Applying for A Job at Age 70
Applying for a job at age 70
I have had lots of careers in my lifetime, teaching English, starting a mental health association in Lafayette, LA, establishing my own business and selling to a national company, and finally working as a legal assistant.
When I was 70, I was working for two attorneys who did business law, and only occasional trial work. I loved preparing for trial, getting the documents together and organized, helping to prepare our clients for cross examination. I loved the people contact as opposed to the dry dull, daily grind of opening mail, drafting documents, taking out the trash, ordering supplies, and occasionally meeting someone interesting coming through our doors.
I had always wanted to do family law because it seemed to me that I would be in the thick of real life, real situations, real drama, raw emotion. I wanted to feel alive. I wanted to help people. I wanted to hear their story. I saw an ad on the Internet for a legal assistant for a small, family law firm. I sent my resume with the following cover letter.
“David Whyte, who wrote The Heart Aroused, Poetry, and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America, says, “even though we think we are simply driving to work every morning to earn a living, the soul knows it is secretly engaged in a life- or- death struggle for its existence.” I know that to be true for myself especially at this particular time in my life. The reason I am interested in family law is because it deals with the human condition, and that is what I find to be most challenging and meaningful.
The attorneys that I have been working with for the past 10 years are doing less trial work and more business and real estate law, and because I am so fond of them, I have tried to make myself like it, but to no avail.
I am patient, tolerant, conscientious, perceptive, and understanding. I am very interested in talking to you about this position, and I am available for an initial phone interview at your convenience.
I immediately got a phone call from one of the attorneys. He asked me lots of questions, and we seemed to hit it off. I could tell he was interested, and then he asked me if I would need health insurance. I said no, “I have Medicare.” There was a long pause so long; I thought he had hung up. He then said, “How old are you?” Without thinking I answered 70, only later remembering, wait, wasn’t that illegal for him to ask my age? After the, “wow, you sound great,” I thought well, how did you expect me to sound? He said he had to talk to his wife and would get back to me. His wife? Really? I knew I would never hear from him again.
I sent him an email entitled Hey, John, FYI
Shelia Nevins, age 70, President of HBO Documentary Films.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg age 72, Supreme Court Justice.
Diane Feinstein age 72, Senator from CA
Leslie Stahl, age 69, reporter for 60 minutes.
Jane Goodall, age 84 considered to be the world’s leading chimpanzee expert in Tanzania. Still working.
Maya Angelou, age 89. A prolific, influential writer, still touring, still speaking, still reciting poetry and still singing.
I knew he wouldn’t respond, but I hoped it might enlighten him, if only for a moment.
Thanks for your story. I’m sorry this happened to you. Age discrimination in employment harms people, communities, and businesses. It’s also illegal.
01/20/20
Progressive Boomers Are Making It Impossible For Cities To Fix The Housing Crisis
This is very common in my town - Boomers are considered a plague to society - do you feel this article is ageist?
I do think the framing is ageist. In San Francisco, where younger tech zillionaires are forcing the less wealthy out of the city, the reverse is true (and the framing also ageist). The issue is class and privilege, not age.
01/17/20
Yep - definitely ageist!
The Older Women’s Network NSW will keep a lookout for these bloopers and send them in. We love Ashton, by the way!
Definitely ageist, and hugely insulting. Older women are not sick fish.
01/15/20