My last journal entry, April 23, 2008, gave me the opportunity to explain my strongly held belief that taking a break after several months of wotk is essential in maintaining a balance between the job and the rejuvenation of energy for focus and dedication to work. 

At work we are very busy, especially during this period. It is hard on me physically, especially at my age. When I went on vacation I realized how tired I was and how I had tried to balance the responsibilities of my life with the new responsibilities placed on me as a winner of the "My Dream Job Contest".

I gave thought to how I had dealt with maintaining the proper balance between my job, and the demands of my life and the job search. I felt that I could have done a better job. For example, many times I became exasperated when I had to deal with the technical aspects of placing my profile on the AARP community website before it was launched. This is just an example of one of the responsibilities that I had, in order for AARP to successfully develop the community website, for the "winners".  

As I prepare to resume the job search. I have established one basic premise: I must be more patient in order to properly balance all of the elements. This does not happen over night. It is a process the evolves over a period of time. In this context, I am working with Bob, of "RetirementJobs.com," in finalizing the four resumes that he has created for me based on my skill set. We talked this week and have established a preliminary list of businesses where we will send the appropriate cover letter and resume.

the journey continues.

My wife and I are now on a vacation in the Bahamas. Needless to say, we are wonderfully relaxed and enjoying this experience immensely.

Approximately five years ago, we had not been on a major vacation in years. It was either we could not coordinate both of our vacation days or primarily, we felt it was too expensive. We limited our time together to two weekend trips yearly. We went to Annapolis, Maryland, the location of the U.S. Naval Academy, and a picturesque colonial style downtown. This was relaxing. In spite of the fact that it was only fifty miles away, The idea of getting away, even for two days was very enticing.

We decided one day that we were going to go on a cruise, regardless the cost. We both work very hard, and in my case, the physical demands of my job, on my feet for eight hours in a very demanding, high volume restaurant, had taken its toll. So we decided that we both needed the time off and wanted to travel, to see and experience cultures and peoples and places that we had just read about or seen on television.

As I wrote previously, expense was a definite concern. However, we both deeply felt that the sacrifices that we would go through, by saving a specific amount each month for a year, in order to have enough money for th trip, would be worth it. We saved enough  in the first year to go on a five day cruise to the Caribbean. It was worth every penny that we spent. We came back relaxed and looking forward to the next vacation.

Now each year, in the springtime, we either go on a cruise, or in this case a seven day vacation to the Bahamas. In the fall we go to Los Angeles, my hometown, for a week. These vacations are paid for by hardwork and sacrifice.

We both feel that these vacations renew our bodies and spirit, and bring us closer together, I will return refreshed and renewed in my efforts to secure "My Dream Job."

Since the launch of the AARP community site, the "Water cooler", March 19. 2008, several things have happened to indicate that the job search process has indeed begun.

Soon after the launch, the laptop, one of the prizes for the winners of the "My Dream Job Contest" arrived. This was preceded by the American Express gift cards totaling five hundred dollars. I utilized the gift cards to buy office supplies, a computer hutch for the laptop, storage of the supplies and books relating to employment of 50+ and retired individuals, and several print cartridges for the printer. By the way, the cartridges are very expensive. The remaining funds will be used as necessary for additional supplies or equipment.

Prior to the website going public, each of the winners spoke with their representatives at the AARP State Offices, in their respective cities, who conducted public affairs functions, to arrange publicity for each winner, locally, when the community site was launched. I spoke with Grier, of the DC State Office, and gave her my relevant personal information, and my reactions to winning a category of the contest. She e-mailed me two days later with a proposed press release and the date of submission. I was contacted a few days later by a free lance reporter for the "Voice of the Hill", a local news publication covering the DC Capitol Hill area. We set a date for the interview. 

The interview was quite extensive. He queried me about my background, about the contest, how and why I entered the contest, my reactions to winning a category of the contest, and what I thought of my possibilities of getting a job in the media. I enjoyed the interview. It occurred to me that I would soon be facing quesitons about my background, in a different context, and how I responded to those questions would determine if I would be considered for a job. 

One week later, April 10th, the "Voice of the Hill", was delivered and on page 10 was the article and a photograph of myself and my dog, Gage. The article was well done and covered most of the aspects that we discussed in the interview.

Ath this point, I feel that all of the preliminaries are over, and that I am getting down to the business of securing a job.

The launch of the AARP "My Dream Job" community site, the "watercooler", March 19, 2008, was a happy occasion for me. It marked the culmination of hours of hard work, writing journals, providing all of the information for the personal profiles, and the most daunting for me, getting a handle on how to navigate the technical aspects of the site. 

Just the thought, that soon, thousands may be viewing my personal site, reading the journals, and evaluating the information was sobering. The responsibility I had, to relate my experiences in a very concise and clear fashion was very apparent to me. I understood how important this information can be ro a prospective job seeker who is "retired and  restless", or who is retired and has to work, for various reasons. 

A few days after the launch of the community site, I received a very valuable lesson. As I indicated in my last journal, March 26, 2008, I had been in touch with Bob, the Chief Career Counselor, of RetirementJobs.com, Bob had developed a media resume for me and suggested that I look into the career opportunities at a major radio corporation, here in Washington,  DC, to assess how my background would relate to the qualifications for a number of jobs posted on the company's website. I went  to the website, and after scrolling through several pages of available jobs, I came to the conclusion that my background was not consistent with the highly technical requirements of every position that was open, including entry level jobs.

It became very apparent that my desire to reenter the media industry was not feasible. Whether in television or radio, the business is deadline-oriented, very fast paced, and technology driven. I told Bob what had happened, and he is in the process of concentrating any new resumes on my stong abilities to write, communicate, edit and do research. We are reassessing our job search strategy.

A very valuable lesson learned: focus on possibilities consistent with your capabilities. The journey continues.  

It is just a matter of days until the launch of the community site for the "winners" of the "My Dream Job Contest". I have been busy making the necessary additions to my profile and adding another journal for the launch.

Last week I spoke at length to Bob , the Chief Career Counselor, who will be assisting the "winners" in resume preparation, job search plan, interview preparation and other elements of the job search.

I e-mailed my updated resume to Bob last week, prior to our conversation, for his preliminary assesment. Frankly, I thought the resume was pretty good, all things considered. To my amazement, from the close analysis of the resume he developed four carefully constructed, closely related skill and experience sets that stand on their own as individual resumes.

This gives me the latitude to apply for support positions in broadcast media production, community affairs, event planning and management and public affairs.

This demonstrates to me, quite clearly, the intrinsic value of the resume in the job search process. The professional resume, utilizing all of the elements of the individual's experience, expertise, and skills, in a creative manner, will catch the attention of the employer; and capture the essence of the opportunity. The first hurdle associated with job acquisition will have been overcome, getting the interview.  

I feel quite fortunate to have an individual, who will craft a depiction of my experience, expertise and skills, in a manner that will give me an excellent opportunity to achieve my goal of "My Dream Job". 

The basic work with the updating of my personal profile and the submitting of the "My Dream Job Journals" for the community site of the AARP.org beta site, have now been completed.

My involvement , in the process, has demonstrated to me, quite clearly, what I must do in order to achieve the technical know-how necessary to navigate the various features of the site, in an effective manner. It is very important that I am knowledgeable relative to the nomenclature of the site; aware of how the different links operate and what they produce. I must demonstraste the ability to communicate with the other "Dream Job Winners", and to answer inquiries from people who access the site and my particular profile.  

Initially, this process was somewhat daunting. My work background, for the last eight  years, has not included computer work, aside from e-mails. As a consequence, I have had to work very deligently to begin the upgrading of my computer skills. I have approached this as a challenge. Daily I go to the site and look and probe and learn. When I had difficulties with specific features on the site, I was advised to join the community help group.They have been very helpful in assisting me to understand the function of the features and how to effectively operate them. I am becoming more comfortable each time I go to the site.

I am very appreciative to work in an environment that teaches me new skills and prepares me for the world of work that I will soon enter with the acquisition of "My Dream Job".

The past two weeks have been busy with all of the preliminary activities and details associated with the launching of the process that will ultimately involve the acquisition of my "Dream Job".

Importantly, this will involve the bi-weekly journal entries that I will submit, on the AARP.org online community site, which will serve as a narrative detailing the job acquisition process, and my experiences.

In spite of the activities of the last two weeks, I have during this period, on several occasions, given pause to reflect on the implications of winning the contest, especially the "Retired and Restless" category. some personal history will put this into a sharper focus.

After retiring, for approximately nine months, I reallized I had to go back to work for financial reasons. I took a part-time job in the hospitality indiustry. This job was in a non-management position. Within a year, the work week as extended to full-time, and with the resignation of one of the shift managers, I soon realized that management was shifting a great deal of the responsibilities of running both early and mid shifts to me. This was done without any increase in salary. 

At this point, I understood that I would have to make the commitment to look for another job that would not only mean an increase in salary, but also would utilize my skills and exxperience. In addition, the physical demands of the job were definetely affecting me. I set about updating my resume, researching job sites on the internet , and making a point of attending local job fairs and even conducting some cold calls. The result was the same. Either I was over qualified for a support position or my skill set was not consistent with the requirements of the job description for a part-time management position.

When I saw the annoucement for the AARP "My Dream Job Contest", I entered it, frankly, without any expectation of winning. However, I had done volunteer work for AARP in the past and I was very aware of the tremendous resources and professional and technical expertise tlhat they could call upon.

My reflections, the last two weeks, center on my high level of expectation for sucess. This is based on the coaching I will receive relative to background and skills assessment , resume preparation, interview preparation, creation of a comprehensive job search plan, and other aspects of the process.

I am prepared to work hard to find a job that meets my specifications, only this time I have the wealth of knowledge, expertise and resources that AARP brings to the table to assist me and I have a great deal of confidence in the success of this endeavor. I will detail all the experiences that I have, to assist you on your own "Dream Job" journey.   

There are few words that can express the feelings I had when I found out that I was the winner of the "Retired and Restless" category of the AARP "My Dream Job" contest. Elation and surprise, coupled with a sense of pride that my essay and interview conveyed to the judges my focus, commitment to the process, and absolute resolve to be successful in the job search. What was almost overwhelming was the fact that there were over 7000 entries in the contest.. 

Winning this contest is very meaningful to me. Aside from the possibility of employment that will utilize my skills and experience in a significant way, maintaining my self esteem, especially at this point in my life is very important.  

A few days after learning of my good fortune, I began to realize the ramifications of the journey I was about to embark upon. The process entails a greal deal of responsibility on the part of the winners. It is imperative that they relate all of their experiences, in terms of a journal, bi-weekly, to the AARP community site. This aspect of the process is important to me. If a chronicling of my experiences, what works and what doesn't  work, results in AARP members achieving their employment goals, and in establishing an effective methodology to assist seniors in this area, I will feel justified in my efforts during this journay.

A short time after the notification of the winners of the contest, AARP conducted a conference call with the winners in all six categories. I was greatly impressed with the stories I heard, with the aspiraitons of the winners. There was a commonality among us that was touching. In the space of one hour and a half  there was a sense of bonding that was palpable. One had the feeling that we all would be in touch on a regular basis, that we would in fact be there for each other when necessary.

I am the product of an environment and culture in which the work ethic is very important. As such, my hopes for the duration of this year of discovery are ones in which hard work, planning, and the mobilization of new energies focused on job search, will result not only in my "Dream Job", but will be an experience that will enhance my growth as an individual. 

I will demonstrate to a potential employer that age is not a factor in productivity, that creativity does not end at a specific age, that an older worker can be an effective team player, and that sound judgement, patience and problem solving are prerequisites for efficient management and administration.

My expectations are similar to those of a musician. To prepare for the recital you must practice daily, without fail. With each practie session you gain more experience, become more confident. When the difficult passages come, you practice them over and over until you have mastered them. When the time for the recital comes you are prepared. I subscribe completely to this regimen. Step-by-step I will move through the process, relating my experiences to fellow members, and when the time comes I will be prepared. I look forward to the journey.  

I am a retired, African-American male, who, by chance, saw the advertisement for the "My Dream Job " contest on the AARP website. Initially, I was hesitant about entering the contest, then realized the possibilities this contest provided.

My "Dream Job" involves working a 32 hour per week, year-round job, in a part-time capacity, in a major media'communications organization involved in news/entertainment, TV/radio production or cable operations.

Specifically, I will work in the offices dealing with community/customer relations, talent evaluation, or research, in an administrative support postion, research assistant or as a community/customer relations specialist.

The job site will be in the Washington DC area (w/metro access), and the job position will offer benefits for part-time employment.   

There are several reasons that I want to win the contest. Primary, is to maintain my self esteem, which at this point is very important in my life. In addition, to address and overcome challenges on the job, to be involved in the creative process, to be part of a team effort, in working to help an organization reach its corporate goals, and to demonstrate that age is not an impediment to productivity or success. There is also the practicality of enhancing the economic security of my family.

My work experience and skills are current. I am will read and confident in my abilities. My maturity and organization are an asset. Patience, good judgement, and the ability to work well with others, define my approach  to the work place. Again, in my view, the above are factors that are absolutely necessary in going from "Retired and Restless to "My Dream Job".  

To obtain my "Dream Job" several things are necessary: (1) research information on the latest practices in effective resume and cover letter preparation, (2) search a number of on-line boards and secure infomation on available opportunities, with emphasis on my best "retiree" job boards, and part-time positions, (3) identify on-line organizations in the Washington, DC area, who hire retirees. Become acquainted with their hiring practices and available postions, (4) attend job fairs to research the availability of positions and identify and establish networking contacts. In this context, research local, profeswional organizations and make cold call to establish contacts.

The journaling aspect of this process will, in effect, enable me to communicate with others, who, in many ways are experiencing the same issues that I am. Maintaining a daily journal of experiences will enable me to share my story, my thoughts as I navigate through this transformative process. In particular, as an African-American male, to carefully relate the positive and negative experiences I will encounter. 

I feel that journaling , as an information dissemination tool, is very effective. I am prepared to record my experiences in a daily journal and provide all the information I can concerning my experiences, for the "retiree".