I am a 50 year old man who for the last 3 years has been caring full time for my father with dementia. How do I overcome the twin hurdles of age and a long stretch of “unemployment” during my job search?

1 My credit is really bad. I have not been able to find a job in the past several years that paid enough to cover my daily expenses and pay off some medical bills and a few other things. I am not a deadbeat but I just wasn't earning enough. As soon as an employer does a background check on me and my credit score shows up I am sunk. I have a completely clean record otherwise not even a traffic
ticket.
2 I am a Wiccian and have a myspace and facebook page to promote my own small business. I am a minister and a psychic/medium on the side. I know a lot of companies say they want a to hire from a large group and encourage diversity. But I have also worked places where a manager ( at a company that "encourages diversity") will see my pentacle do a quick intake of breath get horrified and I lose my job. Suddenly my performance is really bad. I know I am being discrimated against and have been told by many that I shouldn't wear a pentacle for interviews or work but I feel that I
should be able to wear the symbol of my religion as much as anyone else.

I enjoy your articles on CareerBuilder.com so much that I share them with my coworkers at our staff meetings.

Where would I write for permission to print them for this purpose?

Thank you

Last October I had a heart attack and was out of work for a month. Three weeks after my return I was laid off from my job as a Construction Foreman. Construction work in Southern California is slow right now, plus I just turned 61. Any ideas on what I should do?

Julie,
It sounds like you are at a very critical time at your job. What I mean is generally employees last about 5 years at a job. You're 55 and this is not a desirable age for any employer. I think you want to leave but are unsure what is behind door #2. New supervisors are always dangerous as they tend to deviate from what you are accustomed to doing or specifically, they will give you a write-up when before it was the norm. You can't complain to HR because as we know, HR is not out there to protect employees but to protect the employer, contrary to beliefs. So what do you do? First, be the good student. When you receive a write-up, don't get mad and accept it, but make sure you write on it that you disagree with it and explain why. Unless it becomes completely unbearable, wait to be fired. If you must quit, try to preserve your job by documenting with your employer your problems, ie., ask for assistance in areas they find you are having problems with or give them time to cure the problem that exist.

hi DO you know about workers comp. I love the job i do but have felt valued there for 5 years .I am 55 and reluctant to leave and look for new job because of outdated computer skills //lots of nepotism with new supervisor with her favorites plus theres a age difference>> what do you suggest??

How do you find a decent, honest company to work for? Any suggestions on what to look for?
It seems that alot of companies in my area only hire thru temp-agencies, and the last couple of jobs I've gotten that way have gone bust. In one case, I was told that the company I was working for would hire me after 3 months, 10 months later I was still considered a temp. They had me training new people that were making the same money as I was. It's like I said to my boss "Aren't I worth more money now than someone who just walked in the door? Aren't I worth hiring?" I was told that there had been a hiring freeze in effect for over a year. So the temp agency blatantly lied to me when they told me that I'd be hired after 3 months, they knew that the company had a hiring freeze in effect. As a matter of fact, the girl that I dealt with in the office at the temp agency? Her husband was a manager at the company that I was sent to. I cant believe that she didn't know about the hiring freeze. When I asked her about it, I was basically told that if I wasnt happy I could leave the temp agency.
How do you find an honest company? Employees are made to jump thru hoops to get a job, while the employers seem to be able to get away with anything. They know that theres a whole lot of people looking for work, so they really dont care about retaining employees. My only argument with that is, is it possible to run a successful business with a revolving door policy when it comes to employment?

Great! I was picked for a phone interview out of 20 short listed resumes. My phone interview went well and the hiring manager asked for a face to face and wanted to schedule a lengthy mock presentation for the next day which was Friday. I asked to schedule the face to face for Monday or Tuesday as I needed to contact the agency and have them make preparations for me to fly. The manager was "surprised" and concerned that I was not local. I expressed flexibility an attributes of great freedom and capability to relocate quickly and pointed to prior professional assignments where you could see that I relocated and performed successfully for both short and long-term projects.

WorkBuzz,how do you handle situations of relocations? Couldn't the manager see that I was on the east coast? Shouldn't my agent have advised that I was a potential relocate? Or, should I have said nothing, glad that I had gotten the face-to-face request, scheduled a mid-morning interview, and left all the details to the agency? (I had researched relocation details and knew the first two weekday early AM flights and corporate housing options.) SHould I place "Relocating to... on my resume? I thought the truth was best?

I am currently studying economics in college and considering pursuing a math minor. I was wondering, do businesses tend to value candidates who have a math background versus a candidate without a math background? It just seems that throughout school people highlight the significance of math but does this carry over into the job market?