Laid Off at 60? Here Are Some Tips for Starting Over

When you lose your job at 60, you might feel too old to get a new job, but too young to retire.

USA TODAY spoke to 10 Americans who lost jobs around age 60, to learn how they had handled the difficult decision of what to do next.

Here are some of their best tips for other older Americans who suffer a job loss.

Don’t Panic

When Todd Fannin lost a high-paying job at age 61, he and wife Carrie decided to switch gears and launch a new career with a deck and patio franchise.

Their advice to other job-loss victims: Don’t panic, wisdom taken from the Douglas Adams book “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”

“Okay, maybe panic a little bit, but set a time limit on it — perhaps a couple of days to really feel sorry for yourself,” Carrie Fannin said. “After that, take stock, grab your towel, and start looking for a plan.”

Don’t Try to Replace the Job You Lost

When JoAnne Kim lost her marketing job at age 62, she was living in Qatar. After some reflection, she and her husband moved to Mérida, Mexico, and she settled into semi-retirement.

Her advice: “Don’t assume your immediate job is to replace the job you just lost.”

Upon losing her job, Kim’s first instinct “was to update my résumé, work my network and find another senior marketing role,” she said. “It took me a while to realize that I had been given an unexpected opportunity to ask a much bigger question: Do I actually want to go back to the life I just left?”

For some people, “the answer will absolutely be yes,” she said. “But give yourself permission to consider that it might be no.”

Think Outside the Box

At age 60, Margaret Bowles lost her job as a corporate attorney. She picked up many odd gigs before settling on her true calling, photographing the NFL for the Associated Press.

Her advice to older job-seekers: “Think outside the box. Expand your horizons.

“I did so many things after I was laid off,” Bowles said. “Wrote online courses for real estate broker licensing, wrote copy for websites, learned how to do Phase I environmental studies, became an insurance adjuster — whatever I needed to do to make a buck.”

All of the jobs were interesting, she said, “and led me to experiences I would never have had otherwise.”

Lean on Your Network

Joanne Dority lost her sales job just before her 62nd birthday. She didn’t have much luck on the job market until she connected on LinkedIn with someone around her age who was hiring.

Older workers often have a vast network of professional contacts at their command, workplace experts say.

“Lean on your network for referrals and references,” Dority said. “It’s amazing how many of your connections travel in the same circles.”