While it is nice to be able to stay within your comfort zone..IE: living close to where you live now, not having to move etc...If I were you, and had your qualifications, I would not limit myself in terms of not thinking internationally.

Here in Singapore, I know 3 guys from Texas, who are consultants in the oil industry.

They basically have it made . The company pays all of their expenses, air fare, lodging, travel while here, and they are able to keep their homes back in the U.S.

You may want to consider this as an option.

Besides...There are some really neat places across the pond.:)

I didn't lose my job, but rather retired two years ago in my early-mid-late 50's. I immediately turned around and sent out my curriculum vitae to school districts located within an area in which I was willing to travel as a curriculum development consultant. I have an MS and EdS degrees in curriculum design and implementation. I charge a fairly hefty fee, but work alone and so can actually save districts money when they are implementing curriculum, aligning coursework between schools or choosing new textbooks. Frankly, a lot of what I do is simply being the disinterested "expert" who gives a stamp of approval to what the local administration has already decided to do. I began receiving inquiries almost immediately. I could do this full time quite easily, but choose not to. I'm not interested in being more than about a half day's drive from home as I have a ranch to run in my "spare time". I typically put in about 10 days a month and it more than pays the bills.
If I were you I'd consider looking into the others' advice about contracting, as long as benefits aren't an issue. All things being equal, who wants to work for some puke who's 20 years your junior with half your skill set?

the government hires lots of people every year and many of them are older workers. look at the FDA.

Correct me if I am wrong, but legally speaking, what does your hiring criteria have anything to do with a person's background or ability to do his or her job? Is this information you wrote, in your company's hiring benefits handbook's by-laws or rules and regulations?

I am sickened and deeply troubled to read your personal practice here, as well as I am having a hard time believeing that you would write this heavily prejudiced, likely illegal, and almost cultish statement about how you go about hiring in America for the firm you represent.

I am wondering if your company that you represent fosters your hiring standards, or even knows how you go about your weeding out of applicants?

Is the information you disclosed above, given to the interviewees as the reason they were not hired?

Oh for Pete's sake.....

I herd of the idea of hiring a young guy with a wife, 2 children & a big mortgage and then working the guy to the bone a long time ago. It doesnt work!! The guy has a break down followed by a broken marriage & then looses interest & motivation in working hard.

An experienced older guy starts earning his employer income from day 1 !!
Lets take Tom (I hope he doesnt mind) for example. Not only do you get a guy who has a wealth of experience with prior project management, but also people management & design skills. His professional network that he has developed over his lifetime of professional experience is so important and valuable. He can probably work at 50% of capacity & still be more productive than some recent university grad.
The days of wanting to hire young kids for some obscure reason are on their way out.
Knowledge & experience will always overcome youth & vigor !!

An industrial chemist with 20 or 30 years of practical experience are a very valuable addition to any organization.
A 21 year old recent grad is just no comparison. they will probably be wanting to go traveling for a year or 2 & then you have no idea if they have the ability to become a good team player.

The network is important for sure. I can call folks when I have questions about different things and get answers from trusted people in minutes lots of times.

Having dealt with contractors and material suppliers for three decades I have a sensitive detector for information given out which is in the self interest of the party giving it out.

On the other hand you need to keep your sources up dated as folks retire and croak!;)

Where the kids get ahead is on general computer skills.

At age 60+ I am still learning how to run a computer. My skills since I came to PU have increased immensely. I know how to do stuff routinely now which I never would have guessed I was capable of learning. It is not that hard to pick up and old dogs can learn new tricks though.

That's the viewpoint of the .gov here for regulatory agencies. Who better to have oversight on an industry than former players in it?

I say age be damned. Past about 30 it's more about your general health and outlook anyway. Use your age to your advantage. I'm so sick of the bias towards young people that our combined societies are so utterly fixated on. Even though I'm young-ish myself at 39. ;)

If you are fit and energetic, you can still be working and contributing past 60. You have a massive wealth of experience to draw upon that younger candidates lack. You are wiser...with the emotional maturity and stability that can only come with age and experience. You're cool-headed. Stable. Life-learned. No kids to raise, been there done that, have lived through it. Use those traits to your advantage and market them.

Yes, youth has 'vigor' and 'energy', whatever the hell that is supposed to imply. My grandmother at 99 could probably outrun some of the current crop of 20/30-somethings with their obesity issues. Unless you are applying for a manual labor job, who cares? Can you tell this issue annoys me to no end? If I see another TV show where the ADA is a 25 year old lawyer I am going to...post another rant. :)

Anyway, best of luck to you and present your age proudly! If an employer cannot see past a number, you are better off not working for them anyway.

p.s. The Canadian government did a massive golden handshake scheme several years ago to 'trim' the apparently bloated bureaucracy. Many senior public servants took the offer. Of course what really happened was the government ended up hiring many of them back as consultants for more money than they were earning on salary. Many of them drew their pensions while billing top dollar as senior consultants. The government needed their expertise as all of a sudden there was no one left up top to make the big decisions. A comedy so perfect, only politicians could have created it.

Your biggest handicap will be your lack of desire to move to the money. In a booming economy, MAYBE. This economy is hardly booming or doing good.

Take my case for example. Madison WI SUCKS when it comes to hiring Nurse Practitioners. You MAYBE can see 1 or two ads every couple of weeks for NPs in the local paper. Move to Milwaukee and you see more. Move further up north and you have even better opportunities. For 3 years we commuted. 70 mins there and 70 back assuming clear skies. Why? I didn't want to move until we see some sort of stability. In the meantime I set up my business in the Milwaukee area just in case it works out as we thought for the wife. Should it not, we can move with her. As they said:

Just because your friends helped open a door for you doesn't mean you can walk thru it. Sure, they started the process but if you succeed, it is your success. That nobody but you can do.

My wife's friend has her PhD and is doing post doc schooling. Very impressive till you see that it was her boyfriend she cheated on her husband with that was behind her. He did open the doors for her and even helped her with her work. Doesn't matter. She still sucks in both senses of the word which explains her current position. During her PhD, her adviser was trying to ditch her by suggesting that another adviser would be better suited for her, etc, etc. BF opened the door, she can't walk thru.

Perhaps so but how long have those individuals been doing it? If it is for a long time with good experience and contacts, sure. At 55, if I start that career, I'm not sure I could do that well as you state.

Maybe it is the same as my old IT director's actions. He would be understaffed and doing good still. How? Very simple. His trick was to hire consultants since they were NOT calculated into his performance review. The system was based off his achieving results with the number of employees he has. He hired a bunch of consultants that were kept on and on and on. As soon as one project was done, he would hire them for another. They can work there making good money for 2 or 3 years. So, on paper he has 10 employees doing the work of say 13. He was given leeway to hire contractors for high demand items and he was liberal in the definition of "high demand".

If an individual is starting a career never having had one before 55, you will have problems getting hired anywhere. What have you been doing the past 35 years?? Wait, don't answer that!