RE: Aging out was RE: job-hunt weirdness

["Leonard C. Porrello" <Leonard -dot- Porrello -at- SoleraTec -dot- com>]

What do people think about how old it is too old? Is it 40, 50, 60?

Leonard

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+leonard -dot- porrello=soleratec -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+leonard -dot- porrello=soleratec -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- c
om] On Behalf Of Sarah Stegall
Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2009 1:51 PM
To: TECHWR-L Writing
Subject: Aging out was RE: job-hunt weirdness

Dunno about Canada, but about the worst thing you can do in Northern
California is brag about (or even mention) being "long-in-the-tooth".
Kiss of death out here. 

I watched my highly competent, smart, professional mother, with years of
experience and business savvy, get involuntarily "retired" from
technical writing for the sin of being older than the people she was
interviewing with for a job. The last job she had, she was actually told
by her manager that if he'd known her age he would never have considered
her for the job. She did all the usual--wrote her resume to eliminate
about ten years of experience, concealed the date of her graduation
(even dropped a degree), dyed her hair, dressed younger. None of it
worked. After she got laid off, she never again got past an initial
interview. 

I figure I'm in my last or next to last job as an employee; if and when
I leave this one, I have at best a 50/50 chance of being hired full time
somewhere because I am too old. I'm keeping my freelance skills up, and
hoping my husband keeps his job so that his benefits can cover us. 


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