The unwritten shame of job loss

No one, and I mean no one should be shamed into thinking they are an embarrassment to their family and friends. The economic climate, manufactured by a selection of greedy money grabbers whom will never be made responsible for their actions, are the causes of our current demise. It is regrettable that a handful of bastards has made life very complicated and miserable to so many, here and abroad.

Howver, be thankful you are not in the 50+ age bracket. No pun intended to those whom are as you are already experiencing the adverse affets of being born earlier. Once you turn the magical 50 you enter through the golden arches of old age and slide directly onto the ash heap. Our present society's thinking puts age and maturity and experience as no longer having any value. A former A1 employee is now considered expendable and a liability.

For the past twelve years I have been looking for suitable employment only to find abuse, verbal and non-verbal, everywhere I went searching. I have been told to my face I am too old, I am a worthless piece of shit, or worse. I have been screamed at for even thinking for a moment I may find work or intimidated into thinking maybe, just maybe, I am out of date and worthless to an employer. And yet, when I look back at what was said, or when I later find out who was given the same job, my sense of worth rebounds upward. In so many cases I seem to have too much to offer an employer, hind sight is great, and I simply intimidated the interviewer. I was a threat and was not welcome there ever again.

But what hurts the most is the ignoring of a telephone call or letter or e-mail message asking for assistance in my search. People I have known and worked with for 40 years or worked for or even business associates, have declined to offer assistance and support by not replying. That smacks of arrogance but under the surface reflects underlying currents of panic and dismay, the protect the nest syndrome.

I have been able to find temporary labour intensive work only to be ridiculed, today this is called harassment, and to have my hourly pay reduced to make an example. By the time I was laid off, the 89th day of employment, my pay had dropped from $14.00 to $6.00 per hour.

During brief periods of temporary employment I have been, shouted and screamed at, spat on, lied to, humiliated in front of others, denied benefits previously allotted to me, used to tap my vast banks of knowledge and experiences only to be berated again in front of others, unable to be paid for the work done and so on.

So, the moral of the story is this. No matter how bad things seem to be, how tough things are to survive in these times, no matter how sorrowful you are about your situation, remember there is always someone out there worse off than you. Thats right..... there is always someone in a worse predicament than you. These bad times will come to pass. The good times will prevail, they always have and will. In the meantime, do whatever you need to do to find employment; it is easier to find new and better employment when you are employed.

Sir Richard,

You have smacked a hammer on my head. I'm not 40 yet but I have seen experienced people running to employment agencies and not finding something suitable. I know they had extensive experience in their fields but its hard for them to find a suitable job and its even harder for people like me to see this happening to them.

What would you advise a middle aged professional to do?

Thanks.

In response to Khan and the message requesting some sound advise. I really would like to give you expert advise but I have nothing concrete that will prove to be recession -proof. I do not believe anyone has a proven formula.

All I can offer you is this. Keep your name in front as many peers, business associates as you can. Keep networking an important aspect of staying in the sector you are in. Join a professional association in your field, be a member of the executive as a volunteer, or as an elected official. Continue to provide assistance in anyway you can to someone needing a bigger network or simply an ear to bend. Make your name well known in your field as someone who is there in any capavity. You will see big dividends. A Biblical quote goes as follows.... cast your bread across the waters and you will reap a ten fold.

You have plenty of time to do that ...... but remember 50+ sneaks up on you very quickly.

Truth: a hard concept to live by but since my lay off I have come to terms with such concepts as truth, failure, disability, discrimination, and finally, death. Now death doesnt mean dying in this sense. It means that I have come to accept that I can no longer do the job I put 22 years into. That is the concept I have had to adjust to.
It is true that when you are finally let go by your employers you have to accept the death of the job you knew and most likely knew very well. Lay-offs these days mean your job is no longer needed and neither are you. It doesnt mean temporarily we dont need you, it means we do not need you, period. That is why I went back to school and tried to start myself on another career but even that one turned out to be a sham for me. Plus it put me another 20k in debt. That was the concept of failure that I had to accept. The idea that I did very well in my subjects and passed the course with an 89% average had nothing to do with the fact that once I finished and started looking to advance myself in that career, no one would hire me.
You see, being just about 50 yrs of age, unable to type very fast due to mild arthritis in the hands, a sufferer of seizures,that I wear sunglasses 95% of the time because light hurts my eyes, and that I suffer severe headaches daily and migraines do set in often, I became one of the disabled. Even that did not help, for you see, I tried to become a Paralegal here in Canada and lawyers dont want someone who may be a hindrance to their practice. This is why I have accepted the concept of being disabled in my life and the main concept of discrimination because of being disabled.
As for accepting truth, well, let's face it, a person like me is not welcome in the job market nowadays and that is the main concept of Truth that I accepted. Be wary when you do want to switch careers, for one small problem can lead to much disappointment and a person does not need that when looking for a new job.
Be smart: Educate yourself in what careers are needed out there in the work world. Dont fall for any ads that say they can get you working in no time; that is false advertising and lastly, Dont give up. You are better than you may think and no one can take that away from you. I am smarter now after I accepted these truths and know that I will succeed at something. It may not be in the Law business but I will make sure that all the education I have received over the years will benefit me. Dont give up for only then will you become a failure to yourself and to anyone who cares for you.

Thank you Sir Richard for speaking the truth... and I am referring to the powers that be (the bankers, monarchs, and massive businesses that control the world - that's the 1% of the world's population that controls over 99% of the world's assets that you may have heard already. So, blame the system that (unfortunately) many of you Baby Boomers help build... that of a corrupt new world order.

I am now 2.5 years out of university and working at a decent job, but one where the company hires younger employees, so that they do not have to pay market average wages. To you older individuals - be thankful that you didn't have to do atleast 4 years in Uni, be certified in several areas, and have experience all at the same time to initially get the job. I am now able to pursue HR more easily as I've obtained my designation (or so I thought), but the reality is that experience trumps all.

On a positive note, don't ever give up on what you believe... keep striving... I would have used the line that someone somewhere in the world is in a worse situation, but someone beat me to the punch.

The only time you should feel shame regarding a job loss is when you live a smug life with your nose up in the air..thinking that you are unstoppable..otherwise you shouldnt..I for one feel relief and a new biggening is brewing in fron of me.

I tried to post, but..THEY CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH! I was denied.
I fail to understand what was wrong with my message? Don't waste your time with your comments. This is not an impartial forum.

Getting Canadians clear of the unemployment problem requires that they begin to again understand and accept capitalism.

There is a great deal of socialist propaganda in the west. Witness the article parallel to this one which assumes it is correct for the government to spend its way out of recessions. Spending burdens business with taxation and thereby hamstrings the economy harming it way into the future. Correct government issues counter-propaganda to make sure the voter understands the issue. And then it manages the finances correctly regardless of economic output.

The reason Canadians will remain unemployed otherwise, is that there are now plenty of more correctly managed countries in the world. We have been out done by capitalists, as capitalism predicts.

The U.S. is in a socialism as dangerous as National Socialism or Communism. It is not the rich who want that. It is traitors who want that.

My comments are directed to Will H. I am happy for you and the fact you have positioned yourself with more or better education. Please be advised, education has nothing whatsoever to having a job and keeping it. In my particular instance I have earned three Bachelors, that is engineering, business management and adult education. I have gone back to school at the college level and supplemented my skills with AutoCAD and advanced automation with PLCs.
I still cannot find work, even to today. Over the past three years I have taken on factory related jobs and at one point cleaned toilets, just to put food on the table. These jobs are now gone due to the economic downturn and, this is a big AND, my skin is the wrong colour at my workplace.
So, be ready to make some career adjustments down the road, continue to salt away your money into a self controlled pension plan such as RRSP and so on, do not count on your employer to give you a pension to live on. In most cases the pension money will disappear before you see it or you will be terminated at the optimum time so that any pension contributions, yours and the employer, will be never seen by you.
Be your own master and never rely on anyone to provide you with job stability. It will never happen ever again.