Back and Unemployed

[Yppej]

I recently lost my job - not totally unexpected - and now have time to visit these forums again. After being in an increasingly dysfunctional company so far I am finding the adage that it's less stressful to be unemployed than in a toxic job is true, though in trying to get a new job I do have concerns about both age discrimination and explaining why I was let go. At my last interview I said I had worked at a high turnover company with 10 different managers in 15 years and no issues until the latest boss came on board and started replacing the existing staff one by one and the interviewer seemed to get it. Has anyone else been in this situation, and how did you handle it?

[19Sandy]

Did you apply for unemployment?

I was in a toxic job for many years, bad economy time and it has made it difficult to find good employment. It also messed up my mental and physical well-being.

I think your job situation is common unfortunately and it makes it difficult to have personal references too. Not your fault but the way the world works nowadays.

Most of the places I have worked have closed due to dysfunction, or the management is gone or died - making it tough to provide a reference.

[Yppej]

Yes, I am collecting unemployment and have 6 references, including 3 former managers. But there are still interviewers treating me as damaged goods. Did you find something eventually? How long did it take?

I knew a woman who got a reference from a dead guy once! She had lost contact with him but listed him anyways, and when the recruiter called his house his widow gave a glowing reference. This is not my plan though

[ApatheticNoMore]

I don't think it's that big a deal, jobs are not permanent these days and there is no expectation they should be anymore (really there isn't, that's gone baby gone, gone as the dodo). If the company was doing layoffs I'd just say that, pretty much every one will get it. And that is almost certainly your situation as if you were fired you wouldn't be eligible for unemployment in all likelihood, they don't give unemployment away that easily.

Now in the case one was let go for cause (yea fired), I'd just peddle it softly, like companies seldom actually ask straight out: were you fired? They ask "why did you leave" and I have as much as said things like "bad management" (as in management and me did not get along haha - so I quit rather than get fired - that was 2 jobs ago for me at this point though - the last place I merely knew was a dead end and so left on my own terms after forever of searching). But "the company was doing lay-offs" is a much better answer than "bad management" when it's true and it is in your case. Your feeling bad about the layoff is probably more of a negative than the actual fact of it, so don't.

As for age discrimination I suspect it's real, but there is nothing anyone can do about it really except maybe politically. Ok one can of course keep up their skills, always good, but if they just don't want to hire older people even so then their loss. Because beyond that, even if one works out at the gym every day and is in perfect health, and dyes their gray hair or whatever, 55 is not going to pass as 25, anymore than a black guy is going to pass as a white guy. So it's like being a minority, but with even less legal protections, if someone can't get beyond the exterior then one just has to keep looking for other jobs. If there are employers less likely to care about age then maybe them.

[Yppej]

It's good to know the stigma has lessened. I was initially told it was a discharge but later that I could call it a layoff. They had some trumped up reasons they gave having to do with the boss's favorite - who frequently subjected me to verbal abuse and threw papers at me - not liking me, but the real reason appears to be money as they advertised my position at $10 an hour less than I was making.

I tried to edit for length but deleted my previous post instead. You can tell I have been away awhile.

[JaneV2.0]

I was hired for two decent jobs in my mid-fifties, as was one of my siblings, so it is possible.

[frugal-one]

It's good to know the stigma has lessened. I was initially told it was a discharge but later that I could call it a layoff. They had some trumped up reasons they gave having to do with the boss's favorite - who frequently subjected me to verbal abuse and threw papers at me - not liking me, but the real reason appears to be money as they advertised my position at $10 an hour less than I was making.

I tried to edit for length but deleted my previous post instead. You can tell I have been away awhile.

If they are advertising your job for less money .... is there a case of age discrimination?

[Yppej]

I thought about that frugal-one, but those cases are hard to prove so I took the small severance to not sue. My family also advised I take it. I can still complain to the EEOC and they could fine the company but I would not get anything.

[19Sandy]

There aren't any laws against decreasing someones pay either, at least not in any region that I know of. Now, if they sent you letters, emails or you taped conversations or telephone calls about age discrimination, then maybe you can have a case. Any type of employer discrimination is difficult to prove unfortunately.