Tips for Four Types of Job Seekers - continuation 1st part
June 22, 2009 – 2:21 amIf you're new here, you may want to learn what this site is about. Please subscribe to my RSS feed to get latest updates on this blog. Thanks for visiting!
2. If you’re unemployed when your search begins. Millions of people will seek to enter the workplace this year. Prime candidates: women who took time off to raise their children and middle managers who have fallen victim to the corporate ax. Dreading the job search, and how you’ll have to explain away any gaps in your resume’ while on the interview trail? Well, take heart. Career counselors emphasize that bows in and out of the workplace are now commonplace in today’s zigzag economy, and there’s no need to apologize. Furthermore, workers who’ve had decade-long careers with one company have a valuable track record under their belts, often giving them an edge. If you’ve had some black holes in your work life, try to mask them by charting your jobs year by year, rather than by month. And if you were laid off, ask your former employer for outplacement assistance. Don’t assume headhunters will pass you by.
3. If you’re over 40. Recent surveys have confirmed that age discrimination is alive and well in the workplace. This especially applies when trying to get in the door. In 1993, 700,000 people over age 50 were out of work and on the job trail. During that same year, complaints filed with state and federal regulators about age-bias soared to 30,000 -up nearly 30% since 1990.
Forty-something workers can get a boost from an organization called Forty-Plus. That’s not a suit size, but a nonprofit outplacement group with more than 20 chapters located in 13 states plus Washington, D.C., providing great networking opportunities and job search seminars. Call 202-386-1582 for more information. Another excellent resource, limited to job hunters who are over 50, however, is the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), which sponsors an eight-session job primer called AARP Works. AARP also has a free publication, Age Discrimination on the Job, which gives 20 pages of useful legal facts, plus addresses and phone numbers for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s 50 field offices nationwide. To get a copy, write for publication D12386, AARP, P.O. Box 22976, Long Beach, Calif. 90801.
If you like this post, please subscribe to my RSS feed to get latest updates on this blog. Thanks for visiting!
1 Trackback(s)