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Laid off November, hired March. In the Swiss job market. As usual, I targeted my search carefully, at least for the job I really wanted.

The unemployment office also made me spam out 8 applications a month to other random crap jobs. Sorry about that, hiring managers. I sent half-baked ChatGPT cover letters to jobs I knew would not hire me (ageism is convenient when you DON'T want to be hired...)

What do you expect? Make stupid rules, get stupid behavior. Sigh

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Ageism was pretty hard to overcome on my most recent search. I'm pretty sure at least half of the jobs I applied for, I didn't hear back for that reason. Hard to prove, and sucks all around. I've never been the type to just stop and hold still/firm on tech or adapting to new processes.

Target specific jobs and employers where ageism can work in your favor. In my case, I thought I was going to play the "generalist" card based on the job posting, but they asked for someone to build the team by recruiting juniors and training them. Ok, sage age, FTW.

Also: shave if you have a grey beard. Save it for later when you need someone to listen to advice from hard-earned experience.

I look goofy without the beard/goatee, since my hair is excessively thin up top and generally shaved.

Ageism? nobody's even bothering to be subtle about it anymore.

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