Try SouthWest Airlines...
They love hiring in a recession. In addition, they're the only airline making money.
Your Tuxedo/OLTP and COBOL would probably be valuable to them, along with airline experience. You'll need to move from the east to Dallas, TX, though.
If you get an interview, some tips.
1. Treat everyone nicely on the trip to the interview. You are being watched (by the ticket agent, gate agent, flight attendant). They put a comment in your reservation that you are coming for an interview and each person who meets you along the way adds feedback in the comments of your reservation. The People department looks at the feedback at the end of the reservation and decides if you're "nice" enough. Personality matters more than skills here.
2. Shave and get a haircut. You may think you look fine and that an employer "shouldn't" care about your looks, but they do. You need to look sharp and professional. I hate this, because personally, I'm in your camp. But most of the rest of the world doesn't agree that programmers should look like programmers.
3. It's not over when they hire you. Everyone from the badge lady to the people out front still watch you. It's kind of a stepford wives, thing, I think. I hated it, but now that I know about it, I could deal with "being watched" if I knew about it, but they didn't warn me when I was a contractor, and I got canned off of a project because I wasn't careful. I learned a valuable lesson.
4. What you look like matters. What time you come to work matters. What you say and do matter a lot. People are watching.
Glen Austin
