It never occurred to me that I would not be a sought after candidate for a job. I have had a number of successful careers as a career coach, executive search consultant, and a commercial real estate agent, among with a being an author and having produced a documentary.

I was never one to think about my age as I stopped counting my birthdays at 40. My career advice to others was to keep working and trying to find a profession that supported ones’ unique talents and keeping up with business relationships.

Then COVID hit, a life-changing event that we as a world are still dealing with. Never in my lifetime have I seen businesses forced to shut down. The carnage of this pandemic is still being revealed as workers start looking for employment and the lucky ones who kept their jobs and trying to get back to some sort of “normalcy.”

Many of the business relationships I had prior to the pandemic have changed as some have left the job market completely, as they were in a financial position to do so. But, what about those of us who still need to work to make ends meet? Where is the work for us?

It’s a challenge for those of us to get employed over 50, even though we have the experience and insight to be a valuable asset to a company. And, part of the problem is that often our resume reflects too many experiences, in too many industries that make us less attractive to a recruiter, especially if we are currently unemployed.

Here are (3) tips to help you in your job search if you are over 50:

Update Your Resume: This is a given for most job seekers, but you would be surprised how many of us just re-list the same achievements on our resume that we have had for the past thirty years!  Its time to redo your resume and customize it to the job opening you are applying for. Many of the items on our current resume are not applicable to the new position and appear dated in today’s job market. You need to only list what is important to a position and where your experience can add value to a company. Too many skills and too much experience can confuse a recruiter or hiring manager and detract from your skill set and experience.

Go through your Contact Database: We all have contacts from former coworkers and bosses. When was the last time you reached out to them? These people know your work and may offer you referral or information on your industry that may help you in your job search, even those who may have already retired. Many of us have an abundant list of social media contacts on Linked In and Facebook.  Be smart about how you contact your social media friends. On Facebook, if you don’t have their email or telephone number, reach out on Messenger and ask for their information so you can follow up with them.  When using LinkedIn, only send a private message here and never send out automated messages. I call it “lazy marketing” and it is not effective, especially when you are looking to network for a new job.

Identify exactly what you want to do: This is the first step to organizing your job search. You need to really think hard as to what you really want to do over the next ten years and what you want you day to day life to look like. For many of us, we don’t know what we want to do and how hard we want to work.  Some of us don’t even know where we want to live. So before you start any job search, you need to have this all flushed out before you send out your first resume or make as networking phone call.

Looking for a new position or changing careers is always possible, even after 50. Be clear as to what you want to do and be honest with yourself as to what your want you work life to look like and how much longer you want to work. This is the time in your life to continue growing, learning new skills and doing something you really want to do and get paid for it. It just takes a well thought out and executed strategy!

Happy job hunting!

You’ve heard the expression “care to make it interesting?” Well, the 2021 Chicago Cubs could certainly use all the help they can get right now when it comes to generating entertainment value. Since Chairman Tom Ricketts sold off all the players of value a couple weeks ago, the current team inhabiting Wrigley Field is only a shell of a baseball team.

If you are taking analyzing Chicago Cubs futures & betting odds, you’re looking hard at a 90 loss team right now. Losers of six of their last seven, and eight of their last ten, the odds are going to be against the North-siders, almost all of the time, from here until the end of the season.

With that in mind, Ricketts and his ballclub (which looks a minor league AAA team now) are rapidly moving forward on developing their next revenue stream, a sports book at Wrigley Field. The team made their pitch to the Chicago City council, specifically the commission on landmarks, last Thursday.

The scheme revolves around a 22,350-square-foot structure that would be built at the corner of Sheffield Avenue and Addison, near the right field gate.

Crain’s Chicago Business points out that this endeavor still has some obstacles to overcome, writing “In addition to winning approval from the landmarks panel, the team needs the City Council to sign off not only on the development itself but also pass an ordinance that would allow sports betting inside the city’s major stadiums.”

Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) brought forth this kind of proposal a few weeks ago, but it was sent to the Rules Committee, where it’s going to stall for some time. It’s all complicated by the fact that some city leaders are hoping to one day build a Chicago casino, which would then be a direct competitor to the local sports teams that could by that time have their own sports books.

There is just a ton of balls in the air now on all of this. As for the Cubs, they have a deal with an angry fanbase that is totally justified in their vitriol for an ownership group that waved the white flag of surrender on the next few seasons. Ricketts is notorious for taking all the credit when things go right, and always blaming others for when things go wrong.

A Friendly Confines sports book development project would, naturally, not be any different.

Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the  Chicago Tribune.

Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

Goose Island Beer Co. has announced the lineup for its 2021 Bourbon County Stout release. This year, there are 8 BCS variants, one more than the seven released in 2020.

The list of releases shows five variants aged only in different woods, with only three, including the Chicago-only Proprietor’s release, using adjuncts. One of those three will be made with a cola addition for the first time.

The first Bourbon County Stout was released either in 1993 or 1995. Goose Island founder Greg Hall wanted to a special project for his brewpub’s 1,000th batch. A chance encounter between Greg and Jim Beam’s Booker Noe led to Goose Island acquiring the barrels for what was to become the first commercial bourbon barrel-aged beer. 

The 2021 lineup:

● Bourbon County Stout (14% and 14.4% ABV): Imperial Stout blended from a mix of bourbon barrels from distilleries such as Heaven Hill, Wild Turkey and Buffalo Trace, each aged in freshly emptied bourbon barrels for 8-14 months. “Expect flavors of chocolate and vanilla, oak, whiskey, and molasses, followed by caramel, berry fruit, and almond.” Last year’s “original” BCS became subject of a run in retail outlets when it was learned that besides the blended release, several cases featured bottles that had been aged in single barrels, identifiable by two-letter codes on the bottles. Will there be a similar “Easter Egg” for this year? No one is saying.

● Bourbon County Cherry Wood Stout (14.3% ABV): “This year, we took wood complexities to another level by doing something we’ve never done before: we took fully-matured Bourbon County Stout and finished it with toasted fruitwood—specifically, honeycomb-shaped cherry wood chips. The versatility of the cherry wood and honeycomb shape allowed for maximum flavor extraction, revealing complex characteristics like red fruit, ripe cherry, and light toffee, which are not found in the original oak barrel itself.”

● Bourbon County Reserve 150 Stout (15.6% ABV): “Our Bourbon County Reserve 150 Stout is aged for one year in Old Forester’s 150th Anniversary Bourbon Barrels. To celebrate the anniversary, Old Forester’s hand-picked 150 barrels from resting places within the Old Forester barrelhouse, to create three unique batches honoring founder George Garvin Brown and his process of batching from three original distilleries.… Expect barrel-forward flavor with notes of chocolate, vanilla, and coconut, followed with molasses, almond, berry, and oak.”

● Bourbon County Double Barrel Toasted Barrel Stout (16% ABV): “Our Double Barrel Toasted Barrel Stout was aged for one year in Elijah Craig’s Small Batch Bourbon Barrels, then another year in Elijah Craig Toasted Bourbon Barrels. These toasted barrels are built to the same specifications as normal bourbon barrels, but are more heavily toasted and very lightly charred. Not only does this stout embody distinctive elements from Elijah Craig’s award-winning Small Batch Bourbon Barrels—like warm spice & vanilla—it also deepened in intensity during its second year of aging. The result? A Bourbon County Stout unlike any before. In addition to the familiar chocolate, caramel, and vanilla comes flavors of toasted marshmallow and a very pronounced fruit and oak finish.… This is only the second time we have packaged a ‘Double Barrel’ Bourbon County Stout.”

● Bourbon County Reserve Blanton’s Stout (15.4% ABV): “We aged our Imperial Stout for 18 months in barrels from one of the world’s most sought-after bourbons—Blanton’s Original Single Barrel Bourbon. Taken from the center-cut or middle sections of the famous Warehouse H, Blanton’s Original Single Barrel was once only available for ambassadors, dignitaries, and friends of the Blanton family, but now is available for everyone to enjoy. … Through our partnership we created a truly unique reserve filled with rich dark chocolate and oak notes, finished with warm aromatics of baking spices such as clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon.”

● Bourbon County Classic Cola Stout (14.1% ABV): “Pushing the boundaries of barrel-aged stouts is in our DNA, and with that we brought to life our first-ever cola-inspired variant. Brewers Paul Cade and Jason Krasowski bonded over their love for a classic cola while creating the Classic Cola Stout. Combining the refreshing nature of classic cola and picking up the flavor profile from a whisky cola, we added lime and orange juice and zest, plus coriander, cassia bark, nutmeg, brown sugar, and vanilla to bring out the complex characters of the classic drink.”

● Bourbon County Fourteen Stout (TBD ABV; awaiting final bottling details): “For the first time ever, we’re digging into the Proprietor’s (Chicago-only release) vault and bringing back a fan favorite with Bourbon County Fourteen Stout. But this time, it’s with a twist. We’re paying homage to the popular Proprietor’s 2014 recipe, but upping the rye ante by adding rye to the mash bill. Layering cassia bark, cocoa nibs, panela sugar, and coconut water, this stout has an intricate, sweet and spicy flavor profile that will have fans going back sip after sip.”

● Proprietor’s Bourbon County Stout (TBD ABV; awaiting final bottling details): “For the second year in a row, Proprietor’s Bourbon County Stout is inspired by a classic frozen treat and brewed again by the mastermind, Emily Kosmal. Proprietor’s Bourbon County Stout is aged in bourbon barrels and blended with luscious strawberries, vanilla and coconut, reminiscent of a classic strawberry ice cream bar. These elements come together to create the indelible flavors of decadent shortcake, layered with vanilla and topped off with the slight fruitiness of strawberries, similar to the ice cream bar’s strawberry core. Emily—who also created the concept for 2016 Proprietor’s and 2020 Proprietor’s—is our first brewer to have three Proprietor’s concepts picked for release.” Sounds like they want to bring in the taste of a Good Humor Strawberry Shortcake bar, without implying any cooperation.

The situation with the pandemic is still evolving, so details of the traditional Black Friday retail release should be forthcoming later. Whether there may be a Black Wednesday at participating draft houses nay also be learned later.

And it has happened that a planned variant might get pulled from the release schedule if the Goose Island brewers feel it doesn’t reach the profile they expected. It’s happened once, maybe twice, so this lineup should be pretty solid. There has, at times, also been an occasional draft-only release of a variant that didn’t make the cut for commercial production. Of course this is just me speaking from what I remember, and Goose Island has no reason to confirm or deny any of my ideas.

We’ve all heard about water, earth, and noise pollution, but did you know that light pollution is also a major environmental problem? In 2016, the World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness revealed that as much as 80% of the world’s population lives under skyglow, which not only affects the environment but also disrupts our health. This is something that the city of Toledo wants to address.

Despite the pandemic, the Ohio city is still on track to convert all 28,000 streetlights to LED lights, and the transition should be completed by 2022. According to Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, the total cost of the investment will be $5.8 million, but the annual savings of $580,000 mean that the LED lights will pay for themselves in 10 years or less. LED lights can retrofit just about any building, so it’s not surprising that more cities are rallying to bring them in the streets, where they could solve the problem of light pollution.

Studies have shown that LED lights are superior to existing streetlights, as they have a longer service life, consume up to 75% less energy, and provide a higher quality light. “LED lights are currently having a moment thanks to the pandemic, as more and more people decide to boost home comfort with sustainable, energy-saving solutions,” explain the experts at Lepro, an online outlet specializing in LED lights that is currently thriving.

Toledo authorities plan to replace all streetlights by the end of 2021 and hope that this investment will make the city safer and more sustainable. But they’re not the first city to do so. Here in Chicago, the Smart Lighting Program, which was initiated in 2017, is approaching its end phase and, by the end of August 2021, all cobra-head street lights will have been converted to LEDs. The lights were changed under the guidance of the U.S. Department of Energy, the American Medical Association, and the Illuminating Engineering Society, which helped them determine a safe color temperature. At the end of the project, the city should save around $100 million.