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The Effective Job Search

Planning before searching for a job can be an effective way to streamline the process and get to work.  Here are some suggestions:

      Formulate your goal.  If you don’t have a target job goal you will be regarded as an indecisive and undesirable employee.  Have a realistic goal and search out job descriptions to find matches to your goal and talents.  

      Make a self-assessment.  Take a career evaluation test such as Livecareer to determine where you want to be.  Be honest.

      Determine your immediate need.  If you need immediate employment then you should focus on employers who traditionally have continuous openings and not be focused on a career move.  

      Target specific employers. Look for employment where you can use your skills/talents to their fullest potential.  By identifying jobs which you are qualified for you can focus on your talents when talking with employers.   

      Determine what pay range.  It is very important to determine what salary range you are willing to accept before you begin your search.  Try to be flexible but know your bottom line. Don’t waste the employer’s or your time by applying for jobs you will end up declining.  For senior level positions look into The Ladders.

      Decide what you want from your employment. Determine if you want flexible hours, benefits, location, and wages.  You could be more interested in obtaining benefits than in the actual bring home pay.  Or, you might want to have a secure and less stressful job with little or no overtime.  

       Decide if you want to advance.  It could be that you do not want to move forward and will be content with one position.   

Most importantly, continue to keep it real.

 Improving with Age

            Numerous contemporary studies and surveys express more senior persons as being happier than their younger counterparts.  Author Dr. Michael Brickey, PhD, states that getting better with age comes from deciding the value of life-long learning and allowing our brains to seek opportunities to learn and grow just as a hungry person sees food everywhere.  Dr. Brickey states that growth isn’t just limited to intellectual learning but also involves increased maturity.  Growth means having more perspective when dealing with problems, being more accepting of others and being slower to anger and criticize.  In his book, 52 baby steps to Grow Young, Dr. Brickey gives two page a week practical steps for developing a youthful mindset at any age.  Further information is available at www.DrBrickey.com and www.52babysteps.com.  

The Clever Corner

Technical Skills are Needed

         Countless senior workers are learning that, in order to obtain  a new part-time or full time position, they must develop enhanced computer skills.   This need often presents a challenge in view of the fact many more senior workers were employed for years in traditional employment venues that required little or no computing skills.  Even though the technological age grew up around them, and because they did not find a need, many workers are presently unaware of the most basic operations now required including how to turn on a computer or to how to use the internet.

         Because of this, many more senior workers are finding the on-line job search and on-line application process frustrating.   This is frustration is also brought about because an estimated one-fifth of more senior working or non-working Americans do not have a computer or internet access in their home.  This lack of a home computer may also be partially attributed to the lack of exposure to computing and but can also be cost related because many more seniors are on a fixed budget due to job loss or retirement and cannot afford to purchase a computer even though computer prices have dropped some in recent years.  

           So, why is the need to learn computer skills so necessary to more senior job workers?   Basically, it is because the wait to find gainful employment for older workers has increased from 5-6 weeks to 30 weeks.  Therefore, the more knowledgeable and experienced a worker is in computer usage the better the chance of obtaining a job.   Below are a few locations where seniors can look to get the Computer Training you Need:

      City Community Organizations (check with Parks and Recreation, Sr. Centers).

      Local Community Colleges (many offer inexpensive courses on computer usage).

      Local libraries.

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