Next week is the BIG week, the job fair series designed - just for you the older worker!  Visit WiserWorker.com for an event in your city. Are you ready for the job fair series?  Over the last few weeks WiserWorker.com has provided you will all the tips and tricks on how to get prepared for YOUR big day.  You have all the tools to make this day the day you found a job.

When you arrive at the job fair you will be ready because you took the time to do all the research we talked about in: Advanced Preparation for the Job Fair.  You wll be confident because you learned what type of questions you should ask employers when meet them: Job Interview Questions For the Employer. Let’s not even talk about how ready your resume is because you took the time to read Is Your Resume Job Fair Ready? Finally you are sure to the best dressed because you know what to wear to a job fair.

What’s left to get ready for the job fair?  You got it all! Go with confidence…you are prepared review the informationm put your best foot forward. Rememeber employers are eager to talk to you because you are the best candidate for their open positions.

My hope is that I gave you the information you needed to be ready, but if you need more information drop me an email or call me (813) 775-6279.   After the event let me know what happened: Did you get hired?

Good Luck…..You won’t need it you took the time to prepare.   

Yesterday I blogged about a Baby Boomers taking to the open road with a second career in the trucking industry, I thought it might be fun to keep the spirit of the open road alive by sharing an experience I had over the weekend.  Over the weekend I flew on my favorite airline Southwest Airlines; over time you will learn that I am a Southwest Junkie!  Today I have ONE more reason to prove they are the best in the business.  I was only minutes into the flight when I took note of the age of the flight attendants, they all seemed to be of the older worker category, and I thought wow how neat. It wasn’t until the end of the flight I realized the treat that was in store for me!

During my flight I got a chance to catch up with one of the attendants: Tom. Who I would later learn was on his THIRD career. He had already retired from a career in the banking industry spent some years as a college professor teaching finance and had officially retired from the working world 8 years ago or so he thought.

At the age of 56 Tom retired and thought he was done working and it wasn’t too long before he discovered Southwest Airlines. It was then that he found his third career as a flight attendant with the airlines; His wife saw he was having so much fun as a flight attendant it wasn’t long before she joined the airline as well!  So now they both work a very flexible 3 day work week and enjoy 4 days off. They try and organize their work schedule in a fashion that enables them to have the same days off. So they can still have time to enjoy life.

He initially went back to work for the benefits and the freedom he knew that working with the airline would give him, he has found a home at Southwest Airlines and I think they have found valuable employee in Tom. Where else can you get paid to travel?

I hope that you get a chance to fly with Tom he loves his job and you can tell!  It was the best customer service I have ever had 30,000 miles in the sky. There might be 51 ways to leave your lover and 6 ways to exit a plane but I hope Tom and Southwest Airlines never part ways! 

As a company we selected this statement to represent WiserWorker.com and our older worker program and almost 2 years later I look back and think of all that this statement stands for: Older Workers, Baby Boomers and helping them find jobs.  I remember sitting around the conference table trying to select a statement that truthfully described what we were doing and what we hoped to accomplish in the future and thinking “hmmm I wonder if WiserWorker.com will live up to this”. 

So what are we doing to help you the Older Workers find work?

As company our hope is that through the continue education and awareness process we will help make a change in the recruitment world, because recruiters are the people who are make the hiring choices. Still I think older job seekers have doubts…so our job is not done.  I wrote a blog about benefits and the part time employee. I received feedback asking: “do these companies really in fact hire older workers?”  Well the companies in that particular blog are part of AARP’s national employer team as well as advertisers on our site.  I have in the past worked with them and to the best of my knowledge not only do they hire older workers they make it a practice.  Apply with confidence and know you are the best candidate!

WiserWorker.com: We created an online job board specifically designed for the baby boomers and older worker demographic. We make changes to the site based on feedback we get from job seekers. Our product was designed to be user friendly and for you, so if you would like to see a change email and I will see what I can do.  

Job Fair Series: Along with The AARP Foundation are co-hosting our biggest job fair series ever.  Last year The Employment Guide hosted over 40,000 job seekers in 40 cities nationwide and we are here to top those numbers in 2008.

Helping YOU the job seeker; I implore you to confidently attend job fairs. Contact your local WorkSeach program provided by the AARP Foundation, you will be amaze!  Finally apply for jobs that interest and share your knowledge and experience with others

WiserWorker.com has been online for 6 months and our job fair series is in its second year, while we have scratch the surface of the older worker issue, and sure we have made some strides, I realize that we have a lot to do still.   Our goal is to create a marketplace where older workers can easily find the job of their dreams. We aren’t there yet but we are closer.