I haven’t seen a single person in my immediate work circle make it past this age without being let go. And I keep hearing the same thing from friends and former colleagues - once you're over 50, finding a new job becomes incredibly difficult. It doesn’t seem to matter how good you are at what you do, or how specialized your skills are, even when they’re in demand and backed by decades of experience. In fact, sometimes it feels like that experience becomes a burden when it’s paired with age. I truly don’t know what I’ll do once my number is up.
24 replies (most recent on top)
@a4 Maybe it would be easier to take you seriously if you knew how to use proper grammar.
54 here. Tried to volunteer and they said no. See people dropping all around me that want to stay and I can't get out without posting externally.
@vk I looked everywhere BUT another bank. Same grass—-NOT greener. Wherever my skill set and the parts of my job and hobbies that I loved intersected. Don’t silo yourself.
@r3 Where did you look?
I hear you OP and somewhat understand. I'm 50 and the market is not as robust as it used to be. Keep in mind as you aged, many more people have come into the market making the pool larger. I was suggested to cap my experience at 15 years and just summarize the previous ones.
I got laid off last year at 55. It's too hard to prove it was due to my age. You just have to assume it will happen and figure out your next move. It doesn't have to be another corporate job either.
@a4 Wow! Perhaps you missed the articles about Workday discriminating against older workers by screening out their resumes? Ageism is in fact a thing. With that said. I was laid off in my late 50’s by WF. I chose to go in a completely different direction and get out of corporate for government and it was the best decision. I wish I had done it years ago. It took 2 months to find a job.
@aa you are good until you retire only if you are fine if Wells tells you when that is. Just cause you have a job now doesn't mean you will in a year.
I was offered the relo package and didn’t take it. I’m over 55 years old. I told WF I would locate, because I was nervous I wouldn’t find another job, due to my age. It took about 3 months of job searching, but I was offered a job with a regional bank. The pay is less, but I didn’t have to relocate. I’m much happier at my new place of employment. The toxicity at Wells is horrible. I’m not working 12 to 14 hour days anymore, trying to meet deadlines. Management sets goals that are reasonable. The systems we use are user friendly. There is a life outside of WF.
From what I have seen at Wells it is how much you get paid relative to your colleagues that makes you a target for displacement. Usually that correlates with age, but it is not age per se. If you and the 28 year olds on your team are doing what looks on paper to be the exact same job, with the same title, etc., and they are being paid a lot less, then you are a target.
@a5
Not a tool. That is the kind of solid advise that needs to be said.
You have to get back up on the horse when you get kicked off to coin a phrase.
Sh-t happens, are you gonna fold up or are you gonna dust off and carry on?
That's the message.
"It’s all the fools who just do the bare minimum, face no consequences, but now the chickens are coming home to roost"
You could say the same about every age group and YoS bracket. If you think it's just 'the olds' doing the bare minimum, you're not paying attention or hiring very much. The current incoming generation are the kids that brag that ChatGPT did all the work for them to graduate college. Yeah yeah, they are leveraging tech to do things. Here's a cookie, let's get back to the 'refused to do any work themselves' aspect of the story.
@ay Have fun picking up the slack, kiddo.
Was displaced in February after 10 years. Found a job three weeks into my notice period and started a month later. 56 years old and will work another 2 before calling it quits. Loved the salary at Wells but that was it. People and culture much much better at new company.
The hiring bias is starting to impact 35-45 year olds now. They have children in school or college, mortgage, etc. There are countless stories on LI. Look around you; look in the mirror.
Nice to see the stories of people that found work. The reality is it is harder to find a new job over 50. That's due to several things including age bias, a concern these workers will be retiring soon, higher wage expectations, and automated resume scanning that may eliminate older workers or prioritize younger ones. It happens all the time.
Ageism as a systemic problem does not exist at Wells despite what those 50+ will claim. The issue is that the work force here is simply stacked with older employees. Turn over has been far lower than industry norms leading to an aged workforce. Any major meeting look at how many where they call out 20yr and + employees. It’s not always good for a business to have stagnant staffing. Look at Federal/State Gov or USPS. Think about how many GOOD experiences you’ve had. The number is low because of stagnation.
I’ve been here less than a decade and have seen the entire spectrum let go, in fact ALL of my team members (across multiple teams due to WF’s penchant for reorgs every few years) under 40 were cut a long while back. Literally nobody left at arms length x2 under 50 that I know of.
I’m sure this will get downvoted but think about it. If you’re a lifer but you constantly adjust and do better then stagnation doesn’t apply to you. It’s all the fools who just do the bare minimum, face no consequences, but now the chickens are coming home to roost. They are using whatever metrics to show we can meet deliverables with less and they will cut to get there.
I'm 56 and I have maybe a year left here tops. I'd love to make it to my 10-year mark in the Fall of next year so that I can "ring the bell" and retire out of WF and still go find another FT role or even go back to contracting. Granted there are new hires coming out of school who already have a bunch of certifications and will work for less, but what you have and they don't is experience. Some...many employers still value real world experience over degrees and certs any day of the week.
I truly wish you the best of luck.
@aj that’s a good tip. I should probably stop that right?
I am 52 and put in my notice to Wells. Starting a new job 1st week in August. Will hit 7 yrs This week, and will only miss my coworkers, not the company. Have trust in yourself and skills. You will be fine. 😁
- And busy. Being pulled into new projects, or asked if I have time to work on them. I'm good until I retire in 4 years.
@a4 What a tool.
When you talk like a scared little girl your going to have trouble getting a new job at any age. People seed things like being over 50 as an excuse so they feel good about giving up. There's no Sandman, there's no red dot, there's always another job out there. Pick up a contract job if you have to, or if you have the capital and a decent idea start your own company.
Age didn’t matter for me. Laid off at 51, hired back a few months later. I look good for my age, and that didn’t hurt. You’ll be okay. ✅