Job Interviews, some tips

You are ready for the interview - well, almost anyway! Let's review your preparation one more time.

• Your research is completed.
• You are in good spirits and feel confident. 
• Attitude win more positions than qualifications alone.

You are now ready for the job interview, remember that although you may not have had an interview for a long time, it is important to remember some of the following.

1. BE YOURSELF
2. Announce yourself to the receptionist in an open friendly manner, as if that person is your first interviewer. Often the people you meet during the interview process are asked how they feel about you. They may be asked how they think you would fit in with the organization.
3. If possible jot down the names of people as you meet them, avoid being obvious. Remember to use a person's name. It is a form of recognition, and people like to be recognized. This is also important in following up after an interview.
4. The first 20-30 seconds of the interview are crucial. First impressions are critical to your success. Remember, the inter¬viewer already knows about your qualifications. They have done a reference check. The first 20-30 seconds of the interview will show them you are serious, personable and friendly. The interviewer believes that you are the type of person they will want to hire for their organization OR YOU WOULD NOT BE SITTING DOWN FOR AN INTERVIEW.
5.     The higher you go in the organization for the interviews, the less skilled the interviewer. The first people you meet are probably the most skilled in interviewing and they are the ones who refer you to the higher levels.

The first interviewer may ask you technical/professional questions, but they are probably looking of the style of your answer, its honesty, confidence and completeness.

The next interviews, scheduled by the first interviewer, will probably be with people who are technically up to speed in your profession and may even be your potential supervisor, working peer, or even the supervisors; supervisor.

Remember, that very few interviewers are out to trap you. They are genuinely interested in you and your potential in filling a position in their organization

Why Women Worry

The following was taken from "Why Women Worry" a slide show at the Hartford and the MIT age lab. The full slide show is here

Google Flights Explorer a new way to find a cheap flight

Where should I look to get the best deal on flights to wherever (Some countries not yet supported)?

We are off to Hawaii in September and I am starting to look for flights. I like many use online booking systems but when I found this I was very excited. Time and  money saved.  The information is from the blog site YVR deals, but the information can be used for any airport Google Flights Explorer supports.

All you need to do is search all the major airlines, preferably at once. My current favorite way to do this would be using Google Flights Explorer because you can just enter 'Hawaii' into the 'To' box, and see current airfares from all the major airlines, to all airports in Hawaii, at one time. Not to mention how easy it is to browse through different date combinations.

Even if you're planning to go for a longer date range than this tool supports (currently up to 2 weeks), it will give you an excellent idea of what the typical bottom price is right now to each airport in Hawaii, and which airline(s) it can be found on. Use it as a starting point, and then use a tool with more precise search options, such as...

My second favorite way would be to search using Kayak or Hipmunk. both have all the sort and filter options I need, and searches all major airlines. Click on 'Make my dates flexible' and set it to '+/- 3 days'. You may be surprised how often being a little flexible with your dates can result in a better price.

With both of these search engines, I will need to search the 4 major airports in Hawaii individually. 

What about the thousands of other travel websites that promote airfares to Hawaii?

This is the noise. There is no shortage of travel sites or brands trying to convince you that they have the cheapest flights from Vancouver to Hawaii. The truth is though, there's only one unique source of passenger prices that they're gathering their info from, and that's the ticket prices from the major airlines themselves. Travel aggregators really can't offer a lower price than the airline itself, as there's already virtually no markup.

There are few reasons why I think travelers waste an enormous amount of time checking multiple websites, hoping for a better deal over the one they already found (studies show it to be an average of 22 different sites over 10 periods of research!). The first reason is just human nature. We all want to compare prices for a holiday and make sure we're getting the best travel deal for our dollar.

But I think the biggest reason is simply the noise of travel marketing. With so many travel sites and brands offering holidays competing for your attention, all hoping you'll book through them, combined with the fact that not one of them will *ever* admit to you that their source of ticket prices is the same as everyone else, it's little wonder BC travelers waste so much time searching.

What about searching the airline's website directly?

There's nothing wrong with doing that. It's usually just a lot easier to search all of the airlines heading to Hawaii at once, with a better interface using a good travel search tool. It's amazing how poor many of the airline's search interfaces are. The fares for airplane seats found on any half-decent search engine will be the same as those found on the airline's own website.

One thing vacationers heading to Hawaii can do is just use a search tool to search all the airlines at once, and then go to the airline's own site to book it once you've figured out exactly which flight you want, and what the price is.

What about my local travel agency or independent travel agent in BC?

They're seeing the same prices you are. Depending on the agency or agent, they may or may not charge you a 'booking fee' on top of the airfare price, for their time. As there's virtually no markup on the cost of flights, they can't offer you a price that's any cheaper than from the airline, or from a search tool that properly searches the latest airfares.

Stroke has a new indicator!

The Heart and Stroke Foundation’s 2014 Report on the Health of Canadians shows more people are surviving heart attacks and strokes, but they face challenges and lack support to thrive to the fullest.New data gathered for the report show:

• Outcomes for stroke patients have improved, and prevention, care and treatment have also improved but the system is about to face more challenges than ever.
• Younger people are having strokes and this trend is expected to continue.
• The population is aging and stroke is age-related.
• Today’s stroke patient is sicker with two-thirds having one or more chronic conditions, making treatment more complex.
• Not enough patients are getting access to the care and rehabilitation they need to have the best possible outcome.
• Coordinated systems are the best way to ensure “the right resources, in the right place, at the right time.”

Although stroke is most common in people over the age of 70, the new data reveal an alarming escalation among those under 70. Over the past decade, strokes in people in their 50s have increased by 24 per cent and, in those in their 60s, by 13 per cent. Even more troubling, recent international studies predict that stroke rates among younger people (ages 24–64), will double in the next 15 years. And as more people get older, there will be more strokes.

You may have seen this before, but as we move ahead into summer a reminder is always a good thing.

 Blood Clots/Stroke - They Now Have a Fourth Indicator, the Tongue:

During a BBQ, a woman stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) ...she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.

They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Jane went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.

Jane's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 PM Jane passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Jane would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this.

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Thank God for the sense to remember the '3' steps, STR. Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S *Ask the individual to SMILE.

T *Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)
(i.e. Chicken Soup)

R *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call emergency number immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

New Sign of a Stroke -------- Stick out Your Tongue

NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue. If the tongue is

'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other that is also an indication of a stroke.

They say if you tell this to ten people, you stand a chance of saving one life. Will you tell others or recommend this post?

Tax rates in Canada benefit the wealthy

The following is from the Revenue and Distribution Analysis of Federal Tax Changes: 2005-2013 prepared by the office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer May 2014

There are currently four federal tax rates in Canada – 15, 22, 26 and 29 per cent – each with a taxable income threshold. Generally, these thresholds increase by the rate of inflation year-over-year. 

However, in 2009 the government raised the threshold amount on the two lowest personal income tax brackets by 7.5 per cent, about 5 per cent in excess of inflation. In effect, a smaller amount of taxable income would be subject to the highest federal rates paid by most taxpayers.

Financial benefits, when measured as a percentage improvement in after-tax income, also skew to very high income earners. 

Those in the 80th to 95th percentile of income earners ($109,197-$198,237) benefit most, with after-tax incomes improving by 0.18 per cent. These groups benefit from personal amount increases by having a larger amount of income exempted from higher income tax rates, (i.e. income in excess of $87,907 subject to the 26 per cent tax rate).

The highest income households accrue the largest dollar gains per household, but these tax savings comprise a smaller relative share of after-tax income than middle-high income groups.

Households with market earnings less than $23,261 have negligible gain, as these households generally owe minimal federal income tax and are not affected by an increase in the personal exemption.

In summary, the increase in federal tax bracket thresholds raises income inequality more than all other measures examined in this report. These measures are estimated to have increased the national Gini coefficient by 0.04 (indicating a reduction in income equality).

The threshold increases have moderately broad benefits relative to other tax measures examined in this report. An estimated 45 per cent of Canadian households benefit from higher tax bracket thresholds on an annual basis. Generally, more broad-based tax measures have a smaller distortionary impact on the economy, thereby improving (or preserving) the efficiency in the tax system.

This affects Boomers because they tend not to fall into the group that benefits the most from the tax cuts made by the current government.