World Bytes: An Interesting Second Career

Becoming a personal trainer after retirement is an interesting and rewarding option, especially for engineers and technology professionals, who bring with them a host of skills that can benefit both the trainee and the trainer.

Increasing lifespan and the importance of maintaining health and wellness throughout the elderly years is providing an interesting and rewarding second career opportunity for retirees.  In the UN report World Population Aging: 1950-2050, the four major findings include: 1) Population aging is unprecedented; 2) Population aging is pervasive; 3) Population aging is profound; and 4) Population aging is enduring. What is the opportunity? Become a personal trainer says Nanci Hellmich in USA Today [Active Second Careers: Becoming Personal Trainers, 18 February 2014, www.usatoday.com].  Engineers bring with them unique skills and knowledge such as biomedical engineering, instrumentation, teamwork, and biomechanics, among others that can be applied to training prescriptions.

Research has shown that many people want to train with a trainer of a similar age. It is a mutually beneficial career, as the trainer must, by example, maintain his or her own fitness while helping others achieve their health and wellness goals. Opportunities for flexible employment are available in this growing career in every community. How do you start? Become certified through professional organizations such as The American College of Sports Medicine [www.acsm.org].

Other Bytes

Here are some of the things going on in and around the community:

The complexity of today’s global job market requires specialized knowledge and skill when negotiating the terms and conditions of your employment. Deepak Malhotra in the Harvard Business Reviews’ Managing Yourself feature provides his perspectives for negotiating job offers [15 Rules for Negotiating a Job Offer. 92(4):117-120. April, 2014. www.hbr.org ]. The author studies and teaches this subject at the Harvard Business School and recognizes the broad range of possible outcomes of what can be stressful conversation.  A link is provided in the article to the author’s 64 minute video on this topic which includes a question and answer session for students at the Harvard Business School.
The cover story of Fortune Magazine’s April 7, 2014 issue (www.fortune.com) is entitled The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders. [169(5):63-78].  Geoff Colvin states In an era that feels starved for leadership, we’ve found men and women who will inspire you some famous, others little known, all of them energizing their followers and making the world better. In his introduction before profiling each of the fifty leaders the reporting team discusses among other things the challenges of leadership in today’s world and selection criteria used for inclusion in the listing.
Population growth, climate change and diminishing agricultural land are forecast to present challenges to feeding a growing world population.  David Rotman discusses the case for genetically modified food in his article Why We’ll Need Genetically Modified Foods. [MIT Technology Review 117(1):28-37. January, 2014. www.technologyreview.com ]. The author makes the case that biotechnology crops will have an essential role in ensuring that the world’s population will have enough to eat.  An excellent source of information on a topic of importance to everyone.
The focus on the May 2014 issue of Popular Science [284(5). www.popsci.com ] is Celebrating American Innovation Articles include Why We Should Build Stuff, The Eighth Annual Invention Awards, The Master Code, The Life Cycle of Ideas and Age of the Asteroid. In the issues editorial Cliff Ransom discusses the role of Popular Science in celebrating individual inventors over 142 years and how through passion and personal sacrifice, they make the world a better place for all of us.
The Affinity Network was established by the College Board with the purpose of strengthening connections to smooth student transition between K-12 schools and our institutions of higher education.  Ellen Ullman in her article The Next Step [Community College Journal. 84(5):35-42. April-May 2014. www.ccjournal.digital.com ] discusses steps being taken by educators to align expectations for the Common Core State Standards and the effective preparation of students for the rigors of college.  This is but one component of the American Association of Community Colleges report Reclaiming the American Dream: Community Colleges and the Nation’s Future Report which challenges the education system to improve college readiness, and improve the retention of college students through graduation.
Darren Dahl provides his perspectives on future entrepreneurship opportunities in The Eight Best Industries for Starting a Business. [Inc. pp. 24-28. April, 2014. www.inc.com ]. Business opportunities discussed include: robotic forklifts, eco-friendly building, mobile health applications, specialty and natural foods, online baby foods, language translation services, digital forensic services, and innovative business apps tailored for specific business needs. A second article in the same issue of Inc. by Leigh Buchanan is entitled 35 Smart Questions that Every Leader Needs to Ask [pp. 102-107]. Business leaders provide their visions on what questions to ask to move the company forward.