many generations will it take before we realize it and do something about it?

[Huck]

>Career counselors say the job market is swimming with baby boomers.

Looks like a "booming" market right there. Maybe some of these folks should retool as career counselors. Or resume writers.