George Neil, 64, has applied for countless jobs but has not heard back from any of them
When George Neil retired in his late fifties, he did not imagine that he would have to work another day in his life.
But at 64, he has been updating his CV and sending off multiple job applications in the hope of returning to the workforce.
George, from Glasgow, retired from his job at a naval shipbuilding site in 2021 after four years of service as a piping designer.
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For the last year and a half of his time at the company, he was forced to work from home because of the Covid pandemic.
But when restrictions began to lift and people returned to in-person work, George was informed that his contract would not be renewed.
Speaking to The i Paper, he said: “I was only given a week’s notice, which isn’t unusual as a contractor. I started looking for work as soon as possible but the only work available was far away and after working from home for so long, the thought of moving house at my age didn’t appeal to me, so I took early retirement.
“My partner, who works full-time, and I get by, but our biggest expenses are paying council tax and car insurance.”
As George has not reached retirement age yet – currently 66 – he cannot claim his state pension. Instead, he relies on the workplace pension he paid into and a personal one.
Whilst George did not want to disclose how much is in his pot specifically, he said his retirement savings were “nothing to write home about” and were “probably what the average pension is at the moment”.
George, who has worked across many different industries throughout his life, including oil and gas, civil engineering, and petrochemical engineering, has not had much luck, though.
He added: “Not only do I feel I have a lot more years left in me to work if given the chance, but I also need to supplement my work’s pension and a personal pension that helps fund and pay my bills.
“I have applied for a few staff-paid jobs, including for a computer-aided design technician, a mechanical draughtsman and a space planner draughtsman, but I haven’t had any replies.”
Returning to the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) industry after a career break is “harder than ever”, according to STEM Returners, which helps people in this field return to work.
Bias against gender, age, ethnicity and a lack of recent experience penalise highly qualified people from getting a job, a study it conducted found.
Three-quarters of respondents said they were finding the return-to-work process difficult or very difficult, which is higher than in 2022, when this was 65 per cent and the country was getting back to normal after the pandemic.
More than half of respondents – 53 per cent – said they had experienced bias against a lack of experience, an increase from 51 per cent in last year’s survey, while 41 per cent reported experiencing age bias, up from 36 per cent in 2024.
One job he even applied for twice, he said, as the company was looking for more staff. Again, he never heard back.
George continued: “I was shown around and told that I would be able to come in for a test to show and prove my skills. I said yes, but I didn’t hear from them again.”
Over the past year, George has done some part-time cleaning work to help boost his income. But he recently gave that up after the shift patterns changed, as it no longer fitted in with caring for his granddaughter.
Despite his 35 years of experience and enthusiasm, he thinks his age is an “obstacle”.
“Companies are looking for a younger person who will probably stay in the company longer than I might have left to give, but I still have lots of expertise to give and shouldn’t be overlooked.”
Currently, he is looking for a 12-week retraining and mentoring programme with STEM Returners, which he described as being a “positive experience” so far which has given him hope.
He is willing to learn and upskill, he said, and he is concerned about his financial future. His “years of experience should count for something”, he said, adding that the transferable skills he has built up would “benefit a company”.
Natalie Desty, director of STEM Returners, called out the Government for not taking enough steps to help older people get back to work and boost economic activity.
She said: “Further action really needs to engage industry and employers to create opportunities and remove barriers.
“Similar to the returner barriers, we need to focus on removing the systemic barriers that make it difficult for people to contribute, rather than focusing on changing the individual – it isn’t usually a lack of talented individuals but a lack of equitable opportunities.”