The Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie Syndrome. You weren’t hired, or you were passed over for a promotion in favor of someone with less qualifications, because the employer wanted a "younger looking" person in the position.

The File, a/k/a Life in a Fishbowl. You have had a long and exemplary career with your employer. Suddenly, you have gotten your first negative evaluation, or you have begun to be disciplined for seemingly minor infractions for which other, younger employees are not disciplined. The evaluations and discipline go into your otherwise clean personnel file, where they will be used in the future to justify a demotion, suspension, lesser salary increase, or termination.

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Your employer has passed you over for training courses and subsequently given negative employment evaluations. You are never exactly certain why you were passed over, and your employer never offers any explanation. The lack of training begins to negatively impact your performance evaluations and will be used in the future to justify a demotion, suspension, lesser salary increase, or termination.

Your get up and go has got up and left. Your manager or supervisor passes you over for promotion because the company needs "new energy." You hear statements made by your manager that the company is suffering because it doesn’t have any "energy" or there are "too many white heads" in the office.

New Blood. The warning signs are the same as the prior scenario, but the employer is looking more to outside sources, including business schools, for your ultimate replacement. Often, a significantly younger, recent graduate will be hired in the position immediately beneath yours, maybe as your assistant. You will be asked to train this individual, and once you are moved out of your position, this is your replacement.

Here today, gone tomorrow. You are losing job duties to younger, less-experienced employees. Significantly, supervisory responsibilities are being taken away and either diffused to your subordinates or consolidated in your manager. Ultimately, you will be left with no more than clerical responsibilities.

The Efficiency Expert, f/k/a The New Manager. Your employer has recently moved in a new manager or hired an efficiency expert in order to boost the productivity of your department or to "suggest management restructuring." Ultimately, this individual judges your performance based on an incomplete picture and makes his recommendations to your manager or director that your position be eliminated or that you be terminated.