What a cool contest!  Sponsored by Dickies, Sears and Kmart; the 18th annual American Worker of the Year contest seeks out committed, hard working people who take leadership and responsibility seriously and go the extra mile to get the job done. The grand prize is a cool $100, 000 with regional prizes of $5,000.

Do you know someone who should be nominated?  Go online, during the Contest Period that endsJuly15, 2010 and follow the on-screen directions to nominate someone who you believe deserves to be recognized as The Dickies American Worker of the Year. You may nominate yourself or someone you know personally. You will be asked to answer a few questions about yourself and the nominee and to write an essay answering the following questions:

1) What does hard work mean to you/the nominee

2) Give us an example of how you/the nominee exemplifies the American Worker.

Your Essays must be in English and may not exceed 500 words per Essay. Once your registration is complete click the “Submit” button and you will receive confirmation that your Contest entry has been received.

Good Luck!

That’s what we are calling it?  Stubbornly high unemployment; it’s more than that it’s a crisis. Even worse older worker, senior worker and baby boomers are the hardest hit! It’s no wonder that the confidence that the consumer has in spending plummeted this month. Monthly report on U.S. consumer confidence, released Tuesday, showed a sharp decline in June from May, reversing a three-month climb, as Americans digested a batch of unsettling news that raised new concerns about the economy’s health. The index — which measures how shoppers feel about business conditions, the job market and the next six months — had been recovering fitfully since hitting an all-time low of 25.3 in February 2009.

So what should it look like?

A reading of US Consumer Confidence above 90 indicates the economy is on solid footing; above 100 signals strong growth. Economists watch the number closely because consumer spending including health care and other major items, accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity.

A key issue is jobs.

The Labor Department is expected to report that employers eliminated 110,000 jobs in June, and the jobless rate is expected to tick up slightly to 9.8 percent, from 9.7 percent in May, according to economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters. That follows a bleak report in May, which showed employers added 431,000 jobs but the vast majority were temporary census positions.

I recently found myself shopping for a new cell phone for my mother.  “I just need a phone that dials with a larger number pad and a phone I can hear on.”  Those were her only requirements. I figured that this would be a simple purchase and I was wrong; it’s with this that I share my research and hope that you find it useful and hopefully will lessen the hassle that you encounter should you need to make a cellular purchase anytime soon.

First I found that there are 4 major companies that cater to your demographic with not only special phones but also special call plans. I found 2 companies that only deal with the older/senior demographic and 2 other national carriers that have created special cell phone plans for the older worker. They were all around the $30.00 a month plan and some featured better phone options.

Verizon: They feature a 65 and older senior plan; Unlimited Mobile to Mobile Calling to any other Verizon Wireless customer; you won’t incur any domestic roaming or long distance charges. The account holder must be 65 or older to qualify for this plan. $29.99 you get 200 anytime minutes and 500 nights and weekend minutes.  

AT&T: Senior Nation 200 wireless plan is intended to meet the needs of consumers aged 65 and older. Great coverage plan and you have access to any of your family members who are already on their network.

Consumer Cellular: They have a few phone choices that are senior friendly simple functions and bug buttons; good coverage plan and decent rate plans.

Jitterbug: Probably the most advertised plan out there for the senior demographic.  They feature different rate plans with several options; but not a wide selection of phones they do boast large key pads and loud speakers.  They show a very wide coverage area for their product.

While all these plans are more affordable, they have a limited amount of usage minutes attached to the plans and people who may use a cell phone more often may find that other, more common plans may better fit their needs. It can be difficult to track the actual number of minutes used and we tend to use our phones more often than we expect. So before you make a purchase its wise to know who you speak to most and who they already use and how much time you spend talking on the phone.

Happy Chatting!

Details, we all know they important however if they are so important they how do details always get over looked?  Missing the details can cost you time, energy and mostly money. Just this week I read an article where groups of fisherman were competing in to catch the biggest fish. Which they did- 883lb Blue Marlin, however they failed to read all the contest requirements that clearly stated that everyone needed to have a fishing license; the end result was they lost the contest.  Missing the details cost this team over $1 million dollars.  

Missing details in the quest for a job can be just as expensive as if you don’t follow all the direction you can miss out on opportunities. If you don’t follow all the instructions on the applications you will most likely not be called back for an interview. If you fail to disclose all the required information you may not be hired. So as easy as it can be to miss details you can see that it’s crucial that you make every attempt to pay close attention to detail when searching for a job. It could cost you if you don’t!

Initial claims for jobless benefits fell by the largest amount in two months, but remain above levels consistent with healthy job growth. But how did your states fared on jobless claims?

Here’s a look at the states with the biggest changes in initial jobless claims, and some of the reasons for the shifts.

States reporting the largest drops in claims:

New Mexico: Down 708

Kansas: Down 596

Mississippi: Down 522

States reporting the largest increases in claims:

California: Up 17,572, due to layoffs in the service industry

Pennsylvania: Up 5,266, due to layoffs in the transportation and service industries

Florida: Up 4,958, due to layoffs in construction, trade, manufacturing and agriculture

Texas: Up 2,971, due to layoffs in transportation, trade and services

Illinois: Up 2,481, due to layoffs in trade and services

Over the last few days there have been quite a few articles on the older worker unemployment rate; while it’s still a problem; it’s also an opportunity.  An opportunity to reinvest yourself and maybe find a job doing something you never thought you might do and heck maybe you can even find something you enjoy doing. However invest in yourself wisely, too often I find older workers short change themselves in the quest for a job.

Recently I attended a job fair and the most common response to the question: What kind of job are you looking for what this: “I’ll do anything”.  This answer makes me cringe……Really would you do anything?  You might think this answer makes you sound attractive to the employer because you will adapt; but what it really says is you specialize in nothing and your desperate and worse yet you are not the best candidate senior, older or otherwise.  

So what is it you CAN do and do successfully? Take off your blinders, open your mind and take a chance. Sounds bold but believe it; not enough people take a chance on themselves and the end result is you end up holding yourself back.

Has this ever happened to you?  You hear a story and it just stops you in your tracks and gives you a whole new perspective on things?  That happened to me recently.

I heard about a former co-worker who was diagnosed with a very serious illness.  For a while we didn’t know if she would survive.  Thankfully she did.  In addition to her amazing doctors and the love and support of family and friends, what got her through all of this was her upbeat and positive attitude.  That truly amazed me.  I don’t know how many of us would react the same way if given similar circumstances.

That got me thinking.  We all face obstacles in our lives.  We have a choice on how we handle them.  We can dwell on the “why me” or we can take a positive attitude toward the situation.  It is amazing how much different the results will be.

Maybe we can all learn a lesson from her. I know I am going to try and take a more positive outlook towards things.  I hope you will as well.

Do you Tweet?  Facebook, or catch up on MySpace? According to recent research more than 25% of Americans 50 years and older stay connected using sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.  Additionally, almost half of those surveyed between the ages of 50 and 64 said they’re extremely or very comfortable using the Internet. AARP Chief Communications Officer Kevin Donnellan says “The latest data tells us that more and more, social networking is becoming a part of everyday life for Americans 50+, and boomers in particular.”

Furthermore, When adults 50+ are looking for news, 40% said they prefer print newspapers and magazines, while 26% responded that they gathered their news through a combination of print and online sources.  Those numbers are dramatically up then they were 5 years ago, when most people relied on print news mediums.

Times are changing how do you stay connected?

When you create your resume, peruse the classifieds or attend a job fair you better be able to answer this question. And I can assure you of one thing……I will work anywhere isn’t going to work.  I recently attended a career fair event and it was incredible how many people didn’t know the answer to what they were looking for, how do you know you have found something if you don’t know what you are looking for? It’s an age old problem but ones that’s even more magnified in a time when the labor market is so tough.  

So how do you find out what you are looking for?  Start with looking at what you have done, both professionally and personally; and figure out what skills you can use for the new step in your job search. A real world application might look like this: Perhaps you have worked as a lab manager for the last 20 year and now would like to find a new job. As a manager of a lab you most likely picked up many transferable skills that can be used in a number of new positions not limited to this list….

·         Customer Service Manager

·         Sales Manager

·         Customer Service Reps

·         Call Center Manager

·         Data Entry

·         Hospitality

Notice none of these were medical; you can apply skills that you have to almost any type of industry. So when you are creating a resume keep this in mind. Create a resume that tells a story of what you can do now what you have done before. You need to convey a story of what you bring to the table and how you can benefit a company now.

This happened last year and here we are 365 days latter and not that much wiser….Tennessee’s Attorney General and AARP warn seniors to beware of con artists trying to take advantage of $250.00 rebate checks going out this year to Medicare recipients who have fallen into the “doughnut hole*” gap in Part D prescription coverage.

Attorney General Bob Cooper says  “If someone promises to help you get one of these rebate checks for a fee, or tells you that you need to fill out a form or give them your Social Security or Medicare number, it’s a scam,” and “Don’t fall for it.

Here’s the truth: the $250.00 checks will be mailed automatically to Medicare Part D beneficiaries after they hit the “doughnut hole.” The first batch of checks will be mailed Thursday and more will go out monthly through the remainder of 2010.

So be patient if you are expecting this refund and don’t try and take any short cuts!

*Seniors fall into the “doughnut hole” once they’ve spent $940.00 in out-of-pocket drug costs. They are responsible for $3,610 in total costs before Medicare coverage kicks in again.