4 ms·
Ask HN: Career advice for a family member?
My uncle is in his 50's. He graduated with a B.S. in EE and went into sales, where he excelled. About 6 years ago he got laid off and has been struggling to find a job-- he can't even get interviews despite a stellar resume. He went through some health problems and what not but continues to apply to jobs. Despite the fact that he was at director level in his past jobs, he is open to entry level jobs in sales/marketing. What should he do?
- sndean 10y agoThat sounds similar to my uncle's situation. BS in Engineering, laid off during the recession, health issues. He's had to take whatever job he can get, currently pretty close to minimum wage. And that's after hundreds of applications since 2009/2010. Hope they both can find a job (or a better job) soon. I'd like some good advice too.
- Spooky23 10y agoTake a civil service exam. A fifty year old is a dead man walking to any company.
- dc17 10y agoWhats about self-employment? May be your uncle may offer some kind of service or consulting in sales/marketing for businesses or other entrepreneurs? I know some examples when after retirement people started their own business and became successful.
- Mz 10y agoBy 2020, 40% of US workers will be doing gig work of some sort. He needs to be looking for an intermediary service, like UpWork, Textbooks, Task Rabbit or Amazon Flex https://flex.amazon.com/ https://flex.amazon.com/. He needs to let go of the idea of having a job per se and go find work that pays.
- orky56 10y agoIf he's still open to technology, I would recommend picking up Salesforce. As a Salesforce admin with experience working in sales, he could be a valuable asset to a company. The admin certification is not as difficult to pick up and many people within the industry see the industry experience to be a big asset.