I’m 30, paying my parents' mortgage, and watching my highly qualified dad (60) get ghosted by recruiters. Does it ever get better?

Posted by mall234@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 285 comments

I \[30M\] live at home with my parents. I moved back a year ago, and now I cover their mortgage and do what I can to keep them happy. I mention this first because I think it provides context for where I am writing from. Seven months ago, my dad \[60M\] lost his job; even after being assured it was safe, he was still let go. This was the third in a series of “lettings go” over the past four years. He is a specialist in car parking and electric cars. He speaks five languages fluently, is approachable, and has experience in acquisition, tech, reporting, consolidation, account management, and training. He has always been incredibly accurate in his predictions about the future of any business he's been involved with. Moreover, since I was young, I have known him to work late into the night to ensure that everything he does is of the highest standard. I’ve seen him pour his heart and soul into improving companies that ultimately discard him. He embodies professionalism and expertise. He has been unemployed for seven months now, and I am helping my parents prepare to sell the house. Despite his expertise, experience, and communication skills, I would expect him to still find employment. However, he averages only two interviews per month; his former colleagues and bosses have either retired or passed away. He consistently progresses beyond the first interview, recently reaching a fifth-round interview where he successfully navigated an extremely complex “new age” question for an AI parking startup. During this interview, he was able to switch languages to explore more nuanced terminologies with the founder, who did not have English as a first language. My parents are both in their early 60s, and despite very accurate predictions about the future of parking, they have no extensive pensions and truly need to work for possibly another decade. I suspect ageism may be a factor, but I want to know if anyone else out there is experiencing similar issues themselves or with their parents. It seems like every “professional” I know who is out of work is struggling to find anything. I simply can’t see a future where I can resolve this for my parents.