FLORENCE, Ala. (AP) -- Being unemployed is tough
enough, but job seekers who are middle-aged or near retirement age face
significant challenges as they try to stay in or re-enter the work
force.
Melody Austin, who is in her early 50s, was
employed at a financial institution for 30 years. After a "reduction in
staff," she lost her job in October.
Austin wasn't nearly ready to retire, so to get
back on the job market, she underwent a long list of the tools typical
to job seekers: resume coaching, visits to an unemployment agency,
searches of the state's job listings, newspaper ads and follow-up of
leads from friends.
"I used all the resources I could think of," Austin
said.
She also balanced the business of looking for work
with watching her granddaughter and teaching a cake decorating class.
Still, no job.
As the baby boomer generation nears retirement age,
the older work force is expected to dominate projected increases in the
labor force between 2006 and 2016, according to a projection from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Those aged 55 or older are expected to make up more
than 90 percent of the projected increase of 12.8 million people in the
work force by 2016.
"Once they have reached a life stage, they have a
lifestyle (to maintain). There is a challenge to find something that
they were making that is comparable," said Kerry Sutherlin, senior
manager at the Shoals Career Center.
Lila Currie is 61 years old and is looking for
work.
Unemployed since May 2007, Currie had a steady
23-year career at Culligan in North Brook, Ill., working assembly and
packaging at the water purification plant.
Currie, originally from Russellville, recently
moved back, living with her sister, and has visited the Shoals Career
Center in Sheffield three times.
She's taken computer retraining classes, becoming
proficient in Word and Excel software, and has already visited several
companies and temp services.
Still, there's no job in sight.
"The job market is sort of slow right now, like it
is around the country," Currie said.
"Age may be affecting my search, but some people
tell me it's not," Currie said. "People may want older workers because
they tend to work longer (with one company)."
Longer, too, is the job-seeking period. The job
search for those 55 or older takes an average 21.1 weeks compared with
16.3 weeks for job seekers younger than 55 years old, according to the
American Association of Retired Persons.
At least one online community, Seniors4Hire.org, is
trying to help those 50 years and older find employers who may want
older workers.
To help those who are unemployed, Northwest-Shoals
Community College started a free "Ready to Work" program that provides
career retraining ranging from soft skills such as what to wear to work,
to higher skills such as math and critical skills.
Assistant dean Brent McGill said approximately 140
people have graduated from the program that lasts around six weeks and
requires three nights per week attendance.
Janet Rumbley, program assistant, said that more
than half of the program's participants have been middle-aged. So far,
of the first class that graduated in March, 80 percent have found work.
The next session will begin Sept. 8 with
orientation Aug. 25 at Building 127 on the Northwest-Shoals campus.
"We're trying to close the loop," McGill said of
the gap between the unemployed and potential employers. The program also
has been working on the employer side of the equation.
"Right now, we're trying to educate the employers
about what kind of employees they will get," McGill said.
Austin said the Ready to Work program helped her.
"I was around adults, some in the same situation,"
she said. "It was very challenging, but also very rewarding."
Austin said two things likely impede the
middle-aged unemployed from getting jobs: Employers may wonder how long
will a middle-aged worker will last at the company, and many middle-aged
workers, such as Austin, entered the job market in the 1970s when
college degrees weren't as obligatory as they are now.
After eight months of looking for work, Austin now
works at CB&S Bank at Cherokee as a customer service representative.
"I was so used to knowing and doing what I did
well," she said of her new job. "It's a learning curve -- once I'm
through that, I'll be fine."
Though unemployment rates recently reached historic
lows in Alabama and the Shoals, they are starting to trend upward, which
may make the job search for people like Currie even more difficult.
Alabama's unemployment rate shot up from 3.5
percent in May 2007 to 4.7 percent in May 2008, according to the U.S.
Department of Labor. By June 2008, the rate was at 4.7 percent, and by
July, it hit 5.1 percent.
The state's unemployment rate peaked at 7.6 percent
in 1993, during a recession period, according to the U.S. Department of
Labor.
In the Florence/Muscle Shoals metropolitan area,
unemployment jumped from 3.6 percent in April to 4.5 percent in May to
5.7 percent in June, according to data gathered by the Alabama
Department of Industrial Relations. That's slightly more than the
current national average of 5.5 percent unemployed, and well above the
May 2007 unemployment rate of 3.3 percent.
The Shoals' current unemployment rate, shared with
Gadsden, is the highest for Alabama's 11 metropolitan areas. From June
2007 and June 2008, the Shoals saw a net loss of 714 employed residents,
from increases in both created jobs and unemployment residents.
Although data was unavailable, Sutherlin said job
seekers at the career center were evenly distributed by age with as many
middle aged as younger unemployed people seeking jobs.
Many officials have said they hope the National
Alabama Railcar plant, which promises to provide up to 1,800 jobs, will
help boost employment in the Shoals once it becomes operational later
this year.
"National Alabama, that would cushion us, but we're
bound to feel the ripple effect (of the national economy)," said
Sutherlin.
For Currie, the job search continues, as she dips
into her retirement savings. "I don't want to use it all," she said.
So, on a Tuesday in mid-July, with her job search
folder full of resumes and potential job leads, Currie searched job
sites at the Shoals Career Center.
She said she didn't have Internet, a crucial part
of job searching, and she didn't want to invest in a computer until she
had a job.
"Hopefully I'll find a job soon."
------
Information from: TimesDaily, http://www.timesdaily.com/
IL school districts try to nab minority teachers
Aug 24 14:33
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- School districts in
downstate Illinois are trying to recruit more minority teachers.
In Champaign and Urbana, more than half of the
students are minorities but more than 80 percent of teachers are white.
In Danville, more than 40 percent of students are
black, but only 6 percent of teachers are black.
Urbana's assistant superintendent for human
resources, Gayle Jeffries, said Urbana is offering tuition assistance,
providing mentors to potential teachers and expanding recruiting to
places as far away as Louisiana.
Champaign's efforts include paying for tuition and
books used toward a teaching degree for some staff.
Danville school board president Randal Ashton said
among the challenges they face in a competitive recruiting environment
is finding minority teachers who want to come there.
------
Information from: The News-Gazette, http://www.news-gazette.com
Naval Academy seeks diversity with new commercial
Aug 22 15:56
By BRIAN WITTE
Associated Press Writer
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- The U.S. Naval Academy is
seeking to boost student diversity with a flashy commercial and a
graphic novel aimed at attracting minorities, the superintendent said
Friday, outlining new attempts to make the academy more representative
of the Navy's enlisted force.
Vice Adm. Jeffrey Fowler, who recently completed
his first year as superintendent, has made greater diversity a top goal
through the commercial and the novel to be released in the fall.
"This is to reach out to those who haven't
considered the Naval Academy and to augment that," Fowler said. "I don't
need more applications, just to get more applications. I need more
applications from underrepresented geography of America ... and I need
more from what I consider underrepresented ethnic and racial
minorities."
Minorities make up about 28 percent of the Class of
2012, the highest percentage of minorities at the service academy yet,
school officials say. But Fowler notes the Navy's enlisted force is
comprised of about 47 percent minorities.
The academy, which has about 4,400 students,
received nearly 11,000 applications last year for 1,250 positions.
However, the academy faces stiff competition for minority students, who
are in hot demand at the nation's elite colleges and universities, where
military service isn't required after graduation.
In an interview with reporters, Fowler said
underrepresented areas include his home state of North Dakota and
several Western states. The superintendent noted that it took about a
generation to get the enlisted force to represent the nation's
diversity.
"I think it's going to take a generation to get our
officer corps also to represent America, so my goal is: Get moving down
that path at the Naval Academy," Fowler said.
Women and minorities are featured prominently in
the new commercial, which is expected to run during televised Navy
sporting events.
For example, a female midshipman is shown in a Blue
Angel's cockpit, smiling into the camera and giving a thumb's up. The
women's soccer team is included, as is the football team, while the
academy's choir sings upbeat music.
The graphic novel is a type of comic book that
offers more complex story lines.
Fowler said the graphic novel is intended to keep
up with changing media that appeal to incoming college students. The
ornate crypt under the academy's chapel for Navy's Revolutionary War
hero John Paul Jones will be featured in the backdrop of the story.
"It's a little bit of young people who are able to
see what they might be doing in the future and their part of protecting
America," Fowler said, describing the overall story line.
The academy is responsible for preparing future
Navy officers to be military leaders. Students receive an officer's
commission when they graduate.
The Naval Academy first admitted women in 1976.
Women now make up a little more than 20 percent of the academy's
brigade, and their numbers have been increasing with each class.
Meanwhile, Fowler told reporters he has no plans to
stop voluntary, non-denominational noon prayers, which have been
criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Fowler said noon prayers have been a part of the
Naval Academy since the institution was founded in 1845, and the Navy
allows moments for prayer in the fleet. Fowler also pointed out that
Navy policy requires commanding officers to meet the religious needs of
their subordinates.
"We just don't see why we would change it, because
we don't see anything wrong with what we're doing," Fowler said.
Fowler also said there are no plans to stop the
practice of dipping the American flag before the altar cross during a
Protestant service at the academy chapel, despite criticism from the
Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which contends the practice
violates separation of church and state.
Fowler said he initially thought it might not be a
good example to show the midshipmen, because it's not done anywhere else
in the Navy, and he suspended the practice temporarily. But Fowler
decided to restart the ceremony because "the congregation so missed this
practice."
U. ID law touts gains in women, minorities
Aug 20 09:48
MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) -- The University of Idaho
College of Law is a lot more diverse than it used to be.
Administrators at the college in Moscow report that
women made up more than 49 percent of the 2007 class, a total that
exceeds the average for all law schools accredited by the American Bar
Association.
Minority composition has also improved. Officials
say minorities accounted for 19 percent of the 2007 class, up from 12
percent in 2005 and 17 percent in 2006. Those figures still fall below
peer schools, which average 22 percent.
The growing diversity is a major improvement
considering a consulting group hired in 1999 found the college had the
lowest percentage of women of any law school in the country.
Officials also say the college has made gains in
diversifying its faculty.
Teens and Tweens: First-job tips for parents, tweens
Aug 23 00:20
By SHEILA NORMAN-CULP
Associated Press Writer
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MONTCLAIR, N.J. (AP) -- It's a "tween" dilemma:
Just as these preteens' need for cool clothes, cell phones, iPods,
laptops and other gear soars, gas prices, food costs and mortgage woes
are sending Mom and Dad into apoplexy.
What's a tween (or teen, for that matter) to do?
Find that first job, of course. And since job
skills are made, not born, parents' help is crucial in laying the
groundwork.
"A first job often sets the tone for a young
person's perception of work, and presents a wonderful opportunity for
parents to teach kids that work does not have to be drudgery," says
Georgia Boothe, associate executive director of Covenant House New York,
who helps at-risk teens find jobs.
"Instead, doing your best at something often feels
good, and can bring personal and financial rewards."
Parents can start the at-home training by assigning
chores and enforcing consequences if they are not done. While it may be
easier to pick up clothes yourself than to nag a child to do it,
teaching them how to complete an assignment is too important a concept
to undermine.
Besides, the real world is going to be harsher than
you are.
"Most young kids have chores, but once you have a
job, there's a completely different dynamic," says Jeremy Schneider, a
Montclair High senior who began working years ago at an ice cream shop.
"The earlier you are introduced to a work environment where you actually
have superiors and have to take orders from someone, regardless of how
ridiculous they may be, the earlier you accept it and learn to do well."
Employers may have a lot of negative stereotypes
about young peoples' work ethic, Boothe says, so first-timers must try
extra hard to overcome that. Pet peeves include excessive texting or
phone calls; being late, unreliable or unprepared; dressing
inappropriately; faking illness; and not taking the job seriously.
"Younger kids can be extremely enthusiastic about a
job when it is new, but lose interest over time," she says. "They also
may not fully understand the responsibilities they'll have."
Parents can help by not tolerating lateness for
school, sports, church or other activities, and by being on time
themselves. Since swearing, fooling around or wearing inappropriate
clothing is never acceptable, those lessons need to begin early -- even
in elementary school.
Many tweens -- a group roughly defined as 9-12
years old -- don't know where to start looking for a job. Parents can
help them jump-start the search by making a list of neighbors, friends,
relatives or teachers who would recommend or hire them, and having them
tell those people what jobs they are looking for.
Baby-sitting is the granddaddy of all tween jobs;
the key is finding families who need intermittent help and proving your
child's utter reliability.
To exercise that "good judgment" muscle, parents
should role play with their tween: What should he do if the power goes
out or a dog bites a child? Whom should she call if she can't reach the
parents? Go over a checklist of phone numbers for parents, neighbors,
doctors and other contacts.
Other good tween jobs include taking care of pets
-- walking, sitting or bathing them -- or helping elderly neighbors with
light household chores.
Sometimes parents can help most by encouraging
tweens to look ahead and develop the skills needed for future jobs,
before they hit the pressure cooker of high school. That means taking
the YMCA baby-sitting class, the Red Cross First Aid class, the junior
lifesaving class or the scuba certification class. Getting a state
boating license or ATV driving safety certificate. Passing the
first-level umpire or referee tests for baseball, soccer, football or
other sports.
There's plenty of demand for seventh- and
eighth-grade referees for youth soccer or Little League games -- and
refs get paid in cash. No town pool will hire a 13-year-old lifeguard --
but if your child is a good swimmer, he or she could police a backyard
pool during a birthday party or baby-sit for families who live near the
water.
Computer-savvy parents can help their teens find
work on the Internet. Stephan Spencer of Madison, Wis., founder of the
Web agency Netconcepts, helped his 15-year-old daughter, Chloe, turn her
obsession with Neopets -- virtual pets -- into a blog that rakes in
hundreds of dollars a month with Google ads, he said.
For tweens and teens who want to be outdoors,
there's no end to the amount of work needed on suburban lawns or rural
farms. The trick is connecting with farms that have seasonal demands or
with homeowners who need help.
Also, manual labor can be dangerous, from
malfunctioning machinery to dehydration or sunburn, so parents must
impress on kids the importance of safety. Last year alone, the Consumer
Product Safety Commission says, 16,200 children needed medical treatment
after using a lawnmower.
Federal labor laws generally allow anyone 14 or
older to work on a farm, and 12-year-olds are permitted do some farm
work with parental consent. State laws vary in specifics: In Illinois,
the minimum age for farm workers is 10 -- also the minimum age for
coffee harvesters in Hawaii. Oregon allows 9-year-olds to pick berries
or beans with parental permission. Utah has no minimum age for farm
workers, as long as a parent consents.
State and federal labor laws for teens spell out
how long they
can work, what type of machinery they can operate,
what crops they
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