Got the news on the 10th. Trying to stay positive as I have 30 years of database experience and have upgraded my skills lately. I figure I can always do contract work but I can’t help but think that my age will hurt me. Don’t have the option to “retire”, but being in Charlotte with a large network at other banks will hopefully help
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I am so sorry. I was let go 9 months ago. 20 years at this place is not great for a resume. I gave up looking. Luckily I had savings and can retire early. I would suggest having an attorney review severance and options.
Such poor treatment of staff, agism etc. Those over-hiring need to be cut. Such: a poor excuse for being a manager -got poor engagement scores and blamed the staff. Key exec stated he did not know why he had the most people in his group compared to wall street. Cause regulators are all over you - duh.
Sorry to hear this OP, but to any 20-something reading this thread, let this be a warning. Everyone's objective should be to be financially independent by age 50. Whether it's physical / mental / health reasons, or just a job loss, gaining the employment you'd prefer gets tougher as you age. Best to put yourself in a position not to need it at all, so if it takes awhile to land a gig you'll love you can weather that storm without much difficulty.
Take the time off to upskill. Remember that you are coming from a place that is at least five and probably ten years behind. This bank is trying to bully out AI as they bullied out Agile.
Use AI (the new x GROK has a career coach). Ask Grok AI to help you with your resume, to tell you what you need to learn to remain competitive, to tell you your swot. Taking age-related stuff off the resume enables you to get in the door, but the resulting interview is very awkward and, in my case, a waste of time. Age can be an asset -- learn how to embrace it. Also, the young g-ns want to jump on the new stuff and don't want to maintain the old stuff. So your strength might be found in finding jobs that are about maintaining old stuff. This is like being a Cobol programmer. But being a Chat GPT generated Cobol programmer will really shine.
take the severance and enjoy several months of WF paid retraining. agree with others that say to strip anything more than 15 years out of your resume, take all of the skills you learned in those prior jobs and add them in general to your skill section. Remove dates for education. dye the grey out of your hair and trim your eyebrows and nose hairs (no kidding - lots of folks forget this). make sure every single person in your professional network knows that you are looking for a job and what you would love to do and how you would add value. reach out to and sign up with every single contract labor company in your area. you will have a gig very soon.
@iop+1w15LD12 listing past experience can be done creatively without dates. If it’s a Java heavy job, for instance, and it was 15 years ago job, just do a bullet on Java and list major achievements. So many free resume generators that can do this creatively and many with free AI checks/recommendations.
57, displaced in May, got new job in 6 weeks. Still collecting severance…
For the person below
Gen AI 5 day Intensive course
Do it during the holidays
Have a new job next year :)
What skill sets would you advise to brush up on for someone with mid level sql skills that does analytics, i have learned some python basics and will practice using pandas and other libraries. Do not prefer heavy technical roles but more of being a business subject matter expert that is able to leverage data to communicate findings. Been at WF for 8 years.
@iop Yes, you need to remove the chronological experience. If you have something super relevant - move it up. So, "Used 20 year old Technology X at Hertz 20 years ago, becomes used Technology X at Avis 10 years ago". You'd be surprised what you don't need - for most hiring managers any more than 10 years of any experience is a liability - don't be old and male.
Ageism is rampant enough that, yes, sacrificing the listing of positions where you got valuable experience is a net benefit. At least for the resume, it's not like you can't talk about the benefits of these other gigs in the actual interview.
Had a discussion with a few folks and those being laid off are pretty much told to new as much info off your resume that could indicate your age. So don’t out dates on when you got your degree or what years you worked at version companies. Given I’ve been in IT for over 40 yrs WTF am I supposed to do to show all my experience. I’d have to basically remove positions from my resume.
One of the gentlemen on our team was displaced early in the year. He was almost 80. He found a contract role after 6 months or so.
Sorry that you experienced this. Ageism is real, though hard to prove. Be sure to botox your resume. Good luck!
Could you try to find a network in the Charlotte area? It doesn't have to be too technical. This organization might be of help: https://www.facebook.com/charlotte.iiba.org/.
Also, AI is your friend. Google "How to use ChatGPT to generate ETL scripts: use ChatGPT for data analytics." A little youtube training goes a long way. Everyone (except for the WF bullies) wants to generate everything using their new AI tools. In the non-WF world, data is the basis of the rewiring that will take place for AI.
I was older than you when I got laid off from Wells. I returned to contracting and design consulting.
@gsx+1w15LD12 why include only last ten years on your resume to show that one is fairly young to avoid age related discrimination?
I don't know your specialty within your "database" experience, but personally I would learn Snowflake and get certified at it to have the best shot at landing something else.
Sorry to hear that. Best of luck to you. Take a couple months to take a break and then dig in. When one door closes, another will open.
If you have not already, consider only including your last 10 years experience on your resume.
Just for Men
Hide dates on resume
Not a day older than 35
Sorry to hear that. Maybe have an employment attorney look it over before you sign.