When I left work soon after my 55th birthday I soon began looking for another position. My experience was in a quite specialised field but I applied for just about every position I felt I could do.
Over the next six months I made 263 applications in Switzerland and received zero responses.This included the local Migros and Mac Do-Do.
I made a few outside of Switzerland, The UK, Middle East and North Africa. There I got four interviews and one offer. For various reasons it didn’t work out.
Yes, and I wanna bet they’re Swiss. I don’t think that’s a possibility for Johnny the foreigner. You came here to fill a position for which they couldn’t find a local, you’re useful as long as you carry on. Wanna tend sheep and grow tomatoes - your home country awaits you with open arms… This is a luxury only the people who have a solid social network can afford to try moving to.
One strategy is to decide you are going to work to live, rather than other way around. Show up and leave on time, take your breaks and turn off (or ignore) emails, calls and texts received outside business hours. Do your job, but don’t do any extra.
You may discover that there is a life outside the office.
If thy are unhappy with you working for what they are paying you for perhaps they will give you a nice package to move on.
It it always possible to test what a life with a lower income is without quitting the good paying job.
Move to lower rent apartment, set a fix boundary for food expenses, delete the budget line for dining out, try vacations at home, etc. If the test outcome is fine, then quit the stressful job.
Also, talk to people. I remember having foolish ideas when I learned scuba diving. Then, I listened to 3-4 instructors and I realized how hard that life is. Maybe the answer is having a few beers with a bar tender and listen to their problems.
Great point Axa. Check your finances, can you afford to live where you are now on a reduced salary etc?
Finding cheap/cheaper places is not always easy, especially not if you live in/around bigger cities.
London was an incredibly ageist society by the end of the 80s, to the point people in their 30s were being passed over and also pigeonholed. I worked in the City for a number of years, was made redundant 2 weeks before my 30th birthday and it took me 9 months to find another job due to age, being too experienced, earning too much in the job I was made redundant from and other organisations couldn’t match it etc. I applied for everything I felt capable of, but employment agencies would only ever send me for jobs in other Japanese companies, they wouldn’t consider me for anything like the underwriting companies in the City. It didn’t help that 3 months after I left the company I worked for was involved in a major scandal involving insider dealing and the Yakuza. Added to all that I was a woman.
I remember applying for a job with a major publisher of art books in the West End as I wanted to get out of banking, they were interested in my skills but didn’t want to make me an offer as the salary was a third of what I’d been on and they thought I’d leave for a job with more money. Needless to say I eventually ended up in another Japanese bank, it was totally soul destroying and after 2 years I resigned and went to University to finish my education. I went to work in the Arts for 2 Royal Societies and then a heritage charity after graduation.
Fast forward to 2004, by that point people in their 40s were having difficulty so the way forward was retraining and self employment. OH had even considered doing the certificates for fork lift truck driving by that point.
You do realize that you’ve got an Ace in the sleeve? Your mother tongue! Lots of opportunities to teach. Also a lot of people would pay for private conversations, just don’t charge 100 chf/h, but maybe 20 chf/h, will that fit your expectations? You can start with organizing a group on “Meetup” app. I’m very happy attending such meetup once a week, handing a 10 chf to the host each time. In exchange the host gives me ~10 min, the rest of the time you learn by talking (or struggling to talk) with the others
@anon54711873 you got a lot of downbeat comments above, let me cheer you up a a bit.
Recently I came across two 22-year old guys from the Netherlands who decided to travel across all 7 continents. Great plan except that they had no money at all. Their first stop was Zurich where they made 2.5k in 4 days.
This is a luxury only the people who have a solid social network can afford to try moving to.
