Career Smacks

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“Smoothie of the day?” said the male voice.  I looked up from my chaise in the shaded cabana, romance novel in one hand.  “Of course!” I replied.   Hubby and I looked at each other and sighed.  Every hour, on the hour, a uniformed cabana host came around the pool offering guests a variety of treats.  They even offered to clean our sunglasses.

Yes, Hubby and I live a luxurious life.

On vacation, that is.

Each summer we spend a week in a luxurious parallel universe, one that allows us to pretend that we are “somebody”; one in which we are waited on hand and foot.

Many wonder why we do this.  We wonder why others don’t do this.

Our philosophy? If we can’t live this way year ‘round, we can certainly live this way for one glorious week.

And really, why not? We work hard. We usually take only one vacation a year.  So it had better be good.

Similar to waiting for Christmas when we were kids, Hubby and I wait for this trip all year. Literally. Less than 48 hours after arriving home and we already start planning for next year.

Arriving at the resort is ecstasy and departing is pure anguish; sometimes downright embarrassing. I “might” have shed a tear or two.  Okay, I openly sobbed as Hubby tried to pry my fingers off of the chaise as the sun disappeared over the horizon our last day.

No matter how long we stay it’s never enough.  Perhaps we need to re-think our at-home relaxation strategy so we are not upset at leaving?

Yet we know that at some point we must return home, back to the “real world”.

This time, we tried to prepare for re-entry.  We talked about a couple weekend trips planned for the fall.

Hubby and I swore on our pool-side smoothies that we would book one of our every-other-year “adventure” vacations.  We even pinky-swore that we would return to our favorite luxury resort for a long weekend this winter.

We departed feeling a bit better and less disappointed about returning home to our responsibilities.

As we deplaned we joked about the “re-entry” time, saying it doesn’t take long to get back to reality.

Folks, it takes exactly twenty-seven minutes.  That’s scientific.  It was the amount of time it took to deplane, get our bags, find our car and realize that we had a dead battery.

Nothing like the sound of “click-click-click” coming from the engine at 9:30 pm in a dark parking garage.

Sigh.

Smack!  That was the sound of reality, hitting us hard.  We tried to put on a brave face.  We tried to laugh at this sudden turn of events.  I tried not to cry.  We both tried
not to sweat in the hot parking garage.

Life is like that.  We plan, we prepare and even with our best intentions we can still get smacked in the face.

Yet this time was different.  Somehow both Hubby and I were able to keep the dead battery incident in perspective.

Instead of crying, I looked at Hubby and we both started to laugh. Seeing the humor, I immediately posted on social media about our “re-entry” debacle.

As luck would have it, a good friend saw my post and came to our rescue with cold water and jumper cables.

Just like that, we were back on track.

Similarly, at some point our career will smack us in the face.  It could be the promotion that got away, or an unexpected department shuffle, or something as serious as a job loss.  We can’t control it.  But we can control how we react to these “career smacks”.

Plan what you can, such as maintaining an up-to-date resume.  If your career does smack you, try to put things in perspective.  Reach out to your contacts for help.  You never know who might be available.

As for Hubby and me, one dead battery was no match for us.  We are already planning another trip.  And next time we’ll have a spare battery in the car, just in case.

Bouncing Back After a Job Loss – The Video

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This week I’m coming to you in person!  Well, sort of.  Recently I had the pleasure of hosting a Google Hangout for The Resume Edge titled, “How to Bounce Back After Losing Your Job”.  Questions came in from viewers and we had a great discussion.

This week I thought you might like to “hear” me instead of “read” me for a change as I discuss bouncing back after a job loss . So grab a coffee, sit back and enjoy!

The link to the video can be accessed here on my site or through this YouTube link, or by searching YouTube with “How to Bounce Back After Losing Your Job”.

Own Your Strengths

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Woman with Shopping Bags

Hi – my name is Tami, and I’m a…a…retailer. 

Yes, I’ve known this for quite some time.  Why haven’t I told you before?  Oh, I don’t know.  It’s one of those things that sometimes just doesn’t sound as good as I’d like it too.

Being a retailer is not an easy career path, and it’s one that I chose to pursue when I was in graduate school.  Retailing has everything: strategy, products, logistics, finance, communications, marketing and sales.  It’s old fashioned, with brick and mortar stores, yet so twenty-first-century with ecommerce and mobile apps.

My favorite part is that it’s fast-paced and constantly changing.  We had a saying at my first retail job out of school: you’re only as good as yesterday’s sales.  It’s a constant tug between “how did we do” and “what is our next big thing”, always striving to be better.  To be a good retailer, you need to be able to move between creative and analytical in a heartbeat.  It’s stressful even in slow periods.  And holidays – or should I say “what holidays”?  They are super busy when everyone else has time off.

And I love it!

For some reason I understand the business model, I like the frenetic pace, I enjoy mixing creativity, strategy and analytics, and above all, I enjoy seeing the results.

So why am I telling you this? 

After the layoff I was afraid to tell people I was a retailer.  Not because I was ashamed but because I wanted to cast a wide net in the job search and didn’t want to be exclusively defined by this title.  Frankly, I was afraid of being viewed as a “one-trick pony” when I knew I had much more to offer.

So what did I do?  I came up with some snazzy words to convey the type of work I did to avoid pigeon-holing myself into one industry.   I played down my past employment and spoke in general terms about my experience.

The result? In doing so I ignored my biggest strength:  I am a retailer and I thrive in that type of environment.

My advice to anyone looking for work is to be truthful about who you are in the work force and what type of work makes you tick.  Own your strengths and be truthful with yourself.

Otherwise you’ll end up miscast in a job that’s not right for you.  The last thing you want is to be a square peg pushed into a round hole.

This doesn’t mean you have to stay in your current industry.  As I discovered, my retail skills were transferrable to other industries and other disciplines.  The important thing is to determine what you excel at and apply those strengths to new opportunities.

The lesson here? It’s OK to be who you are. In fact, you need to own it. Your next employer wants it that way.

Chance Meetings Can Play A Part In Finding Your Next Job Opportunity

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Chance meetings can be amazing.  Most are coincidental, but some are truly life-changing.  I like to think that such meetings are fate, karma or spiritually ordained – driven by a force far greater than myself.

Hubby and I were introduced by a “chance” meeting.  Sweet, conservative guy that he is, he’ll tell you we met at church.  He’s partially right, as we developed a friendship which led to romance when we were both part of a church singles’ group.

The real story is much more fun; definitely a chance meeting.  A friend and I had tickets to see Elton John in concert.  Close to the concert date, she told me the singles group from her church was also attending the concert and suggested we go with them.  Sounded like a plan to me.

It was a huge group of people and aside from my friend I knew no one. We all met at one person’s apartment, divided into cars and headed out. That’s when the chance meeting occurred.  My friend was driving the car, another person was riding shotgun, and I, along with some guy who was a stranger to me at the time, rode in the backseat.

I remember that this guy was friendly enough.  When we got stuck in traffic he carried on a nice conversation to pass the time.  I also remember thinking that he was really cute and I mentally chastised myself for daydreaming that he might ask me out.

I mean, come on, what was I thinking? We had just met. 

Weeks later, when I decided to join the church group, Hubby was a familiar face in the sea of singles. We became friends and the rest is history.

So technically, Hubby and I met in the backseat of my friends’ car on the way to an Elton John concert.

I told you it was more interesting than “met at church”.

Chance meetings can play a part in finding your next job opportunity too, and when it does, it’s awesome.

Some things to consider about chance meetings as they pertain to job opportunities:

  • Remember that every person you meet is a potential networking opportunity.  That’s not to say that you immediately launch into your “30-second elevator speech” – talk about socially awkward.  But keep in mind that you want to be upbeat and interesting.  Don’t over-share or complain about work with new people you meet.  And DO carry business cards so you are prepared when the opportunity is right.

 

  • We should not rely solely on chance meetings to find our next opportunity.  Problem with that approach is, well, it’s taking a chance. And that’s a huge risk.   A better idea is to develop a strategy with tactics for finding the next opportunity and work systematically toward the goal.

 

  • Chance meetings don’t happen at home.  This is a shocker for some people: you have to get out of the house in order to have a chance meeting in the first place.  Attend workshops, industry meetings or alumni events.  Work your network and set up coffee dates.  Volunteer or even take a part-time job, especially if you’re unemployed.  Trust me, this works. Both Hubby and I experienced the benefits of part time work when unemployed, with both of us finding job opportunities as a result.

I know, I know.  It seems like I’ve taken the “chance” out of a chance meeting. 

Not really.  Chance meetings will always happen; it’s just that we may not be aware of the significance of the meeting at the time.  That’s why we always have to be prepared, including being open to the possibility.

Look at me.  Who knew that I would meet the love of my life in the back seat of a car on the way to an Elton John concert?  Okay; at church.  Sheesh, Hubby, I know you want it told your way.

Just remember to be prepared. Chance meetings have a way of surprising us when we least expect them.

Pick A Strategy And Stick To It

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Father’s Day last weekend had me thinking about my dad more than usual.  It’s bittersweet; fun memories mixed with sadness that he’s no longer with us.

Some people have dads that take them to sporting events. Some have dads who share a passion for the great outdoors, including fishing and camping.  Others have dads who teach the mechanics of fixing a car.

My dad taught me how to play cards.

He would bring us “gifts” of playing cards from his travels.  That was back in the day when airlines actually gave away decks of cards to help passengers bide their time. 

Dad taught me all kinds of games including Gin, Solitaire, and what became our favorite, Black Jack.  Or Twenty-One, as Dad called it.

Some may call this gambling. I prefer to think of it as strategic life lessons.

I would pull up the ottoman in front of his chair, grab a deck of cards and the lesson would begin, with Dad assuming the role of a Vegas dealer.  While I was learning, Dad would look at my cards and show me how to anticipate what the dealer might be holding in order to decide if I should “hit” or “stay”.

As I progressed in my abilities these games became quite competitive.  Dad had a pad next to his chair for score-keeping and it was such fun for me to actually beat the dealer.

We spent a lot of time playing cards, Dad and I. Lots of time.  We didn’t go outside much; he wasn’t that kind of dad.

What did I learn from the many hours spent playing cards with Dad?

  • I learned to do quick addition in my head.  Never a bad thing.
  • Poker face.  Never let them see you sweat.  As a child I didn’t fully understand the importance of this lesson.  As an adult it’s been an amazing gift for business negotiations.
  • Be consistent.  Dad would tell me you’re rarely going to beat the house, so whatever your strategy is, stay with it.   Since I’d yet to visit Vegas, I wasn’t sure what this meant or what the house was, but it sounded very important so I listened and tucked the knowledge away.

Now it’s all coming back to me and I understand what Dad meant.  If you keep jumping around and changing your strategy, you’re almost surely never going to win at Black Jack.

If you decide that you are always going to “hold” with sixteen, that’s a good strategy built on solid thinking.  While it may not win every time, if you are consistent with this strategy you will win some of the time.   Just be patient and stick with your plan.

The same can be said for our careers.  It’s easy to get impatient and want to change course if things don’t move fast enough or go the way we want them to.  Sometimes shifting direction works.  But the best bet is to determine a sound strategy and stick with it.

“Plan the work and work the plan” is what I say at the office.  Dad would say “Determine when you are going to ‘hit’ or when you are going to ‘stay’”.

Either way, just pick a strategy and stick to it.  It’s the best way to achieve your career goals.

 

Biking, Hiking and BBQs Oh My! But What About the Job Search?

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June is finally here and you know what that means: summer vacation!

As Pink Floyd so famously sang, “No more pencils, no more books! No more teachers dirty looks!”

I remember that euphoric feeling as the last bell rang for the year or in college when I finished my last final exam.  It was awesome knowing I had at least two months of relaxation without school responsibilities.

Too bad that all ends when we start our careers and enter the “real world”.

No more summer vacations.  If we’re lucky, we can bookend the summer with long weekends at Memorial Day and Labor Day. Depending on how the calendar falls we may get a third long weekend at Fourth of July.

Hardly the freedom-fest summers of our youth.

It’s been ages since I was in school yet for some reason at this time of year I still find myself wanting to slow down from work and take a step back.   With the sun finally shining I guess I’m ready to come out of hibernation.

Or more appropriately, I’m ready to get up from my desk, longing for a respite from the busy go-go-go lifestyle that has taken over.

Yes, I want to run away from it all. Even if only for a little while.

My mind plays tricks on me, suddenly forgetting all the things on my to-do list.  Knowing that we have a couple of trips planned, Vacation Brain tries to push Work Brain out of the way weeks before it’s time to leave.

I play all sorts of games to remain focused on career, networking, finding my next opportunity and the like, yet it seems in vain. There are simply too many distractions.

The swimming pool is calling me to come outside.  Friends in the teaching profession have free time to play.  Family wants to come to visit. Tons of summer festivals and events.  Biking, hiking, and BBQ’s, oh my!

Even the news is conspiring against me, telling me summer is a terrible time to look for a new job, that hiring tends to decrease over the summer as managers take vacations and a slew of other reasons.  My mind says this sounds reasonable.

Vacation Brain says, “Go ahead and give in; don’t do any work for the next couple of months”.

Work Brain knows I’m responsible and forces me back to reality saying “You know better.”   Sometimes I really hate being responsible.

Work Brain is right. We should not give in to the temptation to relax our standards just because it’s summer and vacation is right around the corner.

Especially anyone who is looking for a new job.  Don’t lose your momentum!  Let others drop out of the job search race if they want; that gives you the edge.  Besides, you never know when there might be a new opportunity and you could be the first to see it.

Should you enjoy summer and plan a vacation? Of course! It’s always good to take a short break to rejuvenate.   Just make sure you have a plan for staying on top of your job search strategy rather than dropping out completely.

No Regrets

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Sequined high tops
I’ve often heard it said that in life you never regret what you did; you regret those things you didn’t do.  Hmm.  Are you sure? Just one look at my old photo albums and I can see plenty of things I regret.
Photos from grad-school parties show a serious lack of fashion sense, which of course I regret.  I’ll cut myself some slack here since I was poor.  I will say that my sequined high-top tennis shoes (my creation) added some flair to my otherwise bland wardrobe of jeans and tops. 
And my hair! I may have actually been close to a mullet.  Let’s just hope I needed a haircut and hadn’t made it to the salon.
Looking back at my career, there was the time I turned down an opportunity to interview with a small start-up. Happy with my job despite the low pay, I didn’t even try to talk to the start-up even though one of my best friends worked there. In my mind, it couldn’t possibly be as interesting or fulfilling as my current job.  
I’ll never know how an interview may have turned out or if I would have liked working there.  One thing I do know: I regret not interviewing and potentially getting in on the ground floor, including stock options that later would prove to be so lucrative that I could be writing this from my winter home in Tahiti.
Over the years I’ve seen the error of my thinking. Of not trying something new.  Now I’m much more willing to at least investigate opportunities – both professional and personal – rather than simply declaring my life “fine as-is”.
Hubby and I have applied this line of thinking to our travel, taking advantage of opportunities that we never before dreamed of, not wanting to look back with regret at not going, doing, seeing.  Hard to regret riding a camel by the great pyramids at Giza.   I do regret screaming while the giant camel stood up with me in the saddle; that was embarrassing.  Who knew that a scream would echo around the pyramids?
When the lay-off hit, my mantra became “no regrets”.   This stroke of bad luck was really good luck in disguise, giving me the opportunity to do whatever I wanted.  If I wanted to try something, I was going to try it, as long as it was legal and didn’t break the bank.  Any fear I had was pushed aside by the bigger concern that I might rush into a new job too fast and find myself once again stuck in the rat race without at least considering a new venture.
So I pressed on, past any naysayers and concerns from well-meaning friends; past my own self-doubt.  I wrote my thoughts and dreams and strategies on a large grease board with “NO REGRETS” emblazoned at the top.  And guess what?  I’ve actually been able to check a few things off the list.
Living a “regret-less” life is not easy and I’m not going to pretend that I do it well.  Many times Hubby has to give me a pep-talk before I worry myself out of something without giving it a try.  I find that it takes more courage and determination to try something new vs. staying with something familiar.  Worries flood in as I venture out of my comfort zone to try new things. “What if” questions are always top of mind.
I’m not sure where some of my “regret-less” ventures are going to take me.  But one thing’s for sure: I’ll look back someday with a smile, knowing at least I tried.
 

Invest In Your Career Future

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Bride Holding Bouquet

Hubby and I just celebrated our wedding anniversary.  It’s been an awesome fifteen years!  Or wait, is it twenty?  No, maybe seventeen.  Let’s see: 2014, minus 1996, equals eighteen.

Stop laughing – it’s hard to remember when you’re as happy as I am!  Gotta admit that was a good save.

Truth be told, it seems like it was just yesterday that I was walking down the aisle.

Hubby and I have a ritual each year on our anniversary: we watch the videos from the big day.

Thank goodness for our friend with the new camera who took the video; it’s one of our most prized possessions. Especially since the whole event is a blur to us; it’s the only way we actually get to see what happened.

That said, I do remember a lot about my wedding day.  Being insanely happy, for one thing.  My niece was adorable at the age of five, always at my side.  My then three-year-old nephew made a mad dash down the aisle after us as we exited the church – awesome.

I remember my friend who helped me get ready.  Later that night I discovered she’d been mischievous too and had dumped a couple pounds of rice in my suitcase.  Nice.  I still owe her for that one.

There were touching moments as well.  I remember Dad handing me a card from his mother – my Italian grandmother – who passed away some years earlier.  On the envelope was her handwriting that said, “For Tami on Her Wedding Day”.  Inside was a card she had picked out, with a fifty-dollar bill.

I bawled.

Dad explained that he had wanted to take that money and invest it; mom said no, leave it alone.  I thanked him and put it away, awed that grandma had planned enough to leave this for me.

Eighteen years later and guess what?  I still have that card, with the same fifty dollar bill.

Sentimental, yes.  But not the wisest move on my part.

If I had taken that fifty dollar bill and invested it, I would probably have around two-hundred dollars now, more than doubling my money.

Honestly, over the years I thought about this many times.  But fifty dollars?  It seemed insignificant, an amount too small to bother with.  I had more important things to worry about and I just forgot, or procrastinated, or both.

I was wrong.  It was not too small.  Investing that seemingly small amount would have been an investment in my future. 

Same is true with our careers.  We think that “little things” aren’t going to make an impact on our jobs.

Why take a class that doesn’t directly impact our current work?  Why spend time and money to attend industry or alumni events when we are so busy?  Why spend time staying in touch with all of those business contacts we’ve made throughout the years, especially if we don’t have business with them today?

Because investing today – even in seemingly insignificant ways – can payoff big-time later on.

Staying in touch with business colleagues is simple networking.  Industry and alumni organizations allow us to actually expand our network while potentially learning something new. Taking a class is never a bad thing; if it’s business-related, it’s a resume builder and could help land our next job.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the day to day things that we forget to take time to plan for the future.  Or maybe we just procrastinate, because that’s easier to do than thinking and strategizing and doing.

The time to invest in your career future is now.  Every little step, no matter how insignificant it may seem, is a positive step.

Even I’m jumping on this bandwagon, taking a class that may help me down the road.  I know it won’t hurt, that’s for sure.

It’s nice that I still have the fifty dollar bill grandma left for me.  Yet I’m sure she would have wanted me to move forward and do something with that money rather than save it in a drawer.

Let’s invest in our future now, while we can, rather than look back and wish we’d done it sooner.   Our future selves will be so happy.

When It Comes To Resumes, Content Is Critical

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Christmas at our house was a big deal when we were growing up.  Who am I kidding?  It’s still a big deal to me and Hubby knows it.  He has a hard time trying to live up to the expectations established by my family, particularly my grandmother.

Grandma always gave good gifts. I mean REALLY good.  We thought she was super rich. Only much later did I realize that she carefully planned her money and preferred to give it to the grandchildren instead of spending it on herself.

What Grandma understood best was presentation; the drama leading up to the gift.  She knew that we knew the gift would be good and she wanted us to work for it.  We had been taught to be so polite that if we opened her gift and were disappointed, we still smiled and thanked her profusely.  That’s when the fun began for Grandma.

Like the time I opened a huge box with a beautiful large bow, only to find a pair of fuzzy socks from the dollar store.  I smiled and thanked her, wondering if she’d lost all her money.  She coaxed me to try them on; I thought she was nuts.  But I did as she asked.  To my surprise, I found a diamond ring sewn inside the toe of the sock.

Score one for Grandma!  She knew the content of the gift was more important than the fancy wrapping and let me discover a true diamond in the rough.

Resumes are a lot like gifts.  They can surprise a hiring manager by presenting a good picture of the candidate or they can disappoint by looking good yet lacking substance.

Throughout my career I’ve interviewed a lot of candidates, as well as helped students and others with their job searches – I have seen my share of resumes.   Resumes on different kinds of paper, with all sorts of fonts and creative interpretations designed to make them stand out in the crowd.  One memorable resume was a on a DVD – talk about making me work for the information.

I imagine most hiring managers appreciate efforts by candidates to be unique.  Believe me when I say that I’m right there with you in wanting to separate myself from the pack during the recruitment process.

The truth is it’s the content of the resume that’s important.  Just like a Christmas gift, the fanciest wrapping doesn’t always yield the best present.

Make sure your resume really tells your story.  Sometimes this is the only piece of information a hiring manager sees in determining whether or not to interview a candidate.

I know; it’s hard to write about yourself but you have to try.  Ask a trusted friend or two to review your resume and edit it.  I’ve done this before and have received great feedback.  Sometimes we are too close to the subject to have an objective view.

There are also certified professional resume writers who do this for a living.  Yes, you’ll have to spend some money, although it’s worth the price if it means finding your next opportunity.

Worst thing you can do is limp along with a poor resume.  I’ve seen some doozies over the years.  Misspelled words, date errors, including way too much information or irrelevant information, information that indicates age or even includes skills that may be outdated – and those are not the worst errors.

The resumes that are most difficult to understand are the ones that fail to tell me succinctly who you are, what type of work you are looking for and why you are successful.  A good resume helps me understand why you could help solve my problems and intrigues me enough to schedule an interview.

Remember, the resume provides a snapshot of your personal brand to the hiring manager.  While a resume alone won’t get you a job, it may open the door for an interview where you can shine in person.

Your resume can still look good. Just make sure the content lives up to the wrapping.

 

The Age of Relevance

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Hands and phones

When it comes to hiring, it seems like there’s still a lot of discussion about age.  Perception is that younger candidates are being chosen over older more experienced ones. This leaves the older candidates perplexed, without work, wondering what happened.

Theories I’ve read include the obvious age discrimination, and that older workers are not competitive because they don’t know about all the new technology like their younger counterparts.

I’m calling B.S. here.

That’s a pretty bold declaration given that I have no data to back up my claim, nor do I have any data to disprove the things I’ve read.

Don’t get me wrong; I agree that age discrimination exists.  What I think is B.S. is the part about older workers not having current skills and not being of value anymore. 

Take my little coffee shop “Focus Group” that meets each week.  I call it a “Meeting of the Minds”; Hubby calls it the “Brain Trust”.  A group of gentleman, all at least partially retired, many of them in an age group north of 70.  I think it’s safe to say most are senior citizens.

Discussions are lively and cover a wide range of topics including politics, business, the economy, personal finance and how to fix things.  Computers and technology are always part of the equation.

As the youngest person and only female participant in the group, I consider it a privilege to be included. They tell me I’m their “center of gravity” and that I’m “smart”.  Flattery will get them everywhere.

Honestly, it’s these guys with the white hair that are smart.  I’m in awe of their business knowledge. I try to listen and learn from them.  One thing is certain: all of them are relevant and current, both with today’s technology and social media.

During a recent meeting, everyone had their cell phones on the table in case a call came in.  Probably from their stockbrokers, I guessed, given they all seem to have way more money than I’ll ever have.

All of a sudden one of the men announced, “Say hi to Tom”.  He had initiated a Google Hangout with a former group member who moved to another city.  Talk about being relevant!  That he even had a smart phone should have made him relevant enough.   Add the Hangout and he is like a geriatric rock star.

The point is that all of these people are much older than the average person trying to find work today.  All of them are current with technology and social media. And the added bonus is they have years of business experience that would make them an asset to a company.

Just so we’re all clear, none of these gentlemen had careers in computers or technology.

In my opinion, employers need to focus on relevance and a willingness to learn rather than age when it comes to hiring.  Combine that with years of work experience and it’s a triple threat that is hard to beat. Something that you certainly won’t get from a younger candidate.

Older job candidates, listen up!  This means work on your part too. Understand and participate in social media.  Be sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date, that you have a FaceBook account and that you at least know enough about Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, Google+, and other applications to carry on an intelligent conversation.

Staying relevant might mean taking a class to keep your work skills up to date.  In our area, the community college offers free or discounted classes to anyone over fifty.

Networking is a must.  Attend professional association meetings and read industry publications for current news – a great way to learn about new trends in your field.

Be relevant in both your attitude and appearance as well.  You’re as young as you feel, right?  Project that internal youthful energy in your voice and enthusiasm. It’s amazing how that will translate positively over the phone, in meetings and during interviews.

Will there still be age discrimination? Probably.  I can only control my behavior.  So I’m going to present the relevant, enthusiastic, younger person that I feel inside.  Even if I have to hire Ms. Clairol to cover my roots.