Unemployed Gen Xer Explains How He’s Trying to Reinvent Himself at 56

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Robert Poe, a 56-year-old former e-commerce director. His identity and former employment have been verified. This story has been edited for length and clarity.

I started my career at IBM in digital marketing. My brother used to say to me, “You’re always going to have a job.” I’ve been through layoffs and worked at companies that shut down, but I never really had to look for a job in my role.

My last position was as director of e-commerce at Badcock Home Furniture. I made $120,000 as my base salary. The company was eventually bought by a company that filed for bankruptcy. I lasted about six months in a new role that I landed.

I wasn’t worried about finding another job. But that was a year and a half ago. Since then, I’ve sent out over 1,000 résumés.

The experience has been a shock. My wife and I sold our house and moved into an apartment. We’ve had to claim bankruptcy. I sold my car. We’re partially living off of our sons’ Social Security and my wife’s job. Our daughter, who lives with us, helps pay rent.

I pretty much have given up on finding e-commerce director roles. I guess I’m too old. I hear a lot of people saying, “Go start your own business,” and “This is the time to reinvent yourself.”

So at 56, that’s what I’m trying to do.

I tried gig work

I got my real estate license and tried that for a little.

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I was commuting about an hour each way to sit in an office with a bunch of 20-year-olds, doing exactly what I could have done at home. At some point, I realized that it’s not realistic to work off strict commissions and commute to an office when nothing is coming in.

So I tried out being an Amazon delivery worker for five months. I’m in shape and I work out. But at the end of the night, I couldn’t walk up the stairs. It’s a different world, especially when you’re not used to being spoken to that way. It’s a great side gig if you want some extra money, but it’s not enough to live on.

I’m giving entrepreneurship a shot

In addition to the gig work stuff, I’ve tried to be entrepreneurial.

I launched a digital marketing startup called JBP Media Group with a partner who used to work with me. It will be another six months before any income comes in and I’ve had money come out of my pocket just to get it going.

We’ve gotten a handful of clients, which is wonderful, and we have some employees offshore to help with some of the work. But when clients pay you $200 a month, you need a lot of those small clients.

I’ve also published a book. I have two 20-year-old twin sons with special needs, and the book is about the expenses that hit special needs families. There are probably around $60,000 a year in expenses per kid, including transportation and insurance.

Publishing the book has been a bucket list type of thing, and it’s one that keeps your mind going. Starting a company has also kept me busy. Even if I’m working technically for free, it keeps my skills sharp.

I keep trying everything on top of interviewing, thinking that something will hit. In the meantime, I have to keep going.

The system is broken

I have been putting out about two to five résumés a day. I’ve met with tons of recruiters and have relationships with some of them. But a recruiter will ask to schedule a call and then never get back to me. I’m hearing more and more of that happening, where you get through an interview round and they put the job on hold or find someone internally. It’s depressing.

Everybody’s saying, “LinkedIn’s not the place to be anymore” or “You have to make your résumé different.” It’s incredibly confusing. It’s like they flipped a switch overnight. The system’s broken.

For Gen X folks, it feels like if you’re out of a job, then it’s just too bad.

Right now, I feel like a failure. But my message to other people is that something will work out, even if you have to go from a six-figure job to making $50,000 a year. For me now, I want to work for the Special Olympics, where I volunteer and coach paddleboarding. Even if it’s a pay cut, I can start over, and we’ll figure it out.

Have you struggled to find a job? We want to hear from you. Reach out to the reporter via email at aaltchek@insider.com or through the secure messaging app Signal at aalt.19.