AARP is the American Association of Retired Persons, but anyone over 50 years of age can join this nonprofit organization that helps improve the quality of people's lives.
AARP is holding career fairs for workers age 50+. You can read more about the fairs and find one near you here.
So while it is quite alarming to learn that unemployment continues to rise, it is somewhat reassuring to learn that there is some support out there for people who are going through a "MAMA" cycle regarding their career identity.
That is, folks who were in an Identity Moratorium once made a commitment to a career, and therefore moved into an Identity Achievement, but have now perhaps entered another Identity Moratorium as a result of company layoffs, and must commit to something and move into Identity Achievement again, if only to pay the bills.
Needing to re-explore one's identity and re-commit to a new identity can be challenging for anyone regardless of the reasons, but it may be particularly difficult after making financial commitments such as mortgage payments and raising a family -- as well after a person has been in an identity achievement for a substantial period of one's life -- and when the need to re-explore is imposed upon a person by outside forces rather than a result of job dissatisfaction.
This is not to say job dissatisfaction can't be as debilitating as being laid off, but people can often exert some degree of control regarding how they cope with dissatisfaction, whereas being laid off unfortunately very frequently results from forces utterly beyond one's control.
In the meantime, our communities need both more jobs and more support like this for the many unemployed and underemployed people of all ages who are bright, motivated, and talented.
