Editor’s note: This article mentions and discusses suicide and depression and may be disturbing to some readers.
After he was laid off four years ago, a 63-year-old Vancouver resident says he’s been on a long, difficult, and discriminatory job search that’s left him worried he could soon be homeless.
“I feel absolutely defeated,” Lindsay Wincherau told Daily Hive.
Just days before the province ordered a state of emergency due to COVID-19, Wincherau was let go from his position at a labour agency where he had worked for 15 years. He claims he was fired because of his age and disputed his termination. After a three-year fight, the settlement was resolved after his lawyer advised him to accept a two-month severance, “which was pretty awful,” he said.
For some time after Wincherau was fired, he said he dove into his passion for writing. Wincherau has written several books and reviewed hundreds of others. While “the writing path is there,” he said, “I just don’t know if it’s ever going to come to fruition.”
“I write manuscripts, and I pitch them, so it never stopped. I was always doing that.
“But then, come 2022, I was thinking maybe I should just bring in some other income,” he explained. “So I started looking for anything at all to just to bridge the gap or help me survive.”
The last time Wincherau applied for work, he said the internet didn’t exist. So, two years into unemployment, he had to learn new ways of looking for work.
According to Wincherauk, a usual day for him involves sifting through hundreds of new job postings, scouring job sites like Indeed or Monster.ca, and receiving sporadic phone alerts of new postings. He said he’s even added his name to a few headhunters’ sites, scoured Craigslist and likely spends four to five hours a day looking for work.
Despite applying for more than 1,000 positions, Wincherauk says he’s gotten one interview.
“You’re too old for this”
The interview Wincherauk was able to secure, he said it left him feeling “nauseous” and as if he was going to “collapse.”
He explained that he felt the young woman who was interviewing him was trying to tell him, “You’re too old for this.”
“And she did,” Wincherauk said. “She said, ‘You know we normally hire high school kids.’”
Wincherauk said he’s applied for work at Home Depot, lululemon, London Drugs, Vancouver Coastal Health, and plenty of writing positions at different experience levels.
“So just anything imaginable, I’ve applied for,” he said.
Submitted by Lindsay Wincherauk
It was not until this job search that Wincherauk admitted, “I’m starting to feel like I’m old.”
Answering impossible questions
Being an older candidate, Wincherauk said some questions companies asked made him feel like he couldn’t answer honestly.
In one instance, he said that during a discussion with a local company’s general manager, they asked, “What’s your dream?” The 63-year-old told Daily Hive, “That’s an impossible question to answer.”
“Nobody when they’re like [63] is going, ‘Oh my god, what do I want to do with my life?’ Because it’s kind of a ridiculous question.”
A lonely and isolating job hunt
With aspirations to write and be creative and with more than a decade of work experience, Wincherauk said he wouldn’t have expected the job search to feel so demeaning and isolating.
“It’s made me feel alone, and it’s made me feel lost. It’s made me feel afraid of the people in my life to talk to about [finding work] because you fear judgment from them,” he said.
For example, when he comes across a “menial” job posting, Wincherauk said his friends suggest he take it. “But there’s no consideration for what that’s doing to you.”
“If it kills me in the process, what was the point?” he asked.
He explained that at this stage of life, it’s tough to accept work that leaves no time for the things that bring him joy and to settle for a low-wage job.
“I’m turning 64. I think I’ve earned an opportunity to do something better and hopefully make a difference,” he said.
So, without friends considering his aspirations and dreams, when they send him job offers, “It feels like they’re telling you to quit,” Wincherauk said.
In turn, the Vancouver resident said he started to retreat from his friends to avoid feeling this way.
“You start becoming afraid of the opinions of others, and it’s devastating,” he added.
“Drowning” in debt and at risk of homelessness
At his previous job, Wincherauk earned a six-figure salary. However, over the last four years that he was without an income or work, he lost his life savings, his credit cards were maxed out, and he is only earning about $500 through his pension plan.
Wincherauk said he is “drowning” in about $60,000 to $70,000 in debt.
“How do you bounce back from that?” he asked.
“You’re right at age purgatory because for every menial [job] I’m overqualified for and everything that I’m qualified for, nobody’s going to [hire] somebody my age,” he said.
“And it doesn’t matter how hard you try. If no door opens, what happens?”
Without savings to fall back on, Wincherauk said at this point he does not see a path to retirement and he fears he could soon be homeless.
“Every month … it gets to around this time, and I’m [thinking], ‘Am I going to become homeless?’ … If I become homeless, what happens?”
While it’s scary to admit, Wincherauk fears for his life.
“What happens to older people when they become homeless?” he asked.
According to the 2023 Greater Vancouver Homeless Count, more than one in five of the region’s homeless are 55 years old or older.
Additionally, a report from United Way British Columbia and the Housing Working Group shared last year found that some seniors experiencing homelessness were considering suicide or medical assistance in dying “due to their feelings of hopelessness about their situation.”
Interviewees involved in the report also expressed concerns about the safety and accessibility of homeless shelters for seniors.
“Homeless shelters were not considered to be a safe place for frail seniors, particularly if they have a physical disability or cognitive impairment,” the report reads.
Since last October, Wincherauk has been at risk of becoming homeless, he said. However, a few generous people saved him on a few occasions.
Ruthless job search no matter the age
Wincherauk has posted his journey of searching for work online and said that, at times, people have shared comments in response; however, he said he believes some folks are missing the point.
While he is facing trouble as someone over 60, he said he expects that, in time, many young job seekers will find themselves in similar situations.
“All these menial jobs are gonna be gone soon,” he suggested. “Corporations will look for any way to replace them, and it’s happening all over the place. You can just see it from your grocery store.”
Even today, he said, there are plenty of examples of people of all ages finding the job hunt challenging.
“I think most people are going, ‘What the hell is coming, and how am I going to survive?’”