Seven Tips for Working for a Younger Boss - As more baby boomers delay retirement and work until older ages, they may find themselves working for a younger boss. A recent Harris Interactive and CareerBuilder survey of 5,231 full-time employees found that 69 percent of workers ages 55 and older currently have a younger manager. The generational differences of this dynamic can create challenges. Here's how to form a solid relationship and even impress a younger supervisor.
Acknowledge their expertise.
Be open to the fresh ideas and new approaches that a younger manager may bring to the job. "One of the problems that many boomers experience is that in their perception, the younger boss does not want to listen to their experiences and take account of their expertise," says Linda Gravett, a psychologist and coauthor of Bridging the Generation Gap: How to Get Radio Babies, Boomers, Gen-Xers, and Gen-Yers to Work Together and Achieve More. "The younger person has their own education and expertise and they don't want to be parented by someone."
Use electronic communication.
A younger manager might prefer to interact with you via instant messenger, text message, or E-mail rather than face to face or on the phone. "Talk about your preferred method of communicating," says Rosemary Haefner, the vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. Make sure you log on to instant messenger every day and keep your cellphone, BlackBerry, or smart phone on to stay in the loop.
Don't expect too much face time.
The number of hours you log at the office is generally less important to younger managers than the results you produce. "A boomer might say that work ethic means you are in the office half an hour before your start time and work through lunch, but a generation X or Y manager says that telecommuting allows you to miss the rush hour and get some more work done," says Gravett. "They are looking for results and productivity as opposed to face time in the office." Be prepared for webinars and teleconferences and fewer in-person meetings.
Point out your results.
Keep your boss up to date with your progress toward meeting goals. "Ask questions when you are not sure, deliver on time, and try to overachieve," says Haefner. Tally your accomplishments, and make your boss aware of them on a regular basis. Instead of chatting about your decades of experience, talk about expectations you have exceeded over the past month or six months.
Act your age.
Avoid comparing a younger manager to your adult children or talking about what you were doing at their age. "The last thing the boss wants to hear is 'you remind me of my son,' " says Gravett. Conversely, you don't need to prove yourself hip to 30-somethings. "It is not appropriate to try to act younger than your age, dress younger, or try to disguise yourself as a younger individual in order to fit in," says Cam Marston, president of Generational Insight and author of Motivating the "What's in It for Me?" Workforce: Manage Across the Generational Divide and Increase Profits. "It comes across as silly."
Update your skills.
When a manager introduces a new workflow system, take advantage of retraining opportunities. Think of it as a way to get paid while you learn new software programs and keep your skills up to date. Becoming proficient with the latest technology is key to staying employed in a difficult job market.
Don't compete.
According to the CareerBuilder survey, some employees complain that their younger bosses act as if they know more than older workers when they don't (15 percent) or didn't earn their position (12 percent). But it's best not to openly compete with a younger supervisor or belittle him or her because of age. "Don't come across as being a know-it-all just because you have been around for a while," says Gravett. "Of course you know quite a bit, but that doesn't mean you know it all." ( usnews.com )
Hong Kong women protest against mainland mothers - Pregnant women and mothers pushing strollers were among more than 1,500 protesters who took to the streets in Hong Kong Sunday to oppose the growing number of mainland Chinese giving birth in the city.
Women from mainland China are keen to have babies in Hong Kong -- which has had semi-autonomous status since it ceased to be a British colony in 1997 -- because it entitles their child to rights of abode and education.
"We have to compete with the mainlanders for bedspace in hospitals, for prenatal care services, postnatal care, the education of our children... everything," said 30-year-old expectant mother Joyce Wong, who took part in the march to government headquarters.
Joyce Wong, a 30 year old pregnant woman, takes part in a demonstration in Hong Kong. Pregnant women and mothers pushing strollers were among more than 1,500 protesters who took to the streets in Hong Kong Sunday to oppose the growing number of mainland Chinese giving birth in the city
Jenny Yeung, a 41-year-old paediatric nurse accused the city's government of being "incompetent" and said it "should prioritize Hong Kong people over non-locals".
Meanwhile on Sunday, chief executive of the Hong Kong's Hospital Authority Leung Pak-yin said some public hospitals have stopped accepting bookings by mainland mothers wishing to give birth in the city.
Hong Kong has reduced its quota for the number of mainland women allowed to give birth in its public hospitals this year. Leung said the government has yet to set the quota for 2013 but emphasised there will be another reduction.
The government has come under pressure after doctors made a rare public call for a cap on the number of babies delivered in the city because resources for local mothers are being stretched. ( AFP )
Supermodel next generation: Crawford daughter fronts Young Versace - Following on from the launch of Young Versace's first store in Milan last month, the brand has unveiled its new advertising campaign with supermodel Cindy Crawford's 10-year-old daughter Kaia Gerber as the face.
Modeling designs adorned with the label's iconic Greek key motif, Gerber was shot by acclaimed fashion photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, who have previously worked on campaigns for the likes of Gucci and Givenchy.
According to the fashion house's creative director Donatella Versace, Gerber proved she has inherited her famous mother's talent when modeling the collection, which is aimed at youngsters aged 0-12.
"Like her mother, Kaia has a very special gift," she explained in a release. "The camera really, really loves her.
The Young Versace campaign starring Kaia Gerber
"Having Cindy on-set for the shoot took me back to all the amazing Avedon shoots we worked on together. It was such a special treat watching Kaia walk in her mother's footsteps!"
Gerber, who is Crawford's daughter with former model Rande Gerber, is the latest in a recent spate of youngsters emerging as fashion's next generation.
Earlier this month designer Meg Matthews tweeted a photograph of her and British rocker Noel Gallagher's 11-year-old daughter Anais captured by Mario Testino. London-based Anais is signed with Select Model Management, and has already modeled for Paul Smith Junior. See her in the label's Autumn/Winter 2010 campaign.
Other emerging faces for the future include Kate Moss's half-sister Lottie, who caught the world's attention as one of the bridesmaids at the supermodel's wedding back in July. The 13-year-old has already posed for her family's vintage clothing shop and has been captured by fashion photographer Andrea Carter-Bowman. ( AFP Relax News )
Tennessee town hopes ghost search can scare up cash - Harriman, Tennessee hopes that ghosts, or rather ghost hunters, can raise enough money to restore an historic and reputedly haunted building.
One ghost hunter wants to use the "dark entities" supposedly haunting the 121-year-old Temperance Building, a former jail, to attract both tourists and paranormal enthusiasts to Harriman, which was founded by anti-alcohol crusaders in the 19th century.
Last week, by unanimous vote, the six-person city council agreed to let Ghost Hunters of Southern Tennessee -- G.H.O.S.T. Paranormal -- show footage caught during a night spent inside the city-owned building. It will be aired on January 27 on the web-based Paranormal Network.
This Tuesday, a council workshop is slated to consider ghost hunter Richard Ruland's plans to conduct paid tours of the building, with half the proceeds going toward its restoration.
The haunting is a part of local lore, said Mayor Chris Mason, who grew up in the town of about 7,000 residents. Ghost enthusiasts often visit the Temperance Building, but G.H.O.S.T. Paranormal "found an exceptional amount of paranormal activity" there, said the mayor.
Mason said he does not necessarily believe in ghosts, "but I don't not believe in them either."
Under Ruland's plan, ghost tourists would pay $299 for all-night visits by up to six people and $30 per person for three-hour tours.
He said he has no doubt the tours will be successful.
"It's a gold mine to have a different place to hunt," said Ruland.
The three-story brick and stone structure was built in 1891 by the Tennessee Land Co. when it began developing what was to be the "Utopia of Temperance," about 40 miles west of Knoxville in eastern Tennessee.
The stately building later became Temperance University before serving time as city hall, with a jail in the basement. Now it holds a few offices and the city museum.
Councilman Buddy Holley said the city council's session with G.H.O.S.T. was hardly normal.
"They showed us video that showed what appeared to be some apparitions, and they had some voices recorded," Holley said.
Holley is not sure if he saw ghosts on the video, but he is sure the talk of paranormal guests could help in the ongoing restoration of the historic downtown, which includes the Temperance Building.
It will take about $1 million to finish renovations and upgrades to the building, Holley said.
He said he also hopes it will bring some publicity to Harriman and boost tourism. "We're really interested in getting people to visit," Holley said.
Ruland, whose group is based in Dayton, Tennessee, is sure of what he and other ghost hunters recorded on the night of December 17, 2011, when they used cameras and other gear, including the Ghost Meter Pro, which detects electromagnetic fields.
"We actually caught a photo of what I believe is a full-body apparition down in the basement," he said. "We captured overall 50 voices... There were a lot of things in that building that were completely unexplained."
One voice, he said, even confessed to murder. "That building, everything in it wants to talk, wants to say 'hi,' wants to have communication with somebody," he said.
Most of the ghosts "aren't your grandma walking up and down the hall," he said. "Do I think I am dealing with human entities that are trapped there? Yes. But that's only about 10 percent of what's there.
"The other 90 percent would be the Wraiths, a term a lot of people wouldn't know outside my industry," Ruland said. "They are darker entities, once-human souls.
"In their death, they've been transformed into these mischievous, angry entities," he said. "They live on electromagnetic fields from electricity in buildings, from batteries, from people."
This particular crew in Harriman isn't dangerous, he said. "They just like to screw with people." ( Reuters )
Girls Starting Puberty At Younger Ages - Add one more reason to the long list of reasons to support Michelle Obama's initiative to prevent childhood obesity: it will help reverse the trend of girls starting puberty at younger and younger ages. A new study shows a rapid trending downwards of the average age of girls beginning puberty, and the escalating rates of childhood obesity are being eyeballed as the likely culprit.
There's some suggestion that environmental estrogens could play a role, but that's unproven, while it's well-known that body fat does produce hormones that can kick start puberty. Granted, it's not an either/or situation---it's possible that a combination of environmental influences and increased body fat play a role. Nonetheless, the relationship between weight and puberty isn't, from what I understand at least, particularly controversial. It makes evolutionary sense that the body would start puberty once enough fat has accumulated that the body can support a pregnancy, and of course we know that severe anorexics often stop menstruating once they drop below a certain amount of body fat. As long as everything's working properly, the biology of all this is pretty neat. I recall from Natalie Angier's book Woman: An Intimate Geography the general rule that menstruation begins after a girl reaches a certain weight, usually around 100 pounds. If you're not overweight, this usually happens right before you teenage years, but as kids get fatter younger, we're seeing puberty start to happen at much younger ages, at least in girls. In this study, 10% of white girls, 23% of black girls, and 15% of Hispanic girls age 7 had enough breast tissue to have started puberty.
What to make of all this? It's true---and most women can attest to this reality---that once your hips and breasts start to come in, harassment from men follows shortly thereafter, and this can be traumatic for very young girls. I bristle at the notion that the solution for this is preventing early puberty instead of fighting a culture that turns a blind eye to men harassing women on the street. Instead of manipulating girls' bodies, why not manipulate the culture to accept girls as they are?
However, men harassing young women isn't the only consideration on the table. There's an problem when the age of sexual maturation predates emotional maturation, and that gap increasing isn't something to wave off. Adolescence is hard enough without extending the number of years you have to suffer it into elementary school. And, as the researchers pointed out, the earlier you go through puberty the higher your chances of suffering from various cancers later in life. As preventing too much weight gain in childhood is something theoretically in the realm of control, it's a place to focus efforts. ( slate.com )
Facebook, Google Battle To Be Video-Calling Home Base - Video calling has yet to catch on with the average consumer, despite the wealth of free or low-cost ways to do it.
The slow uptake hasn’t deterred tech companies from launching video calling services, however. On Tuesday, Facebook was the latest to unveil its solution: a video chat service that operates within the web browser, powered by Skype. The move followed Google’s June 29 introduction of “Hangout” video chats in its new social networking service, Google Plus (a.k.a. Google+).
Why are Facebook and Google fighting to be the leader in video-calling? Site stickiness and revenue potential. First, video calling may hit the mainstream and become the reason that people choose to use one social networking site over another. In that case, it will be a feature any communications site should offer.
Even for people that rarely use video calling, it’s possible that its availability may be enough of an added-value to influence them toward one service over another. The impromptu and viral nature of video calls could also increase the amount of time people spend on a particular site. (Don’t log off; you might miss a really fun – and long – video call!)
A look at Skype's group video calling service for PCs
Offering video calls also fits into the new imperative to make communicating, in various forms, simple and convenient. During its press event, Facebook emphasized the “one-click” nature of its new video call service. Google’s Hangouts link to YouTube to make sharing videos within video chats fast and easy. These days, tech companies are rushing to be the leading all-in-one provider of everything from instant messaging to email to calls to video chat, reasoning that if you offer everything in one place, consumers will have little reason to go anywhere else.
Google, in particular, can profit from this additional “user engagement” by tracking and analyzing its users’ online activity for advertising and other purposes.
Which brings up the second reason for the video-calling gold rush: money. Consumers are generally unwilling to pay for text chat. (Improved chat services, in fact, were part of Facebook’s July 6 announcements, but got overshadowed by the video-calling news.) Most people are also reluctant to pay for online phone calls – a fact that Skype, which has long been mostly utilized for free Skype-to-Skype calls — knows all too well.
Video chat, on the other hand, particularly group video chat, has been shown to be something people will pay for. Skype sells a service called Skype Premium that primarily consists of the ability to make group video calls. It costs $9 a month or $5 a day (though it is currently on sale for a bit less).
This appears to be the end game for Facebook and Google. As my colleague Eric Savitz pointed out in his write-up of Facebook’s event, Skype Chief Executive Tony Bates confirmed that Facebook may offer paid versions of the video chat service in the future. Facebook’s Skype video calls are point-to-point for now but presumably will eventually expand to groups. (My colleage Rob Hof, who was at Facebook’s Palo Alto headquarters today, reports that CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he “wouldn’t rule out” adding group video chat.) Google Hangouts already support group video calls.
The opportunity to monetize video calls extends to mobile, as well. For now, however, neither Facebook’s video calls nor Google’s Hangout calls extend to mobile devices. (There are lots of possible reasons for mobile to come later, including bandwidth consumption concerns, carrier opposition and potential conflicts with pre-existing operator partnerships.) ( .forbes.com )
What Is the Oldest Age You Can Join the Army? - The military protects all American citizens' rights, but serving in the military is not a right. Service is a privilege, which provides higher education opportunities, excellent benefits and travel opportunities. A recruit must meet specific qualifications for the privilege, which include good physical condition, mental strength and commendable character. A recruit must also meet age criteria. For the Army, a ripe 18-year-old recruit is ideal, and 42 is the age limit.
The Importance of Age
According to the Army Jobs website, a citizen as young as 17 years, 9 months can enter the Army. As long as a parent consents, the Army enlists the child and ships the recruit to basic training. The 18 to 24 age group has the youthful energy and stamina that influences the Army's operations and success. Although older recruits possess energy and stamina, most do not match the energy levels of their younger counterparts. Energy is imperative for success in the military.
Prior Service Loophole
The 42-years limit applies only to initial enlistment. According to Army Reenlistment, 62 is the age limit for reenlistment. A soldier interested in reenlisting not only enjoys the loophole, but also benefits financially from previous years of service. The official Army website promises a healthy financial bonus for a reenlisted soldier. A soldier who reenlists for three years receives a bonus of up to $5,000, while a six-year reenlistment enjoys a $10,000 bonus.
Waivers
Age waivers are very rare, outside of prior service enlistment. However, an older applicant may enlist, if the applicant fulfills a need. A thread from Military.com's forum highlights a specific need, as a 47-year-old lawyer wants a commission in the Army Reserve. A marine in the thread addresses his concern, and encourages his chances. The marine claims that the supply of doctors, lawyers and chaplains is short in the military and that thus the demand can take priority over age. The marine also provides personal experience with waivers, stating that he has seen many doctors and attorneys over the age of 50 welcomed into the service.
The Military is not an Equal Opportunity Employer
Mary C. Griffin, in her article "Making the Army Safe for Diversity," addresses the application of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to the armed forces. Griffin specifically notes Title VII, which protects Americans from discrimination in the work force. However, Griffin recognizes that the Chappell v. Wallace (1983) case was ruled in favor of the military. The case addressed the issue of discrimination in the military, with the court ruling that a service person cannot sue the military for discrimination. Even if a civilian doesn't agree with the military's age restrictions or requirements of conduct, the courts recognize that the military is not an equal opportunity employer. Therefore, the military enjoys the freedom to set specific standards, whether the standards deal with age or conduct.
The Benefit of Enlisting Young
A recruit benefits from enlisting while young. Those within the 18 to 24 age group are maturing and entering a new phase in life. The Army, perhaps more than any other career, provides a solid foundation for personal growth. The Army also carries a huge responsibility, as soldiers are expected to protect their country. Because of the responsibility, some young soldiers look for a discharge from duty. Other soldiers accept the responsibility, endure the trials and grow. The Army's responsibilities, trials and demands greatly benefit and mature a young recruit. ( ehow.com )
