LETTERS Middle-aged whinger
Sir: What a whinger Jeremy Putley is (`Life begins at forty, 23 February). I too am both qualified and experienced and have just been made redundant — but I'm 59, not 46 — and for me losing a job is an opportunity to strike out afresh. You don't become unemployed on redundancy, you enter a new career (that of finding a new position) which is full-time, just as absorb- ing, not much more frustrating and can be as creative as any other job. It's no good complaining that employers prefer younger people; we may think they're wrong, but then we would, wouldn't we? They have the absolute right to take on whomever they think best for the post, and you have to convince them that's you. Nobody can do it for you. The fact that it may be difficult to do so is irrelevant; if you can't handle a difficult assignment are you really the right man for the job anyway? If one avenue appears to be shut, try another — for instance what about short- term contract work? That is what I am now doing. It is often just when firms have shed staff that they find themselves overloaded. No, Mr Putley, stop complaining, take the world as it is and make the best of it. Prove your ability by showing initiative, inventiveness and skill in the way you set about finding work. The buck stops with you.
C.A. Hely-Hutchinson
The Garden House, 3 Brand Lane, Ludlow, Shropshire
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