ST. PAUL, MN -- If you've been passed over for promotion, rejected for the job of your dreams or lost enthusiasm in your current career, maybe it's time to go back and add the skills and education that would make you irresistible to employers.

"We see many adult learners return because they are passionate about a career change and opportunities for advancement," says Dara Hagen, direc

PHILADELPHIA, PA -- Would you be surprised to learn that the broadcast color analyst for a major league baseball team is blind? Blind since birth, he's never seen a baseball game, but he knows it instinctively. His command of the stats and the players makes him one of the best! And he's not alone.

It's time to discover the benefits of hiring people with disabilities. The limits for peo

NEW YORK, NY -- There are now many ways to get the inside scoop about an employer - before you are hired. In the latest expansion of the web phenomenon of social networking, more websites are launching features that make it easier for job seekers to connect with the employees of prospective hirers.

Job seekers should be careful. People tend to complain more than compliment and what they p

DEL RIO, TX -- Ever felt lost at a new job, even after several months? Your bosses have noticed and they point to generic training programs as part of the problem, according to a recent survey sponsored by Accenture that surveyed 251 high-level executives.

Only 20% of respondents believed that more than three-fourths of their employees understood the company's strategy and what's needed

HOUSTON, TX -- "Time has long since passed for the able-bodied people from Louisiana to either find a job, return to somewhere in Louisiana, or become Houstonians," said US Representative John Culberson, whose district neighbors the city's southwest pocket where many Hurricane Katrina evacuees settled in Houston. "You have to make an effort not to have a job in Houston," he said. Labor analys

LOS ANGELES, CA -- With strong GDP growth fueling brisk job creation at the executive level, recruiters remain bullish on white-collar job growth during the second half of 2006. In June, ExecuNet's Recruiters Confidence Index (RCI) remained on solid ground as search firms continue to increase the size of their staff to keep pace with increasing executive demand. The RCI is based on a monthly surv

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Surveys show that many Americans feel anxious about their economic prospects. Often they hear stories about weak job growth or stagnant earnings that seem to confirm their fears. And many think that proposals to raise the minimum wage would help low income workers get ahead in these difficult times. But the evidence shows that that raising the minimum wage would not help.

CHICAGO, IL -- Veterans returning home from Iraq are having a difficult time in the job market, particularly the youngest veterans. Jenny Sullivan with CareerBuilder.com says one in five veterans say it took six months or longer to find a job, with one in ten reporting that it took more than a year.

For those ages 20 to 24, Sullivan says the unemployment rate is three times the national a

NEW YORK, NY -- New U.S. research finds that job loss doubles the risk of heart attack or stroke for workers in their 50s and 60s. "For many individuals, late career job loss is an exceptionally stressful experience with the potential for provoking numerous undesirable outcomes, including [heart attacks and stroke]," the Yale University team wrote in the June 21 online issue of Occupational and

NORWALK, CT -- According to a recent survey of 168 executives with an average age of 50, nearly 74% are concerned they'll be discriminated against on the basis of their age. More than half believe their age has disqualified them as a candidate for opportunities in the past. "While age discrimination doesn't always receive the attention it deserves, it's a problem that nearly every professional

ST PAUL, MN -- Employers, now more than ever, are checking all aspects of a potential employee's background and history before hiring. "Because an employer is ultimately responsible for the actions of his or her employees, it's only prudent to ensure that the applicant will be an appropriate representative of the business," says Carol Gilson, vice president of human resources and client servic

NEW YORK, NY -- A mother who works outside the house would earn an extra $85,876 annually on top of her actual wages for the work she does for the family, according to a study by Waltham, Massachusetts-based compensation experts Salary.com. Employed mothers reported spending on average 44 hours a week at their outside job and 49.8 hours housework it showed. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor St

NEW YORK, NY -- It may be true that the more things change, the more new lines of work are created, even when the cause of change is negative. Consider the past five years or so. Americans have experienced terrorism, natural disasters, corporate scandal, a war in Iraq, the threat of global health crises, countless new technologies and social trends, as well as a rise in luxury demand.

To

NEW YORK, NY -- Building a satisfying career requires a commitment to playing offense rather than defense. Take control of your job destiny and make the moves that will put you in a position to actually enjoy your work. Simply waiting for things to work out, or sticking with a bad situation -- playing defense -- is a breach of self-respect.

You deserve to enjoy your job, to feel appreciat

NEW YORK, NY -- A recent study by the Center for Women's Business Research in Washington found that the number of women-owned businesses with no employees grew 18 percent from 1997 to 2004, twice the rate for all businesses without employees. In addition, the revenue for such women-owned firms grew 66 percent, compared with 42 percent over all. The center estimates that about 5.4 million firms fa

LOS ANGELES, CA -- Take responsibility for your career and financial future. Whether you're the victim of a horrid boss, office politics, or lousy industry prospects is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is what you're going to do to change your situation.

You don't want to wait until you're pushed to your breaking point. No one can make good decisions when they're angry and und

SASABE, MEXICO -- When Pedro Lopez Vazquez crossed illegally into the United States this month, he was not heading north to look for a job. He already had one. His future employer even paid $1,000 for a smuggler to help Vazquez make his way from the central Mexican city of Puebla to Aspen, Colorado. "We're going to Colorado to work in carpentry because we have a friend who was going to give us a

BRADENTON, FL --To tell or not to tell a prospective employer how much you make: That is the question. This dilemma lacks a simple solution. Many businesses demand to know applicants' latest pay during early stages of their hiring processes. Recent salary history exposes disconnects with titles listed on a resume and weeds out poor fits.

But should you divulge every cent you earn? You

WILMINGTON, DE -- Layoffs. Downsizing. Restructuring. These terms are becoming all too common in the business world. It seems that you can't get too comfortable at a job because your position might not be around for long. That's why you need to keep your resume updated.

Marianne Green, assistant director of career services at the University of Delaware, says to make sure that you fron

PRINCETON, NJ -- It's time to make sure you're doing enough to invest in your future. Ask yourself questions about what you did to enhance your worth or visibility last year. The U.S. economic activity is picking up, making this a good time to recommit yourself to your career. "You need to get out of the mindset of being in survival mode," says Russ Jones, a principal of First Transitions, an

NEW YORK, NY -- If you recoil from networking events and never get around to putting out feelers, congratulations! You're the ideal candidate for a terrific new job. In human-resources lingo, you're a "passive" prospect -- and a hot commodity these days because employers know that top workers may not be actively looking around.

So-called passive recruiting isn't new, of course. It's

MILWAUKEE, WI -- As head of Capital H Group's national recruiting practice in Milwaukee, Jill Zoromski is already hopping at a time of year when employers typically are just mulling over their hiring plans. In the past two weeks, Zoromski got orders from two large Midwest consumer goods companies seeking about 200 management and professional-level candidates. "We have seen a very strong January,

DES MOINES, IA -- Austin Baeth is part of the University of Iowa student government and wants to go to medical school. The U of I junior also lists partying as one of his top interests and jokingly claims on his Facebook.com personal profile to have spent his youth "dodging bullets and managing prostitutes in the ghetto of Des Moines." Baeth's profile is visible on Facebook.com, an online direc

WASHINGTON, WA -- After the shock of getting fired subsides, take some time to see how you can better attain your career goals. Even if you knew it was coming, even if you prepared for the possibility, that life-changing moment can leave you motionless.

But here's something to think about: Many, many people have been fired. The boss who fired you was probably canned at least once. Dinged

PHOENIX, AZ -- The perception by employers that online education isn't as valuable as traditional universities may be changing, according to employment headhunters, such as Careerbuilder.com. With the society's growing reliance on the Internet, in areas ranging from holiday shopping to job hunting, employers are beginning to thaw toward online degree programs, said Careerbuilder. com spokeswoman

NEW YORK, NY -- "Don't try to be cute," says Scott Simmons, vice president at Crist Associates in Chicago. "Maintain your focus--you're hunting for a job, not reliving your past." Keep your cover letter short, to the point, and spike strained metaphors linking high school triumphs to success in your career.

But it can get worse. Some applicants e-mail such drivel to multiple recruit

NEW YORK, NY -- A successful job search is built on three basic components: focus, definition and persistence. To succeed, you must narrow the search to a specific type of job, define skills and accomplishments that set you apart from the pack and keep at it until landing the job you want.

"Candidates must distinguish themselves from the mass of similarly qualified people," says Ted War

CLEVELAND, OH -- Reporter Marcia Pledger dishes out advice on office manners. Question: What is the best way to leverage my network of acquaintances and former co-workers to gain referrals and job tips without appearing self-serving?

It's OK to be self-serving, as long as you're willing to help other people as much as you are being helped. Just remember, how you behave when networking i

MIAMI, FL -- A petite figure clad in jeans and knee-high boots with machete in hand surveys the wetlands in Homestead, FL while mapping out coordinates on a GPS. Along the road, a vehicle stops as a curious on-looker disembarks. As he nears, a look of surprise flashes across his face. "You're a girl," says the on-looker as Jennifer Lynette turns to meet his gaze. Lynette, 22, staff geologist at

LOS ANGELES, CA -- The first of the year is the best time for a job seeker to look for a new position, according to 41 percent of recruiters who completed the eighth edition of the quarterly Executive Recruiter Index, released today by Korn/Ferry International. Spring was the second most popular response, cited by nearly one third (32 percent) of respondents, followed by fall (22 percent), summer

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Labor Department has awarded a $99,000 non-competitive grant to help veterans uprooted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita find jobs. "Homeless veterans face special challenges in rebuilding their lives in the aftermath of the two hurricanes," said Charles B. Ciccolella, assistant secretary of labor for veterans' employment and training. "This grant will help veterans who ar

CLEVELAND, OH -- Reporter Marcia Pledger dishes out advice on office manners. Question: What is the best way to leverage my network of acquaintances and former co-workers to gain referrals and job tips without appearing self-serving?

It's OK to be self-serving, as long as you're willing to help other people as much as you are being helped. Just remember, how you behave when networking i

MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- Biotech firm Genentech has topped Fortune magazine's 2006 list of the nation's 100 Best Companies to Work For. Among Genentech's winning qualities is that more than 95 percent of its 8,121 employees own company stock. Also, the company's average salaried worker brings home $69,425 a year. Genentech also takes pride in the intangible factors that make work a desirable place t

NEW YORK, NY -- Experts say 2006 is expected to be a good year for those who have slogged their way through college -- if they have the right skills and credentials. The 2005 Job Outlook survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, or NACE, found employers plan to hire 14.5 percent more new college graduates in the 2005 to 2006 academic year than they hired in 2004 to 2005 -- the

LOS ANGELES, CA -- Those new to the job market may wonder, "Why would an employer want a new graduate, with so little real-world experience?" For several reasons. As somebody fresh out of school, you probably have plenty of energy and time, so you're less likely to balk when your boss gives you a project that requires extra hours.

Your technical skills are probably more current than th

NEW YORK, NY -- Network systems and data communications analysts, the second-fastest growing occupation on the BLS list, will enjoy a 55 percent bump in employment between 2004 and 2014, while computer software engineers who specialize in applications and systems software will watch their numbers climb roughly 48 percent.

The IT sector was hit hardest during the dot-com collapse. Bob Cohe

NEW YORK, NY -- If you're ready to drop the seasonal job searching blues, here are some tips that will help your holiday job search.

1) Use holiday events for schmoozing with family, friends and acquaintances. You never know who will produce your next job lead. 2) Send holiday cards, with your business card enclosed, to hiring managers with whom you've recently interviewed. 3) Create a

NEW YORK, NY -- As the entrepreneurial career path becomes more accepted, its appeal is rapidly growing, as are the resources to make them successful. There was a time, not so long ago, when a person choosing the entrepreneurial career path wasn't exactly greeted with rampant enthusiasm.

Nowadays, "Entrepreneur is no longer a dirty word," says Gerald Hills, an entrepreneurship professor

NEW YORK, NY -- U.S. workers regained some of their lost confidence in October as the Hudson Employment Index(SM) climbed 3.7 points to 100.5. After two consecutive months of energy and weather- related declines, employee attitudes rose marginally this month on every key Index measure.
Hiring expectations returned to where they had been for the first seven months of the year, with 31 percen

BOSTON, MA -- Exit interviews are usually done for employees who voluntarily leave their positions. Usually the interview is with the human resources representative to gather information to improve working conditions and retain employees.
Exit interviews generally do not help you very much, but rather they provide feedback to employers to make things better in the workplace. It's questionab

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Faced with an aging workforce, federal agencies will soon rely on assistive technologies to keep older employees working longer, said W. Roy Grizzard, assistant secretary of disability employment policy at the Labor Department. These new tools have value that could help federal agencies meet new workforce challenges, said David McQueeney, vice president of technology and strate

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- Want some tips for your next job fair? Think like an employer thinks, suggests Pam Jamian site director for Uniprise, an insurance call center in California. Spend a little time thinking what traits and characteristics an employer may be hunting for and promote yourself with those characteristics. For those new to a job fair, Jamian recommends having a well-written resume, dre

LOS ANGELES, CA -- IT professionals seeking work have the best chance of finding jobs on the West Coast, according to Robert Half Technology, an employment services company. Nationally, 16 percent of CIOs plan to hire staff in the fourth quarter this year, the highest net increase since the third quarter of 2002, according to the "Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report."

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CHICAGO, IL -- Nearly 7.6 million Americans straddle two or more jobs and must find time to work, sleep and live somewhat contorted lives in a very full 24 hours. Most workplace moonlighters do it because they want or need extra money to pay bills, according to a U.S. Labor Department survey. Less than a third take on the added burden because they enjoy it or want to try another job.

Th

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Hurricane Katrina wiped out thousands of jobs in September the Labor Department reported last week while also indicating that the U.S. labor market remained strong outside the areas devastated by the storm. "We can't ignore the pain in the Gulf Coast, but we shouldn't ignore, either, that for the rest of the country, the economy looks to be in good shape," said William Cheney,

NEW YORK, NY -- What paralyzes most people on the road to entrepreneurship is their insistence that they cannot afford to fail, says Jake Steinfeld, an entrepreneur who transformed his fitness company into the multimillion-dollar business called Body by Jake Global. "The second they say that, it's a paralyzing moment, because we're brought up with the idea that if you get an F, you're bad," s

NEW YORK, NY -- The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforces federal discrimination laws that prohibit sexual harassment; protect equal pay based on sex; prohibit discrimination based on age (40 and older), color, disability, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion or sex; and protect workers from retaliation. Most state and local laws match federal laws and go further. In New York