Age Discrimination In Hiring

Since I've been unemployed, I've been applying for jobs everywhere. Mostly I would like to work for the state, so I've concentrated my efforts in that regard. However, given the states financial situation in this economy, I realized it would be prudent to not put all of my eggs in one basket and have applied for other jobs as well.

With all my experience in restaurants and food service, I've always thought my fall back plan would be to take another restaurant job and work until things picked up. Then maybe I'd get some calls from the state. However, I recently applied for a crew member job with a new fast food restaurant opening in Jefferson City, MO and was faced with something I hadn't really considered until now. When I went for my interview, the interviewers had scheduled 2 of us at the same time. Myself and a young boy who looked as though he was just old enough to drive. They took him in first and about 5 minutes later, called me in for the interview. They asked some questions about myself and my work experience, then asked why I'd like to work there. Things seemed to be going well, then one of the interviewers asked how I'd feel about having someone younger than myself as a manager. I explained that this was not a problem for me, that I've been in that situation before and it's worked out very well. So they asked me to step out for a minute and they would call me back in. At first I'm thinking this is a good sign. However, no sooner had I stepped out of the room and took a seat, they called me back in and said, "What we're going to do right now, we have your application, which we'll hold on to and we'll give you a call." O.K., so I thanked them for their time and consideration and left.

On my way home, it occurred to me that even though they never asked my age, their question about me working under someone younger than me was directed at my being older than most of the applicants. Then too, the young boy who'd gone in before me was still being interviewed when I left. So their brush off was most likely related to my age, even though at 49 I'm not really old by any means. Now I know what it feels like to be discriminated against because of my age and I'm only going to be getting older. What the two young women who were doing the hiring failed to consider is that I have excellent work references, I usually work harder than anyone else, all of my extended education has been in restaurant management and food preparation and I NEVER miss work. When I was managing at any of my previous jobs, that was what I looked at, not whether the applicant was old or young. Common sense should tell you to hire the most experienced and hardest working people who apply, not just the youngest people who apply.

At any rate, I think they've lost more than I have in the deal. I didn't get the job, but I know what kind of worker I am and I know it will be very difficult for them to find anyone better who is willing to work there. So they've missed out and they'll most likely lose several customers, since I'll be sure to let my friends and family know how I was treated by their managers. Very bad for a new business, especially when you consider that I and most of my friends eat out a great deal of the time. We won't be spending our money there.

Job Search

I'm still looking for a new job. If you've read any of my previous posts regarding the job search, you'd know that I've been concentrating my efforts on a state job in Missouri. I am now on the state register for 13 different jobs. Would love to get a job with probation and parole. My experience with the Sheriff's department in Harrison County Mississippi leads me to believe that I would be very well suited for this type of job. However, I also scored very high on the state test for computer operator trainee, which involves working with mainframe computers. I don't really have any experience with mainframes and all of my computer experience is self taught. I have repaired and upgraded several computers over the past 9 years and seem to have a knack for it, but don't know how well I would do with the big computer systems.

I was reading an article in the waiting room at physical therapy, while waiting for my neighbor to finish with the therapists. It was talking about all the searches on Google for how to become a male porn star or how to get a job as a beer taster. Don't think I could ever get in to the porn business, unless fat hairy middle aged guys suddenly become the rage. As for beer taster, I've never really liked the taste of beer, so that's probably out as well. Although, if you know of anyone hiring for bourbon and coke tasters, please send me an email, lol.

I'm not really suffering too much compared to most of the unemployed. I do have enough money to live on and I am still building my investment portfolio, but everything is kind of in limbo until I have a regular income again. My bills are going down very slowly. That will be my main priority when I do return to work. To finish paying off the $6,000+ in credit card debt that I'm currently carrying. Then all of the money that I've been paying towards debt reduction will go towards building my investments. I definitely want to get in to investing in rental properties, so that will be my next goal after paying off the debt. I'll probably start small with a four plex apartment building and see how that goes before I get more involved with rentals. I'm also interested in owning a self storage facility. We'll see how it goes.

Still Looking For a New Job

Like many fellow Americans, I'm still searching for a new job. The business I worked for closed in January of this year. I've been getting more interviews lately and they've all gone well. So far, haven't gotten a suitable job offer, but things are looking up.

Just saw a repeat of a news story, about a couple of women in Florida who were laid off and came up with the idea for brightly colored bracelets saying:

"Laid-Off Need A Job"

So I decided to give them a try. I think of it as a good way to improve my networking and since I have friends and family members in the same boat, I ordered extra bracelets to share. I'll keep readers posted on how it works out. If you'd like to pick up a bracelet for yourself or someone you know, you can find them at:

http://www.laidoffneedajob.com/buy-wristband.html

Best of luck!

Stocks May Go Lower Today

Stocks are predicted to go lower today ahead of the G8 summit. It's been a slow week for my portfolio. Bought shares in some limited partnerships at the beginning of the week and the balance of my portfolios hasn't moved much. Been doing a lot of research and checking out investment websites. Found a few new blogs about investing that seem well worth following. Also found a great article about dividend investing:

http://www.bestgrowthstock.com/blog/2009/06/11/time-to-dive-into-stock-dividends/


Dividends are a form of passive income from the stocks you hold in your portfolio. By purchasing stocks with a good track record of paying dividends, investors can generally guarantee decent returns. Shares in a company that pays consistent dividends can perform better than many other types of investments, including standard savings accounts and certificates of deposit. This is a very hands-off method of making money from stocks. Instead of constantly trading, you just buy the stock and collect the dividends.

Dividend stock investing can be a good long-term strategy, but it’s still important to remember that it is not without risk and to monitor how your stocks are doing. If dividends are cut or, worse yet, stopped all together, it may be time to consider a different investment.


On a more personal note, had a pretty good week for job searches. Did my first interview with the state and it went very well, should here from them in a couple of weeks. Also found out that Probation and Parole, the people I really want to work for, have 45 new job openings they will be hiring for soon. So I'm looking forward to hearing from them. I'm on the state register for several jobs, so sooner or later something should work out there.