Emily F. Keller

Mayor’s Office Holds Disability Mentoring Day

    The Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) held a series of events for Disability Mentoring Day, a part of National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

    The eighth annual event linked jobs seekers who have disabilities with potential employers and provided opportunities for networking, mentoring and work experience in the job seekers’ preferred fields.

    The main event took place October 19 when job seekers were able to shadow professionals to gain knowledge about their day-to-day work and how to prepare for their careers. The employers learned about the value that people with disabilities bring to their professions.

Employment Remains Stagnant for People with Disabilities

    One million Americans with disabilities are looking for a job and can’t find one according to new data from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).

    Statistics show that the unemployment rate for people with disabilities increased slightly from August 2010 to August 2011 but declined for people without a disability. The total unemployment rate for people with disabilities is now nearly double that of the nondisabled population, according to the DOL data.

Paterson and Blind Foundation Advocate for Fair Wages

    Former Gov. David Paterson and the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) are calling for the removal of a clause in the federal Workforce Investment Act that would allow employers to pay people with disabilities a subminimum wage for job training.

    The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP Committee) was scheduled to vote on renewal of the act on August 3 but that vote has been postponed indefinitely. The committee’s vote on the Combating Autism Act, which is scheduled to expire Sept. 30, was postponed until Sept. 7.

Mentors Make a Business Better

    For workers who are seeking to change direction in their industry, climb to the next level, or adjust to a merger or structural change at their company, management experts say finding a mentor could be their best transitional tool. Where can an ambitious person find a mentor? Try retirees looking to give back or stay engaged, and business leaders seeking to improve their managerial skills.

    Published at BusinessWeek.com. Read the story.

Why You Can't Get Any Work Done

    Routine workplace distractions like frequent digital and cellular transmissions and water-cooler gossip can have a detrimental impact on productivity.

    Chuck Martin, president of NFI Research, a data analysis firm that tracks business, management, and informational technology trends, says work-related distractions like e-mail, company crises, and interruptions by co-workers are so common that 46% of business leaders arrive at work early in search of solitude. But their peace is often disrupted when their employees follow suit, seeking the boss's attention early in the morning or late in the day because there is less competition for it, says Martin, author of SMARTS: Are We Hardwired for Success? "What that does is it destroys work-life balance," Martin says. "They're basically extending the hours of the day." 

    Published at BusinessWeek.com. Read the story.

Real-Life Career Changers

    To Eric Green, co-managing a $50 million hedge fund in San Francisco isn't all that different from renovating a hospital in Estonia, which he did 10 years ago while in the Navy's Civil Engineer Corps. The Detroit native, who served for seven years as a lieutenant in the Navy before going back to school for his MBA, says skills he developed in his first career have transferred well to his new one.

    Green says that overseeing a 50-member construction team, and working with the local community to build support for the Navy's presence in the northern European nation, helped him understand the importance of attention to detail, and allowed him to develop the risk-management and people skills he needs in his current career.

    Karen Tuttle, who became a full-time pharmacy technician at CVS Pharmacy in Springfield, Ohio, three years ago, is also recycling the skills she developed in her first career. The former second-grade teacher, who propelled herself back into the workforce because she was bored by retirement, says her experience with parents prepared her to interact with customers. "

    Published at BusinessWeek.com. Read the story.

Acing the Informational Interview

     Baby boomers pursuing environmental or personal interests after retirement, executives fleeing downsizing companies, and restless upstarts pushing for higher pay all have one thing in common: They are part of a trend of professionals starting second careers, a trend that recruiters and coaches now call "recareering."

    As companies struggle to retain talent and career changers chart unfamiliar territory, recareering is often facilitated through a series of informational or exploratory interviews. Loosely defined and malleable enough to fit a job seeker's desired profession as well as his or her unique circumstances, informational interviews can be as informal as trading contact information at a barbecue or as formal as lengthy office meetings that result in a job offer.

    This article provides networking advice to job seekers who are looking for new opportunities. The slideshow, Successful 'Recareering' offers additional tips. Published at BusinessWeek.com.

Dock Workers Respond to Economic Development Corporation

    Red Hook port workers held a press conference to demand an apology from the city’s Economic Development Corporation for calling their work “low-rung” earlier this year. Instead, the EDC reaffirmed its assessment. Published in Courier-Life Publications. (Sorry - the link for this article is currently unavailable.)

Stories Shed Light on Workers

    Author Esther Cohen has put together a book of stories written by employees around the country about their work, leisure, community and family lives, called "unseenamerica." Published in Courier-Life Publications. (Sorry - the link for this article is currently unavailable.)