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Late and 50's unemployed

RicardoriderSenior Contributor30 Apr 2021, 3:38 pm AEST

Late and 50's unemployed

After a fairly long career infact two am unemployed.

Have worked in temping jobs and had my share of working for shitty bosses over the last 10yrs. Reskilling is am sorry an urban myth, am alrady over qualified or underqualified depending on the prospective boss am interviewed by

I have anxiety depression and PTSD. managed with meds and I do ok. but the daily grind of looking for a job gets to me

Am with a Disability Employment Provider bt not with a coneventional job agency. I workled in recruitment and Tbh dont really trust them. Not that i trust a DES provider to do much. He has the opinion I have my own house and not desperate for work. A perception i have to correct

I have my own house as i lost my job/career in the public sector and the payout covered the house loan.

I know I am fortunate pls dpont get me wrong. But rying to be a valued member of society is linked at the hip to your job.

i have massaged my resume from white collar to blue collar jobs. Thats the easy bit the tough bit is am now in my late 50's and feeling like am on the bloody shelf

FFS am so despondent Great how people/organisations wnat you to volunteer. Am over volunteering and being taken for granted. They want your skills but are relcutant to pay. A great conundrum to be in.NOT As you can tell am pissed off with things in general.

Are any of you in the dame boat as me. This is alonely sad existence am too young to be sat around home or messing in the garden. Thanks for lsitening to my rant

3 replies

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In response to: Late and 50's unemployed

AppleblossomSenior Contributor30 Apr 2021, 7:12 pm AEST

Re: Late and 50's unemployed

Hello @Ricardorider

Yes re quals, flexible approach to employment, and being taken for granted in volunteer roles.

Take Care Apple

In response to: Late and 50's unemployed

chibamSenior Contributor01 May 2021, 1:40 am AEST

Re: Late and 50's unemployed

Hi @Ricardorider Are you new here? If so, welcome to the forums!

I can relate to a fair bit of what you say; although I'm a little bit younger. I know how distressing and miserable it can be being long term unemployed.

And I can really relate to your problem of having people believe that you don't need help to find your job. That's kind of an all-over problem with me; people make lots of assumptions about me that are way off-base; I must send out weird signals that I don't understand.

But employment's a big one. I made an off-hand remark once to a friend - who was probably my best hope of getting me into my job - that accidentally gave him the impression I was rich. Ever since, he was convinced I didn't need a job; no matter how much I tried to explain to him that I wasn't rich at all.

Every now and then you hear rumors in the news that the powers that be want to bring in a system where everybody gets circa. $30,000 free money per year from the government, and TBH, those stories scare the crap out of me. It's difficult enough to get a job as things are now. How much worse will it be when people look at you and say: "Oh, you don't need a job! You get plenty of money free from the government!"?

I dearly hope those days never come during my lifetime.

In response to: Re: Late and 50's unemployed

RicardoriderSenior Contributor01 May 2021, 2:41 am AEST

Re: Late and 50's unemployed

Hi Chibam

My consultant within DES is cheerful enough but for some reason thinks i am doing ok. WTF he thinks that i have no idea. its hits me tbh I have actually done his job. i know the labour market. Am well aware of what being in the 50's actually means. Now am getting a dose of it from the other side

TBH he is a bit slack with somethings and we had a run in. Something I can ill afford to do the reality is he is a decent a enuff bloke and the other agencies are to be truthful bloody slavedrivers irrespective of your health. infact they are bullies sane as Job Active

It eats away at me am sitting here middle of the bloody noght bangning away on the keyboard as am just not able to sleep inspite of medications. insomnia not normal for me.

As I said originally its a sad lonely existence being LTUE being in my 50's I feel am on the shelf. I have worked in recruitment and exprienced employer biad and tried n van at times to convince these dumb 7ucks that being over 50 isnt the worst thing that a new employee can be. We dont want to change their world, dont want to change their bloody business as i know better, if it goes under thats their bloody fault not because of me.

Am not always so glum I do my best to stay interested in things. politics and am no fan of the current Fed Govt leaves me cold. Thye demonise us and make us feel like we should be kissing their asses for getting a whole $3.58 per day extra. Big frigging deal

I feel at times helpless. There are nt the jobs out there. A lot of employers are still hesitant to put staff on for fear of another covid lockdown. beleive me when I say employers dont need much disincentive no to recruit new staff.

Frustration and sadness with a dose of depression , maybe my meds arent working like they used to? I hate the position I am in but feel so helpless to do anything other than the mandatory 1-2hrs a day sorting thru jobs online to apply for with my dumbed down resume ffs

geez this sucks doesnt it

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