Last week my husband and I watched The Company Men. Good movie, except for the ending. Throughout, GK (my guy) and I would turn to each other and shake our heads. It was like watching his life played out on screen . . . well, except for the Porsche and the mansion. GK had a good career, not great, and we have a simple life, not grand --- but beyond those small differences in status, the experience of the job-hunting character of Ben Affleck was so sadly similar to GK's that we suddenly realized how very universal this situation is today.
GK was laid off in 2009 when his division was moved to Quebec and the jobs went with it. Since then he's had dozens of interviews. He obtained occasional work through temp agencies taking jobs way below his capabilities and pay scale, just to be *contributing to the household*. Over that period, he's exhausted our pool of friends and neighbours for whom he can paint, do landscaping or other handiwork. Then, for eight months he worked a minimum wage job where he, along with the other workers, was yelled at, mocked, and put in dangerous situations without protection. When he finally pointed out safety violations within the company, he was fired. He couldn't file a wrongful dismissal claim because he'd been there under a year but he challenged his dismissal to EI and because they found in his favour, he's now receiving benefits. That was February.
I can't tell you how many jobs he's applied for since then. Five interviews. Two seemed promising. At one, the Director showed him around the place, where he'd be working, introduced him to some people . . . told him they'd call him early the next week. When GK called them at the end of the following week, he was told that the Director was busy, and oh yeah, the position was filled. This wasn't the first time he'd faced that kind of treatment by a potential employer -- enthusiasm and then silence -- that first year, 2009 when he was first laid off . . . interview after interview went that way. You almost wonder is HR people are trained to let everyone think they've got the job so that no one will leave the place ready to explode, but it's a really, really deceptive and cruel tactic. Having asked around, I've started to realize it's pretty typical.
Some people have suggested it's time he change tactics. He's revamped his resume, stuck in all the right keywords, but there's been no magic and still no job so he even thought about switching careers -- they advertise it still -- retraining through EI if you can get it . . . or if you can get your head around it is one of those *looks good on paper* sort of options.
As I watch GK deal with the emotional rollercoaster that comes with losing your life's work in a heartbeat, I know that for the 28 years he worked in his former industry (albeit for several different companies) he came to identify with the job. . . and now . . . he just doesn't know. Retraining sounds good . . . is good . . . for some people. It's great that there are those avenues available, often with financial support of government, but there are many people out there who don't have whatever it is that allows some people to reinvent themselves in later life. In our day, you could leave high school and work yourself into a career. They trained you and you got first hand learning on the job, not in the classroom. GK is creative, energetic, innovative, smart, but school was never his thing.The rules have changed, but for GK and many of our generation, the idea of going back to school now is simply one more pressure that he isn't prepared for and even if he could reconcile himself to it, he would retrain ... as what? A chef? A photographer? A mechanic? GK worked at learning his position for nearly three decades. His real-life experience is invaluable because of the complexity of the role . . . and yet despite his credentials and his willingness to take lesser pay than his position would normally garner, he can't find a job in his field . . . why would some other industry hire this 48 year old, grey haired, white male when there are fresh, young kids coming out of the same training centres who would be just as capable?
GK doesn't say so, but lately, I see that he's wondering if he'll ever get another job. If there's anyone out there facing the same sort of frustration, I'd like to hear from you. Tell me your story.
canadianna (write to me at canadianna@live.ca)
8 comments:
I was worked so hard I had a mental collapse from the down sizing to automate, BUT...the E-Business was delayed from sofware issues. So in the next 3 year byusiness rose 300%+ with the same staff. I collapsed and took a week off, but I was so dazed I became robotic to live every day over and over again. Once the Corporation finally switched over I was promised time off. I got sicker and went into PTSD and had a demaged thyroid from the stress,when I recovered enough to work I was hauled into H.R. and given the Pink slip after 20 years and was on medications.
The HRTO was useless because Barbara Hall is buddies with the Bank i worked for,and she gave then a Human Right award in 2005...the same year i was let go after a illness they caused.
Now the bank is denying everything and even spent 5 years refusing to give me the Severance they promised in a Letter.
The HRTO is a waste of money and Hall has a conflict of interest in my Case because she attaend many functions to pormote the bank as Gay-friendly and how it endorses the child-abuse and pedophilia during PRIDE nudity by men flashing their penis at little girls.
Time for Hall to go, and give her a Burka and one way ticket to Iran and see what Shariah Law is really like.
Hall and Miller both condone the child-abuse on yonge street,and now the Banks se the silence to condemn it as a tacit approval to harm children. Miller didn't even have the guts to order the gay cops to make arrests for the TNT slobs getting their jollies before spanking the monkey latter on at the slurpboard.
Move to Saskatchewan and get in on the boom economy.
You mean move to Sask. and die of effin' boredom.
You'd have to spend all of your "boom economy" paycheck on alcohol to survive the crippling depression of now living between Manitoba and Alberta...
I don't suppose he would like to teach. Don't know what his education level is. He could start as a substitute and get to know various school boards. Not sure in your province what the qualifications are.
Hard how men's identity especially is so wrapped up in their work. My husband just retired and it has been a disaster as he doesn't have anything else to fall back on.
I hate to point this out to DavidA, but the man is 48 years old and likely has different priorities than he (DavidA) does. SK has more golf courses per capita than any other province in Canada. We have lakes within an hour's drive of all major centers. There are few weekends when there isn't something going on in the major centres.
Or maybe, just maybe, DavidA should go to AA, join a community club or two, save his pay checks and get involved in making his community a better place to live.
I would agree with Fred - move west, you won't regret it.
Davis A . . please promise us you will not move west.
We don't like pollution.
I would say look further afield. Toronto probably isn't the best place to be looking for work right now, particularly with Mr. McGuinty driving the economy into the ground with "Green Jobs".
Saskatchewan can be nice (regardless of what DavidA says) - Saskatoon is a beautiful city. Alberta is also nice (if I do say so myself), if not a little expensive. And almost no one makes minimum wage - even the 15 year olds at McD's are well above that level.
The idea of moving west is enticing . . . but there are four teenagers here at home (well, one's heading to Carleton in the Fall), and GK has two boys just west of TO.
Five years ago or five years from now, moving would be an option. Right now . . . I'm not sure the family could handle such a drastic change.
Mind you . . . you never know. I've never been a risk taker and I know that is a mistake.
Thanks all of you for the input and suggestions.
Post a Comment