A little background. I’m 58 and had managed to go more than 20 years between my first and second layoffs. Since then, it’s been a little rougher. I lost a great, rewarding, unfortunately underfunded position in 2005 and was out of work for almost exactly a year, but we got through it.
Then in 2006 I landed a good, stable job, that I thought was a perfect fit. It wasn’t, and I was let go after a year.
Since then, I’ve managed to do some free-lance work and get a couple of short-term temp jobs while searching for work. My unemployment ran out in 2009. In the last almost 3 years I’ve applied for more than 400 jobs. But the straw that finally led me to throw in the towel was earlier this summer, when I found an opening at a not-for-profit. Not only was I a perfect fit, but I knew the director personally, and I had worked with one of the managers for three years.
On Thursday the director called. I didn’t get the job. She explained her decision for 20 minutes, and while I accept her logic, it was devastating.
My wife has her pension and a small amount of Social Security. We haven’t yet had to draw down our 401K’s, and we have a lot of equity in the house ready to be tapped. Meanwhile, I don’t have much to show on my resume for the last three years, and the technology in my field is changing rapidly. I’ve taken classes to keep up, but that doesn’t count as real-world experience.
So, after a long talk with my wife and some serious number crunching, I’m packing it in. We’re moving to a post-retirement financial plan and lifestyle.
But if failure is the best teacher, I have a lot of lesson plans. Any questions?