When people say there are plenty of job openings they're not wrong. I managed to find dozens of good ones in the last couple of months I've been looking. Sadly, none of them want those of us who are in my age bracket (mid-to-late 50s.) Out of the many, many applications I sent out I got just several responses and zero interviews. In case some of you are wondering why some of us are still here, there's your answer.
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I finally broke down and got botox. Now I look 50 instead of 64. Isn't helping much.
A cheaper and more malleable workforce is the goal, hence the bias towards grunts just out of school, or even better, towards offshore labour.
Never ever answer race or gender questions. Ever.
If you know who the hiring manager is you might want to try to meet him so he can get to know you a little, I have seen a couple of times when a manager would request a resume be added to the pile so he could interview a candidate and if he knows you that might work in your favor. Otherwise he will probably never even know you applied. Managers get just as frustrated about missing good candidates as you do about not getting interviewed. Substandard hires just make it more impossible for him to meet performance metrics.
Inside Honeywell 80 percent of all resumes I have been given by HR have been minorities for the software engineering reqs I am trying to fill. Without a doubt HR departments have been told that your demographic is a DO NOT INTERVIEW stamp. A year ago I received resumes that were representative of the local population of engineers with qualified candidates of all races. As it stands despite many interviews I am unable to hire qualified people... the candidates selected by HR fail my technical questions. There is no relocation being offered and my area is unable to provide the diversity mandated.. the result is unqualified candidates... sometimes with really inappropriate academic records.
Assuming this behavior is similar across all large corporations...
If you want an interview you will need to withhold identifying information and adjust your picture to be ambiguous. Join several clubs that encourage the impression you are trying to present.
Consider doing AB testing of these suggestions.. send out identical resumes with only the changes I suggest. Let us know the result. Your enemy is the HR algorithms not the hiring managers.. they just want qualified people.
Try self identifying as "Black" or "Latino" in your next application, chances will be higher of getting an interview
Cheaper labor that what company is looking for and guess who can do it cheaper? Even college students have to compete against overseas workers. Suck to be US educated workers
Yes, late 30's. Still having a hard time finding a "better" carrier move.
Late 30’s…..????
Age discrimination is alive and well. When average tenure for young employees is less than 5-years. An older more experienced worker that will stay until retirement and work at a competitive salary seems like a logical choice but that is often not the case.
I typically see this if people are not willing to move or look outside their specific industry. There are plenty of jobs in rockets and power generation right now. If you have an aerospace background, it should translate well.
Other options often overlooked:
1) usajobs.gov (if you have 10+ years of experience you do not need to be a professional engineer no matter what the job states.)
2) Contract services (Belcan, AKKA, etc)
The aerospace engineering world is changing shifting to contract labor structure. (Not that I agree with this.) But you have to play the cards delt.
Same here my friend. I am in my late 30's and encountering same issues. Plenty of jobs, countless applications, multiple interviews - no luck on finding a new company. However had several offers (3) in the past few years (outside), but moneywise and benefit-wise it was not worth switching.