Lf gov't job opening (UPDATE: it's been filled!)

[Jac@stafford.net]

I know! I feel like with the way they ask questions it has me answering like I have no experience but they can't really expect to hire someone who has done this exact job for years and years.

You would be surprised. It is also possible they wrote the job description for a candidate they already know.

[Tin Can]

You would be surprised. It is also possible they wrote the job description for a candidate they already know.

That would not surprise me one bit.

My last employer did that all the time.

HR is the enemy!

[Corran]

As for the older guys, well..how about you just continue to enjoy your hobby and let a young person get a break?

Yeah...
When I graduated with my undergrad degrees, in the middle of the recession, there were no jobs in my field available in the state - dozens of retired folks had come back at 49% to the open positions, making a young, fresh-out-of-college guy unemployable. Age discrimination is also a huge problem.

I know of one older (50-60+) person who has applied for this position, a Vet, worked in photography for the army or something, so obviously in the context of this job, he has a huge advantage, regardless of skills. Obviously us younger guys have no chance comparatively, since none of us has had "official" LF experience, since that kind of job has been mostly extinct. Until now, anyway.

[Old-N-Feeble]

You would be surprised. It is also possible they wrote the job description for a candidate they already know.

Nah... ya' think???? LOL!!

[sperdynamite]

Yeah...
When I graduated with my undergrad degrees, in the middle of the recession, there were no jobs in my field available in the state - dozens of retired folks had come back at 49% to the open positions, making a young, fresh-out-of-college guy unemployable. Age discrimination is also a huge problem.

I know of one older (50-60+) person who has applied for this position, a Vet, worked in photography for the army or something, so obviously in the context of this job, he has a huge advantage, regardless of skills. Obviously us younger guys have no chance comparatively, since none of us has had "official" LF experience, since that kind of job has been mostly extinct. Until now, anyway.

Yeah I graduated in 2007 and then everything took a nose dive off the fall that was already happening because of digital. It think photography is now listed on a few sites as one of the worst majors, which I really can't disagree with, though I don't have specific regrets.

I hope they don't give this job to somebody with one foot in retirement because it sure would seem like a good idea to keep knowledge of these techniques out there instead of having them just go with the previous generation(s). There is a lotta negative talk in this thread, but whatever I guess that's just a constant online. I'm realistically hopeful!

[Joe O'Hara]

Looks like the Department of the Interior has an opening for a LF photographer in the HABS program:

https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/422484300

Maybe one of you youngsters would like to give it a go. Better move fast, it closes on December 15th.

MODERATOR'S NOTE: Thread merged.

[Jac@stafford.net]

Yeah I think photography is now listed on a few sites as one of the worst majors

Yeah, it's right down next to professional spelling editors.

[Tin Can]

Ageist commentary. Politics?

Consider this young guys, Bryan.

I was forced out of work at age 57 in 2007, automotive recession. No chance of getting hired for anything.

I am now 65 and retired, but my mother is alive at 95 and I may very well have to reenter 'work' to survive another 30 or more years.

We early retirees seem to have many skills young people never learned in a multitude of fields.

I am getting more requests to volunteer my skill set...

I am very busy.

[Corran]

Randy, I have a very good friend who is closing in on 70. He works 60 hours a week at his business. He tells me I'll likely be the one to find him dead at his workbench, which makes me really sad. However, he does it because he loves it, not (completely) due to needing the money.

Having to work to live when anyone is supposed to be "retired," or worse somewhat incapable of most work, is a terrible thing to contemplate. I'm afraid the scope of this discussion, as you mention, is likely too politically charged to even begin talking about.

With regard to my comments - I do think there are many older folks who keep working well past retirement age not because they have to, but because they want to. That's fine, but this certainly creates a problem for younger professionals trying to enter the workforce. Another good friend of mine finally "retired" from teaching (she still works part time) because she was actually losing money by working. She was past 70. It's the first open spot in that area in over 30 years. That's unsustainable.

[Kodachrome25]

The main thrust of me wanting to see a younger person get this is because I mentor young people, I know what they are up against in professional photography. They ask me how do they break in like I did and I tell them I have not a clue because I did some 30 years ago.

I don't plan on retiring, or at least that is the plan. I will be 50 in a year and a half and at least for now, I can pretty much edge my competition out, just too established, too forward thinking, and keep on cranking out fresh work like nobody's business. So I feel like I have to give back a bit. I am going to travel with one of my students to Cuba in May for the entire month. He is 22, has great vision, wants to do work that would not compete with but be complementary of what I want to do down there.

Lots of retirement aged folks out there who shoot LF as a hobby who chose to be a dentist, engineer, hardware store owner, etc are going to perhaps apply to this in order to do something in their retirement years.

More power to them but I am rooting for the young guy this time around...the guy like me who at age 17 was figuring out how to "Break in".