Unemployed and ageism

[Monsoon38]

My mum's late 50s and is out of work. She's in the healthcare industry and has had around 8 interviews over the last 2 months where she was unsuccessful.
The issue is most of them just never got back to her despite saying they'd call her the next day, only 1 or 2 actually did.

She's qualified and has decades of experience, she believes it's her age even though she intends to work until retirement age or beyond. She's getting quite disheartened, she did get offered one job but decided the travel was too far.

The thing is she doesn't want to apply for any job just to have an income, luckily they are not desperate for income. I know in my position I'd have to take on any job to pay the mortgage, but i understand it can be hard to go from a professional role to something else when you've always worked in that field.

Not sure what else she can do other than keep trying. I do suspect ageism may play a role and it's wrong, she's sitting at home a lot and I do help with job applications where I can. It's supposed to be an industry where they're 'crying out for staff'. Told her to try agencies but they've apparently told her they aren't getting a lot of work.

The fact that she was offered one is reassuring hopefully, though I do remember it being a bit easier a few years ago.

How did she end up out of work? Has she been out of work a long time?

To be fair it was easy for everyone a few years ago, the job market is awful at the minute

She was working on a bank contract but the shifts were very few and far between, they then moved to a new area.

It's wrong that employers can't take 10 seconds to send an email after someone's attended an interview, it'd avoid them waiting days and having false hope.

I agree, too many employers just don’t bother replying. A lot of stress could be saved by just sending a rejection email. I hope she manages to find something soon

This

Maybe it's come back to bite her though - a bit of karma?Wasting a company's time by applying and being interviewed for a role that 'she decided the travel was too far' is not her wisest move. Why on earth didn't she think about that BEFORE she took up people's time. It's not as if a location can change half way through a process. Very unprofessional.

It’s obviously not ‘karma’ and as OP said she moved to a new area, so it was probably a genuine mistake while working out new travel times etc.

Jesus...very nasty and bitter

How long was she in her past role?

It is wrong

but it categorically isn’t remotely linked to your
mother’s age

It Is widespread

Maybe the company has dodged a bullet then if she can't work Google maps.

Bitter about what?

Seriously?

You chose to gloat about 'karma' and post a pointless comment that does not help the OP in any way. Just sad really.

She’s done really well to get that many interviews in a couple of months. So many are applying and hearing nothing back. It’s just so tough out there at the moment. The ghosting is so rude. I hope she secures something soon.

Have you literally just searched out a thread to come be horrible on? There’s not even a decent reason for it, such a weak effort.

You’re being a bit cartoonish villain @OutOfTheOtherSide

This is so stupid 😂, people apply for multiple roles at once, get to end stage interviews to find out what the offer is and take the best one all the time, people get offers and decide to stay in their current role because management increase their salary to retain them, people change their minds all the time because they have a wobble last minute. This is no different and comes with recruitment. Don’t be so ridiculous 😂😂😂

OP in response to your actual post. Sometimes a great CV isn’t enough. Are you sure she’s a great interviewee? If several people are applying for the same role, the deciding factor has to be an interview. If your mum hasn’t had a lot of interviewing experience in the recent years then she might not be scoring very well.

Maybe but my point stands. It is beyond stupid, selfish and unprofessional to waste time in pursuing a job when you haven't done something as basic as checking you can get there. If the OP and her mum are being open about the reason she turned it down, it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that a candidate becomes known as a time waster.

It’s really not that big of a deal.

Sometimes you don't know that a journey will be a nightmare until you do it. Many journeys look fine on paper aren't in real life! Maybe she only realised this when going to the interview(s).

I can’t imagine what you must be like as a parent

shudder

It's literally thousands of pounds! You've clearly never run a business.

I have. And it can and does cost money i agree. But you don’t know these people or the employer, they are strangers on the internet in a story that might not even be real for all you no, really not worth being nasty and bitter about. Life happens and the vast majority of people get that, clearly not you though.