Baby Boomers Loosing Jobs to Lay Offs Closing of Factories Downsizing

Like a lot of baby boomers, Mary Habres thought she wanted to retire.

The former human resources executive came to Jacksonville from New Jersey, leaving the life of the highly structured, highly political career in land government for life in a senior residential community.

The relaxation didn't last long — Habres soon found herself restless but besides stymied.

"I was so unhappy for such a long fourth dimension. My whole life came to an end," she said. "I tried getting jobs … I applied for dissimilar jobs online for months and null came through."

And so when her husband suggested she take up interior design — she had done such a great job decorating their new identify in Sweetwater — Habres took to the idea: "I said, 'Oh, what the heck.' "

It'south a sentiment running through her generation, where many people are re-inventing themselves and their careers, frequently in unconventional ways. Some, similar Habres, are taking the plunge past choice. For other boomers, layoffs are making career transformation necessary. And for others, retirement funds have plunged, forcing them to search for new and different ways to prolong their working years.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for people 55 and older more than doubled betwixt May 2008 and final month. That increase was faster than for any other age grouping.

Marilyn Feldstein, a career coach who runs Career Choices Unlimited, said she has been seeing an always-increasing number of infant boomers who are facing a task loss. People ages twoscore to lx make up the bulk of her clientele.

"I see people who have lost their jobs, many of them for the first time," she said, "and that is so scary for them because they don't have the tools to assist them transition."

Feldstein believes that although competition is fierce, there are good-paying jobs out there with employers who desire to hire seasoned workers.

"What you have are years of feel," she said, "and people will pay for that."

At the same fourth dimension, Feldstein said, a layoff tin can likewise strength open up a door to reinvention. She'south helped people who concluded up working in industries they've never thought of, or into the nonprofit world, where they find fulfillment in giving back to the community.

Still, although unemployment rates for boomers are still lower than the overall charge per unit, older workers exercise face obstacles in the chore hunt, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal agency that investigates job discrimination. The agency saw a 29 percentage increase in charges of age discrimination in 2008 versus the yr before.

That doesn't surprise Mary Habres, who said some of the job descriptions she looked at seemed so narrowly written every bit to forestall older, more experienced candidates from fifty-fifty applying. And she knows other friends who have taken experience off their resumes, fearing they appeared overqualified.

"It'due south just very hard out there to get a job," she said. "If you're older, y'all do face chore discrimination."

Perhaps that's why so many boomers take turned entrepreneurial.

At present certified in interior redesign and dwelling house staging, Habres works for herself, staging homes for sale, landing jobs even in a sour housing market. During the holidays, she plans to offering decorating workshops to women's and craft groups.

And she loves it.

"I thought, do I desire to commit to a forty-hour workweek, or exercise I want to accept a flexible schedule and run my ain business?" she said.

l estate agent, constitute sanity and solvency during the housing downturn when she turned a hobby into a function-time business.

Through her company, Like shooting fish in a barrel Going Kayak Tours, Dubois leads novice and experienced paddlers on ventures all over Northeast Florida, from Amelia Island to Fort Matanzas.

And in that location are a lot of great locations.

"It's absolutely fantastic," Dubois said. "There'due south so much beautiful stuff to see around here."

It likewise offered an opportunity to return to her "true self" — a nature-lover — and a chance to reinvent herself in a more open society. Dubois, 52, wanted to exist a forest ranger when she was a girl.

"But they told me only men could do that," she said.

Now, she's doing a version of that, taking tourists and locals through the marshes and streams in search of dolphins, manatees and other wildlife. She said following her passion is contagious.

"When I'k talking most information technology, I'yard excited nigh it. That rubs off on other people," she said. "When you're doing something you really love it's non really a job at all."

(904) 359-4504

saineponsibleaut.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-06-16/story/in_shifting_job_market_baby_boomers_reinvent_themselves?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JacksonvillecomBusiness+%28Business+news+from+Jacksonville+and+the+First+Coast+-+Jacksonville.com+and+The+Florida+Times-Union%29

Share this post