After 40 years in work, I am now surplus to requirements
AM I too old to get a job at 59? When I was unexpectedly made redundant in February as an office manager, I was not too upset.
In fact, I was relieved that I’d no longer have to face a tiring commute and long days in the office.
In more than 40 years of working, I’d never been unemployed for more than a week and so felt more than confident that after a bit of a break I would soon be back at work.
However, after almost 200 applications for medical, secretarial and legal executive roles, and also for jobs as various as a fishmonger and postal worker, I am still unemployed.
I average one to two interviews per week, which each take a lot of effort to prepare for – there is no doubt job hunting is a full-time job in itself.
Shockingly, some of the prospective employers from supposed world-class businesses haven’t bothered to get back to me after these interviews. Recruitment can be brutal. MARY BEATTIE, Slapton, Buckinghamshire.
Way of the Dragon
GAVIN Duffy won’t take a pay cut if elected President (Mail). Very noble. He clearly has Ireland’s interests at heart. He then went on to say he would take on the role of a Donald Trump-style negotiator if elected. Right there is every reason not to elect him. Back to the Dragons’ Den then.
MARTIN STRINGER, Barnacogue, Co. Mayo. ...SO Gavin Duffy, if elected, will take a full Presidential salary on the basis that it will help recoup his election expenses!
Is this a novel way of ensuring that those who, by not voting for him, did not support his candidacy will contribute to his election costs? TOM BURKE, Clonsilla, Dublin 15.
Bottom of the barrel
THERE is an amusing saying about failure: ‘They have hit rock bottom and started digging.’ This suggests things can’t get any worse and yet we see many examples of the levels to which some people can sink.
In this area we have many inspiring examples: sports people who don’t understand that drugs and cheating are wrong, celebrities who don’t understand what celebrity really means and that it doesn’t involve taking off clothes, and world leaders who don’t know how to lead or even play nice.
There are many wise people, and laws created after long debates, and religious texts that all provide guidance as to how we should lead our lives but there is a simpler version: Don’t do anything that you can’t tell your grandmother about.
This is highlighted by one story of the many over the weekend involving crimes, disasters both human-created and natural and political mayhem. A nine-year-old boy selling lemonade on a pavement in Monroe, North Carolina, was robbed at gunpoint. Nothing justifies or excuses this. Let’s make this the final example of a world gone wrong and look for ways to make it better for everyone, including those you don’t like, those who look different, those who speak differently and even those who oppose you. DENNIS FITZGERALD,
Melbourne, Australia.
Bravo for our women
THANK heavens we finally have some sporting glory to bask in thanks to our women’s hockey World Cup finalists. Isn’t it notable how they won silver and have managed to bring glory to the nation on a shoestring.
If they can get to a final with such meagre resources then why can’t our professional, well-paid men’s teams even match their achievement?
The Republic of Ireland soccer team haven’t made us proud for too long now. Perhaps the Football Association of Ireland could learn something from the hockey association?