Over 50 And Can't Get Hired? Here's A Possible Solution

Now that I'm job hunting, I've been wondering: At what age do you become that 'older worker" who has hit the brick wall? Based on what I've seen and heard from other mid-careerists, the magic number seems to be 55.

Last week, a CNNMoney story, "Workers Over 50 Are The New Unemployables," suggested the even more depressing sell-by date of 50 (based largely on old data, however) -- bad news for me, at 51. But the picture I got from talking with job-search expert Patricia Smith wasn't quite as bleak. Nor was the age of doom and gloom quite so young.