Career Development

"As the recession continues, unemployed people over the age of 50 continue to face steeper job hunting challenges than their younger counterparts. People over 50 search for new jobs for an average of 36 weeks or longer, compared to 27 weeks for younger workers. And while the overall unemployment rate has held steady, the rate for those over 55 actually rose from 6.8% to 7.1% accounting for more than 2 million people in that age group out of work."

"In the U.S. higher education system, students are challenged to declare a major or choose an occupation in their sophomore year in college, sometimes even before starting college. That's an onerous task, especially if done without sufficient self-knowledge or guidance. Perhaps that is why at least 60% of college students change their major at least once before graduating and, on average, students change their major three times during their college career. Many graduate, even begin work, and find that they have made a poor vocational choice. That's discouraging and costly for both students and their parents. Such a situation is less likely to occur at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, where career counseling, using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Step II combined with the Strong Interest Inventory, provides students with effective, empowering guidance."

Social Media: Using LinkedIn to Advance Your Career » Five O'Clock Club

"The pair lives very comfortably, without wants or financial worries. They've had no trouble making friends in their new community because the folks in Belize speak English. They eat out three or four times a week. They barbecue lobster and filet mignon at home. They have reliable Internet to keep them connected to the outside world. By choice, they do not have a television. "I used to think that the news was important," Jason explains. "But not anymore." The retired couple has a maid and a gardener, each of whom visit once a week."

"Although some employers report trouble finding workers, about 4.4 million Americans have been looking for jobs for at least a year-and that doesn't include the ones who have given up. Here are some of their stories."

"Every semester a lot of professors' lectures are essentially 1 reruns because many instructors are too busy to upgrade their classroom methods."

"What is the best way to give notice at a job you haven't even started? I am an M.B.A. student who was offered a marketing position in December. I accepted the job, telling the company that I would start in September since I was still in school. Now I have a much better job opportunity in high tech, which I would much rather take. I would have a much bigger impact and turn in a better performance at this second job. How can I tell the first employers that I now want to decline their offer?"

"Starting at a new workplace can be stressful for anyone, whether you have years of experience or are just beginning your career. The first few weeks are also the most crucial to leaving a good impression on your managers and peers."

"Fearing a shortage of qualified managers as business picks up, some companies are bolstering leadership-development efforts. Layoffs and training cutbacks in the past two years have thinned manager pipelines. And employers worry that baby boomers who postponed retirement during the recession will start to depart as recovering stock prices reinflate retirement funds."

"Job growth remained weak in July as employers continued to expand slowly, according to surveys released Wednesday."

"In late 2007, Taylor Senatore and Jennifer Frank withdrew most of their personal savings-a combined $250,000-to launch California Wine Merchants in New York. The duo, who teamed up after discovering by chance that they shared the same entrepreneurial goal, figured that amount would cover all of their start-up costs and even leave change to spare."

"Watching fellow college students working for $7.50 an hour after graduation, Tana Walther, a fashion-design major at Kent State University in Ohio, snapped up an alternative offered by her father-to run a Pita Pit restaurant franchise he would buy."

"Welcome to the GED COMPASS. The GED Testing Initiative is a public/private partnership that aims to improve the New York City GED testing system, including testing infrastructure, test-taker readiness, and public awareness and support. Through the Literacy Assistance Center, new tools are being developed including a GED Compass web portal to ensure that GED test takers know where to enroll in GED prep programs, prepare for the exam and secure a GED test seat. This website was developed for people interested in learning about how to get a GED in New York City. There are many ways to achieve this goal and this website will help you find the path that is right for you. In New York City finding a place to take the GED was difficult. Finding information about what you need to do to prepare for the test was hard to find. The Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) partnered with the New York Community Trust to take a close look at the existing system and see how it could be improved. The result was a comprehensive report written by literacy expert, Jacqueline Cook, called Our Chance for Change: A Four Year Initiative for GED Testing in New York. You can see the full report here. "

NYC Workforce Weekly

"There are some very important things they don't tell you on career day. Chief among them is that there is a good chance that at some point during your working adult life you will have an abusive boss - the kind who uses his or her authority to torment subordinates. Bullying bosses scream, often with the goal of humiliating. They write up false evaluations to put good workers' jobs at risk. Some are serial bullies, targeting one worker and, when he or she is gone, moving on to their next victim. "

"If you've been marking time at work and hoping to get a new job, you've got company. Employment experts caution, though, that moving too quickly could land you in a new job that you dislike even more. Here are some ways to improve the odds of finding the right one. "

"You finally got that promotion and now you're the new boss. Things might not feel much different in the beginning, but managing former peers requires a major adjustment on both ends. How you handle the change at the outset can affect the long-term harmony and productivity of the group."

"In this installment of The Résumé Doctor, three experts critique the résumé of a candidate trying to make the jump from consumer marketing to health-care marketing. She has held numerous marketing positions and works part-time in private practice as a dietitian. "

"Alex Barnett spent 14 years as an attorney handling several high-profile class-action lawsuits involving consumer fraud and product defects. But after getting laid off by two firms in the spring of 2008, he began prepping for a different kind of spotlight: He launched a career in stand-up comedy."

"Early in Ian Graham's new book 'Unbillable Hours,' a John Grisham-like true story of his work as a corporate lawyer and how he helped get a murder conviction overturned, he quickly comes to the realization that working at a big Los Angeles law firm wasn't the best career move. The money is great -- $120,000 as a first-year associate -- but as one of his colleagues points out, working 260,000 billable hours per year comes out to $40 an hour, or what he pays his cleaning lady."