Losing your job at age 40

On the 27th day of the Lunar New Year, Tri Nguyen, 42, the deputy director of a factory in Ho Chi Minh City, was summoned by his superiors to receive his termination notice.

"I had anticipated the difficulties with orders," he said. "But what surprised me was that right after Tet, the company closed the factory and laid off all employees, including long-serving managers."

This is Tri Nguyen's second job loss in just over a year. After his first job loss in September 2022, he realized his age presented many disadvantages, so he didn't rush to find a new job but instead spent time learning new skills. However, when he started looking for work again in May 2023, he gradually realized that times had changed. The positions he wanted were no longer as readily available. Many companies were offering significantly lower salaries, so even after reaching the final interview stage, he was still rejected. It took him a full year after being unemployed to find another job with a similar position.

However, the manufacturing sectors were still struggling, so he lost his job again after 5 months.

"I'm looking for a job right now because I see the market is gradually recovering, so I have to act fast," he said. Since Tet (Lunar New Year), he has been diligently searching, sending his CV to two places, but hasn't been called for an interview yet.

In over 20 years of working, Mr. Tri has never faced difficulties like the present. He and his wife have two children of school age and a mortgage on their house in Binh Tan District. With his job lost, the family is forced to tighten their spending. He says it's heartbreaking every time he has to tell his children they have to stop their piano and English lessons.

The biggest pressure was the fear of his family getting their hopes up only to be disappointed each time he quit a job. His children would ask why they didn't see him working. Neighbors and friends would gossip about him being unemployed for so long. He had to hide his job interviews from his family for fear of them getting their hopes up again.

"Losing jobs or failing interviews eroded my willpower and self-confidence terribly. At times, I felt like I was trapped in a narrow space, unable to stretch my arms and legs," he confided.

Middle-aged workers apply for unemployment benefits at the Hanoi Employment Service Center on the morning of March 13. Photo: Phan Duong

Although he voluntarily resigned from his job at the beginning of March, Nguyen The Hung, a construction engineer in Hanoi, is not feeling any better.

He had planned to take a break after 30 years of working, but when he went to claim his unemployment benefits, he was so upset that he skipped lunch. "For the first week, I was overwhelmed with feelings of emptiness and loss," the 53-year-old man said.

Amidst the downturn in the real estate industry, Hung's company has consistently failed to win bids. From someone who brought in projects worth trillions of dong, he now goes to work every day with no projects, and all his efforts seem futile. His income has dropped by more than half. He didn't receive a single penny in bonus this past Tet (Lunar New Year).

"I thought quitting my job would be liberation, but it wasn't. The feeling of lacking money, status, and admiration tormented me," he confided.

In 2023, over one million people of working age nationwide were unemployed . The number of middle-aged workers laid off increased sharply, 1.6 times higher than in 2021. In Ho Chi Minh City alone, those over 40 years old accounted for nearly 30% of job losses. Experts predict 2024 will be a difficult year for middle-aged workers, and the unemployment rate is expected to rise even faster.

Following the wave of mass resignations (great resignations) due to work-life balance issues during Covid-19, or "quiet quitting" two years ago, 2023 and into 2024 will be the year of quiet firing or mass layoffs occurring strongly in technology companies as well as labor-intensive industries such as textiles and footwear in Vietnam.

Navigos' latest report from January 2024 shows that 18.4% of businesses will not recruit new staff, and nearly 60% of businesses will only recruit less than 25% of their workforce.

"Candidates' opportunities will become more limited regardless of age. This also increases the risk of job loss and hinders employment opportunities for middle-aged workers, who are often plagued by the '35-year-old curse'," said Bui Doan Chung, founder of the Vietnam Human Resources Profession community.

According to Ms. Dam Thi Thu Trang, CEO of a recruitment company in Hanoi, many industries will continue to cut staff in 2024, focusing on redundant senior and middle-level positions. Experienced, high-paid employees will be replaced by subordinates or new hires who are paid less and may have to perform multiple functions.

According to this human resources expert, older workers are particularly vulnerable when laid off during times of economic instability. "Those who cannot adapt to the new work environment are more likely to be laid off and find it harder to re-employment," Ms. Trang added. Furthermore, prejudices against older workers, such as being considered "conservative" or "unwilling to learn new things," put middle-aged workers in an even more difficult situation.

Having supported and interviewed many older employees over the past 18 years, Mr. Chung said that the most important thing for middle-aged workers is to "dare to reinvent themselves," "step out of their comfort zone" to do jobs they've never done before or jobs that require a high level of expertise and specialization.

The period of unemployment is a valuable break to reorganize expertise, strengths, learn new languages ​​and technologies, and find a new, relevant career path that can be pursued until retirement. This also helps employers better assess one's adaptability and flexibility in a new work environment.

"Sometimes, the perception that older workers have 'big egos and high inertia' is just a bias. Many of the people I've interacted with recently are very proactive in learning and have an open mind," Mr. Chung said.

Ms. Hong Anh (name changed), 41 years old, a single mother of two children in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City, is an example. Anh was formerly a representative of a Hong Kong company in Vietnam when her contract was unilaterally terminated at the end of 2023. Initially, she was shocked to learn that the incident was not her fault but merely a pretext for dismissal.

But she quickly accepted the reality of losing her job and picked herself up. During the Lunar New Year holiday, Anh learned how to use the job-related social network LinkedIn to connect with HR professionals, studied foreign languages, and reviewed her legal knowledge. She is currently on probation at a new company with many favorable conditions.

"Suddenly losing my job made me realize that I always need to be prepared for unpredictable changes. Looking back, I also see that I had become complacent over the past period," she said.

Mr. Tri has now obtained Chief Production Officer (CPO) and Total Quality Management (TQM) certifications to further his career. He also intends to shift his focus from his current production expertise to management or business administration, or representing a foreign company, and has therefore enrolled in a CEO training course.

"I'm also preparing to potentially start my own business later if another crisis arises, because it gets harder to find work as I get older," he shared.

As for Mr. Hung, at the age of 53, he has decided not to return to the construction industry because he lacks the health and ability to compete with younger colleagues. For now, he will receive one year of unemployment benefits and then retire immediately, having accumulated 30 years of insurance contributions.

Although his youngest child is about to graduate from university and his eldest is already self-sufficient, he said he still needs to work to save for old age. "I'm thinking of getting a job as a security guard," he said, adding that he'll probably never use his engineering degree again.

Phan Duong

Source: https://vnexpress.net/mat-viec-o-tuoi-40-4725079.html