The Job Seekers' Top-10 List

Career Expert Offers 10 Must-Do Strategies for Today's Professionals

TORONTO, Nov. 13 /CNW/ - There's no question job seekers face a challenging employment environment and must work hard to find new opportunities. To help professionals looking to make their next career move, Max Messmer, chairman and CEO of Robert Half International and author of Job Hunting For Dummies(R), 2nd Edition (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.), recently discussed the 10 strategies every would-be employee should follow. "In this economic environment, applicants must be resourceful," said Messmer. "A successful job search often depends on who you know, which means candidates need to make sure their efforts are as far-reaching as possible.

"Messmer offers the following top-10 list of essential tactics to help job seekers gain an edge in a tougher employment market:

1. Step outside your comfort zone. Avoid limiting your search to your current industry or field. Identify your transferable skills and experiences, and communicate them to prospective employers.

2. Minimize work history gaps. If you are unable to find a position right away, consider temporary assignments, internships and part-time opportunities, all of which can potentially lead to a full-time role.

3. Be flexible. Remain open to all possibilities, even if the job title, salary and benefits may not be exactly what you hoped for. Once you get your foot in the door, you will have a chance to prove yourself.

4. Find jobs before they're advertised. Read your local business journals and newspapers to identify companies that are hiring or expanding, and send them your resume.

5. Cast a wide 'net.' General job boards can be useful, but don't forget industry and trade association websites, which may have more targeted career opportunities.

6. Network -- online and off. Tell everyone you know that you are looking for a job, whether in-person or using professional networking websites.

7. Manage your digital footprint. Think your friends are the only people who viewed those less-than-professional vacation photos you posted online? Think again. With a few mouse clicks, potential employers can dig up information about you on blogs, personal websites and personal networking site profiles. Make sure you do a thorough self-search and take any necessary corrective action.

8. Customize. Tailor your resume and cover letter for each opportunity. Employers want to see why you're the right person for their job.

9. Enhance your marketability. Find out what skills are most in-demand and take steps to give yourself an edge in these areas. Focus on sharpening both functional and interpersonal skills.

10. Meet with a recruiter. Staffing executives can be your eyes and ears in the job market. Recruiters also provide useful feedback on your resume and interview skills, and help you locate full-time and temporary jobs.

Insurance Bureau Of Canada Warns Consumers About Phone Fraud Scam

HALIFAX, Nov. 13 /CNW/ - Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is warning consumers to avoid disclosing financial information over the phone after several consumers received calls from fraudsters pretending to be insurance industry representatives.

"Consumers today really need to stay vigilant," said Bill Adams, Acting Vice-President, Atlantic, IBC. "These con artists will do whatever they have to do to get your financial information." The caller claims to be from the policyholder's insurance company and demands the immediate payment, by credit card, of an outstanding amount on the client's premium. The caller threatens to cancel the policy if payment is not received. The calls have taken place across the country, indicating an organized crime ring might be at work.

"The bottom line is that you should never divulge financial information during a phone call you did not initiate, and your insurance company would never ask you to," said Adams. Any consumer who thinks they may have been targeted for this form of fraud is asked to write down as much information as possible, including originating phone number, and call the IBC Tips Line at 1-877-IBC-TIPS.

Insurance Bureau of Canada is the national industry association representing Canada's private home, car and business insurers. Its member companies represent nearly 95% of the property and casualty (P&C) insurance market in Canada. The P&C insurance industry employs over 108,000 Canadians, pays more than $6 billion in taxes to the federal and provincial governments, and has a total premium base of $36 billion. To view news releases and information, visit the media section of IBC's website at www.ibc.ca .

Survey Finds Students Listening To Digital Music At "Dangerous" Levels

Province-wide project finds 30% of young people surveyed may be at risk of hearing loss

TORONTO, Nov. 17 /CNW/ - A survey of Ontario high school students has found that 30% were listening to their digital music players at levels that could cause long-term damage to their hearing. The survey saw students test their peers' digital music players in advance of a ground-breaking summit being held to investigate solutions to the issue of noise-induced hearing loss in young people.

"These results are consistent with other research studies that show this level of noise exposure is contributing to hearing loss at earlier ages," said Dr. Robert Harrison, Director of the Auditory Science Laboratory, at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. "We need to take this issue seriously now if we want to prevent large numbers of people from suffering from noise-induced hearing loss in the future."

The results of the project were released as part of a Youth Listening Summit organized by The Hearing Foundation of Canada, a national charity dedicated to the prevention of hearing loss. The Summit brought 30 high school students from across Ontario together with music industry representatives, researchers, educators and others to discuss youth listening behaviour. As part of their "homework" prior to the event, students were provided with sound meters and asked to record the level at which their friends regularly set their digital music players and the length of time each day that they listened at that level. They found that 30% of the 145 students surveyed were listening at levels of 91 decibels or higher for an average of 2.9 hours a day - a level and length of time at which hearing researchers say long-term damage can occur. The Youth Listening Summit was funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. "Even though noise-induced hearing loss is already a widespread problem, we're just at the starting gate in addressing it," said Heather Ferguson, President of the Hearing Foundation of Canada. "The Youth Listening Summit is the first stage in our development of a prevention education program that will be piloted to high school students in the spring of 2009, showing students that they can protect their hearing but still enjoy the music." In June, the Hearing Foundation of Canada received a 16-month, $210,000 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to develop a preventative education program for high school students. The Ontario Trillium Foundation is an agency of the Government of Ontario. It continues to strengthen the capacity of the volunteer sector through investments in community-based initiatives. For more information, please visit www.trilliumfoundation.org .

The Hearing Foundation of Canada is committed to eliminating the devastating effects of hearing loss on the quality of life of Canadians by promoting prevention, early diagnosis, and leading edge medical research. For more information on the Summit and the survey, please contact The Hearing Foundation of Canada, 416-364-4060.

Age Is Just One Risk Factor For Diabetes
HUGH ANDERSON
The Gazette
Monday, November 10, 2008
Excerpts from: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/columnists/story.html

Shakespeare had Prince Hamlet speak of "the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to" as the troubled fellow debated whether to avoid them "with a bare bodkin" used to end his life early.

Many seniors know that one of those natural shocks is Type 2 diabetes. November is Diabetes Awareness Month. Canada's Public Health Agency says that seniors are one of two population groups with the highest risk of diabetes. The other, for unexplained reasons, are native peoples.

Diabetes can lead to a long list of medical conditions that make a senior's life less pleasant than it used to be. Like cancer, we do not yet know what causes it, so no cure has been found. Again like cancer, run fast from anybody who promises a miracle cure. Public Health Canada calls such a promise a fraud.

The disease is manageable, though, especially since the groundbreaking discovery of insulin by Canadians Frederick Banting and Charles Best in the early 1920s. The increase in number of people with the chronic illness is being termed a global epidemic. Canadian diabetics number more than 2 million; most of them have Type 2 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes, when the body fails to produce insulin at all, is usually diagnosed in children and adolescents. Insulin, a hormone produced in your pancreas, is needed to convert the sugar in food and drink into energy. Diabetes occurs if your body does not make enough insulin or cannot use properly what is produced. The result may be a dangerous buildup of sugar glucose in your blood. This can be detected in the battery of regular routine blood tests that doctors usually order for their older patients.

Because your blood circulates to every part of your body, blood disorders can damage almost any organ. If left untreated or unmanaged, the list of complications includes such major health threats as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, poor circulation in limbs possibly leading to amputation, damage to nerves and impotence.

Classic symptoms of diabetes include frequent urination, unusual thirst, fatigue and unexplained weight loss. Unfortunately these symptoms are what doctors call non-specific: that is, they often occur in other illnesses. In addition, some people with Type 2 diabetes show no visible symptoms at all. Only your doctor can tell for sure.

The good news is that, in addition to treatment with insulin, the disease can be managed by changes in diet and in physical activity. Less is better for the former. More is better for the latter. In other words, that fitness program you've been putting off can help a great deal.

Note that this kind of change in lifestyle can also help prevent the onset of diabetes. True, being a senior is itself one of the risk factors for the disease. But being overweight, living a sedentary life and smoking like a chimney are among the other risk factors.

Note also that major changes in diet and in the level of your physical activity should be carried out under medical supervision if you are a senior. There is no doubt that daily management of diabetes can have a big impact on your life and perhaps that of your family. A survey of Canadians living with Type 2 diabetes done last year for the Active Coalition for Older Adults found that they have daily difficulties with their disease management. Half did not know what their target blood sugar control should be. Two out of three admitted that they were not very knowledgeable about their disease. Half said their blood glucose was not controlled properly.

Since diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in Canada, it's probably worth the effort to learn about it.

Cases Of Asthma In Canada May Be Overdiagnosed By 30 Per Cent: Study
Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article

TORONTO — Almost a third of adult Canadians diagnosed with asthma and taking medications to treat their wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath may not actually have the allergic respiratory condition at all, researchers say. In a study of about 500 adults who had previously been told they have asthma, airway-function and other tests showed that about 30 per cent did not in fact have the disease, suggesting that asthma may be significantly overdiagnosed in Canada.

"What we think is happening ... is that if patients come to a physician complaining of shortness of breath or cough or wheeze, oftentimes the physician will assume that the diagnosis is asthma, and based on the patient's history and complaints prescribe medicines to treat asthma," lead investigator Dr. Shawn Aaron said from Ottawa.

"And what they won't do is order the appropriate diagnostic test to confirm asthma."
Aaron, head of respiratory medicine at Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa, said a doctor's suspicion that a patient has asthma should be followed up by confirmatory tests, including spirometry.

A spirometer measures a person's lung volume and airway flow, which can flag whether airways are likely narrowed by inflammation, as is the case with asthma. When the researchers tested the 496 study subjects with a diagnosis of asthma, they found 150 did not test positive for the condition, Aaron said. "And when we stopped their medicine and assessed them, we weren't able to find asthma."

Yet these patients had been taking asthma medications - typically inhaled steroids, also known as puffers - for an average of 15 years, say the researchers, whose paper is published in this week's issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

"This is a serious issue because asthma medications are expensive and they can have side-effects," Aaron said. "Also, an inappropriate diagnosis of asthma may obscure the true cause of a patient's symptoms."

While inhaled corticosteroids are generally considered safe drugs, higher rates of osteoporosis, glaucoma and cataracts have been seen in patients after long-term use. But he cautioned that patients shouldn't forgo asthma drugs in the belief they may have been misdiagnosed, because the airway-clogging condition can be life-threatening. Instead, they should ask their doctor for the confirmatory tests.

"I don't want people to assume that they've been overdiagnosed and stop their medicine. That would be very dangerous."

An estimated three million Canadians have asthma, about 12 per cent of them children, says the Asthma Society of Canada on its website. Prevalence of the disease - which kills about 20 children and 500 adults across the country each year - has been on the rise over the last 20 years around the world. Commenting on the study, Toronto respirologist Dr. Ken Chapman agreed that asthma is overdiagnosed and spirometry tests are not performed as often as they should be.

"They're saying things near and dear to my heart and near and dear to the hearts of all practising lung doctors," Chapman, director of the Asthma Airway Centre at University Health Network, said of the study authors.

"We're endlessly frustrated that doctors think that they can manage lung disease without measuring lung function." Chapman said several respiratory conditions can mimic the symptoms of asthma, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or emphysema, which can affect current and former smokers.

"It's time that doctors dragged themselves out of the Stone Age when it comes to lung disease," he said. "If you can't measure lung function, you can't identify abnormal lung function and treat it appropriately."

In an accompanying editorial, deputy CMAJ scientific editor Dr. Matthew Stanbrook and Dr. Alan Kaplan of the Family Physician Airways Group of Canada argue that diagnosing asthma without objective tests is unacceptable medical practice.

"A physician who attempted to manage hypertension without measuring blood pressure or to manage (high cholesterol) without measuring serum cholesterol levels would not be considered to be maintaining an adequate standard of care," they write. "Treating asthma without having performed at least spirometry is no different."

Any physician who treats asthma should regularly refer patients to a lung function laboratory, have staff to perform spirometry or perform the test themselves, say Stanbrook and Kaplan, adding that governments need to license more of these labs, so that proper testing is available across the country. The study was conducted in eight locations across the country.

Scientists Point To Dairy Protein And Vitamins As Keys To Boomer Health
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/November2008/18/c9596.html?view=print

Boomers urged to consume more milk products

MONTREAL, Nov. 18 /CNW/ - Leading academics and researchers are presenting their latest findings to health professionals at a nutrition symposium titled "Living Long. Living Healthy" in four cities across the country this week. The symposium is exploring how advances in nutrition, lifestyle habits and genetics are helping boomers stay fit, healthy and live longer.

"Several of the scientists participating in the "Living Long. Living Healthy" symposium have concluded that proteins and vitamins found in milk and milk products can play a role in reducing the risk of cognitive decline, diabetes, cardio vascular disease, osteoporosis and certain types of cancer," said Isabelle Neiderer, Director of Nutrition with Dairy Farmers of Canada. "This is alarming because Canadian boomers, who are at risk from these diseases, are not consuming the recommended daily servings of milk and milk products."

Baby boomers, 45 to 65 years of age, represent the largest segment of the Canadian population, with those who are 50 plus continuing to grow and possibly representing as much as 20 per cent of the working population by 2016.

Seventy-three per cent of Canadians 45 to 64 years old are overweight or obese, according to a 2006 Heart and Stroke Foundation Study. As we age we tend to lose lean tissue such as muscle and bone mass and gain more fat mass. These changes in "body composition" can participate in many health problems such as osteoporosis, Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. According to data from the Canadian Community Health Survey, under-consumption of milk and milk products is a major issue for this age group, even with the previous requirements of two servings per day. This is further complicated by the fact that the recommended servings for Milk and alternatives are now increased for those who are 50 plus to three servings per day. "That is why Dairy Farmers of Canada is urging Canadians of all ages, including boomers, to get the daily number of servings of Milk and alternatives recommended by Canada's Food Guide." said Neiderer.

Green spaces 'reduce health gap'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7714950.stm
BBC NEWS

A bit of greenery near our homes can cut the "health gap" between rich and poor, say researchers from two Scottish universities. Even small parks in the heart of our cities can protect us from strokes and heart disease, perhaps by cutting stress or boosting exercise.

Their study, in The Lancet, matched data about hundreds of thousands of deaths to green spaces in local areas. Councils should introduce more greenery to improve well being, they said. This study offers valuable evidence that green space does more than 'pretty up' the neighbourhood

Across the country, there are "health inequalities" related to income and social deprivation, which generally reflect differences in lifestyle, diet, and, to some extent, access to medical care. This means that in general, people living in poorer areas are more likely to be unhealthy, and die earlier.

However, the researchers found that living near parks, woodland or other open spaces helped reduce these inequalities, regardless of social class.

Champions of Breakfast Say: Make a Meal of It
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008
By Jennifer Huget
Tuesday, November 11, 2008; HE02

Perhaps you are reading this column over breakfast.

We'll deal with the reading-while-you-eat issue another day. For now, it's good to know you're eating what many nutritionists consider the most important meal of the day. Breakfast is commonly credited with improving students' academic performance and adults' ability to be productive at work; it's also a cornerstone of many weight-loss programs.

But for all the belief in breakfast's benefits, there's surprisingly little science linking the morning meal to specific measures of good health. So says James Hill, president of the American Society for Nutrition (ASN). "There's some research suggesting breakfast is linked to better school performance, as a result of students' having more concentration and discipline," says Hill, a professor of pediatrics and medicine at the University of Colorado at Denver and director of the Center for Human Nutrition, funded by the National Institutes of Health. "But there's no definitive stuff out there."

"I don't know why we haven't done a big, randomized, controlled study" to determine whether eating breakfast really helps our health, Hill says. "It would seem like a very important question."

Hill has some anecdotal evidence, though: A co-founder of the National Weight Control Registry, a database of people who have lost weight and kept it off, he says "eating breakfast is one of the common characteristics of those people."

A study in the November issue of ASN's American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, further explores that connection, suggesting that fueling up first thing in the morning might set the tone for the rest of the day's diet and influence how much we weigh.

Ashima K. Kant, a professor in the Department of Family, Nutrition and Exercise Sciences at the City University of New York's Queens College, led a team of researchers who looked at food and beverage consumption reported by 12,000 adults in a large federal study. The team found that women -- but not men -- who ate breakfast had lower BMIs (body-mass index measurements) than those who didn't.

The study also examined the energy density (ED) -- the calories per unit of weight -- of the foods and beverages participants consumed. People who ate high-ED breakfasts, which typically contain lots of fat and sugar and little fiber and water, tended to continue eating high-ED foods throughout the day, but they took in fewer micronutrients and tended not to eat from all five food groups. The higher the energy density of a man's breakfast, the higher his BMI; that didn't hold true for women, whose BMIs were linked to the energy density of the other meals they ate. Finally, people who ate breakfast consumed lower-ED foods throughout the rest of the day, overall, compared with those who didn't eat breakfast.

Kant is quick to point out that her study, like others in the field, simply observes relationships between breakfast-eating and other aspects of people's lives and doesn't establish any cause-and-effect relationships.

Still, its key messages are plain: "Eat breakfast, and choose lower-ED foods: fruit rather than a sweet roll," Hill says. But, he adds, "everybody can splurge once in a while. It's better to eat breakfast, no matter what you eat. Then, once you're a breakfast eater, you can work on improving your choices."

And what would those better choices be?

Angela Ginn-Meadow, a Baltimore-based spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, has some suggestions, many of which counter one of the most common excuses for skipping breakfast. "Breakfast takes time and planning," she says, "and with this fast-paced world we live in, time and planning go out the window."

For those who are time-strapped in the morning, Ginn-Meadow suggests keeping "quick fix" foods handy. "Ready-to-eat cereal, instant oatmeal, whole-grain frozen waffles, whole-grain bread for toast, yogurt, light canned fruit, 100 percent juice, milk, cheese and cottage cheese" are all nutritious and fast, she says. If you have a few minutes to spare, make a smoothie by whirling milk, fruit and bran in the blender. Put a slice of turkey or a scrambled egg on a whole-wheat English muffin and wash it down with vegetable juice. Or top your cereal with sliced strawberries and low-fat milk.

"A perfect breakfast includes something you enjoy, with all the nutrients, that energizes you for the day and satisfies hunger," Ginn-Meadow says. "Always include a whole grain, some lean protein or milk, and fruit."

And, yes, she reassures me, even leftover pizza can be a good breakfast: "Cold cheese or vegetable pizza plus a glass of juice can provide one grain serving, one-eighth of a vegetable serving, one-half of a dairy serving, and one whole fruit serving." (Plus, she says, pizza always tastes better the next day.)

As for those who argue that they're just not hungry in the morning, Ginn-Meadow recommends beating that barrier by starting small: just a glass of juice (real, 100 percent juice, please!) or a slice of whole-wheat toast. Gradually add to the menu: maybe some yogurt or a hard-cooked egg. You'll work your way up to cold pizza in no time.

Check out today's Checkup blog, in which Jennifer reports on ways to coax reluctant kids to eat breakfast. Sign up for our weekly Lean & Fit newsletter by going to http://washingtonpost.com and searching for "newsletters." And e-mail your thoughts to Jennifer at checkup@washpost.com .