Are my working days behind me ?

I'm just about to turn 60, I was self employed  for most of my working life in the building trade then 3 years ago I had to cease doing my job due to long term exposure to my working enviroment. 

After 18 months of dealing with my new health condition I decided I will try and get a job like driving a bus as well as a few other types of jobs.

I have the skills etc but in all the interviews I was turned down due to not being able to provide adequate references and the main reason I was told was companies don't like hiring people that were previously self employed now.

The reason I cannot provide adequate references is the previous nature of my work was extremely mobile only being on a site for 1 day to several months at a time. Over the years my contacts came & went left the Industry etc etc so I never really had a long standing relationship with a company or onsite managers.

I sought the help from employment councilors in which they told me yes this is very common now and I will find it extremly hard now even after the age of 45.

I turned to Centrelink in which they said yes you have nearly zero chances of getting a job now. Problem is I'm too young to get a pension being a baby boomer.

I eventully got a job for approx 6 months but had to leave as it required me to be kneeling on my knees nearly all day.

I did aslo do doing some manual work for several months for some friends only to find it made my health condition a lot worse so that was the worst thing I could have done.

I haven't given up but I am starting to think I may be retired??

Only other thought is buy yourself a job like a courier etc but honestly I treid that in my early twentys and financially it wasn't worth it.

Im not keen on starting a new business either those days are behind me. 

Now in this covid situation jobs will be even harder to come by. 

Should I just accept that I'm retired?

Thoughts?

 

 

 

8 comments

Advrider

Are you on a Disabilities pension ?

Have you thought of  doing a training course in Tafe ??

Have you put any money into Superannuation ??

Bunnings do employ elderly staff with experience in the building industry.

 

No Im not on a Disability pension .

I will look into what courses are out there and yes have applied for Bunnings but nothing as of yet .

Can't help,  but sympathise. I am 61 now and have been back in Australia for a year applying for jobs. Despite having two degrees and a ton of experience I can't even get an interview. I have done vocational courses and volunteering too, so they obvioulsy dont help. I even got a knock back for night shelf filling! My issues are being so ancient (!) and having been overseas a for a few years so having a cv gap.

Makes you wonder how the govt wants us to work till we are 70 but won't employ anyone of a decent age!

it doesn't help Advrider but you are far from alone - there are many people out there hidden from the job statistics, not registered as unemployed because not eligible for unemployment support, simply a story behind the falling particiption rate. So yep, potentially early retured and living off savings.

 

I sympathise with all of you -- I am well over your ages but am friends with many in the 60 plus age group and some with medical problems that really should be able to get a disability pension-- but it seems very difficult to,  even with quite severe medical problems I personally think the aged pension should be able to get at the age of 60 -- and at least give people some life before they are beyond living well.

After all, there would always be the younger ones to get the jobs.

Yes, it really makes you mad to think the government wants to put the retirement age up to 70   and they are able to retire at ANY age as long as they have been in for a few years AND then get ANOTHER well-paid job AND still have all the lurks and perks --

 

 

The whole process of getting a job has become harder I feel . One of the problems re references I found is that a lot of companys were employing agencys and they require your referee's to complete a 30 - 45 min online questionair  or I was told longer if its a phone call . I did manage to get a few referee's but then they told me look we don't have the time if its that long where busy people . Now that just for one job what if I'm going for many jobs there just not prepared for multiple questionairs at that amount of time .

Then 2 out of three questionair links didn't work properly because of things like there software wasnt upto date , makes it very hard , what happened to the good old days of a short phone call or a letter ??

The last job I had of 6 months took me into many businesses anywhere from Police stations to Hospitals and schools etc ect where I spoke to a lot of people about the job situation , one thing I didn't realize & was told is they now have programs in place that automatically  delete a  job application if it has spelling errors or dosn't include '' KEY words '' .

Very hard for the baby boomers like myself that has come from the metal Industry blue collar type work that lack computer skills ect. 

Also too there now wanting a certificate for so many things now . I used to drive a water tanker they are now wanting a certificate just to put the upstand pipe in the Melb water connection point such a staright for ward easy thing but now they want you to pay $300 - $400 for a certificate and have to goto a school .  

I received "early retirement" from a 34-year administrative/public contact career on my 51st birthday 28 years ago. Managed to get on a Disability Support Pension because of a spinal injory incurred 15 years prior - and sent my wife out to work part-time (actually she volunteered). A year later I took a short-lived part-time job which really didn't suit me, so left that amicably and took up writing. Not exactly lucrative, but sold a number of magazine articles and published four books on various subjects up until four years ago.

The secret to emotional stability is to keep yourself busy. Being in a stable relationship helps as well. Despite what others may think, I have always been a believer in superannuation and paid extra into it all my working years. That has been the saviour of our financial situation, helped along firstly by the DSP and then Age Pension when we became eligible. Make sure you take advantage of all concessions available to seniors.

This business of needing to get a  "certificate" for such jobs is utterly ridiculous as is the wanting of a Uni degree for so many jobs that can be done by leaving school at 15 and going straight to work and learning on the job -- Uni degrees these days are unnecessary UNLESS you want to be a Dr or such not a secretary or a tradesman -- that can be learned on-site and is far better than theory same as nurses doing Uni -- they need to know what they are in for and do it the old way -- start from scratch emptying pans and end up as a Sister --

These so-called   "certificates" are just a money makinf racket --

Hey Advrider you have my complete sympathy , this is what Governments dont understand , for alot of age poeple into there sixties and onwards have done the hard yards , and heavy lifting so to speak so there should be an option to retire and enjoy life while you can . 

What annoys  me most is that members of the curent government think we can and should work into our late sixties , this maybe fine for some but not everyone . And when they say just get retrained or go work for bunnings etc is not always practical .

I am lucky i still have a job but have had back operations etc due to the hard and heavy lifting of the early days , i would hate to try and have to find another job in the  current climate , once my current employment ceases .

I say the retiremet age should be lowered , up the taxes on the rich and pay pay the baby boomers an early pension .

Also stop all the super annuation rorts and funnel the saved taxes into government funded pensions for poeple like youjrself and others .

Best of luck .

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