Maybe 5 years ago my wife was applying for jobs and doing interviews but kept getting denied. She was ending a manager job and just wanted to be an 8 hour day "grunt" without all the responsibilities of managing people. They all kept telling her she was over qualified and the pay wouldn't be great but she was up front on what she wanted. I threw out that maybe they don't want a 50 year old.
Thing is, these companies are stuck on young people just out of college and don't realize how perfect an older employee would be that has years of work experience and simply wants to come to work everyday and do a good job. They have a stable life, no kids, looking toward retiring some day....