For those of you who have lost a job,

[thedave1164]

So I got a response from the recruiter, basically said with my attitude I was not a good fit and he would not be submitting me to the client.

LOL

[Robb]

Well, good news, sort of.
I just got an offer letter, the place is in Brighton so maybe 20 minutes away on a bad day.
The bad news is the pay is below a break even point for us. No way we can tread water on the fast food salary they're offering. But I'm going to accept and keep looking. Just getting this offer took me about 5.5 months, not much unemployment left and I really don't want to dip into the retirement funds I've scraped and saved.
I HATE having the attitude that every job is a stepping stone. I would love to find a good situation and be at the next job till I hang it all up, but this isn't going to be it. I just don't see any other choice.

Thanks for the tips and leads some have sent in, sadly I'll still be keeping an eye open.

[CS1983]

Any chance you can counter offer?

[thedave1164]

Always easier to find a job if you are already working

[Irving]

Any chance you can counter offer?

Always easier to find a job if you are already working

Both of these. I'm total garbage when it comes to negotiation, but I know that other people have had luck with it.

[rondog]

Well, good news, sort of.
I just got an offer letter, the place is in Brighton so maybe 20 minutes away on a bad day.
The bad news is the pay is below a break even point for us. No way we can tread water on the fast food salary they're offering. But I'm going to accept and keep looking. Just getting this offer took me about 5.5 months, not much unemployment left and I really don't want to dip into the retirement funds I've scraped and saved.
I HATE having the attitude that every job is a stepping stone. I would love to find a good situation and be at the next job till I hang it all up, but this isn't going to be it. I just don't see any other choice.

Thanks for the tips and leads some have sent in, sadly I'll still be keeping an eye open.

Gotta do whatcha gotta do. I worked nights at Home Depot for a couple years until I got a better job. Fucked up both of my shoulders, but kept us alive.

[brutal]

I'm concerned I won't make it through this year, or possibly the next and am trying to plan a way to just retire early (sort of) but have also been passively looking and networking when safe. It's hard to network the same field when you're gainfully employed in an industry.

No CC debt, no car payments, health ins is through the wife's employer. Unfortunately, too much of her pay goes to student loan debt for her and my son. They're up to their eyeballs in it.

I'm concerned current employer is creating a paper trail for employees that don't end up meeting their "goals" to deny unemployment claims and any sort of severance pay. Problem for me is they have slashed our feeder system (presales/architecture/sales) so I don't have the product to work, While at the same time, increasing goals and placing other restrictions on deals that make it harder to meet as a whole. Sadly, it appears the company is changing direction and if you're a square peg, you're not going through the round hole to the other side.

I could use my employee stock payout minus penalties to make my mortgage and the basic household bills for the 5 years they can take to pay out as I'm over the cap on lump sum payout, but would rather roll that into another retirement plan. I have only 6 months (net pay) salary in savings at the moment, with a couple big hits coming (taxes) and some home & auto repairs that will cut into that. We've taken some big, unexpected tax hits and a few other events that depleted the savings I had built up prior.

Hoping I don't have to hit the 401K before 59-1/2 and take that extra tax penalty hit. I will probably hit SS as soon as I'm eligible if it's still around. Trying to cut way back on everyday expenses but it seems the cash outflow demand never slows. If I had a stock portfolio the size of my 401K, I could probably retire early. Hoping the market gains keep up for a while as I made a killing in the last 12 months. OTOH, I'm concerned my leverage in higher risk holdings are going to bite me when the big dip comes. Hope in one hand, shit in the other right?

Getting hired in IT these days at 56 and with a narrow product focus on a dying market and little mgmt experience is tough. I thought I could stay behind the keyboard forever, but it's proven to be a fallacy. I can PM from the technical side pretty well because I'm extremely pedantic in that regard, but was never formally trained and don't always handle difficult customers as well as I should.

[Great-Kazoo]

Getting hired in IT these days at 56 and with a narrow product focus on a dying market and little mgmt experience is tough. I thought I could stay behind the keyboard forever, but it's proven to be a fallacy. I can PM from the technical side pretty well because I'm extremely pedantic in that regard, but was never formally trained and don't always handle difficult customers as well as I should.

That was my wife's problem, shrinking market for the field. The state decided to downsize, eliminating close to retirement personnel . She had 3.5 yrs till retirement. No cross training or internal hiring. They did offer her a custodial job @ $9.20 hr, snow removal a must attend requirement.
Now after a few years with the town (PT) she's done @ 59 1/2. We've been able to get by due to little debt other than the house, which is this close >< to paid off

Wish you and others good luck.

[KestrelBike]

18 months since I quit. Still doin' OK, but drinking a lot more. Day-drinking takes on a new dimension when you're (semi-)retired.

Getting a new, serious job, seems to be harder once you're past 50, if you're not being recruited away from an existing position - ageism. You've got tons of experience they 'd like, but don't want to pay for.

Ageism is an unfortunate, hard truth. I've seen it first hand and it was quite ugly. I was quitting a job because my bosses were scum-sucking liberal dickbags, but agreed to stay on for my 2 weeks and help them hire my replacement. They literally said that they didn't want to hire someone with lots of experience because "He's too old" and "Why is he going for this job with his experience? It's way more than this position calls for... something's not right!" - Yeah you stupid Fs, it's a difficult economy and this guy is just trying to get back on his feet.

I normally don't wish harm on anyone and can't think of anyone else I've felt this way about, but those 2 f_tards deserved every misery they earned for themselves.

[CS1983]

Getting hired in IT these days at 56 and with a narrow product focus on a dying market and little mgmt experience is tough. I thought I could stay behind the keyboard forever, but it's proven to be a fallacy. I can PM from the technical side pretty well because I'm extremely pedantic in that regard, but was never formally trained and don't always handle difficult customers as well as I should.

Look at .gov side. I dunno if it's just my particular location, but a lot of our Engineers/Architects are older guys.