Dear Joyce: As an office manager, I wish you'd warn readers about spending hours and hours on their computers looking for other jobs. I've had to fire three people I've caught doing that. And get this: Some of the younger employees don't seem to think there's anything wrong with using their current employer's resources to move on! They say they have to take work home so they feel entitled to take a little home to work. What do you think? -- K.L.L.

Dear K.L.L.: I've always railed against heisting your employer's time and office resources, but it happens. It especially happens in an era of diminished loyalty on both sides of the employment equation.

Some recruiters believe that as many as 90 percent of online job searches are conducted by people at their current job. But that might be too high a figure. In employers' efforts to prescreen applicants, they've bulked up the time factor required to fill out online résumé-building forms and assessment tests so much that many workers do apply from home on their own time, if only because they don't want to feel pressured in supplying personal data and answers. That's the iceberg's tip.

Studies consistently show that cyberslacking is on the rise in more than employment areas -- porn, shopping, day-trading and game-playing -- all are causing a lessening of productivity. Fighting back, a growing number of companies are installing software that monitors employees' online behavior. Researchers say a majority of companies now use such software.

But sometimes the disciplining and firing actions taken for personal use of the Internet on company time backfires, causing employee morale to sink. When that happens, some top managements have responded by throwing up their own hands and placing the power in the hands of the supervisors who have the responsibility of managing people.

We're entering even less-chartered waters as wireless equipment proliferates. I foresee a dramatic rise in restroom breaks for job searchers.

Dear Joyce: I'm 44 and in my 21st year of employment at the same company, earning $30,000. I have a lot of manufacturing, material planning and procurement experience. I have two years of college and am in the process of getting back to that. I want more money for a hard day's work like I see other people getting. What are my chances at this late time of my life to find a job with a company willing to pay for my knowledge and offer me more opportunity and pay? My husband says I'm wasting my time. -- D.L.

Dear D.L.: Your battle is uphill, but you'll never know if you don't try. Conduct a stealth job search, protecting your current job.

Rely heavily on contacts -- networking -- to bypass the human resources office at prospective employers. Try to reach the hiring manager at each directly through the referral process. If you can get a friend to refer you where he or she works, you're ahead of the game. Expect to put plenty of muscle in your reaching-out campaign. Look up your nearest One-Stop public job service (Ask a reference librarian). Ask staff specialists there to give you free help in your search.

Finishing college won't work wonders for your career, but it might satisfy a longing to gain knowledge that is both broad and deep. Continuing study can be an elixir -- like praise and accomplishment -- for your brain's "reward circuits."

Your husband is betting on the odds. People beat the odds all the time. I can't recall who said it, but I do like the motto: "A professional is an amateur who never stopped trying."

Dear Joyce: A while back you wrote about an online law school. Please restate its name and tell me how I can contact the school. -- L.F.

L.F.: Concord University School of Law is the nation's only online law school. Concord started in 1998 with 33 students; today 600 are enrolled in its student body. Most students have day jobs.

Licensed in California, Concord has received accreditation under a pilot program from the Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council.

Caveat: Make certain you understand what you can do with a Concord law degree in the state where you wish to practice.

Send career questions for possible use in this column to Joyce Lain Kennedy at Box 368, Cardiff, CA 92007, or e-mail her at jlk@sunfeatures.com. Sorry, the volume of mail makes personal replies impossible.

© 2000, Los Angeles Times Syndicate