I can't find a job at 57. I'm fighting feelings of humiliation and panic.

Gregory Brooks (not pictured) thinks his age could be helping and hurting his job search.

Tatiana Maksimova/Getty Images This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Gregory Brooks, a 57-year-old based in Rochester, New York.

It's been edited for length and clarity.

After reluctantly resigning from my technology services job at a community college in May, I was terrified to be out of work .

I'm not a young guy anymore.

Starting over at 57 feels like a mix of humiliation and frustration — and it feels harder than when I was younger.

I think for the most part, young professionals are more willing to work late, sacrifice work-life balance, and hustle to climb the corporate ladder.

I'm not looking to build my career the way I did as a 20-something hustling to finish my Ph.D.

I want to do my job well, but I'm not that young adult running around all excited trying to impress everybody.

I worked with a lot of older students at the community college who expressed feeling inadequate , being surrounded by younger students who were academically ahead of them.

I'm fighting those same feelings, but I've been through unemployment before, and I know how to get through.

In Still in the Game , Business Insider is chronicling the realities of job hunting in your 50s — from overcoming age bias and navigating career transitions to rebuilding confidence, updating skills, and finding new opportunities in a competitive job market.

Read more stories here , and share your own experience here .

I've been mass applying out of a sense of panic I was panicked to be out of work because the jobs I've had in the past have been local, and I haven't found many opportunities in Rochester.