The Crash of 2008 hit everyone pretty hard, but in some ways it hit Baby Boomers hardest. Not only did many Boomers take a major hit to 401K plans that were already woefully underfunded (or even leveraged to send kids to college or make escalating mortgage payments), lots of them also lost the jobs they planned to keep working at way past their normal retirement age.

And guess what? Turns out employers don’t much want to hire older workers, especially older white men—a group they expect the bail on them the moment the economy recovers.

In fact, it isn’t all that much of a stretch to imagine that when it comes to corporate cost-cutting and decisions about downsizing, sending a pink slip to an older employee instead of a younger one probably looks like a pretty good idea. An older employee may be perilously close to collecting on an (often underfunded) pension plan that has long since been phased out for new hires, and that same older employee probably carries health insurance that costs the corporation twice that of the 19-year-old down the hall.

In fact, the 19-year-old might not even opt into the employer-subsidized health insurance plan.

He often needs the money in his check a lot more.

That means that there are lots of people in their late forties, 50s, and even 60s and older who need jobs desperately and can’t get them right now, even though they have a lifetime of professional experience under their belts, excellent skills, advanced educations, and the kind of maturity and insight that makes them expert trouble shooters and negotiators.

Whenever I see clips like the one above, I’m always amazed and a bit put off by the relentless positivity of the featured geezer. Two years out of work and this guy is energized and inspired by his fruitless, endless effort to get a job way beneath his capabilities? Really? What kind of drugs is he taking? Can I have some?

Since I am such a geezer myself (I’ve been unemployed since October 2008, although I do make a modest income freelancing), I can assure you I do not get up every morning and do a little happy dance before suiting up and throwing myself full force at the endless entry level cube farm opportunities posted on Monster and Career Builder this week.

No, I know by now that:

1) They are the same crappy ‘opportunities’ (‘no-pportunities?’) that were there last week.

2) If I spend hours each day applying for these awful jobs I will never hear back from 98% of them, and…

3) That’s if I’m lucky.

If I’m unlucky, I will get an interview in about six weeks. Like this poor bastard in the video clip, someone at the interview will definitely say SOMETHING about my age, even though at 56 I consider myself pretty damn cute.

The person interviewing me will be all of 23 but no older than 32, and will tremble at my crinkly eyelids and geriatric hideousness while trying hard to feign tolerance and respect. (Yes, my child, someday this will happen to you too!) This torture will drag on through several personality and skill tests and re-interviews, and will almost certainly include the opportunity to prove that I can still pee in a cup without making a mess.

At the end of it, if God really, really hates me, I’ll get the job.

But God doesn’t hate me. Not that much anyway. So here I am.

Now what?

Here’s where we get to the good news.

According to a feature article in today’s New York Times, downsized workers over 55 are starting their own businesses in record numbers, and the success rate for these businesses is quite high. Older workers have the skills, the confidence, and often the money (in the form of a severance package or nest egg) to invest in a start up and actually succeed. Many service-oriented businesses require almost no cash investment to get going: All that is needed is a few paying clients and good word of mouth.

Self-employment is possibly the easiest business to start. Just start working. For yourself. Although people who own franchises and other small businesses that require cash backing often look down their noses at  self-employed people (seeing them as something akin to a housekeepers or gardeners; something lowly and stigmatic), the fact remains that, if a corporation doesn’t want to pay you for your skills, other people just might.

You just have to find those other people.

That’s no small task, and the trials and tribulations therein are fodder for another post. But many, many older workers are setting out this way by necessity.

It will be interesting to see how that plays out. Stay tuned for more on the drawbacks and rewards of such a life, and other reports from the dispossessed front lines.