As an older worker in Connecticut, what's it like trying to find a new job? Here's what we learned.

[Backseat Driver]

19. Not much different than in Ohio.

Lost my last one at the age of 61 - a supposedly FT long-term opportunity during the recession. On the 90th day of probation, I was let go after I had cleaned up a backlog and told I had failed to meet performance though they hadn't bothered to document it or raise any concerns with me. The one before, 8 months earlier, and with 6 years of seniority, because I was told that ostensibly CT medical transcribers were in worse shape job-wise than Ohioans. The truth was the dictation had to have been going overseas and digitally returned all signed and "ready" for the charts without review by the dictator docs - not even CT folks could have made the errors we caught. PS: Introvert here too!

DH, an IT pro and extroverted people person, encountered another problem besides ageism: Beware the rackets going on between hiring managers and recruiters "splitting" the commissions earned for placements that last just long enough for those commissions to be processed and paid out! When the W-2 opportunities dried up, the FT 1099 gig terms were NEVER as advertised, lasting perhaps days or weeks instead of the 6- or 12-month right to hire! So just as one had picked up the "personal" benefits like healthcare one was thrown right back into the pool of the unemployed, often without eligibility to return to unemployment and without income for mortgage, rent, food, or utilities...over and over and over!

It's bad enough when opportunities are living wage in his field, but DH has encountered similar situations in the low-wage FT jobs offered to seniors; yup, things are really bad! The family meat-market "manager" gig @ $15 reduced by owner to $11.00 then poofed because he wasn't family; the big name union grocer deli clerk gig @ $11.00 eliminated; the next, a different grocery CSR desk @ $10; being a convenient store clerk @ $10 included in a "suspension" of all clerks on the shift until it was determined who was "stung" by the cigarette-to-minor shopper (never did hear exactly who--no one was called back to work and all managers either shuffled or gone as well); now an unliveable 40 hours @ $9.50 as a storage facility clerk where again, he works alone and never has a "weekend" (two days off in a row) off because they're always short-handed (can't imagine why...lol). Always looking and applying...

Be careful out there; it's a slippery slope trying to augment one's SS $$ while trying to pay the costs of not being an "entitled" eater. I'm refusing entirely, likely to my detriment; but, since Plan A for retirement went down in flames, Plan B is in progress - being as expensive to TPTB (GOP) as I can be even if it kills me before my time. To that end, I support M4A enhanced by vision, hearing, and dental - check; wealth tax - check; return of stolen SS monies by Congress; uncapped payments into FICA - check; free advanced education - check; free childcare - check - any and all programs or strategies that separate the wealthy from their pocket books. Suggestions are always welcomed and considered!