IT Smarts
Sitting on Rachel Conine’s balcony overlooking the bay in Tiburon, Califonia, makes you feel as if you could not have a care in the world. Not the case for this hard working, educational technology writer. She started a new job there in November of 2005, uprooting herself and selling many of her belongings to make the move to the Bay Area in January of 06. By September of the same year, she was out of work.
Rachel entered this field at the age of 35, already “old” for the industry. Over the years she has seen a difference in the way she has been treated. Her bosses and often their bosses are younger than her. “My experience counted when I was hired, but once on the job, I am put in a corner and ignored,” she articulated. It made her feel they were treating her the way an adolescent treats their mother. “In our society older people are not valued. In some companies you are asked for your opinion, then nobody cares.”
See how resiliently Rachel deals with the fears and worries normally associated with job loss.
“Ageism is a subtle thing,” Rachel wrote in an email. “After so many litigations accusing employers of discrimination, the laws & rules have improved and the methods of getting around them have become harder to detect – unless, of course, it is happening to you. You can't prove it, but it is still there.”
