I Did Everything Right And At 52, No One Will Hire Me

This is a disturbing story we came across in Good Housekeeping about a woman who took time off to care for her mom, and was frustrated in her job search when she wanted to go back to work.  In her early 50’s she found that ageism was a huge issue.

“Debra Bethard-Caplick thought she was just pausing her career to be a good daughter. Now, the 52-year-old says her age is why she’s still out of work….

Maybe it’s naïve, but I was raised to believe that if a job needed to be done, you found someone qualified to do the job and that was it. Age was irrelevant. Unfortunately, that has not been my experience. My experience has been that my age has made it nearly impossible to get hired.

But I’d done everything they tell you to do: I took freelance assignments and kept my resume updated along the way. I had enrolled in an online MBA program and stayed active in the local branch of my professional networking group because those were things that I could do from home. I was very focused on making sure I didn’t fall behind by not being in an office every day. And, in a way, that break was helpful because when you’re not caught up in the day-to-day grind, you have time to stay on top of trends and think big picture.”