Ok, so in the realm of common sense, why in the world would I be looking for a new job right now when everyone is literally drooling about the next recession right around the corner?

Well, things are a bit different for this time versus the last recession I went through. In fact, it's very different versus the one before that too. If you've read my past articles, you'll know I've seen a few of these R-word things. When I first came out of school, the first recession I experienced slapped full-on in the face back in 1992. Then there was the 2009 Recession with a capital R that most people today remember. I was employed by then and deep in my career path, so that didn't have near as dramatic an effect as the first one, but I did go through a substantial salary cut and had to re-organize things a bit to adjust. I was in the lucky group that kept a job versus those who got a pink slip by the hundreds of thousands.

Today is a bit different for me. I'm well ensconced in a career, but I'm hitting the tail end of it, and my 30 years are coming up pretty darn quick. That means, the trigger for me to jump and try something new is also coming up quick as well, probably in about two or three years at most.

Now, put aside the R-word for a minute, as well as any financial issues that might make me have to work longer in my current job, then we're left with do I have the skillset to jump and what else is going on in the job market. I will be the first to admit the job market today is worlds away from the one I faced when I first started my day career. We were just getting into scanned resumes and networking in those days. Whom you knew mattered the most, and then did you have the right flag words on your application and paper. We still worried about the type of paper stock our resumes were printed on, and some version of What Color is Your Parachute? was the most popular job hunting book out there, period.

In comparison, modern job-hunting involves a massive amount of online marketing with a person's profile before they even contact a company to be hired. Everything from whom they know, what they know, and how they know and where they posted is what matters. LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitter and the latest social media matters far more than where one worked previously or went to school it, seems, and if you have nothing about you on the Internet and are under the age of 35, you're entirely suspect and avoided (i.e. you're hiding some bad shit in your history).

However, the most prevalent thing I've been seeing now, being far more sensitive to it these days than I was 20 years ago, and I am biased obviously, is age discrimination. And how do I know that's happening? Well, it's a bit of an obvious pattern. You get past the first interview because of vast experience and skill, you get to the second interview and then no one calls you back after a lengthy discussion. Then you find out they almost consistently hired someone 10 or 15 years younger. Seriously, could you be anymore obvious? So, yet again, I'm dealing with a f**ked job market. As someone over 50 I can rule out a few things for the next leap I want to make:

• Experience isn't the issue since I have plenty of that now in the desired field I want go into.
• Proven product is easy because, unlike kids coming out of school, I have a full portfolio of work that has actually generated income, and I can point to it.
• Creative thinking is addressed because as a consultant on the side I am constantly engaged in new issues, not only a singular career track that I started some 20 or so year ago.
• Appearance I can't help - aging sucks. It is what it is.

Ergo, if I know the job market is going to discriminate, and nothing I can do is going to avoid that, then I have to think about how to approach the job market differently. The classic employee role isn't going to work. That's where I run into walls and get denied. So, what are my options:

• Start my own business and write the rules myself - I've actually been running my own business on the side since 2005. It's not a full-time gig, but I have enough depth, skill and value in that I could make it fulltime. But I'll be honest, it's not going to make big bucks in that particular field - few writers and content providers make over $50k annually.
• Be a consultant - This is a bit like starting your own business, but you're still working for someone else. In this case, I can easily leverage my depth and experience value, which stands out and has name recognition, but it's only good for maybe 5 years. At that point, my prior experience depth becomes stale the longer I'm disconnected from my current field. Plus, that's not what I want; I prefer to be in a different, new field.
• Work as a contract specialist - Also like a consultant, but here I'm working as a freelancer on call. Name it whatever you want, this is similar to writing, as a feast and famine path. I have the luxury of having my retirement account as a safety net, but it's definitely a path of ups and downs, depending a lot on landing that next gig before the first one is over.                
• The hell with it - just retire! - Not ready to. It's not in my nature; I prefer to stay busy and keep creating, doing stuff, and making a good paycheck at the end of the day. Maybe in another 10 years, but I'm not ready for the sofa couch just yet.
• Be an online consolidator/broker - This option is a bit appealing. It takes some establishment, but there is a lot of promise here, especially as a means for passive income to some extent. For years in the 2000s I made a lot of extra income on the side selling on eBay. Basically, I was finding what people didn't want and shipping it to those who did for a profit. While I don't think I would get into eBay again now, the idea of finding an active market to work as a broker is definitely viable. But it
• Trade all day long - I learned a long time ago I sucked at gambling. My best day was breaking even. Trading is a bit of the same for me. So it's definitely not promising in terms of a way to generating steady income.
• Join a startup - This one is a bit like joining a political campaign; there's a crap-ton of work involved, lots of sleepless night, and the payoff could be big if I'm part of the right one. However, usually there are 99 losers to 1 winner. Do I want to deal with these kinds of odds at this point in my life?

What I'm realizing is that the job market hates older people and systematically keeps us out to pasture if we make that first step out the exit door from a first career. No matter how much value there is with depth and experience, culturally people over 50 are not welcome as employees now. It doesn't matter whether it's tech, health, entertainment or any other industry. Disregard whatever you're hearing about people desperate for workers in the post-COVID world; employers only want people under 30. MINIs need not apply (mature idiots not invited).

I'm basically going to have lie about who I am, work remote as much as possible so people don't really see my face, accept that contracting is what most of my work is going to be, and probably seriously consider leveraging that into a full-time business somehow.

Or hey, maybe I should just become a college professor and teach all the new kids how to do things wrong! What a novel idea...