I own an older car -- a 2003 Saturn Ion. Thanks to its modern styling and its plastic side panels, my car doesn't look old. But it was made in the last decade, so it's not a young car. And, alas, GM's Saturn division is a casualty of the GM bankruptcy and declining sales.
About a month ago on a Saturday afternoon on westbound I-696 west of Telegraph Road, the joannemobile's digital odometer went to 100,000 miles. I'm just old enough to remember when old-fashioned odometers "rolled over" from 99,999.9 to 00,000.00 when you reached the 100,000 milestone. The old way gave you a "new" car. However, I like the new odometers.
My car's in good shape; I imagine it'll go the distance for many more tens of thousands of miles. As long as I keep changing the oil and keep maintaining the rest of the car as best I can.
My car's taken me across the city, the state, and to other states in search of my next position. If I've been late, or lost in my job search, well, my car did its part.
We mature job seekers are like my older car. It's true, we have some mileage.
However, if we've maintained ourselves -- if we've kept up our skills -- we can keep on going and going for the distance.
Joanne Scharich is a Ferndale writer, librarian, and job seeker. She regularly blogs at What's So Funny About Unemployment? This is her first contribution to the EXPworker45+ blog.
