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SENIORS GAIN NEW MARKETABILITY

Published: Sunday, July 4, 1993
Section: PALM BEACH PLUS
Page: 9

By JULIE EAGLE-CARDO, Special to the Sun-Sentinel

In her own words, June Shaw was a ``hot commodity`` when she showed up at employment agencies years ago.

She had top secretarial and communications skills and even two years at an Ivy League university. But more recently, without knowing certain computer programs, the job-hunting 60-year-old started to feel like an ``anachronism.`` Now, Shaw has seen her marketability improve once again.

With seniors, we`re discovering that what`s involved is building their self-confidence and reacclimating them to the world of work as it is today,`` said Michaelynn Kernan, service center manager at a Delray Beach senior facility. The program appears to be meeting two needs at once: Bringing an older generation up to speed on today`s hottest job skills, and helping a growing number of seniors who must work to survive economically.

Shaw is a case in point. In November, she lost a $21,000 administrative assistant position and health insurance after lay-offs at an aircraft service company in Boynton Beach.

Widowed for 15 years, her only other income source has been Social Security. Out of necessity, she has been searching for a job since her lay-off.

But after being at her last job for six years, she found ``a whole different picture exists out there now.``

``Everyone is tested on computer programs even for the most low-end jobs,`` said the Delray Beach woman. ``For six years in one spot, I wasn`t in touch with changes in the field.``

After an evaluation and basic testing, Shaw signed up for three weeks of intensive classes in the computer programs she found are most in demand today.

She has been taking the classes at the PC Professor in Boca Raton.

The need is greater than ever, said Linda Aadland of Geriatric Services in Delray Beach. ``The economy has been bad, and it`s really hitting the seniors at this point,`` Aadland said.``

At 62, Willie Brown was a divorced father living on food stamps, bagging groceries part-time at Publix while struggling to support the 12-year-old son living with him. But fate intervened after Brown completed an 80-hour security guard course. He got a full-time job.

Jayne Goliff, 59, is hoping for a similar turn. She was laid off from a bookkeeping job last fall. Her 67-year-old husband`s Social Security just covers rent for a one-bedroom apartment in a modest section of Boca Raton. Like Shaw, Goliff had impressive education and work credentials, but her technical skills were lacking. She learned several computer programs and joined a Job Club to brush up on resume writing and interviewing.