Before you take the plunge...

Before you take the plunge...Before you take the plunge...Hungry for new experiences? Looking for adventure? Or less unemployment? Wary of Sarah Palins next step? You may consider living abroad for a while, in which case you may want to perk up. Mercer LLC, one of the worlds leading HR consulting firms, has released its annual Worldwide Cost of Living survey, which ranks the most expensive cities for expats. While youd have to figure in the cost of Mercers report before making any such move, the firm does offer some of the highlights upfront. For starters, Tokyo has supplanted Moscow as the most expensive city for expats, followed by Osaka (up nine places from 2008) and Moscow. Geneva and Hong Kong follow them, and Johannesburg takes the spot as the least expensive city (although it admittedly comes with many hidden costs). The firm notes that the global recession has indeed had an impact on these rankings (and on the cities it chose to evaluate in the ranking), and that shifts withi n the standings were impacted most by currency fluctuations- namely, European cities fell in the rankings, while those in the US, Asia and the Middle East saw their positions rise. The survey covered 143 cities, taking into account over 200 variables in each, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.

5 stereotypes about older workers debunked

5 stereotypes about older workers debunked5 stereotypes about older workers debunkedLegislation to outlaw discrimination on the basis of age welches first introduced in the UK in 2006. It was designed to protect people of all ages from discrimination, but older workers are mora likely to be adversely affected by age-related stereotypes. It seems there are a number of unfair assumptions about the ability of older workers, which in turn influences how people behave towards older job applicants.This is particularly hard to justify when older workers (loosely defined as people over the age of 50) are generally more experienced. And, since 2011, the UK default retirement age has been scrapped. This means there is no longer a set retirement age for most jobs (there is leise a state pension age, although this too is rising in line with increased life expectancy) so a lot more people are working beyond their 60s.Despite the legal protection that now exists to prohibit age-related discriminat ion, research has shown that there tends to be a delay between the outlawing of discrimination and a reduction in that type of discrimination. After all, we have had sex discrimination protection since 1975, but most people would agree that sex discrimination is still happening. Age discrimination laws should help to change stereotypes over time but thus far there is little evidence of a decline in discrimination.As part of our working late research project, we explored some of the views managers held about older workers. It supports other findings that age discrimination still occurs. One manager we interviewed about his hiring practices saidWere actually looking for someone between the ages of 25 and 35. Thats not being ageist but thats just ensuring theyve got the energy, the drive and the passion to learn.Here are five of the most common stereotypes about older workers, and how they can be challenged.A representative video (portrayed by an actor) of age discrimination in recruit ment.1. They cant learn new thingsThere is lots of research which dispels this myth. Older workers have been found to have lots of experience adapting to new tools, environments or working practices. Did you know that the average age for successful entrepreneurs is between 42 and 47?2. They are less productiveThere is very little evidence supporting this in people of working age, even taking into account the fact that people are retiring later than before. We might expect physical and cognitive abilities to decline with age, but this tends to be at an older age than you would be working. Age and workplace performance should not be seen to be linked with plenty of evidence showing older workers are just as effective as younger workers.3. They take more time off sickResearch has shown this to be an inaccurate assumption. On average, it is true that older workers tend to take more time off on long-term sickness, but they also take less time off due to short-term sicknesses with no noti ce.Older workers are also at lower risk of accidents in the workplace, but suffer from more fatal accidents. This averages out to be a similar amount of sickness time taken for all employees. There also are strategies we can use to improve the health of the workforce at all ages. This would allow us all to live longer, healthier lives.4. They will retire and leave the organizationThe average age of the population is increasing. As the population ages, the average age of employees will increase, too. There is no longer a default retirement age. So employers should recognize that a worker employed with lots of experience even at 64 could easily stay with the organization for many more years.When someone joins a company at 24, there is no stronger guarantee that they will stay any longer, due to the quite modern practice of regularly switching jobs. So employers are faced with the same retention dilemma for all age groups. We now change jobs around once every five years on average.5. They are overqualified (and this is bad)In some of our recent research, terms such as inflexible and overqualified were examples of the feedback given to older applicants when they were rejected for jobs. It is hard to justify the use of the term overqualified, although it can perhaps be explained by employers being concerned about people leaving the job after a short space of time for a job that better matches their skill set.Meanwhile, there are many good reasons that an experienced worker may want to take a step down to a role that requires fewer specialist skills than their previous job. Also, older workers often report wanting part-time, more flexible, or less stressful jobs, which might explain their moving to jobs they may be viewed as overqualified for.There are numerous benefits to having a workforce with a diversity of ages. In order to make the most out of the skills of an ageing society and understand diverse customers, employers must think beyond these stereotypes of a geing.Ricardo Twumasi, Lecturer in Organisational Psychology, University of Manchester and Sheena Johnson, Senior Lecturer in Organisational Psychology, University of ManchesterThis article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Getting Out of Your Own Way to Write a Good Resume

Getting Out of Your Own Way to Write a Good ResumeGetting Out of Your Own Way to Write a Good ResumeEveryone has a story to tell, and by digging deep, you can unearth gems that sparkle and gleam, attracting even the weariest hiring managers attention.Sadly, however, most people dont know how to excavate their precious-stone stories, and the result is lackluster content. A marketing-driven resume must be color-rich, clear, and strong enough to bear the heavy- often unforgiving- weight of the resume-vetting process.The following are five tips to polish your story to ensure it outshines your competition and commands the hiring managers attention.1. Get over yourself. Many people are immersed in articulating, Who I am, while the hiring manager is asking, Why should I care? Speaking of which ....2. Answer the why. If you dont know why the hiring manager should care, then halt your resume-writing process to begin brainstorming. Your job is to understand the marketplace, operational, financ ial, sales, customer service, technological, and so forth ailments that the type of company you are targeting is riddled with, and prove why you can be the salve for their pain. Do your research.3. Commit to a target audience. Before you can answer the why, however, you must ensure you have truly committed to a target audience. This means organized introspection to peel back the layers. For example, if your past 10 years were spent working at a well-established and publicly traded Fortune 500 enterprise but you now want to work at a smaller, privately-owned start-up company, then you must commit to that type of audience in your resume.What this means is understanding the unique differences between a large companys and a small companys inner operations and employee culture. This is only one layer of assessing your target audience. You should also consider the type of role i.e., accounting clerk, sales manager, business analyst, and so forth, plus the industry/sector. Your value can o nly be communicated if you know what the audience you are targeting values in an employee.4. Understand what it means to prove your value. Then keep doing it, repeatedly, in your resume. The idea of articulating a value proposition is constantly tossed around the career sphere. Simply put, marketing your value means demonstrating you can walk into a role and help fix things, like broken teams, malnourished market channels, siloed departments, stalled projects, declining revenues, and so forth.5. Now, connect the dots for the reader. You must do this through stories that are knit together with the who, what, where, when, why, and how. Think texture and nuance when writing your story to pull the reader in. This doesnt mean exaggerating language or stretching the truth. It does mean directly addressing the readers needs with vigorous, contextual content that calls them to action.Before revamping your resume, consider the above five points. A resume is a marketing vehicle, with a comple x engine and intricate features that must be pulled together to build a smooth-running marketing vehicle to transport the message of You, Inc.Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter is a Glassdoor career and workplace expert, chief career writer and partner with CareerTrend, and is one of only 28 Master Resume Writers (MRW) globally. Jacqui and her husband, Sailor Rob, host a lively careers-focused blog at http//careertrend.net/blog. Jacqui is a power Twitter user (ValueIntoWords), listed on several Best People to Follow lists for job seekers.