Marty Nemko's Blog, page 397

23 Under-the-Radar Careers

The 1353-page 2014-2015 Occupational Outlook Handbook profiles hundreds of careers. 

For my PsychologyToday.com article today, I picked out 23 under-the-radar ones that you might find appealing. For each, I offer a very quick hit plus a link for learning more about it.

If you or someone you care about is looking for a career, perhaps one or more of these might at least whet your appetite for looking at the many little-known options that can be found in the aforementioned Occupational Outlook Handbook or in the 500+ in my book, Cool Careers for Dummies. 

HERE is the link.

In Praise of the Out-of-Fashion Marigold

The marigold has been out of fashion for 150 years. In 1858, the New England Agricultural Warehouse and Seed Store Catalogue deemed marigolds “old-fashioned.”

Yet you’d be hard-pressed to find another annual that’s as covered with bloom for as long a season, let alone one that’s so trouble-free as modern hybrid marigolds. Plus, they're cheap. Any nursery will sell you a six-pack in colors ranging from yellow to maroon and all sorts of blends for under $5. And the supreme varieties are available by seed, which you can buy for roughly a dime a piece. 

Which varieties to plant? 
Garden marigolds are either French of African. French marigolds grow 8-12” tall with 1-2” flowers. Africans are 10”-20” tall with 2-4” flowers. I prefer Frenchies both because of their more exotic coloration and because their flowers are less likely to rot in the rain.
Here are highly-rated varieties: 

French marigolds 
Boy Spry











  



Credit: Ball Horticultural Co.

Janie Flame
 












Credit: Park Seed Co.

Bonanza Deep Orange


 






Credit: National Garden Bureau


Alumia Gold










Credit: NetPS Plant Finder


Cresta Spry (a bit larger than Boy Spry)
 









Credit: Harris Seeds


African marigolds


Taishan Yellow

 






Credit: PrairieStarFlowers.com

Moonsong Deep Orange








Credit: All-American Selections


Lady Orange (the tallest of those listed: 18-20”)














Credit: George Didden Greenhouses 

Growing marigolds 
Easiest is to buy six-packs or 4" pots in any nursery or even supermarket. Just pop ‘em into average soil in a sunny location. Add fertilizer and regular water and, voila!

In relatively warm climates, you can plant them as late as early September and get a month or three of bloom before cold weather sets in.

You may be less likely to find the above varieties in pots or six-packs. You’ll more likely see unnamed varieties or, Bonanza Yellow, Gold, or Orange and the Durango series of Frenchies and Antigua or Inca II Yellow, Gold, and Orange Africans, which are all just fine although perhaps a notch below those above.

Fortunately, marigolds are among the easiest plants to grow from seed. Most experts advise you to simply sow them directly in their permanent sunny home as soon as frost has passed. Just cover them with ¼” of soil and keep them moist.Especially if you live in a humid climate, to prevent or reduce fungal disease, water just the soil, not the leaves, for example, with drip irrigation or by watering the soil next to the plant, not the plant itself.

Not essential. But to maximize rebloom, pull off the dead flowers.

And that’s it!

Of the hundreds of plants I’ve grown, I find marigold to give the most pleasure for the least cost and effort. I think it’s time for them to come back into fashion.

Copiing With People Who Don't Respond to Your Emails and Phone Calls

I wrote today's PsychologyToday.com article for those who get frustrated with people who don't promptly respond to your emails and phone calls. HERE is the link.

Making This The Best School Year Yet

Every year, students—adult and child alike—hope this school year will be great: that our teachers will like us, inspire us, and that we really do learn and grow. 

My PsychologyToday.com article today offers nine tips to help this school year live up to the hope. While aimed primarily at college and graduate students, some of these ideas may apply to children. HERE is the link.

If You Got a Second Chance

Everyone has regrets, and per a previous post, sometimes there are ways to put them behind you. But sometimes you can’t. 
What I offer today on PsychologyToday.com might wring a bit of good from your regrets. I ask you questions that inventory your life's major decisions and ask if you'd make them differently now. HERE is the link.

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF INTERVIEWING: An interview with Michael Krasny

We’re all interviewers: whether asking your housemate about his or her day, querying a first date to see if there should be a second, vetting a prospective employer, or trying to understand a customer’s needs or ideological adversary’s position. 
To unearth some of the keys to interviewing, for my PsychologyToday.com article today, I interviewed a top interviewer, Michael Krasny. HERE is the link. 

An Authoritative Look at ADHD: An interview with Stephen Hinshaw

ADHD is among our most controversial disorders. Is it really a disorder or a function of schools' poor response to active kids’ needs? Is the increase in prescribing stimulant drugs for ADHD mainly because it’s helpful or because drug companies are pushing it? Stephen Hinshaw is among the most respected voices on ADHD.  My interview of him is my PsychologyToday.com article today.HERE is the link.

The Present and Future of Life Extension: Aubrey de Grey lays out the path.

Aubrey de Grey believes that, in the foreseeable future, the average healthy lifespan could well exceed 100... if we get our heads out of the sand.
De Grey is in a position to know. The Cambridge Ph.D. is Chief Science Officer of the SENS Research Foundation, editor-in-chief of the academic journal Rejuvenation Research, and co-author of Ending Aging. The late Dr Sherwin Nuland, eminent expert on aging, called de Gray a “brilliant, beneficent man of goodwill, who wants only for civilization to fulfill the highest hopes he has for its future.”
My interview with Aubrey de Grey is my PsychologyToday.com article today. HERE is the link.

Not-Obvious Career Truths

I’ll soon be giving a talk, Not-Obvious Career Truths: Nine things I’ve learned from having been career coach to 4,600 people. In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I give an advance look at what I'm planning to say. HERE is the link.

The Case for Job Seekers Practicing Radical Honesty

There's understandable temptation for job seekers to stretch the truth in their resume and interviews. But in my PsychologyToday.com article, I argue that not only is that unethical, it's likely to backfire. HERE is the link.