The Whys and What Now of Being Jobless at Mid-Life

Unconventional advice for middle-age executives who are struggling to find a new job.

Lance Ng
5 min readJun 10, 2024
Photo by Matthew Osborn on Unsplash

I’ve always been an observer and critic of society. It’s part of my nature. Now having entered mid-life (47) and seen so many people lose their jobs — and then struggle to re-enter the corporate world, I’ve made a few unconventional observations of my own.

Warning: what follows isn’t a pleasant pill to swallow if you are unemployed at mid-life. But it just might be the plain, hard truth you have to accept if you want to get back up on your feet.

First of all, don’t blame yourself. I’ve seen it happen to a lot of people — both competent and incompetent folks. But the common thread is this. If you’ve lost a mid to senior level position with an attractive paycheck in your 40’s or 50’s, chances are:

  • You are a relatively nice person who gets along well with others.
  • You’ve done well in your career and rose up the ranks over time.
  • But… your life is relatively unremarkable and ordinary otherwise i.e. nobody’s gonna read your autobiography.

Nice guys don’t finish

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