'I Played By The Rules' -- 'The Rules Have Changed'

This is an excellent read.

President Obama, in his 2011 State of the Union address, talked about how most people could remember the good old days, when getting a job meant showing up at a factory after finishing high school. "If you worked hard, chances are you’d have a job for life, with a decent paycheck and good benefits and the occasional promotion," the president said, adding that he understood "the frustrations of Americans who’ve seen their paychecks dwindle or their jobs disappear -- proud men and women who feel like the rules have been changed in the middle of the

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/23/long-term-unemployment_n_864873.html

I think so many of us feel that way. But, we have to adapt and move one and start really fighting to get back to where we were. Should it have happened, no, should we have to fight this hard, no. That being said the alternative is to give up and we are not that kind of group.

We are, however, a little wiser, a lot more savvy and our eyes are much wider open than they were three years ago. We have to vote thoughtfully and carefully, select jobs even more carefully and truly decide based on our hearts and consciences, not rhetoric, bumper stickers and catchy slogans that are nothing more than lies.

A lot of what's in that article rings true for me, unfortunately. Things have certainly changed. It's one thing to screw up and get fired, but quite another to lose your job because of nothing you did (and to see so many others suffer that same fate).

My parents are 63 and almost 65 and they tell me how many of their friends found great jobs after high school. My mom got a job at Prudential having something to do with calculating policies (forget the job title) right out of high school and she made good money. I bet today either that job requires a college degree or has been outsourced. Once upon a time college wasn't required except for highly skilled jobs (doctor, lawyer, teacher, scientist, etc) and now even the simplest job requires it.

Sadly in the article I have several strikes against me. I am now 40 and age discrimination starts even younger than this. I've seen on Linked-In people stating that their former employers refused to hire anyone older than 30. I've been unemployed over three years and that makes me untrainable to many employers.

Employers tell you that you need to re-start your career, it's another way of saying we will hire you for min wage. You need to start over at the bottom. Thank you Mr. Employer I feel better already.