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.