FROM AN MLPF POST
>Late Introduction
>Posted by: “Joseph S Vinci”
>Tue Jan 1, 2008 4:46 pm (PST)
>Hi all I’m Joe Vinci, I have been a member of the group for a few months,
>I am a 48 Year old IT Director with over 28 Year’s of experience in various
>I have been recently laid off due to “Off-Shoring” after 25 years on the
Hi, Joe, I’m a few years in front of you in the “race to the finish line” in the same discipline, but no rug rats to take care of me in my old age. :-( Guess I’ll be depending upon social security. Hah!
Assuming that you’re not a “lotto winner”, I’ll tell you what I wish someone had told me two decades ago.
“Age discrimination is rampant! Get ready for it now.”
:-)
I work with out-of-work execs, mostly IT, despite being a full time employee executive in IT. (Although the way life is, I could be unemployed tomorrow!) My “turkey farm” is at http://tinyurl.com/lxu93 for your use. (Turkey is what we called each other at my first outplacement experience.) The thing that all these folks have in common is that they were totally unprepared for the axe to fall on them. I pontificate to anyone who will listen that “awareness” is the first principle to success. I say things like “you’re only sure of the last paycheck you cashed”, “when is your turn at the unemployment window”, and “like at the poker table, if you don’t see the sucker, you’re it”. When you’re aware and expecting it, you’ll have a big emergency fund, a tuned up network, and lots of options. When you’re not, it’s a bad fire drill. I can make all the usual suggestions — a branded email, website, blog, elevator spiel with geographic and financial comfort zones, network using Lucht AND LinkedIn, as well as do EVERYTHING at once. But, you’ll hear those said by others.
Reinke Faces Life 