YAY AMERICA! 65 Y.O. Stands On Street Corner With "Hire Me" Sign

[matcom]

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EASTON, Mass. -- After a 65-year-old Easton man lost two jobs to downsizing, he is trying his luck at landing a job by standing on the side of the road with a "Hire Me" sign, reported WCVB-TV in Boston.

Dick Wilcox, 65, said he is swallowing his pride in the hopes of saving what he's spent a lifetime working for.

This is the second time Wilcox has resorted to using a sign.

Laid off from his job in September, Wilcox now stands on a busy street corner with a homemade sign that says he needs a job.

It worked three years ago after the Wall Street Journal picked up on his story.

Wilcox admitted it is a hard thing to do.

"It's embarrassing as can be. I told the guy at the Wall Street Journal that a lot of times I'll see parents driving by with little kids in the front seat. I'm absolutely certain that what they're saying is, 'Don't grow up to be like that guy,'" he said.

Wilcox has worked as a middle manager for various insurance companies. During his first layoff, he said, he went through his 401(k)and some of his savings -- savings that will be gone not long after his unemployment runs out in another few weeks.

It's not just the sign that he's relying on. He said he is on the Internet for many hours every day searching for a job. But there's something about the sign and the street corner that makes him think this is where it's going to happen.

"The last time I did this in the middle of winter, people used to stop and bring me coffee and doughnuts and pat me on the back and take my resume and do everything but stand and hold the sign for me. People are very encouraging and when I got the last job I had, I went out with the sign and on the back of it is says, 'I got a job, thanks.' And people were just, I couldn't believe how they responded, I mean, they were happier than I was," he said.

Wilcox said a $75,000 a year job would handle his living expenses, but if he has to, he'll work for less than that.

http://www.wftv.com/money/8163704/detail.html