I went from being a sales engineer, an architect, and an account executive to working at a consulting firm in an entry-level cold-calling job.<\/p>\n
The majority of the people I work with are fresh out of college. When I sit with them in the common room, they’re like, “This is my first big boy job fresh out of college,” and I’m sitting here, almost 50 years old, with a child about to go to college.<\/p>\n
It came with a massive pay cut<\/p>\n
I am now making about one-third of what I made<\/a> at my sales engineering job. At my former job, my base salary was $148,000, but now it is $52,000.<\/p>\n The layoff cost us a lot of money, and because of it, we don’t travel anymore. <\/strong>Our credit also took a massive hit during this time, and we weren’t able to cosign on a loan for our daughter to go to college. So she decided to take a gap year and start at a local tech school while she builds up savings and credit to be able to take out loans and transfer.<\/p>\n Related stories<\/p>\n Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know<\/p>\n Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know<\/p>\n We’ve had to cancel a lot of services. Typically, we could hire somebody to do some of the bigger things, but now I have to do them on the weekend.<\/p>\n So now, instead of spending my weekends with my family, I spend them fixing things around the house, like rebuilding a staircase, working on cars, painting rooms, replacing light fixtures, AC plugs, light switches, and other such projects.<\/p>\n We couldn’t afford to fix my daughter’s car, so we had to get rid of it. Now we’re down to two cars instead of three. We have to carpool a lot, which isn’t a big deal, but it does inconvenience us from time to time. My company also required us to be back in the office, so now I have to drive an hour to work and back. So, I’m on the road two hours a day.<\/p>\n It has affected my family immensely.<\/p>\n I no longer understand the market<\/p>\n I am trying to get back into the field that supported me for the better part of 20 years, but nobody is hiring or interviewing me.<\/p>\n Since being laid off<\/a> in 2023, I’ve applied to hundreds jobs. I did get one offer last year, but it was rescinded because of company changes. Other than that,\u00a0I’ve had interviews, but I’ve never gotten to the acceptance round.<\/p>\n I still apply to anywhere between two and five jobs a day.<\/p>\n No matter what I do to my r\u00e9sum\u00e9 or how much outreach I do, it feels like it doesn’t matter. I’ve been doing everything that they tell me to do, and I might as well be throwing darts at a piece of paper, hoping they land and don’t fall. I don’t understand the market anymore. It doesn’t make any sense.<\/p>\n I’m doing this job because I have bills to pay and I have to provide for a family. So, I’m kind of stuck where I am until I can hopefully find another job.<\/p>\n I have a feeling that people think I’m too expensive because of my experience or that I’m going to leave the minute I find something better. They don’t realize that I’m applying to the job not only because it’s a job in my field, but also because I see it as a possible career.<\/p>\n I don’t need a job. I’m not 20 years old anymore. I need a career. I’ve got three kids, one of whom is about to go to college and two more on the way. I got my daughters’ weddings to pay for in the future. I’m going to be working until I’m 80. I need a career that’s stable.<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/placeholder.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n