Over 50 and just lost job
Watch this postHi Folks I hope you're all well. A friend of mine who is just over 50 years of age lost his job last month. He was working in an accounts department as a credit controller. He has about 15 years' experience of the job and has always done office work, - administration & credit control. He is now very upset and doesn't know what to do next, and wondering if anyone would employ him at his age. He is now looking for other opportunities and needs to find a job/career that brings in a good wage which would cover his usually household bills and mortgage payments. He also has 2 young children attending secondary school. Can someone be kind enough to advice the best course of action to take and whether he should keep in the same field of work (accounts) or retrain for something else? Thank You.
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I have had a few interviews and have variously been told I have too much experience, the job they are offering is too junior, one person even told me that I would have more experience than my would be line manager. I have decided after six weeks to go freelance. I need to look into it. Ut I am experienced as a Child Safeguarding trainer (which was another part of my job) and doing work related learning projects which I used to love doing.
Really I wanted to change my work pattern to three days a week this year with the company until I retire so being freelance gives me an opportunity to pick and choose my hours of working and my areas, whereas until I was made redundant I would travel between London, Birmingham, Manchester etc. which was quite tiring.
I jut need to keep some money coming in for a couple of years so we can carry through our retirement plans.
Tell your friend to get registered with employment agencies that deal with accountancy jobs, and they may be able to get him a temp to perm role.
Also, make sure he has a LinkedIn profile, as all the agencies use this to find people to fill jobs. He can put a posting on there saying what area of the country he lives, what he is looking for and that he is available for work.
At 63 years old after 25 years of working for the same company, on the shop floor, I took early retirement, after a few weeks I was a bit lost so I looked in the paper and there was a job just a normal paid job but a job after all in the local museum, no retraining you just learned the job on the hoof.
At 65 they severed my service as I had now become pensionable age and they had a agreement with the union, so on my own again. After a few weeks I went to my local Tesco store looking for a job and they took me on and I was good at the job (checkout operator ) but the job did not like me, I was not used to sitting down for most of the shift so after 6/7 months I had to give the job up.
So there is life for the over 50s if you go look for it.
My advice is forget the GOOD WAGE , just get a job, learn on the job if necessary and keep your dignity.