John, I agree with Edgar and Joycelyn. Ageism is alive and well and it seems that the older we get, the harder it is to get the employment. In addition to the suggestions Edgar and Joycelyn has made, I can add a few suggestions. First, unless you're trying for a teaching position, don't include the sales except for generalized skills that may be relevant for the position you're applying for. In short, tailor your resume to the position your applying for. Second, if able, don't go past 10 years on your work history and keep your resume down to 1-2 pages. Third, check the AARP job board but also look towards other avenues: State, county, local government, corporate instructor positions, vocational colleges (e.g. I've been seeing postings for adjunct positions with Virginia College and other vocational schools.) Last, if you want to break out into other fields, thought may be that you may need some additional training or refresher courses which, if the program you enroll in has internship opportunities, it can allow you to get your foot into the door. Now, you may think that, this may be a younger person's avenue, but speaking as a person in her late 40's who just completed her JD last year and her LLM this year, I can tell you that more people who are my age and older are beginning to follow this path. The last additional thing I can say is...Don't give up hope! Hope this helps!

Yes, ageism is alive and well. You can begin by leaving off the dates of your employment on your resume and instead bullet-point your achievements throughout your career. Additionally, make sure yo use the same terms in your cover letter and resume as the job description. Lots of people don't reach the level of success they'd hoped for in sales, so rather that focus on your challenges with the industry document heavily on your key learning as successes. Also, go to AARP's job board. They post positions for age accepting/friendly companies. Finally, step-up your game in the interview...look the part and use your selling skills to own the interview discussion. You can do that by having great open-ended questions for the interviewer. Good Luck...you can do it!

You will find that the older you get, the less opportunity you will find. While it is supposedly against the law, the potential employer will say you are overqualified. So you can't be a janitor if you used to be a teacher or an engineer or any professional person. If you want a job, you have to forget your past experience and years of service and just pretend to be an underemployed person and maybe you will get a chance at janitor or construction site clean up or something equally rewarding. You can figure out a self employed function as long as you don't get into required licenses. I have the same issues with being old and over qualified. I have decided to hang up the hardhat and go fishing full time.