After a late-career layoff, this media sales employee found a new calling working at a funeral home

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After a layoff, Allan Hobbes became a funeral director. Though the pay is a fraction of what he once made, he says the emotional reward is immeasurable.

Oh, hi again. Today, we have another instalment of our “Second Act” series, where we explore how Canadians are reinventing life after retirement. Let’s get into it.

From media sales to the funeral home

Allan Hobbs had spent four decades in media sales, climbing the ranks as his employers went through mergers and rebrands. Then, just about three months shy of his 60th birthday, he lost his job, he says.

Despite surviving multiple buyouts, he knew “ageism is something that’s certainly practised in the media business,” he said. “It happened to my colleagues... the roads getting shorter all the time.”

Still, the layoff was a