How workers older than 50 can mitigate questions about age... and how to deal with questions about your past

How workers older than 50 can mitigate questions about age... and how to deal with questions about your past How workers older than 50 can mitigate questions about age I struggle with the question, Why did you leave your last position? In my previous role as a partner-funded business development representative, I was let go because the company said I violated company policy. At the time, many of my peers in similar roles were let go because funding was going away, including the partner that funded my role. Their reasoning for letting me go was that I shared information about another partners plans. I was unaware that this was happening and was offered no formal training or probation. In my 33 years of sales and work experience, this was a first for me and shocking, to say the least. So, what is the best way to answer why I left my last position? Advice from Dana Script a short answer to this question forevery one of the positions on your résumé, not just the tough ones. DO NOT: Disclose all of the details about your departure. Blame your departure on the economy, Obamacare or “tough times.” Bash the prior company, management team or boss. Say “Off the record, my boss was a jerk” or something similar. DO select from the following types of answers: (NOTE: you are not lying). Create an answer that summarizes your reason for departure at a very high level, realizing they may probe for more details. Company-wide downsizing Reduction in force Reorganization, realignment of departments Funding ran out I want to pursue a career change to work for a (larger company, different industry, etc.) and I am devoting full-time energy to it. I’m very excited about this position and am eager to demonstrate why I am a great fit for your requirements. Once you get through the interview stage, and sometimes even after an offer, the hiring company will do their due diligence. When they call your prior company, that company is required to confirm you worked there and the start and end date. However, you never know who knows whom and they may find out more details. Question 2 I am a senior executive, currently employed but actively seeking a new career position. I am 60 years old. I know that prospective employers cannot ask my age, but is there a way I can verbally signal them that I am not winding down toward retirement? When asked why I am seeking a new position, I have said: I intend for the next 8-10 years to be the most creative, energetic, and influential years of my career, and I want to find a great place to maximize my impact. Have you got a suggestion for me? Advice from Dana I love this question since you can replace this topic with ANY other objection you expect. Here are four recommendations: As early on in the interview as possible (or on your cover letter), address this head on. “Mr. Swanson, before the interview begins, may I say two things? First, thank you for considering me for this important position. Second, I have hired executives during my career, and if I were you I might be thinking this candidate may not want to very work hard or for a long time. I’d like to share that I am committed to working hard for many years and my energy level is higher than it’s ever been. I really want to exceed your expectations in this role.” Dont give a number of years. Setting a limit (“8-10” years) could hurt you and it may not be believable. Avoid the use of “I, me, my” in your answers â€" all answers. This is not about YOU but about them, so shift to “you, them, your.” Most importantly, dress to match your words. If you say you are energetic, they need to see that from the minute you walk in and shake hands. Are you in shape physically? Smiling? Sitting up straight? Is your suit fairly new and well-tailored so it fits? If you have a low-key personality, you need to practice dialing up your energy. Role-play an interview with someone you trust and ask for the honest truth about the first impression you generate.

Start your ideal career search today! - Hallie Crawford

Start your ideal career search today! As a career coach, a question I get from clients repeatedly is, “where do I start in identifying a career I’ll love?” They know what is not working in their job, and they know they have a greater potential that is not being expressed, but they don’t know where to start in making a change. They often immerse themselves in job boards; looking for a job title or job description to answer their problems. But it’s not working. They feel trapped and lost. The best advice I can offer them is below: Follow Your Interest and Enthusiasm I find the key to getting out of stuck and stale thinking about your career is to allow yourself to follow your interest and enthusiasm. I call these two keys, interest and enthusiasm, the breadcrumbs that lead you to a satisfying career. So what does that mean to follow your interest and enthusiasm? It means you give yourself a chance to dream, be creative, and allow inspiration to hit. It means you ask yourself on a Saturday morning what you would like to do, instead of following your routine. It means you begin to ask yourself what you’re interested in and excited about. For instance, is there a cooking class that’s been calling you for the past 6 months that you haven’t signed up for yet? Is there a beautiful park near your house that you meant to relax in during the summer, but never gave yourself that time? Follow these instincts for what is calling you. By doing that, you open yourself up to inspiration and possibility, and that’s what you need in order to spark new ideas for your career. So step away from searching endlessly on job boards for your ideal career, and start asking yourself what interests and excites you. This is the first step toward building a satisfying career. Darcy Holoweski Certified Career Coach

Writing a Resume For a Social Work Position

Writing a Resume For a Social Work PositionWriting a resume for a social work position can be difficult. The job of a social worker, or a child psychologist or marriage and family therapist or what have you, is to identify and treat people who need help and who may be suffering. There are many positions that require a great deal of education, skill and patience as well as strong communication skills. But the demands for a career in this field have skyrocketed in recent years as there has been an increase in the need for skilled professionals with a particular interest in working with children.In order to be successful in the field of social work, you must have an outstanding ability to relate to people and make them feel comfortable with what they are experiencing. This could include a person having to meet with their boss and tell them about their family, they have just lost a loved one, have had a bad day at work, they need to vent about something, or any number of other situations . Having good communication skills is an important element to being successful in a position like this.Writing a resume for a social work position should be done with a great deal of care. First and foremost, it should not only contain information about your professional experience but should also present your character and personality. If you don't feel comfortable being open about yourself and your beliefs and opinions then you should not enter the job market. When applying for a job in a job with extensive responsibilities, you should present yourself as a person that can handle the job. You should be happy to answer questions about yourself and your skills.As you are looking to build a career path in the field of social work, you want to make sure that you're following a path that will offer you plenty of opportunities. When it comes to getting into a career that combines family support with a commitment to helping those in need, you want to focus on career opportunities that wi ll allow you to provide opportunities for growth. One of the most effective ways to do this is to focus on the strengths that you possess and add on career growth opportunities. For example, if you're an excellent communicator and you have excellent interpersonal skills, you may want to consider social work jobs that would allow you to work in a department that involves helping individuals understand how to better interact with others. You may also be considering applying for a position that would offer you the opportunity to work with children and a variety of different developmental disabilities. By adding on to your abilities and potential, you will build a future career path that offers the perfect blend of professional and personal growth and satisfaction.Writing a resume for a social work position is never easy. It requires extensive research into the job you are seeking and the skills you will need to develop into a career in the field. Once you find a position that will allo w you to meet your needs, take the time to ensure that you are showcasing the talents you have that will get you the job you want.If you're thinking about going back to school, you'll want to contact your local college, school counselor, or head coach and make sure that you know exactly what you are looking for. It may be a good idea to combine social work job searches with college applications or job hunts. Depending on what sort of education you are hoping to receive, the opportunity may arise to apply for post-secondary education. Take advantage of this opportunity and keep all job leads.While there is no hard and fast rule as to when a resume for a social work career is complete, it is important to create a resume for a position that will give you the best chance of landing the job you desire. Creating a resume for a social work position is one of the most important things you will ever do as a prospective student, new graduate, or new parent.

How This Woman Turned a Layoff Into a $3 Million Business

How This Woman Turned a Layoff Into a $3 Million Business At age 15, Heidi Rasmussen began working in retailing, at the same department store where her stepfather put in 35 years. After eight years in store management and 12 years in corporate, Rasmussen had reached the rank of divisional vice president by 2012. Then, while she was out for a memorial service, she found out over the phone that she’d been let goâ€"one of hundreds downsized that day. “Many people were just devastated,” says the now 46-year-old. “But that’s not my outlook. I’m always thinking, There’s something better.” It took her a week to find it. Her husband, Reid, had already left his job as manager at an insurance agency to launch a business. His idea: Get insurers to offer workers discounts on expenses like prescriptions and urgent care. Struggling to get his concept off the ground, he appealed to his wife to apply her marketing brain. “I decided to transform the idea into an engaging brand,” she says. “It was a total step of faith.” Working at full stride, Rasmussen came up with a card that bundles 10% to 60% discounts on vision and dental care with 24/7 phone consults with doctors and help with billing errors. Employers who buy cards for their workers (typically $8.50 a pop) make up 90% of the business. Both the companies and their workersâ€"who often get cards paired with high-deductible health plansâ€"can save if an employee’s call to a doctor heads off an office visit. Likewise, pinpointing billing errors pays off for everyone. Then she tested the pitch with 30 women she knew (women are behind 80% of family benefit decisions, she says). The group vetoed the name “concierge card” because “it sounded too hoity-toity.” Freshbenies’ original spokescharacter was blond, but Rasmussen made a switch to brunette after the group reacted negatively. And she learned that $12 was the most they could charge for their direct-to-consumer card. Rasmussen expects freshbenies to bring in $3.5 million in 2014, up from $1.3 million in 2013. While the couple left higher-paying jobs, “that looks like a small tradeoff for the opportunity to work together on something that we love.” By the Numbers $82,000: how much savings they tapped to launch. That amounted to about 55% of her severance. About $25,000 went to a consulting firm that advised them to pitch to HR managersâ€"a total bust. They had more success reaching out to insurance brokers who set up employer benefits. 2 years: how long they could have gone with no income. For their personal expenses, which came to $8,000 a month, they relied on the $350,000 they had saved, leaving their 401(k)s alone. “We were already very frugal and living below our means,” says Rasmussen, who lives in McKinney, Texas. 2016: when she hopes to triple revenues. In two years, Rasmussen expects freshbenies to bring in $12 million a year. The company is adding at least a dozen insurance brokers as clients every month. “Now that I’m starting to get in front of some really big brokerages,” she says, “I know they are going to want to work with us.”

4 Reasons Why Your Resume Needs A Summary - Work It Daily

4 Reasons Why Your Resume Needs A Summary - Work It Daily Did you know that employers scan your resume for seven seconds and the ONLY section they read is your opening Summary. Surprisingly, there are many job seekers who leave it out. Those who do not start the resume with a Summary fail to immediately inform employers how they qualify for the job. Related: 3 Secrets To A Powerful Resume Summary The Summary essentially is a quick statement located at the top of the resume that gives employers the general gist to why you’re the one for the job and why you’re worth talking to. It can run 3-5 sentences or bullet points long to define what your strengths are and what experience you have to offer that will bring value to the employer. It is your personal branding statement or value proposition that distinguishes you from the hundreds of other candidates applying for the same job. Here are more reasons to why you need to send your resume out with the Executive Summary and how to pull it all together: 1. The Summary is your elevator pitch. Every job seeker should be armed with an elevator pitch. It’s needed on the resume, at the job interview and on the occasion you bump into the right contacts. It’s the statement that will convince others to want to talk to you. On the resume, the Summary is your elevator pitch. It’s the first thing recruiters and hiring managers should see when reviewing your resume because it is placed at the top, front and center. Imagine your resume leading with simply your Education or your most recent Work Experience â€" it has much less impact than the Summary that gives an overview and defines your top strengths for the job. Learn more about developing an elevator pitch reading: “4 Steps For Developing A Winning Elevator Pitch.” 2. It differentiates you from other job candidates. A good Summary helps differentiate you from other job candidates. While any other person can say they also have ten years of experience in XYZ, your Summary helps define your skills, experiences and unique offerings. You are able to emphasize specific attributes that are unique to you. Make sure you have content here that applies only to you. 3. It immediately informs employers how you align with their needs. The Summary is not the same as the ancient Objective statement seen in old resumes. You are not writing about your goals â€" you’re writing about what you have to offer the employer and what you have to bring to the table that will align with their specific needs. If you’ve reviewed the job posting carefully, it’ll be clear what you need to focus on to tailor your message. 4. Other tips. To get started on your Executive Summary, begin to think about questions like: How would you describe yourself in a sentence? How would others you work with describe you? What’s one thing the hiring manager should know about you? What differentiates you from others with similar backgrounds? What relevant skills do you have? What accomplishments are you most proud of that would fit the company/job you’re applying to? By beginning to think about the purpose and value of the Summary on the resume and some of the questions above, you’re on your way to crafting a resume that impresses recruiters and hiring managers because you’re offering tailored information that specifically addresses their needs in filling an open position. Related Posts How To Customize Your Resume 3 Tips For Flaunting Your Value On Your Resume How To Make Dates On A Resume Work For You About the author Don Goodman’s firm was rated as the #1 Resume Writing Service in 2013, 2014, and 2015. Don is a triple-certified, nationally recognized Expert Resume Writer, Career Management Coach and Job Search Strategist who has helped thousands of people secure their next job. Check out his Resume Writing Service. Get a Free Resume Evaluation or call him at 800.909.0109 for more information. Disclosure: This post is sponsored by a CAREEREALISM-approved expert. You can learn more about expert posts here. Photo Credit: Shutterstock Have you joined our career growth club?Join Us Today!

This is the Major Issue With How Were Talking About Meghan Markles Pregnancy

This is the Major Issue With How Were Talking About Meghan Markles Pregnancy Meghan Markle is always making headlines. I mean, as a beautiful actress turned duchess with a killer wardrobe whos married to one of the most beloved princes of all time, she basically writes the headlines herbeiself. But since she announced her pregnancy in October, the headlines havent been too kind. Instead, theyve revealed a huge issue with the way were addressing Meghans pregnancy.The Duchess of Sussex is only 37 years old, an increasingly common age to have a child.In fact, according to theOffice of National Statistics, over half of all babies born in the UK are born to mothers over 30. And in the US, the number of first births from women 35 and older grew by 23% between 2000 and 2014. Research ties this shift to more women entering the workforce and prioritizing their careers, more women pursuing higher education, and more financial security generally.But despite how normal it is to have a baby at 37 , news outlets are obsessed with Meghans supposed geriatric pregnancy.Its the label they use in headlines, social media posts, and snarky copy calling out the Duchesss age. Sure, geriatric pregnancy welches once a medical term to describe pregnancy in women over 35. But its now been largely abandoned by the medical community due to its outdated (and messed up) connotations. You know, kind of like weve retired the once-common labels of old maid or spinster (I hope) as women are getting married later and later.Yes, having a child over 35 does carry certain risks. However, many women in this age group have perfectly healthy pregnancies and babies. Other factors like access to prenatal care or racial biases can have just as much or more of an impact on healthy pregnancies.You would think weve progressed to the point where we dont declare a woman elderly once shes passed 30, recognizing that she has worth beyond the youth weve been conditioned to see as beauty what was long considered a womans end all be all.But youd also think weve progressed to the point where women could go to work without being harassed, and we havent so... I guess Ill check in with you all in 10 to 20 years.More on Meghan MarkleDont miss out on articles like these. Sign up

The Argument About How to Write a Resume

The Argument About How to Write a Resume If you would like to receive a work soon or are seeking to change your work then you will need to think about the resume. If you wish to receive a nice job, you require a good resume. If you dont think you own a lot of that, then maybe you should discover a job which is mora relevant to your experience. So if youre seeking to receive a job (not just any job, but the job which you want), make sure you do things right and learn to make an outstanding resume. Its not uncommon to mistype a word, employing another word that sounds the exact same. There is an abundance of resume samples readily available online. Utilizing a resume vorlage has turned into an acceptable and smart practice for quite a few factors. It saves you a lot of time. To learn to compose a resume objective isnt at all that difficult. In reality, youll be in a sttte to develop a decent looking and well-structured document. Your resume should be formatted in an easy, professional method. People today utilize all types of resume templates using different sort of design approaches, but ultimately its always likely to come to the simple fact that your resume should convey a very clear message above your skills, your experience, and also why youd be the ideal candidate for the position. 1 Resume is an absolutely free one page web template that includes a smooth jQuery slide between sections of the webpage. You are able to also see resume template. A specialist freelance writer will be in a position to provide you with tips on how to compose a resume, and even do it for you. Youre able to learn to compose a resume by asking yourself questions like you were an interviewer. Theres some information which is based on the circumstance and person writing a resume. It is the one that decides whether you receive an interview call or not. The Benefits of How to Write a Resume When youre asking for a job which relies on the strengths of the person, y ou want a resume template you may inject a little more personality into to make it pop. Zetys resume templates are made with the aid of recruiters and adhere to the best practices in HR. More frequently than not, customizing your resume does not signify a major rewrite, but instead only a few tweaks. A complete alternative for candidates with a great deal of experience who want to have a really good one-page resume template. New Step by Step Roadmap for How to Write a Resume Creating impressive resumes using resume templates is quite an easy and beneficial process which enables you to compose an impressive resume in an incredibly limited time. Utilizing VisualCVs CV editor it is simple to switch from 1 template to another, and that means you can easily use the ideal template for the job every single time you apply. The resume template differs according to the requirements of the job which you are applying for. Most of our Resume Templates can be found in various color scheme s to offer you better editing opportunities. How to Write a Resume for Dummies While writing a resume you ought to always keep in mind the major goal of drafting a resume. You are able to write the job winning resume only in case you have thorough understanding of resume writing. Youre most likely to have more transferrable skills than you believe.