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Career Help and Advice

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cilla4progress

(26,379 posts)
Fri Aug 30, 2013, 11:23 AM Aug 2013

Laid off yesterday - seeking support here? [View all]

Hey, all! Longtime DU'er here. Just got laid off (in a series of successions over the years) from a position as a paralegal, a career I've been in for over 20 years. Was working for a solo practitioner who finally realized she couldn't afford me.

I'm over the hill (can "see 60 from my house&quot , but still a lot of kick left. To be honest, the job was miserable. I'm ready to do something completely different. I need to be creative. Before I got my paralegal training (yet after I'd earned my BA degree...) I waitressed for a number of years, in some great places. I am "called" to go back into food in some way. Looking at buying a little old abandoned bakery /lunch spot in my small town. Or perhaps starting out by working as a baker, or even a waitress!
I know I will NEVER spend my days pointing and clicking meaninglessly, all day. I also know my marketability as a paralegal in our area is limited or nil. But will anyone hire an old warhorse with bad feet, is my quandry?

So I'm teetering between an idealistic, follow my dreams mode (with a major consideration being financing), and panic, I guess. Fortunately I do have unemployment compensation available, for the short-term. And some ideas about using my professional background, over the long-term. It's the mid-term, I guess - the paycheck, I'll really miss!

Does anyone have any ideas or experience with getting hired over / around late 50s - 60s? I'm assuming I'm looking at pay cut, no benefits - much less retirement. To be honest, I'm ready to check out of the BS professional world and kick it back to serving good food to happy people in lovely settings!

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