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Is 28 old for the job market?
I'm not saying that 28 is old physically or mentally but for the job market is it? Lately I have been thinking that one of my problems in trying to find a job is my age. I know I'm not that young anymore and from my understanding despite the way the economy is most employers think by than you should have been established career wise.
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#2
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I love how bizarre your posts are.
You are absolutely correct. At 27, most people become mountain hermits, homeless people, monks, prisoners, or retirees. Some just disappear into places unknown. What have you been doing for the last ten years if you don't have any job history? Living in your parents' basement? But seriously: it's never to late for entry-level work. Apply to fast-food places or whatever is convenient. When you get interviews, appear reliable and eager to work. In time, you'll build skills and a resume and become ready for better paid work. Last edited by The Joker and the Thief; 04-01-2015 at 04:49 PM.. |
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#4
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That partly depends on what kind of job you're looking for. For example, if you're running for U.S. President, it's way too young.
In most cases, though, I think prospective employers will care far more about what you've been doing with your life up to this point than about how old you are. |
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#7
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That is not a function of age....
An no, 28 is not too old. I had to job hunt at 43 and managed it so 28 is a doddle. Your job experience and resume have much more to do with your success. Last edited by swampspruce; 04-01-2015 at 05:03 PM.. |
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#10
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No, 28 is not too old. It's not even too old to go back to school, complete your education, and then look for a job Last edited by IvoryTowerDenizen; 04-01-2015 at 05:11 PM.. |
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#12
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28 is not too old to find a job - I even moved country then and was able to find work pretty quickly. What is kind of expected is that you will be set on a path with a few years of experience behind you. So if you don't have any kind of work history and haven't been studying, parenting or volunteering chances are you might raise a few eyebrows. (I'm not in the US but I expect it's similar there).
Last edited by Girl From Mars; 04-01-2015 at 05:23 PM.. |
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#13
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What type of work are you looking for?
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#14
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I didn't have much of a job history when I landed a very good job at age 30. Also, I suppose you can join up with the Job Corps at age 28, which, from what I've heard, guarantees you employment at least to retirement age. You're not on the wrong side of 40 just yet.
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#15
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Yes, 28 is old. If you haven't made enough money to buy a house and save for half your retirement by now, your best bet is to start having babies now. You can hope that one of them strikes it rich by the time they reach 27, so they can take care of you in your useless, enfeebled future.
Good luck! Last edited by Ravenman; 04-01-2015 at 06:17 PM.. |
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#16
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Well, it totally depends on what you mean.
I had my first job of any kind at 17. That was at McDonald's. I had my first career job at 32, after I was done with graduate school. I just got a new job a few months ago, at age 52. So 28 is old to be getting your first job of any kind. It's not old for your first career job, depending on various factors. It's definitely not too old to be getting a job at all. Heck, my dad found a new job at age 64. It was his last before he retired. Last edited by suranyi; 04-01-2015 at 06:35 PM.. |
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#17
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If you bounce from job to job, it's not you're age. Actually, it you had good experience in the market that you are looking at, 28 is a real good age IMHO. Starting to settle down and be more responsible. If you've gone from gopher to gopher jobs all your life, and change jobs every year or two, I suspect you will, or are having problems. Is that your situation? |
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#18
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As for you, it depends. If you just got a PhD, no problem. If you've spent the last seven years in a drug-induced stupor, maybe a bit harder. |
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#19
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I remember when I was 28. All my friends were retiring, but I wasn't ready yet. Part of it was financial. I admit, I was never good at finances, so I hadn't saved up enough. So, I had to pound the pavement looking for work. And it wasn't easy. I mean, I was competing with young people...these 7 year olds, fresh out of kindergarten, full of piss and vinegar. I remember one time, this hiring manager, he must have been 14, 15, and you know how they get, laughed at me, and said "Give it up, grandpa. This is a young man's game." I thought about seeing a lawyer, you know, about the age discrimination, but it would have just been my word against his.
It was discouraging, and I wondered sometimes if they all were right; if I really was too old. But, you see, I had an added incentive...I hoped to get married and have kids someday. So I committed myself to finding a job for my future wife and kids. And, ultimately, I succeeded, and that's how I became a professional Candyland player. No. 28 isn't too old to look for a job. Keep plugging and you'll find something. |
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#21
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I'm 60 years old and have had two job interviews in the last couple of months where they called me. They didn't want to pay what I was asking, so I stayed working where I'm at.
I have skills that are in need. Actually I've changed careers a few times over the years as I could see the writing on the wall as far as where my career track was going. For example I was an aircraft mechanic for over 24 years, but then went into computers when I turned 42 YO. It was a good choice. I've had at least one job since I was 14 years old. I did take a 2 week vacation before joining the military when I was 18 YO. Since then fully, or more, employed. A few years ago (around 40 YO) I had a full-time job and 3, count them 3, part-time jobs. I kept one of the part-time jobs (teaching night classes at a local college) for 16 years and now get a nice little $200 a month retirement check. Here's the trick and it's one that I told my kids when they were in college. Study something that isn't "fun" but there's a job market for it. I'm a database administrator - boring! My son is a CPA; one daughter is a mechanical engineer; and the other daughter is a high school science teacher. All are successful and have no trouble finding work. Oh! My wife is a nurse and has to do things like start catheters and wipe butts. But she makes almost $40 an hour plus time and a half overtime. Most local newspapers have multiple listings for nurses. If you want a job, become a nurse. Simple. Last edited by JerrySTL; 04-01-2015 at 08:12 PM.. |
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#22
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28 is nothing. I was job-hunting at 44 and did fine. You'll do fine, too. Keep your skills and professional contacts current. |
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#23
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28 is a bit old. I mean by now, if you haven't started a billion dollar app in your dorm room or made Vice President of Search Engines at Google, you should be a second year associate at Accenture or Goldman Sachs trying to eek out a living in New York or San Fran on $130k.
Last edited by msmith537; 04-01-2015 at 08:44 PM.. |
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#24
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Dude, really? I spent my life "exploring" in college for 6 years. During that time, waited tables, sold tailored clothing, etc. I moved to CA in '99, recession from '09 to '11 had me doing freelance and unemployment checks with 11 years experience.
I was later hired by a company in 2011, with 401K, benefits, 4 weeks paid vacation. I recently moved to a better job, near the last location, better money, better benefits. And the difference between me and anyone who's 28 is my 13.5 years experience, which is usually a good thing. But that's for me. In many businesses, say being a gigolo, 28 might be pushing it. For a plethora of other jobs, you're right in the mix. Welcome, good luck and enjoy the (hopefully employed) ride. Last edited by Locrian; 04-01-2015 at 10:10 PM.. |
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#25
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I waited an extra couple of years before going back for my MBA, and now I'm graduating as a 30 year old. I don't have anything I can do to match up with those 28 year old go-getters. I am such a slacker.
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#26
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From reading through some of the OP's posts, I think his problem might not be age related.
To play devils advocate, I can sort of understand what the OP is talking about, depending on his industry. I was kind of joking before, but in a number of professional industries - investment banking, law, consulting, Big-4 accounting, PR, technology to name a few - people tend to star their careers at a very early age. Heck, most professions tend to have entry level jobs would naturally tend to skew younger. They tend to hire a lot of kids right out of college and work them 80 hours a week. Some also tend to attract super-ambitious kids who know that's what they want to get into at an early age. So what might also seem weird is you could have a 28 year old vice president who has been working at one of those firms since he was 22 (or longer if he had internships in college). At 42, I'm not looking for those jobs. I'm looking for the jobs managing those kids (or managing their managers). But the point is, 28 is not "too old" for the job market. But it may be on the older side of the pool of candidates looking to land the sort of entry level jobs that candidates right out of college look for. |
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#27
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I've worked since I was 16, but got my first professional job at 32. The job search was fine, and I had a lot of options despite entering a pretty tough-to-enter field with a fairly odd early work history and a completely irrelevant undergrad degree.
That said, I did a lot in between to prepare- grad school at a top school in my field, substantial volunteering, building a strong professional network, and researching every last in and out of the field. By the time I started my job search, I knew the professional landscape like the back of my hand and had friends everywhere. What is it that you are looking for? IMHO, building a really good career is possible for most anyone, but it's a long game and takes a great deal of focus and strategy. |
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#28
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#29
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Wait (on edit), was this a April Fools day thing? Last edited by Happy Fun Ball; 04-02-2015 at 08:29 AM.. |
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#30
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I left the military at age 43 and was hired immediately by a company. I left them two years later and was hired immediately at age 45. Six years later I resigned and was hired immediately at age 51. At age 56, having risen to the top of that place, I was head-hunted by a company, took an offer and moved on. At age 58 I was hired by another company, where I worked for two years until being laid off. I didn't have time to collect unemployment, because I was immediately hired by my last employer at age 61. I retired at age 62.
Too old at 28? |
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#31
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careers or went back for schooling in something else, which was usually around their late 20s. But they weren't "temp" jobs by any stretch of the imagination. The ones who had more generic, or less valuable degrees (most liberal arts, most business except for focused professional accounting programs, etc...) tended to do something more or less what you describe- they came out of school, worked a series of jobs for the first 5-6 years, and then fell into/settled for something that they could do as a career right around 30 years old - I know several people who sort of fell into the less technical aspects of IT through this route, and I know a few people who fell into being things like law firm office managers and legal secretaries for high-status lawyers through this route. A lot of retail managers of my acquaintance followed this path as well, as have a lot of general white-collar workers at most companies. So 30 years and 6-8 years of work does seem to be the watershed moment for a lot of people. |
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#32
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For clarification Captain, are you talking a first job at 28 or getting a job with previous experience? Last edited by swampspruce; 04-02-2015 at 09:29 AM.. |
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#33
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If 28 is too old, I might as well retire now. Is 38 too young to retire?
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#34
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#35
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My last duty day in the military was also a Friday and started working a new job on Monday. I had 2 months of terminal leave saved up so I was getting 2 paychecks! Plus the new job paid hourly. If I worked 60 hours, I got paid for them. What a concept! The only downsides were going down to 2 weeks of vacation instead of the military's 30 days and having to figure out what to wear to work. |
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#37
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It's always funny to me when my fellow late-20s engineers say things like this -- that we're already past our prime in the job market. I don't have this problem at all, but I've also read more textbooks over the 7 years since I've graduated thank I read while I was in college.
In my field it doesn't have anything to do with age; it has everything to do with skillset. |
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#38
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The days of yore when a person could get hired into a corporation when young and stay there until retirement are long, long gone. They did exist for a brief time in the 50s to 70s but they are gone now.
The days when you could expect to remain even within one industry or type of career are recently fading too. The more specialized your talents and training are, the more likely that you will become obsolete. I have read that a young person should expect to change careers 5 times in their working life, not jobs, but actual careers. It may be bullshit, I don't know, I was trying to get a cite but got lost in all the job hiring related cites and gave up. Whatever training you have at 28 is not going to last you long enough to reach retirement. You have to keep learning and adapting to the job market. You have no idea what you will be doing 10 years from now, let alone 20 or 30 years. It might not even be related to your current skill set. I was lucky to spend most of my working life at a 30 year job in industry, then that particular industry kind of evaporated and I moved into something completely different. But my ability to adapt, learn, and basic skills with people allowed my success in the new job. That was at 53 year old. You do not really need to know much specific to excel, you just need to be able to quickly learn new things. This is not as common a talent as it should be. Life is long, only the days are short. |
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#39
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Since CaptainAmerica_1987 mentioned "you should have been established career wise", I assume he means finding your first professional job at 28 rather than re-entering the job market at 28 with an established career. If there is a standard traditional path to a professional career that involves going to college immediately after high school, graduating in 4 years, and finding a job soon after, then just starting the job part at 28 is definitely non-standard.
On the other hand, even if it's desirable to do everything 'right' every step of the way and land your first career job at 22, that doesn't mean it's common. More importantly, even if some baby-faced 22 year old does seem like a refreshing alternative to a stodgy 28 year old, you don't really have any choice but to compete as best you can. Rather than being inherently more desirable, the bigger advantage of being a 22 year old just graduating from school is that a lot of companies recruit on campus for their entry level jobs. The jobs they post publicly are looking for experienced candidates. But that's an advantage of just finishing up your education, not being young. 28 seems old to not have figured out it doesn't make any difference what everyone else has done with their lives. Last edited by Fuzzy Dunlop; 04-02-2015 at 03:06 PM.. |
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#41
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I'm 41, almost a decade into my third career. I work with colleagues in their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and two in their 70s. A colleague in his 50s left my place of work to go to another last year, a colleague who's 63 started here two years ago - same time I did.
28? You have the best decade in front you, try not to waste it. |
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#42
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Fuck me. I didn't even finish my education until I was 32.
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#43
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Twenty-eight is not too old to be entering the job market. But it is an issue that many interviewers are going to ask you about. They're going to want to know what you've been doing in the last few years rather than working. So you should anticipate the question and have an answer ready if it's asked.
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#44
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It's not too old to get a job doing general labor or serving coffee. Temp agencies are always looking for people to fill warehouse positions and the like; such jobs generally tend to attract losers who literally cannot show up for work for five consecutive days, so if our enterprising young OP can just show up for work on time and sober for a few weeks he'd probably get a permanent position. (I am really not exaggerating; I've seen the files at labor agencies that fill those kinds of positions, and they really do struggle to just find people who'll take minimum wage jobs without showing up late, drunk, or high.)
And if that's what you gotta do, that's what you gotta do. Everyone starts somewhere, it's usually at the bottom, and you might as well start Monday. |
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#45
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Anyway, CaptainAmerica_1987, I decided to change careers at the ripe old age of 34 and a half. It was during the recession, and it only took me 7 weeks to find a new job that paid twice as much as my old one. It's not age, you need a better excuse. In all seriousness I super highly recommend going to the library, borrowing Resumes That Knock 'Em Dead by Martin Yate and following the advice exactly. It feels absurd but I did and 3 out of the 4 last cover letters I wrote got me interviews when I'd gotten none weeks 1-6 of that job search. Last edited by elfkin477; 04-02-2015 at 08:16 PM.. |
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