Michelle Singletary: Some tax credits should not be handed out. 2D
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S U N D A Y , N O V E M B E R 15 , 2009
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With the nation’s jobless rate greater than 10 percent, many workers may expect the unexpected when it comes to their careers. But only one in five have updated their resumes in the last three months, while almost half haven’t made changes to the document in the past year, according to a recent survey. A telephone poll of 493 adult office workers, conducted by staffing company Robert Half International Inc., found that 82 percent said they think that they’re ready to start a search if they lost their jobs tomorrow. Meanwhile, 44 percent of those surveyed said it’s been more than a year since they’ve revised their resumes. Twelve percent have made updates in the past month. When asked how prepared they are to conduct a job search, 39 percent of workers said they were ver y prepared, while 43 answered that they were somewhat ready. “Workers who are prepared in the event of a sudden job loss also are ready when new employment opportunities arise, including those within their own companies,” said Reesa Staten, senior vice president and director of workplace research for Robert Half International. “A current resume is an essential career tool — the longer it remains untouched, the harder it is to update, since specific achievements are not always easy to recall.” Staten suggests creating a “personal personnel file” to keep track of your successes and kudos. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percent.
and sense Many lack knowledge to manage their personal finances
By Patrick Rupinski Staff Writer
S
heila Hocutt-Remington has taught high school economics for 38 years. She said former students still tell her how her instruction on taxes has helped them do their yearly income taxes. But in recent years, Hocutt-Remington, a teacher at Brookwood High School, has not incorporated income taxes in her 12th-grade economics instruction. Instead, she concentrates on the basic economics that the state now requires high school students to study to graduate. There’s little to no time for teaching personal finance, she said. Americans’ lack of understanding of personal finances, experts say, has contributed to the financial woes many are suffering in today’s economy. It has led many to make poor personal financial decisions. “That is absolutely part of the problem, and it goes with our education system,” said Gary Hoover, an associate professor of economics at the University of Alabama. “In state (Alabama) high schools, students are exposed to a broad overview of macroeconomics,” which deals with the economy as a whole. That’s useful, but it doesn’t help with personal finance or always help people grapple with the complex financial issues that will affect their lives, he said. “The general public is not very well aware of economic issues, so they will often latch on to something simple that on the surface sounds good.” Incorporating personal finance into high school instruction might be helpful, but Hoover said there needs to be a cultural shift in society away from “the culture of consumption in which people are enticed to always buy more rather than save more.” The Great Depression showed people the importance of saving for a rainy day, he said. “The Great Depression was a great teacher in itself,” Hoover said. “It
Surviving a promotion
Newly promoted employees may be at a higher risk of job loss, particularly if they were promoted to replace others who were let go during cutbacks, according to OI Partners, a global career transition and coaching firm. The firm surveyed more than 100 executive coaches on employee failure rates and the top reasons workers do not survive a promotion. Many employees who advance to a higher position do not receive proper coaching and training, and their failures could end up hurting a company’s bottom line, said the firm’s chairman, Tim Schoonover. “Some newly promoted employees have been unable to make the transition from being individual performers to managers,” Schoonover said. “Others have been promoted to the next level without getting an opportunity to improve their management, motivational, team-building and communications skills.” OI Partners lists these common problems for those who have recently acquired a higher position, but do not know how to progress from being individual performers to managing others: ■ They may be unable to motivate others and keep them fully engaged in their jobs. ■ There’s a chance they have a poor ability to relate interpersonally with others. They may have such toxic management behaviors as being too critical, abrasive, unpredictable, self-centered, arrogant, closeminded, or volatile. ■ Lacking strong written or verbal communication skills can hinder someone’s ability to manage effectively. ■ They don’t enlist the support of subordinates and peers to build commitment to their strategies. Relationships with higher management, colleagues and other departments are also important factors to managing a team. ■ They fail to recognize contributions. Managers need to acknowledge the achievements of others and share their successes. ■ They are unsure of exactly what their bosses expect them to accomplish or the two or three most important company goals. ■ It may be impossible to achieve desired results within an acceptable time frame once they’ve started a new position. The deadline may be as short as three to six months — if
caused a societal change. “There was a life lesson. I hope people are taking a life lesson in what has happened today.” Many of those now in economic straits borrowed too much and saved too little, he said. They did not understand the consequences of their economic behavior, and when the severe recession hit, they suffered. “The best informed people on personal finance are people who have gone through credit counseling. Unfortunately, when you get credit counseling, it is usually after a major financial crisis like bankruptcy,” Hoover said. That lesson cannot be easily taught in school. Hoover said he could assign his students to read a book on how a home foreclosure affected someone. “But they will think that is someone else, and it will never happen to me,” he said, noting college-age students often feel invulnerable. “And high school students will be even less likely to think something like that (foreclosure) will ever happen to them, because at their age they are even less likely to think anything bad will ever happen to them. It really takes a life lesson to shock people into thinking about something.” Caroline Fulmer, an assistant professor in consumer science in UA’s College of Human Environmental Sciences and a certified financial planner, agrees there is a problem but said that solving it is not easy. “There is a much lower level of financial literacy than financial planners would like to see,” she said. “It begins because money and finances are not talked about in households,” Fulmer said. “And there is no requirement for teaching financial planning.” Still, some basics need to be mastered, she said. The most valuable things students and adults should know are the importance of savings and how to save; the use of credit; and having a budget SEE SENSE | 3D
STAFF ILLUSTRATION | ANTHONY BRATINA
Broadcast pioneer NBC prepares for takeover By David Bauder
The Associated Press
NEW YORK | Eight decades after pioneering the concept of broadcasting, NBC is on the verge of a startling move that illustrates broadcast television’s decline. Cable TV operator Comcast Corp. is expected to buy a controlling stake in NBC Universal, perhaps as early as this week, bringing the network of Johnny Carson, Jerry Seinfeld, Bob Hope, Milton Berle and Tom Brokaw under the corporate control of the company that owns the Golf Channel and E! Entertainment Television. “This is highly symbolic,” said Tim Brooks, who had worked at NBC for 20 years and now writes books on television history. Starting Sunday, Vivendi SA has an option to sell its 20 percent stake in NBC Universal. Majority owner General Electric Co. is expected to buy it and then sell a 51 percent stake of the
entire NBC Universal unit to Comcast, which serves about a quarter of the nation’s subscription TV households. Broadcast people used to look down upon cable. The idea of broadcast TV was implied in the name; the networks tried to reach the broadest possible audience. For cable, it’s important to do something specific and do it well, and the audience doesn’t need to be as large. NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker recognizes this. Cable properties such as USA, SyFy, CNBC and The Weather Channel mean more to NBC Universal’s bottom line than staggering NBC, fourth place in the ratings. And those cable properties — more than the flagship “Peacock” network — were the draw for Comcast. By owning more content, Comcast further hedges its bets as mainly a distributor of shows in case viewers ditch their cable TV subscriptions and migrate to the Internet, mobile devices or a platform SEE NBC | 3D
FILE | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Former NBC news anchor and “Today” show host Tom Brokaw and newswoman Jane Pauley share a moment prior to Pauley’s first appearance in 1976 on the NBC morning news program. Comcast Corp. is expected to buy a controlling stake of the network.