Over-50

That Career Is Over - So?

" … [Madonna'] 'Medellin' failed to catch on. It rose to number 9 on iTunes briefly, and now sits at number 32 … Beyoncé's 'Homecoming' album, released the same day, has sold or streamed a total of 43,000 copies in 48 hours." - ShowBiz411, April 19, 2019. Here is the article. 

Here is the audio - chachacha - from "Medellin," which is the lead-in to Madonna's new album "Madame X." Out in mid June, "Madame X" is supposed to be the 60-year-old's comeback platform. 

Nothing about "Medellin" is fresh.

That's why Madonna is being positioned and packaged as "washed up."

It isn't her age per se.

Betty White, a relic from the Mary Tyler Moore era, is in her 90s. She did fresh. That was through creating the persona as the designated role model for aging. That process, she hammered in her book, wasn't for sissies. The world loved it. Still love it. She remains marketable.

The issue Madonna raises is the scary question for all aging who are still working: Is it time to leave?

But what they are leaving might well be a very narrow career path. No, it isn't necessary to hang it all up, disappear into a retirement community in Oro Valley, Arizona, and compulsively do yoga. 

ShowBiz411 points out that the last several albums Madonna has put out have been "flops." 

Instead of continuing to do what isn't panning out, she could be testing out other ways to distinguish herself through work.

Maybe she can launch a training institution for the performing arts in Lordstown, Ohio. GM recently shuttered the plant there, putting about 1,600 out of a good job and hope. She can open the door to the light for all the Youngstown, OH metro area. The region still is caught in the shadow of Steel Yesterday.

How do the aging and those no longer perceived as "young" come up with the courage to change?

I don't know about others.

What I do know is that for me the pain of becoming invisible was greater than the anxiety involved in trying out new lines of work. That experimentation in my professional life began when I was 58. Then, that same courage took over the decisions I made in my personal life. Here is one of those stories of brutal moments of clarity and then transition.

A useful read for those caught between career paths is "Necessary Endings" by executive coach Henry Cloud. Here you can order it from Amazon.

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

Grandma, What Was a "Resume?"

Resumes and cover letters?

Some employers are still using those in the hiring process.

But, they could soon enough be history - ancient history.

Grandma, what was a "resume?" 

Large corporations such as Unilever are experimenting with blowing up job search.

Out are resumes and cover letters.

In are Artificial Intelligence, gamification, and video interviews for solving hypothetical problems.

Playing the Job Search Game - Literally

Here is the Fox coverage on that disruption, already underway. So, yes, parents, encourage not discourage your offspring about mastering video games. 

And, yes, activists, this revolution can create a level playing field. It prevents bias at the front end. At least if the AI isn't coded to discriminate on the basis of sex, race, gender, or age. 

Gamification can uncover unique skills.

And what you can do for employers will factor in more in a hiring decision than a paper credential. Apple, Oracle, Airbnb et al. are hiring for well-paying jobs without imposing the college degree requirement. Here is the coverage on that from MarketWatch.

Resume/Cover Letter Creation Oppprtunity at Your Edge for Success (YES)

Meanwhile Your Edge for Success, based in Alexandria, Virginia, has posted on Mediabistro.com a help-wanted. This morning I received an alert about that on my gmail. Some content-providers  may have felt euphoric about the development of such an opportunity. 

That Resume/Cover Letter creation enterprise - YES - needs three part-time remote writers or editors. The owner is Katherine Metres Akbar. Here is the post. Yes, this could be your future.

For developing a resume/cover letter the compensation ranges from $75 to $150.

For editing each set $55.

The ad requests at least 15 hours a week. 

My Interview with YES and The Hiring Process

Last week I interviewed with Akbar for this very part-time editing opportunity. Yet, the ad is being posted again so quickly.

Why did I apply? As long as the resume/cover letter earning category still exists, I figured: Why not take a peek?

Experience in the broader field of career transition is highly marketable. Learn more and earn more, I decided. 

The owner Akbar conducted the phone interview which lasted about half an hour.

From the get-go, she indicated that neither 15 hours a week or any hours a week were guaranteed. The full-time staff gets first shot at work since they are on salary. No, assignments aren't always available.

The reality: I may or may not get work. And I would be paid for a resume/cover letter editing assignment 55 bucks. Not a king's ransom.

But to move on to the next step in the hiring process I would have to:

•  Take what I perceived as a complex, time-consuming test. Unpaid.
•  Submit to a personality test. Why? I would not be selling or dealing directly with clients. 
•  Provide references. Haha. One reason the hiring process is going digital is that references, by their nature, are not objective. If they were, those doing the dishing could be sued for defamation. And, come on, why would I give a list of references which would entail any risk to my ability to be hired?

If allowed to move along in the process, I would be watching training videos. Unpaid.

Sure, the knowledge could be priceless. But, as Ben Franklin observed: Time is money. 

Reflections of a Current Side Hustler

After consulting with my network of professional advisors, I decided to withdraw from the screening process.

Too much seemed to be invested at the front end. At least that was our take. Your assessment of this opportunity may be quite different.

One wonders what the American brand of capitalism, at least in some circles, has come to.

When I was hired for my first good part-time job in high school by New Jersey Bell, the process was conducted on an intuitive basis. Training was paid. I stayed with that job, which funded my college education, until I left for a doctoral program at the University of Michigan. 

When I was hired for my first professional job in a corporation ghostwriting/speechwriting for executives at Chevron, no, I didn't have to do a sample article - unpaid.

When I was hired as a contract marcom provider at a global career transition firm last year, there were no hoops to jump through. From the get-go, all work was paid. All work is still paid - well-paid and steady.

Takeaway

How much should side hustlers be willing to invest in the front end of a search for gigs, at least for now?

Soon enough the process could all be a fun game that we don't experience as "work" per se.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I shared this experience on the Interview section of GlassDoor.

In error I also shared it in the section for actual employees, mistakenly clicking on the box that I had actually worked for YES. Mea culpa. 

UPDATE: - Your Edge for Success through The Glassdoor

Glassdoor removed my posting on its site regarding my interview with Edge for Success.

It had been contended that I was classified as a competitor. I informed Glassdoor that I was not a competitor. I requested that it return the feedback to the site. 

I had not done a paid assignment for resumes for years and years. Moreover I have gone on record that the resume is an anachronism in job search. Here is one of those kinds of posts. 

In short, I am not in the resume business and hadn't been so for a long time. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

 

What Your Kid Should Be Getting the Hang of in College

Resumes, cover letters, campus interviews, and even grade transcripts. 

Algorithms already are making them obsolete in how employers search for and hire talent.

Those employers piloting such approaches, which will soon become standard, range from Goldman Sachs to Unilever. Here is the coverage by Fox.

Soon enough chief human resources officers in myriad other industries could also be deciding: Hey, algorithms level the playing field for talent, uncover unique skills, and digitally assess in real time applicants' ability to solve problems, while shaking off pressure. 

College career placement has to prepare its students for that.

Meanwhile, the whole resume industry, in which there are firms such as Your Edge for Success, could go the way of ATT's landline niche.

Recently I interviewed for a 15-hour contract gig with Your Edge for Success to edit resumes. For myriad reasons (including having to take a complex unpaid test and a personality assessment) I withdrew from the process. Yeah, all that for 15 hours a week not compensated at above-market rates.

More importantly, it has become increasingly obvious to me: Resumes are becoming 20th century.

Therefore, the hell with beefing up my skills set in that niche. Instead hustle for a gig analyzing commercial trends in applications of  Artificial Intelligence. 

After all, employers have to recruit in radically new ways to break through this expensive disruptive reality: Leadership IQ reports that within 18 months, 46 percent of new hires fail.

 

Bits and pieces of all this are already embedded in how applicants go about being vetted.

Here is an example:

•  Through smartphones X and Y find help wanted on Facebook for jobs and internships in social media.
•  They are directed to a career database. Sometimes this is via a Google Form for applying for work. 
•  Instead of a cover letter, resume, or transcript of grades, they list their LinkedIn Profile. Artificial intelligence scans that. So, you bet, incorporating the "right" keyword in the LinkedIn profile is a must. Also, keep bringing up to date the keywords.
•  If the software screeners allow them to pass onto the next phase, there will be gamification. They will participate in a number of games which test the mindsets and skills, including speed, required to do the job. 
•  The high scorers will then take a video interview, tackling hypothetical challenges in their discipline. There will be an Artificial intelligence assessment of their problem-solving responses per se, along with facial expressions, and management of language.
•  The process then could move on to a human interviewer.
•  The fortunate applicant and the fortune employer will be united temporarily to focus on a project. All work will evolve into a time-bound project, not a job. 

What in-house legal counsel at employers will immediately get is this: Employment lawsuits will be prevented by Artificial Intelligence.

Of course, we know from Facebook that the algorithms can be coded to be biased in some way or another against certain groups.

However, soon enough there will be test for that.

The 65-year social media whiz or the ecommerce strategist who is a mother of two will have the same opportunity to demonstrate their superior fit for the job or contract assignment as the communications majors who used to be interviewed on elite campuses. 

Given the importance of gamification of all aspects of human resources, career placement at collegeswill encourage students to make mastering video games their "business."

Increasingly employers are hiring not knowledge. They search for the attitudes and skills that achieve organizational objectives better, faster, and more affordably than have been standard.

Full Disclosure: At age 68, I had been digitally recruited and hired for a side hustle evaluating student essays. There was no human contact in the process. The compensation had been above-market. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

Unemployed Content-Providers - Plenty of This Kind of Work Available

How sweet it is.

The 1% and the few tiers under it have been ensnared in a massive scandal.

Essentially, it's about exotic forms of cheating to have someone admitted to an elite institution of higher education.

Here is a copy of the indictment.

Here is the media coverage.

The alleged scam could go by the name "AdmissionsGate" or "AthleteGate."

The latter refers to the allegation that former Yale women's soccer coach Rudy Meredith "billed" at about $400k an assignment creating faux credentials for non-athlete applicants to be admitted as athletes. 

Among those accused has been co-chair of law firm Willkie Farr - Gordon Caplan. Allegedly he ponied up $75k to have a professional test-taker sit in for his daughter. Here are more details from Kathryn Rubino at Abovethelaw.com.

About 40 have been swept up into this mess - directly. More will be - indirectly. Likely presidents and deans will have to resign for not ensuring adequate checks and balances in the admissions process.

But, hell, this particular high-end scam is just the tip of the iceberg in college admissions as well as then navigating toward being awarded a degree.

There is a growing global industry which owns the personal essay niche. That statement by an applicant is an important part of the package presented.

Here is the article I published with tips on how applicants can approach this writing task. The article assumes the applicants will accept the ethical responsibility to put together the personal statement themselves.

Across the world, fewer are doing that. Clever firms and individuals in this niche position and package their services as coaching and editing. They mandate the customer put something down on paper. Then they overhaul it way beyond the original content. That's what submitted to the admissions committee.

The less clever simply advertise the service as a form of ghostwriting. They place help-wanted on all sections of the international help-wanted site Craigslist for ghostwriters. Sometimes the ghostwriters, as is traditional in executive communications, will interview the applicant by Skype or in-person. Other times they will work from a data sheet. 

The industry can be lucrative. For those businesses and individuals with a track record for producing the essays which catapult applicants into what are considered the Ivies around the world there's big money. For small fry, the ghostwriting can be billed at about $25 an hour. An outfit in Boston - a city whose major industry is higher education - pays ghostwriters 80 bucks an essay. Peanuts. The trick is to grab assignments for elite school admissions.

Of course. once admitted the cheating can extend as far as the student's budget will go. A growing number of global services and solos will research and ghostwrite term papers. That includes the footnotes. Others will tune in to an online course and fulfill all the requirements. There are also note-takers who attend large lecture classes. 

The noble concept of higher education has become as corrupt as any banana republic.

That wasn't always the situation, of course.

When I was an adjunct professor I detected only one case of cheating. It was plain-vanilla plagiarism. No exotic ghostwriter seemed to be the middleman. Back then, there wasn't the large amount of student loan money floating around. Most of those in college couldn't afford to hire ghostwriters, note-takers, and test-takers. 

Unfortunately, with so many white-collar positions vanishing, there's no shortage of talent willing to get into this line of work.

Recently, a displaced journalist felt "forced" to cross the line. He had read my essay on how to approach the college admission personal statement. He came to me to sort of "apologize" for abandoning his ethics code. I informed him of legit work in researching and creating content for businesses in the career niche. There's plenty of it and there will be plenty more if the recession is severe.

Proposal: Appoint a Sheriff of Academia to set up stings to apprehend both those who are willing to pay for cheaters and those who implement the cheating. Make the sentence mandatory prison for five years. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

We Got Over Being Perfect, At Least for a While

Extreme negative reaction to mistakes

Harsh self-criticism

Nagging self doubt

An increasing inability to focus conscientiously on tasks (hell, you figure, how can I manage to do well, given that I am already such a screwup).

And, an emotional unraveling at a relatively young age. 

Those traits, found researchers Simon Sherry and Martin Smith, characterize perfectionism.

That syndrome has become an epidemic in western society among millennials. Here is a description of their meta analysis. 

It was also that maladaptive perfectionism which Joanna Litt contends drove her husband to suicide. He had been Gabe MacConaill, a partner in BigLaw. Here is Litt's open letter published in Law.com. 

Among the factors causing the epidemic, Sherry and Smith state, are:

Dog-eat-dog work world. It's all too easy to take success much too seriously. However, given that so many industries have become a zero-sum game, it seems the only shot at success is to be totally focused on doing everything just right. 

Harsh, over-controlling parents. They aren't new per se.

When I was the kid from the hood in an accelerated program in high school, I first ran into the 60s' version of helicopter parents. They harped on my female classmates about their weight and the male ones about earning a letter in sports to get into an Ivy. When they noticed me at an academic awards function they told me to bleach the dark hair on my arms. 

What is new is that parents feel compelled by social media to feature perfect offspring on Facebook. Their Offspring R Them. 

Media, both third party and social, had created unattainable standards for everything from appearance to achievements. Some of my colleagues in public relations contend that The Media is the most powerful force in current times. The force has more influence than governments, businesses, and even political leaders. 

Way back when, youth usually had been preoccupied with one person whose abilities and accomplishments made them feel less-than. That was captured in the best-selling novel at that time -  John Knowles' "A Separate Peace."

By the end of college, most could shake off that obsession with The Other by simply gliding into one or more of the standard rites of passage:

• The female gets married
• The male gets the first real job
• The female gets a traditional job such as teaching
• Both sexes go to professional or graduate school.

The transitions were such an ordeal that there was no energy left for peeking outside their own box to wonder how it would be playing in someone else's box.

Right now, the only box which matters is the media one. 

In his book "Excellent Sheep," William Deresiweicz describes that generation as one which fears making a mistake and has difficulty bouncing back from failure, no matter how trivial. An adjunct professor of communications at several New York City universities tells us that his students all want "A" grades. That's even though they have been told that the "C" students become the bosses of the "A" and that many of us older generations regret single-mindedly pursuing top grades. 

The solution? Perhaps there needs to be several pilot programs about establishing whatevers, ranging from schools to video games, which deliver the Beatles' Message: Let It Be. Then measure the mental health and accomplishments of those groups compared to the mainstream population of their peers.

The reality is that the present perfectionism bites all generation in the butt. It wasn't until I decided on semi-retirement that my enterprises had a roaring comeback. I define "semi-retirement" as restricting my business to only the assignments I wanted to accept, with clients who treated with respect, and at the fee which I perceived as fair. 

An anti-perfectionist app might deliver self-talk that we have a perfect right to choose who we are, what we do to earn a buck (drop careerism), and how we look (which will never be perfect).

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374 Need @gmail.com. 

Aging & Psychotherapy - Online Access

It has been obvious that aging brings its own set of mental health challenges.

For example, the couple relocates from the New York Metro area and can't adjust to their supposed Retirement Paradise in Flagstaff, Arizona. The wife becomes depressed, the husband angry.

In addition, the course of Alzheimer's usually is 10 years. Along the way there are those periods of clarity in which people experience devastation when they realize what is happening.

Also, research documents the loneliness among the elderly. Therapists can help them find paths out of that isolation.

However, as The Wall Street Journal points out, there is a shortage of psychiatrists, particularly beyond major metro areas. The elderly might have logistical problems getting to see a psychotherapist in-person. For example, they may have given up driving. They may only navigate with a walker. The cost of even Uber could be too expensive for the transportation to where therapists have their offices. 

One solution is online therapy. More insurance covers it. Studies so far indicate effectiveness.

The wrench in the works is that it usually requires setting up the necessary equipment. Although there are elderly who are tech-savvy, many need to have the digital connection put in-place by aides or social workers who know their way around software and hardware. 

Online access to psychotherapy can reduce the amount of medication usually prescribed to all generations for mental health issues. Those meds often have serious side effects.  

Get amazing results through out of box communications strategies/content. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com. I help, not sell.

Your Brand (business or personal) - Is It Playing in Out-of-Date Content Box?

"As traditional content - a.k.a. journalism - is faltering, 'content' [meaning everything from a tweet to a video on YouTube] is thriving." - Jacob Gallagher, The Wall Street Journal, January 28, 2019.

Done right, content sells. That's why brands are leveraging it as a major marketing tool. That's also why those likes, shares, and comments matter so much. They signal that brands are on the right track in how they are positioning and packaging content.

Gallagher points out that Nike's Air Vapormax sold out immediately after the company provided a provocative video on YouTube. Here you can view it.

And if done right, there is no such thing as too much content.

Increasingly, the help-wanted ads specify the need for not simply a content creator (or social media expert). Instead there is surging demand for those who can manage all that content, ranging from updating Facebook and Instagram to creating blogs and videos. There is even software for scheduling the content and gaining approval for the plan by the powers that be.

Because of the big payoffs which can come from attention-getting content, what's called "repurposing" is everything. "Repurposing" entails re-posting the link to, for example, a blog post or video on YouTube or podcast on just about every digital platform in existence. 

Meanwhile, of course, traditional journalists have become an endangered species. Conde Nast is a money-loser. Currently The New York Times is enjoying a comeback through investigative reporting during the Trump Bump. But what will happen to it after that and the 2020 election? 

That's why paywalls could turn out to bite the Conde Nasts and The New York Times types in the butt.

Instead of paywalls, journalistic media outlets should rethink how they put content out there. Here is the article on paywalls I published on Odwyerpr.com yesterday.

It's interesting that legal news site Abovethelaw blew up the traditional journalism formats - and it doesn't have a paywall. When its editor in chief Elie Mystal repurposes its posts on Twitter those receive plenty of likes. No surprise, businesses associated with the legal sector are purchasing plenty of space on the Abovethelaw platform.

Get amazing results through out of box communications strategies/content. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com. I help, not sell.

Trapped in Loop of Catastrophic Thinking

Stuck. 

That's where so many in the investment community, media, and near retirement/semi-retirement have been this December.

The Dow kept on plummeting.

Economic indicators such as housing sales showed a slowdown.

And the visions about the future hardened into flashbacks of The Great Depression. 

But there are alternate ways of perceiving what is happening and creating just-in-time solutions. Essentially, that's what American Buddhist nun Pema Chodron makes accessible. Her tool in opening us up is the lightness of humor.

Here is a video of her talk "The Freedom to Choose Something Different."

The meme is the possibility of getting unstuck from habitual ways of experiencing events - for example, catastrophic mindsets. From the get-go she is funny in a gentle way. That contrasts with the high earnestness of the typical spiritual teacher or management change agent.

For example, she notes that nobody comes to a retreat seeking for life to become more stress-filled. And she indicates it's so typical for us to be totally shocked and disappointed in ourselves when we feel jealousy, even after a whole week of meditation.

Where I bear witness to stuck the most is among aging professionals. Most lack Chodron's lightness of humor when putting together fresh ways of earning a good buck. They take a reversal of fortune seriously, therefore get trapped in that loop. If they had perspective they could position and package the next few jobs or gig assignments as raw material for the Next. Not the forever. Here, free to download, is my book on that path for scaling back up Download Outwitting ageism.

The second most common example of stuck is the marketing communications campaign with diminishing returns. The focus is on how it used to work great. That situation is beyond a muted haha. It elicits a belly laugh about the absurdity. 

Of course, the expression "wound too tight" comes to mind. That might have been a tip off that former "Today" head Matt Lauer had been creating a toxic force field. 

Here, also free to download, is my book on shaking off comfort zones. 

Out of the Box Communications = Unexpected Results

Complimentary Consultation janegenova374@gmail.com – I help, not sell.

Nostalgia - Don't Pull That on Job Interviews

Cut the nostalgia.

From the get-go, that's what I advise those I coach - whether they are millennials or members of the Silent Gen. If they want access to well-paying work, any traveling along memory lane will position and package them as not in the moment. 

If you're young, employers will assume you haven't made that emotional leap out of college into the brutal realities of the world of work.

If you are older, the assumption will be that you are ossified.

A few months ago, in the email I had received photos from a retired senior director in the public affairs department of the former Gulf Oil (taken over by Chevron). The visual material was of the former head of that department.

I rolled my eyes and concluded that geezer had no intention of picking up contract work. After all, he was self-labeling as revering the past. In addition, I requested my name be removed from the emailing list. I didn't want to risk any guilt by association. Society is all too eager to slam us with age bias.

Actually, history itself has become suspect. We recognize that historical accounts really are one person's interpretation of what supposedly was. Sure, research is included. But still there is the overlay of a point of view. In most situations, we could care less about that perspective.

If we are going to read or view a documentary, usually we opt for current subject matter. For example, I would welcome an article, book, or video on the pros and cons of majoring in English in 2019. But, please, hold the flashbacks about how it had been to be an English major back in the 1960s. 

A few months ago I interviewed a iGen for a contract assignment in my communications boutique. Two years out of college, she narrated vividly a memory from her first year at X university. No, I didn't make her an offer. The narrative should have been about a recent work experience. Obviously, I reflected, this woman was stuck in the past.

Here, free to download, is my book on how to locate and take the ramp out of your comfort zone. Even five minutes ago is not Now.

Coaching and Thought Leadership Ghostwriting about Issues Associated with Careers.

Complimentary consultation, sliding scale fees. Please contact Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

"The Blessings of Aging" - The New Yorker Documentary

Here you can view it.

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

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