tcaudilllg,

Just read the original article on your link.

I think age discrimination is a reality, as others have attested to by personal account. However, I think it's not something which can be done away with easily, I think there are macro-elements affecting employer's decision-making.

Unemployment is still very high. The economy favors employers. They have the advantage, getting to pick the 'right' candidate. Sometimes having 5-10 *qualified* people applying for one position, if not more. When this is the case, employers can be choosy: and can discriminate on almost any basis they want, be it age, gender, religion, the fact that you walked into the interview without your face completely shaven, etc. Why not pick the best candidate?

There are laws which try to reduce discrimination, but of course that's a formality. How can you really regulate something that's subjective? As subjective as making a decision? Sometimes no concrete proof of discrimination.

In better economies, employees have the edge. There may be 4-5 job offers for each person, where demand in the economy is so high, employers just need people to fill the jobs! In better times, people have the advantage, in being choosy of where they want to work, what type of work they want to do, how much to get paid, etc. etc. When unemployment is low.

Before this goes into a completely rant of how the government in Bush's administration didn't regulate the money supply well enough, or how too much money in the economy caused the subprime mortgage mess, or the good/bad things Obama has done in his administration to help/hurt the economy, I'll just give this practical advice:

STAY ACTIVE. Work part-time work if you must, but stay busy. That guy in the article is doing an amazing thing by at least being a barista. Pay sucks, but it's a LOT better than nothing. And it's more than just about pay, it's about mindset, experience, staying positive, etc. Don't sit for months doing nothing.

APPLY FOR HIGH-PAYING POSITIONS. Think big! It's amazing how little people actually want to *work* in this economy, but how quickly people are demoralized about financial news. There are lots of jobs out there! It's still pretty easy to get a job, if you look for one!

You control your activity. Wayne Gretzky once said, 'You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.' How many job offers do you think you'll get, if you apply to zero places? I'll say apply to 50-100 positions if you must, if not more, but it probably won't even take that many. I'd say it's still fairly easy to get an interview with 10-30 applications yet. Which, if you're focused, you could spend a few hours and do in just one night, tailoring your cover letter, etc. etc.

I feel very fortunate to have gotten a professional finance position in this economy. But part of me wishes someone had told me to just keep applying and not lose hope, sooner. I could have been working sooner too. Anyway, enough of my rant. This pep talk has been provided courtesy of Mountain Dew.