?I was hit with a double-whammy!? Henry lamented. Henry, 53, was not only let go at the peak of his earning years as a telecommunications executive, but also at a time when his industry was in a decline.

At first he wasn?t really worried: he?d weathered similar reverses before. This too would pass, he thought. Unfortunately, it didn?t ? and many months later he was still looking, his savings running out as fast as his hopes.

Henry, alas, is not alone. As noted in a recent Fortune magazine article (?50 and Fired,? May 10, 2005), more and more executives like Henry are faced with longer and longer job hunts. And more than a few are driven out of the job market completely. The Bureau of Labor Statisticcs in a recent survey covering 2001-2003 stated that those 55 ? 64 were less likely to find new jobs than 25 - 54-year-olds [57% vs. 69%] and 9% more likely to drop out of the workforce altogether. Furthermore, the survey observed, older workers? pay is often significantly reduced. Even more disturbing, perhaps, the number of older workers aged 55 ? 64 will have increased by 18 million by 2012?just that much more competition among our older population!