Age and employment in the Netherlands

The flip side of that are people who lost too much of their pension in the divorce and now have to work into their retirement years.

The secret to financial success: marry a woman who has a good job.

--

John Larkin                  Highland Technology Inc
www.highlandtechnology.com   jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com   

Precision electronic instrumentation
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators
Custom timing and laser controllers
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links
VME  analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer
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Then I made a mistake! :)

Jamie

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My version was to marry a woman who was going to get a good job. At the time that we married I was making quite a bit more money than my wife, and this kept up until she got promoted to professor-equivalent level, a bit more than a decade later. Then we earned roughly the same until she made it up to the next level.

-- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen

My version was to marry a woman who spends my money more slowly than I would, and give it all to her, therefore keeping it out of my hands.

Such women exist?

"But honey, it was on sale!" :-))

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

What a dumb shit.

You really are a sanctimonious moron, aren't you. Do you *ever* have any fun.

BTW, I you're another liar. You said you killfiled me.

US Surveys show biggest problems regarding employability are: Communication, Dependability, Conflict resolution, Problem solving? These are really basic employability issues!

But don't older people score HIGHER in every one of these areas??

abor-mismatch/

by George C. Ford Updated: 9 September 2012 | 6:04 am in B380

Lack of soft skills is the real issue in labor =91mismatch=92 "I think some colleges push too hard for training"

Much has been said in the current presidential campaign about a =93skills mismatch=94 as the reason employers are unable to find qualified applicants at a time when 13 million people cannot find a job.

The Romney campaign claims that a skills mismatch =93lies at the heart of our jobs crisis.=94

Earlier this year in his State of the Union speech, President Obama cited conversations with business leaders who could not find qualified workers, and then proposed =93a national commitment to train two million Americans with skills that will lead directly to a job.=94

While more money for job-specific =93hard=94 occupational skills training is repeatedly touted as the answer to the problem, drilling deeper into employer surveys reveals a different paradigm.

Skills 2014, a report released in the spring of 2011 by the Corridor Alliance and Kirkwood Community College, cited four priorities listed by employers in connection with applicants=92 missing soft skills.

-------------------------------------

- Communication skills that include interpersonal skills, oral communication, ability to express ideas clearly, crucial conversations and tact.

- Dependability, including high work ethic, dedication, timeliness, professionalism, accountability, engaging, commitment, willingness and ethical.

- Conflict resolution and customer service skills that include building rapport, teamwork, understanding of manners and etiquette, ability to accept change and service orientation.

- Problem solving, critical thinking and listening, leadership and presentation skills. A 2011 employer survey from the Manufacturing Institute found that the top skill deficiency among manufacturing workers was =93inadequate problem-solving skills.=94 Also cited by the employers was =93inadequate basic employability skills=94 =97 attendance, timeliness, work ethic and similar aspects.

---------------------------------------

A survey of more than 1,300 companies earlier this year by Manpower, the staffing agency, found 26 percent complaining about the lack of such soft skills.

=93I think some colleges push too hard for training. =91You get our degree and you get this particular job,=92=94 said Tom Castle, interim assistant provost and dean of adult programs at Mount Mercy University. =93That=92s really not what it=92s about.

=93I think an institution that says =91We want to educate the whole person to be a good thinker, a good decision-maker and someone who wants to continue to learn=92 will prepare graduates who can transition into multiple jobs through their lifetime.=94

Castle, a PhD student at the University of Iowa, said research for his doctoral dissertation shows collaborative learning has a dramatic effect on the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

=93People learn to challenge each other and to think and question by working collaboratively,=94 he said. =93When people are working independently, they lose some of that critical thinking.

=93That=92s the focus of our adult programs at Mount Mercy. They work collaboratively and, when they graduate, they can go out, work in teams and solve problems.=94

For Jon Ockander, 35, problem solving and critical thinking skills were crucial to his own career transition from construction to nursing.

=93Experience allows you to have intuition and gives you the ability to think on your feet,=94 Ockander said. =93In excavation, it=92s critically important to understand how your actions can affect other people working on a project with you.

=93There was a lot of life experience that I was able to apply to my time in school. I was older than several of my teachers, so I was more able to relate to what they were telling us.=94

Buy this photo

Jon Ockander moves dirt on the construction site behind Linn Hall at Kirkwood Community College. He recently passed his state boards and is a registered nurse. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette) Ockander, who is finishing up excavation work for Barnhart Custom Service in West Branch, graduated from Kirkwood Community College and passed his state boards in May to become a registered nurse. For the last four years, he has worked 45 to 50 hours during the day and attended classes at night and on weekends at Kirkwood.

Ockander is a strong proponent of =93always replace yourself.=94 To that end, he has been teaching a younger Barnhart employee how to safely operate excavation equipment.

=93I=92ve been explaining to him that you can be the best machine operator in the world, but you=92re worthless if you can=92t see into the future,=94 Ockander said.

=93You need to be thinking four or five steps ahead. You need to be thinking about your crew and how putting the dirt in a particular place will make the project run faster.=94

While employers say lack of soft skills is hindering job applicants, two other factors also may also be at work.

Fifty-four percent of the employers responding to the Manpower survey said applicants are =93looking for more pay than is offered.=94 When companies seek to fill jobs at a certain wage and no one applies, what some are terming a =93skills=94 mismatch more correctly may be called a =93pay=94 mismatch.

The collapse of the nation=92s housing market since 2008 also is a factor influencing hiring.

Normally, as the economy improves, people are inclined to relocate from communities where jobs are scarce to areas where companies are hiring. But depressed home values have made it much harder for Americans to move because selling a home is more difficult than it was a decade ago.

That=92s an obstacle facing 10.7 million Americans =97 or 22 percent of homeowners with a mortgage =97 who owe more than their homes are worth, according to CoreLogic, a Santa Ana, Calif., company that tracks changes in the real estate market.

A study co-authored by Joseph Gyourko, professor of real estate finance at the University of Pennsylvania=92s Wharton School, found homeowners who are =93underwater=94 are 30 percent less likely to move than those who rent or have equity in their homes.

Some companies are attempting to counter that potential obstacle by offering more generous relocation packages that cover the cost of selling a house for less than the purchase price. Still others are offering applicant-specific relocation allowances, deviating from the one-size-fits-all approach to recruiting of past years.

George Ford has spent decades covering business news across Eastern Iowa. Ford is a native of Lexington, Ky.

Reprinted under the FAIR USE exceptions to US Copyright law. For DISCUSSION purposes and not posted for profit.

I found one and stopped looking afterwards, so I couldn't tell you how many exist.

Well, I am not the yard stick when it comes to spending. If it was for me, we'd still watch TV on that old 14" PAL set I hacked so it would do NTSC. But my wife is very frugal, she never misses a coupon on anything. That has saved us a ton over the years. And she always knows when my favorite ice cream cake goes on sale.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/