Re: Advice for someone re-entering the work force

["Pro TechWriter" <pro -dot- techwriter -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Oh my.

Well, I am not sure about the Denver market, but I must say that I would not
be excessively hopeful about getting a high-paying job right away. I've
experienced discrimination about "being of a certain age" (as your friend
is) and my skills are top-notch with cutting-edge tools, and I have not had
a break in my career.

Maybe the best place for your friend to start is with a career counselor
(good places to start:  the University or the state unemployment office) and
discuss what she could do to brush up on her skills. Second, she should get
information from them that she can use in court to show that she can't just
grab a 100K job after being out of circulation for two decades.

I hate to hear of this happening to anyone, where someone (anyone!) stayed
home to take care of the family, and then are penalized for it now. :-(

Best of luck to your friend.

PT

On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 12:02 PM, Mary Headley <mkheadley80503 -at- yahoo -dot- com>wrote:

> Hello,
>
> A friend who I used to work when we were both technical writers has asked
> for advice about re-entering the work force after 20 years . My friend
> hasn't had paid employment since 1987, when she quit working to raise her
> children, although she has done a variety of volunteer work for churches,
> schools, and several social service agencies. She has done no writing since
> then other than the occasional letter. She has not kept her computer skills
> up-to-date, although she knows the basics of using Word. She is in her
> mid-50s and has a master's in communications.
>
> Because of a pending divorce, she has been told by her husband's attorney
> that she could easily find a good-paying technical writing job in the Denver
> area, although she may have to start at a lower level than she was in 1987.
> The expectation from her soon-to-be ex (who is look to avoid paying any kind
> of spousal support, even though he's rich) is that it would be both easy and
> profitable for her to find a technical writing job again.
>
> Does anyone have any feel for how easy it might be for someone in this
> situation to find a technical writing job in today's market? If so, what
> range of salary might she expect? What kind of positions or companies would
> it make sense for her to target? My friend has gray hair and uses a hearing
> aid. How much "ageism" is she likely to encounter in this field? Would it
> perhaps make more sense for her to try to parlay her volunteer work for
> social service agencies into work in that area?
>
> I'm thinking she should take some classes in MS Office (Word, Office,
> PowerPoint) at a minimum. Are there other classes you think are critical?
> (She doesn't have a lot of time or money to spend on more education.)
>
> Any thoughts or perspective you can share would be much appreciated, as I'm
> pretty biased in this situation.
>
> Thanks,
> Mary
>
>
>
>
>
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