Age discrimination is alive and well!!! I've had to deal with race, weight, gender but now my age...good grief!

JESUS! I'M IN THE SAME BOAT. I JUST TURNED 49 AND THEY ARE WORRIED ABOUT IF I CAN DEAL with A INFANT AS MY SUPERVISOR! WOW! THAT WAS THE LAST THING I EXPECTED TO HEAR! PLEASE FOLKS YOU'RE DEALING WITH A MATURE ADULT!!!

That question does not shock me. I've been asked that, too. In the two part time jobs I have now, both supervisors are younger than me, and we get along okay, mainly because I can "speak their language." Sometimes being able to converse with them on their terms, share, or be knowledgeable about some of their interests, gets them to see you as not "old and out of date."

Congrats, Vivian! Now get in there and show them what a more "mature" worker is capable of! :)

Unfortunately Vivian employers feel that you will be looking for another job soon even though you are willing to take a cut in salary. This puts the burden back on them to refill the position. First of all they can't say how long you will be in a position so for them to say that is very unfair. I had a recruiter tell me that after finding out how much I earned in my last job. Sure eventually you will want to move up but it's not like they can determine how long it will take you to be hired for another position even if you are looking. And they shouldn't assume you are looking for something else. That's hard to say.

I pray for your continued success in the future. I have been there, and I am still feeling the sting of corruption. But, if you understand what God is doing in your life you might be able to 'rebound' from this. I returned to school and finished my Master's degree program in the midst of the heartache. It doesn't change my feelings; but, it repairs the future. I can now look back and see that God was preparing me for a better future than my past was. When you come to retirement age your benefits of retirement will be there fr you. But, for now, endure the hardship and make a better future for yourself, and family. The best days are 'ahead' of you and 'not' behind you. I worked 22 years, and corruption and illegal court proceedings (and illegal procedures of the country that I had worked so hard for), and the battle proved that I am able to fight, but God has the ability to help us endure and move on from the past and face our future. I wish you much success in your 'better' future and your success in 'not' looking back on the past.

Any questions that pertain to your age, your religion, your hobbies or your marital status are DEFINITELY OUT OF BOUNDS! You were right in calling them out on it!

Vivian,

I share the same views with you regarding work ethics in general. Working with the younger generation, whether they are superior to you or not should not be bothersome to anyone especially for some of us who have gone through extensive training in medical school learning how to follow orders systematically and in a hierarchical format. The truth is that, it does bother everyone but then speaking for myself at this point, we are trained to suck it up…... (lol excuse the language). Be mature!. I must emphasize that age plays no role in that hierarchical placement, a younger can be placed above some older person for some reason. People are placed in positions for a certain reason and I think they deserve to be there like you also said. So I can't agree more with your work principles, values and ethics in general. Reiterating your phrase, we are simply there to work and be part of the team. Thanks for sharing.

I was unemployed 9 years ago. Weird thing no one hired me until the unemployment money did run out, which is what my current employer did. I have been there ever since and even transferred to a different department 2 years ago. I know exactly what you mean about younger people working as a supervisor. They have no respect for the older and more experienced employees as myself, in the over 60 years range. In 9 years, I feel that the company has grown tremendously and that I have contributed quite a bit to that growth. Being in the collection department now is a major contribution to the company where I can see where the revenue and payments go into the company. Believe me, I want to learn more about this, but the younger supervisor doesn't want me to know and surely will not tell me anything. I see the big picture since I have been there so long. This should be a major advantage for me.

I think you were good in your responses. But I also sense some bitterness in your tone. I too recently stopped working after 30+ years but I don't expect to work as a supervisor or manager again - been there done that, had great compensation and benefits but so many headaches from those (younger) employees with poor work ethics and high demands for quick promotions, their expectations for use of my favoritism and sexism (didn't happen), no interest in their self improvement, their expectations of training without putting in the effort or non-use of training received, they could identify only problems with no solutions or creativity, etc. You and I worked hard, were dependable, and went to great lengths to improve ourselves through education to get to our positions of authority and responsibility. Being a manager or supervisor is not easy and I'm finding now that even when I volunteer, my leadership qualities come forward, is noticed and relied on by others including my supervising manager. My ideas are recognized and being implemented - guess I am a teacher. May I suggest that you seek to work in your area of accounting, maybe with a nonprofit. Volunteers are always needed and they may be a good referral to something permanent. Probably will work for a smaller compensation package. I am lucky because I planned to retire fully but now, having experienced how a fixed budget works, I would like a little more income, to have funds to go on vacations, take day trips,, etc. During the last 10 years of my career, I took college classes in an area near my work area of trust realty, I hope to put this current information to use as a consultant working with children. I think an elder consultant, with realty and environmental knowledge, may be useful, along with my writing expertise. Is there a way you can reevaluate your KSAs and apply them to accounting areas needed in your community? If nothing else, you may be able to put your interests in writing. I like to research and I think I can put a book together, so minimal income now is just another stepping stone I get to cross because my book or training manual may be lucrative in the near future. I try to keep up on my areas of interest so I'm current. Hope you can take a good look at your current situation and think outside of the box. Also, maybe if you contact your local college with accounting classes, they may be able to put you in touch with current and near future accounting trends. Also, every field is impacted by computers and digitization. For me, that means using GPS, GoogleEarth, and other satellite imagery. I once worked in an accounting division on a military base. This included such things as payroll accounting, cost accounting and inventory accounting as well as other accounting areas. I am sure you know what the various accounting areas there are and you can determine the areas of need. If you can, get up to speed in areas you never thought of before, and become a specialist, given Access and Excel and more specific accounting programs. For instance, in California, I took Family Law classes and learned how to use the State Court Judicial Council Forms system, which is a huge database, merely requiring legal support staff to populate the blanks with information, following good intake. This kind of work doesn't require a certain age group but speed and accuracy of data entry is important. Perhaps you can get into a position that you can use your basic accounting knowledge for data entry. You have the General Accounting Principles foundation and good work experience. If you don't want to supervise, be up front about it because often even with the title, often the extra work and longer hours aren't worth the headache. Please keep your chin up because you have been paying your dues over the long haul. Best wishes on the rest of your journey, remember many of us are just like you, coming out of good careers, sometimes quickly and unexpectedly, and needing to move on. It's a challenge but we can do it!