It was a toasty 19
degrees as I slid out the door at 4:30 pm and I thought that of the five
people who enrolled, perhaps one or two might show up. The temps were dipping further south and there was no way people would want to head out to the school,
park a mile away and then trudge through the ice and snow to a job search
class.
I was
wrong. While one man came in early, eleven people trooped in right before the
session started. They weren't all local either. They came from different
counties and one woman came from another state. Their stories were all
different yet all the same. Of the twelve people there, two were former
business owners who were having a tough time finding work for companies, one
left on his own to knock off a couple of bucket list challenges and the rest
were unceremoniously dumped from their former positions while in their fifties
and after giving their organizations long-term careers. I could relate; I've
been in their shoes. I told them my own story.
The program
was great and our objectives were hit. As we wrapped up I asked the group if
they wanted to continue with the remaining sessions of the class in February as
scheduled or wait to finish in the spring. They all wanted to pick up next week.
Why am I not surprised?
The Baby
Boomer generation continues to be slammed in the job market although the
monthly unemployment numbers tell us an altogether different story. This is the generation that is
picking up consulting work or toiling away at two or three jobs to keep the lights on
or get their kids through college. I was in a room surrounded by hundreds of
years of knowledge, experience, persistence, successes and failures. Organizations
view them as money sucking dinosaurs; I view them as heroes.
I cannot
believe that I thought that no one would show up for the training.
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