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Showing posts from 2017

Aging Care, The Crisis that Nobody Talks About

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The traditional holiday time has finally arrived! The excitement of glowing lights, festivities and spending time with family is contagious. Everyone is rushing around trying to find the perfect gift and making decadent holiday meals. This time of the year is cheerful and nostalgic for many. Who doesn’t have a family “story” of the older family member who does weird things or is refreshingly candid? Yes, Aunt Mary or Big Daddy can be counted on for a memorable laugh or two at their expense. For many, this time of the year is not the mirthful time filled with Christmas trees and cranberries.     Senior citizens all around the country are hiding a secret. Some are spending the holidays (and lives) alone because they don’t have local family. Others are hiding the fact that they have limited mobility and can’t properly take care of themselves. Yet even others suffer from depression and loneliness as they grapple with the loss of loved ones and/or their own independence.  Many g

The Home Stretch. Eight Tips to help you Accomplish your 2017 Goals!

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Here we are! We’re in the month of November and the year 2017 is almost over forever.  When I think about it in that sense, it’s so eerily permanent.  It really puts into perspective the importance of how we spend the time that we have been entrusted. For me, the year has flown by!  The saying that “Time waits for no one” is certainly true. The BIG question. How have you spent your time? Have you accomplished all of your goals?  What life have you positively touched this year? What steps have you put into motion that will change the rest of your life? I wrote an article in June as a check-in and refresher for accomplishing those goals that many of us set back in January. Are you still on track or have you like many given up?     First of all, if you are on track to finish your goals this year, CONGRATULATIONS!  You’re almost there!   As for me, there are still several goals on my list that I haven’t yet completed that I’m now reviewing.  Deciding on whe

20+ Years of Experience and Your Résumé Is A Novel? Time to Condense!

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If your  résumé  is longer than two pages, keep reading.  A common question many tenured professionals ask is how to best fit 20 years of experience into one to two pages on their résumé.   It’s understandable to want to reflect all of the hard work accomplished spanning 20 long years. The problem is not in sharing the things accomplished through hard work, it is how to communicate the key accomplishments so that it effectively maintains relevance within today’s business environment. While it may appear overwhelming, with a little organization, a novel length  résumé can easily be reduced to one or two pages.  The following are a few tips to help condense the tenured résumé: Writing for the reader will help you stay focused on only including relevant information. 1)     Write for the reader :  Think about what the recruiter and hiring manager want to know. Use the position job description from multiple companies as a guide. 2)   Stay relevant to the tar

Is it time for a Reset?

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Emojis supplied by EmojiOne Congratulations! June is the half-way mark to completing your New Year’s Resolutions! Yay?  According to statisticbrain.com , roughly 45% of those who make New Year’s resolutions make it to six months. However, 42.4% of those who make New Year’s resolutions never succeed at all. Unfortunately, I have fallen into both of those statistics more than once in my lifetime.  Sigh. Like many with good intentions and high enthusiasm in January, we rush out and begin working on our resolutions with grit and determination. Slowly, life happens and we give ourselves permission to “skip a day” here and there. As enthusiasm turns into boredom and wanes into tedious monotony, the resolution eventually falls to the wayside; ultimately discarded like yesterday’s trash. Guilt and disappointment immediately set in. Failure again . However, the guilt quickly subsides as excuses alleviate the sting of failure for yet another year.    Does this sound like you

Confront Ageism With Confidence and Strategy!

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The problem of Ageism "I went to the interview and thought it went well, but still didn't get the position. Was it my age?" “I feel that I will have to settle for less money and lower position because no company wants to hire an older leader.” “Maybe I should just give up looking for my ideal position, they won’t hire me anyway.”   “I noticed the surprised looks when I walked through the door. I can tell they expected someone younger; like everyone else in the room.” The interview went well. What happened? Many workers over 40 are having difficulty getting hired to their next position because they believe they are victims of ageism or age discrimination.  Many 40+ workers have shared stories on social media of having great interviews, meeting all of the requirements of the position to later not hear back from the organization after several weeks. With their confidence now compromised, these workers feel humiliated, marginalized and rejected.   

Salary Negotiation: A Tool To Even the Playing Field Against Pay Disparity

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In celebration of Women’s History Month, this article focuses on common professional challenges faced by women in the workplace. In this article, I discuss gender pay disparity and then empower women to leverage salary negotiation as a tool to even the playing field.   What do we tell her? I magine that your teen-age daughter came home from school deeply distressed. She tells you that her teacher told her that as a girl, the best grade she could accomplish if she did everything right was a 3.4 or B+. What would you tell her?  How many people would it take to keep you off of that teacher?    What if her best grade was “adjusted” to 3.78 or an A- due to the results of others including boys in her neighborhood and other factors?  Would that make things better? This scenario may seem extreme and impossible to imagine due to our laws. However, this legally occurs daily at many workplaces around the world including America through gender pay disparity.