Reply #166: Damn, this sucks!

[Uben]

I've been retired for ten years, but I used to hire machinists in my shop. I preferred the over fifty crowd because they came with experience and showed up for work......every day! I tried hiring 20 & thirty somethings, but they always seemed to do fine for a month, then they started missing days. It's hot nasty work in the summer (no a/c in TExas), but paid well and came with good benefits. Younger hirees were only trainees. Some were good employees, but after six months to a year, they would get enough experience on the CNC machines they operated and would fund a job with a larger corporation that paid more and had a/c. I can't really blame them for wanting to better themselves, but being a training center wasn't conducive to productivity. The over fifty crowd is much more reliable and are less likely to be able to find another job. So...........

What I'm getting at is if HR managers would weigh the costs of hiring older workers against younger workers for the long haul, they would find that older workers do not really cost more to employee, and they keep production levels higher. At least that was my experience 10 yrs ago. Times change, but not that much. Too many companies look at the immediate impact on their bottomline instead of working out the long term benefits and implications of hiring older workers.

I am just thankful I am retired, financially secure, and not looking for a job. My heart goes out to you guys in your fifties and sixties...I know it's tough and scary! To the younger crowd, I was laid off twice in the eighties (thanks Ron Reagan). Both times the lay-offs occurred the same week as my daughters were born. That was scary, but I did still have insurance to cover their births, and both were healthy! I was able to find work (actually, both times the work found me!) within a few months, and was never in any dire straits. Nothing more than a few late house payments. Having walked a mile in those shoes, the only advice I have is take anything you can get...right now! I took a job at a lumberyard for year. Hot dirty work, but it put food on the table and had insurance for the family. I worked two other part time jobs to make ends meet. But, I don't think it was as bad in the eighties as it is right now.

Good luck, DUers. Know that we all keep you in out thoughts and are wishing you the best!