it is extremely difficult to find a permanent, career-level position in central florida. employers may not consider you if they think that your commute will be too long (over 35minutes) and your 'the villages' address immediately labels us as 'over a certain age'. that said, it is not impossible to find a good job, but it takes much effort......and lots of patience, and be prepared to not find something for 1+ years.

[Russ_Boston]

Originally Posted by Jeff Bieberfeld

it is extremely difficult to find a permanent, career-level position in central florida. employers may not consider you if they think that your commute will be too long (over 35minutes) and your 'the villages' address immediately labels us as 'over a certain age'. that said, it is not impossible to find a good job, but it takes much effort......and lots of patience, and be prepared to not find something for 1+ years.

Where did you get the stats on the long commute? I've been part of the hiring process of dozens of people (career-level as you put it). I never cared where they commuted from unless they indicated that they needed to relocate.

You don't need the TV address to determine age (although employers are not supposed to consider that). You can tell from someone's resume and then in person approximately how old they are.

You might be right about it being difficult but I question your reasoning.

[benjohara]

Thanks Ohiogirl - I think I got caught up in the "fun" of looking at houses in TV thinking that selling them might be a possibility. If there is no time to enjoy what TV offers, why live there, right? I'm sure everyone that moves to TV has to figure out the balance of when to move there and can you afford to pull the plug on making money and living on savings/investments, etc! Yes, I am younger than most considering moving here but a low end, part time job may be the way to go. Thanks again for everyone's thoughts. Definitely got me thinking!!

[Vinny]

It seems half the people I meet here are real estate agents. In fact my better half is one do we looked into working for TV. Very hard to get as you can make a good living. Long waiting list we were told. Having said that, there are a lot of realtors in the area so what you make depends on your sales skill and market conditions. My wife decided that she could no longer handle the buyers and sellers anymore without screaming so she retired tom real estate. Plus the market sucks.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by Vinny

It seems half the people I meet here are real estate agents. In fact my better half is one do we looked into working for TV. Very hard to get as you can make a good living. Long waiting list we were told. Having said that, there are a lot of realtors in the area so what you make depends on your sales skill and market conditions. My wife decided that she could no longer handle the buyers and sellers anymore without screaming so she retired tom real estate. Plus the market sucks.

What do you mean when you say "Plus the market sucks"?

[Pturner]

Originally Posted by Russ_Boston

Where did you get the stats on the long commute? I've been part of the hiring process of dozens of people (career-level as you put it). I never cared where they commuted from unless they indicated that they needed to relocate.

You don't need the TV address to determine age (although employers are not supposed to consider that). You can tell from someone's resume and then in person approximately how old they are.

You might be right about it being difficult but I question your reasoning.

I agree, Russ. I never considered a candidate's commute or age and don't know why anyone would. Great employees are hard to find without weeding out well-qualified candidates for irrelevent issues. And, of course, age discrimination is illegal, in addition to being unwise.

[Pats2010]

Originally Posted by Pturner

I agree, Russ. I never considered a candidate's commute or age and don't know why anyone would. Great employees are hard to find without weeding out well-qualified candidates for irrelevent issues. And, of course, age discrimination is illegal, in addition to being unwise.

Age discrimination is alive and well. It may be illegal, but it is practiced every day at almost every company.
If one job comes down to two candidates who are ages 40 and 60 respectively, who do you think will get that job?

[Russ_Boston]

Originally Posted by Pats2010

Age discrimination is alive and well. It may be illegal, but it is practiced every day at almost every company.
If one job comes down to two candidates who are ages 40 and 60 respectively, who do you think will get that job?

I don't know. Which one is more qualified? All things being equal I agree with you - it happens.

I do know that the Central Florida Health Alliance (TV Regional Hospital) was given an award for being in the top 10 of all employers for 'Best places to work over 50'.

Age = Not always as much of a factor as you might imagine on the surface.

[Hawkwind]

Originally Posted by Pats2010

Age discrimination is alive and well. It may be illegal, but it is practiced every day at almost every company.
If one job comes down to two candidates who are ages 40 and 60 respectively, who do you think will get that job?

You better believe it is practiced every day. I have experienced this with the company that I worked for and was one of the casualties and there is nothing that can be done about it.

Here are some of the tactics that are used.
1. They decrease the number of job classifications and job descriptions to increase the labor pool to pick from. You may have the top rating at one time but in the new pool you are close to the bottom. This really works well if you are the only person in that job classification.
2. They change the job rating system on a regular basis and place emphasis on other areas and not just performance.
3. Declare problems with the pension fund and give you 3 or 4 days to make up your retirement decisions if you are eligible. In this companies case the amount of lump sum pension would be cut to 80%. You had to meet the requirements to retire and many did as not to take such a hit on their pension. The same thing happened a year later and this time the lump sum payout was 50% and if you did not take then you were required to take an annuity at a rate to be determined at a date when you chose retirement. This pension fund is now so under funded if you wait you will only get pennies on the dollar.
4. Totally do away with your job classification but the work gets assigned to someone else.

I can go on and on but that is life. One other thing that when you are let go you have to sign a legal document that you will not work for the company for at least one year. Also you have to sign or you will not get any severance that you have coming to you. Severance was at one time one weeks pay for every years service and that has been cut to a max of 12 weeks regardless of the years of service.

And today just happens to be the one year anniversary of this happening to me and it happened to a lot more at that company over the last year.

[jannd228]

Originally Posted by Hawkwind

You better believe it is practiced every day. I have experienced this with the company that I worked for and was one of the casualties and there is nothing that can be done about it.

Here are some of the tactics that are used.
1. They decrease the number of job classifications and job descriptions to increase the labor pool to pick from. You may have the top rating at one time but in the new pool you are close to the bottom. This really works well if you are the only person in that job classification.
2. They change the job rating system on a regular basis and place emphasis on other areas and not just performance.
3. Declare problems with the pension fund and give you 3 or 4 days to make up your retirement decisions if you are eligible. In this companies case the amount of lump sum pension would be cut to 80%. You had to meet the requirements to retire and many did as not to take such a hit on their pension. The same thing happened a year later and this time the lump sum payout was 50% and if you did not take then you were required to take an annuity at a rate to be determined at a date when you chose retirement. This pension fund is now so under funded if you wait you will only get pennies on the dollar.
4. Totally do away with your job classification but the work gets assigned to someone else.

I can go on and on but that is life. One other thing that when you are let go you have to sign a legal document that you will not work for the company for at least one year. Also you have to sign or you will not get any severance that you have coming to you. Severance was at one time one weeks pay for every years service and that has been cut to a max of 12 weeks regardless of the years of service.

And today just happens to be the one year anniversary of this happening to me and it happened to a lot more at that company over the last year.

I was a career transitioner into public education. What you described happened to me, including paying for a small pension into the retirement system for long term sub work I completed. Paid in, it was returned to me, almost everything you describe here happens in public education every day. It is the way our country now works I guess.

[Russ_Boston]

Many of these have happened to me as well. That's why I read the writing on the wall and switched my career to nursing. Went back to school at age 50 and I'm now working as an RN part-time. My current medical center employer wants me to transition to them full time so I guess it all depends on what field your in.