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Job hunting expenses may be tax deductible

Deductions for tax preparation services, financial advice, professional journals and a host of other items are known in the tax code as miscellaneous itemized deductions. They are only partially deductible from your gross income. You may write off only that portion of these costs that exceeds 2 percent of your adjusted gross income (AGI). For example, let’s say in 2004 your AGI totals $50,000 and you report miscellaneous itemized deductions of $1,200. That means you may deduct only $200 - the amount of these expenditures that tops $1,000 ($50,000 times 2 percent).
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Managers Recruit Mature Workers Older employees desired for better performance and low turnover rates. In a push to recruit older workers, The Home Depot now offers “snowbird specials” — winter work in Florida and summers in Maine.

Borders bookstores lure retired teachers to sales jobs with discounts and the promise of reading and discussion groups. Pitney Bowes, the business services company, pays tuition for courses in computer programming, golf and flower arranging.

After years of encouraging workers to take early retirement as a way to cut jobs, a growing number of companies are hunting for older workers because they have lower turnover rates and, in many cases, better work performance.
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Weeding Out Interview Pretenders

According to a survey of hiring managers by Development Dimensions International, 44 percent reported that they were surprised that workers were different on the job than in an interview. Duh!

This intrepid blogger decided to dig deeper; to explore this disparity from both the point of the view of the hiring manager and from the job seeker to find out why they seem to exist on separate planets. Maybe Rodney King was wrong maybe we all can just get along.

HIRING MANAGERS: Reading the latest literature (if you can call business books and magazines the “L” word) about how to conduct an interview, the interviewing game seems to be following the path of playing more “sophisticated” games with the interviewee often at the price of relevance. Take the ever-popular brain teaser questions (please!): For example, “How many quarter coins do Yankee fans have in their pockets during a sold-out baseball game?” (My response: I thought New Yorkers in general wouldn’t be caught dead with anything smaller than a 10-dollar bill.) Who cares about this stuff, and how does it predict job performance?
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Spring Signals Time to Freshen Up Career Skills

The first days of spring signal the time to take action on job seeking and career innovation according to CareerWomen.com. From updating resumes to un-cluttering your professional life, spring is the time to set goals and take a fresh approach to setting career goals.

JillXan Donnelly, president of CareerWomen.com advises, “Spring is an ideal time for taking a stock in everything related to your professional life. That means de-cluttering your office, evaluating your career path and updating your resume to reflect recent accomplishments. More importantly, many companies do most of their hiring in the first two quarters of the year, so now may be the time to take advantage of new opportunities.”
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One word: Accounting

The economy may not be so hot, but there is good work out there — for those with the right skills. Job seekers hoping 2005 would bring better news than 2004 haven’t had much to celebrate so far. Yes, the unemployment rate is down to 5.2 percent, the lowest in more than three years. But a big reason is that the number of people who’ve simply given up looking for work is almost 20 percent higher than a year ago.

Corporate cutbacks continue as the latest merger boom does its downsizing thing. And the number of new jobs created has dropped in recent months.
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Employment agency to pay $150,000 in age-bias suit

An Indianapolis employment agency must pay $150,000 to settle a federal age discrimination lawsuit.

Protis Executive Innovations also agreed not to discriminate against older workers in its employment placements, according to the settlement announced Monday by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“We believe that Protis’ officers thought, and communicated to their recruiters, that Protis should not refer older candidates in order to be competitive in this business. We believe that this case has changed the way that they do business,” said Laurie A. Young, regional attorney for the EEOC, in a statement.
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The Recruiter’s Call … and Other Windows of Opportunity

Your phone rings. The executive recruiter on the line asks if this is a convenient time to talk. He has an opportunity that’s relevant to your background and wonders if you’re interested in learning more.

Even to someone who has no near-term desire to change jobs, few calls are as flattering. Although it certainly does not define your success, a call from an executive recruiter proves that you are known in your field as a highly desirable leader.

Above and beyond being successful at what you do, you need to have visibility in the marketplace to be on a recruiter’s radar. While building this sort of reputation doesn’t happen overnight, there are a number of short-term steps you can take to build the foundation of a true professional and thereby raise your profile. And even if you plan to remain with your firm for the time being, these measures may also enhance your present career.
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Online presence blossoms in classified ad industry

Experts divided over whether online ad listings are good or bad for newspaper publishers. Not so long ago, the classified ad section of the local newspaper was the best place to sell a car, rent an apartment or post a job opening. Now the Internet is shaking up this once-staid and lucrative business.

Newspaper publishers that once enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the classified market are facing increasing competition, including from Web sites like eBay Inc., for this rich piece of turf.
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Don’t assume colleagues know your worth

Maggie Daronco scrambled to find another internal spot last fall after her employer, a big European bank, decided to eliminate the project manager’s post in Jersey City, N.J.

She pursued three openings, and all three hiring managers told her, “You’re the leading candidate.” But her hunt still failed. “I was really overconfident,” says DaRonco, now unemployed after a 15-year banking career. “I thought everyone would want me.”
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Job hunting? Personality can help

When companies go headhunting, they have more weapons today than ever before, thanks mainly to the vast number of skills tests and personality surveys being used by recruiters, often online.

Many firms have even produced detailed personality profiles of their best employees in order to help them find new workers with the same traits. Companies that give entry-level workers access to cash or sensitive financial data often use integrity tests.
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