Temporary derailment or the end of the line? Managers coping with unemployment at 50

The experiences of a group of unemployed managers and professionals in their fifties are examined based on fieldwork conducted at the outset of the 2008 economic downturn. The findings help to identify certain core similarities in the experiences of unemployed professionals and distinguish three narrative strategies through which unemployed professionals tried to make sense of their dismissal and sustain their sense of selfhood.