Dear Joyce: I'm confused about layoff practices. Some career experts say layoffs hit the people who are last-in, first-out (LIFO, as in "He's been LIFO'd.").

Others say older workers who are paid over $150K take the hit first. Which is it? I've got 27 years invested with my present employer. Certain events make me concerned that one of my direct reports is angling for my job. Am I paranoid? --
R.M.

Dear R.M.: Typically, during economic upheavals, the more highly paid personnel are at unusual risk. But who knows which end of the seniority spectrum is most vulnerable today? If anyone comes across a definitive study, please let me know and then we'll all know.

Sometimes it's good to be paranoid. In a competitive job market, look up, down and around for trouble as others scramble to shore up their own job security.

No one wants to think he or she is working in a sewer of intrigue, but a direct report may hope to be the cheaper buy for your job; your friend in another department may decide that a lateral transfer to your job beats a transfer to unemployment status; an HR specialist owes primary loyalty to the organization, not you.

Take special care to document in writing your transactions and file memos in case you need to defend your actions.

Keep your technical skills (those you use to do the job) at high strength. Update your computer and Internet skills. Embrace change with a willingness that says you accept the new realities. This isn't a great time to protest that a specific task isn't in your job description. Don't hand management a reason to decide you no longer fit in.

Read business and trade publications in print and online. Even if your company is too small for published notice, staying abreast of recent developments in your industry can serve as an early warning system.

At the first whiff of trouble, ask a key person in your company whether you are likely to be affected by developing events. Watch facial expressions and body language, because your source may not be able to reveal the true facts.

Dear Joyce: I am 59 years old -- too old to hire and too young to retire. I am an obese black woman, college educated and out of place in the part of the country to which I relocated. I've held a new job nearly every year that I've been here. What I really want to do is therapy or counseling of adults. I've included my résumé so that you can see what potential employers see and perhaps you can tell me why no one will hire me. Help! -- Y.C.

Dear Y.C.: Your résumé is dotted with turnoffs, including listing a computer system diploma before your master's degree that qualifies you for the profession in which you hope to get a job. When you're after a professional job, don't list things like typing or business machines or computer accounting. Judgment, dear reader, judgment. In short, your résumé doesn't give me, the hypothetical reader, a reason to hire you.

But your résumé is an easier fix (Read the classic "Damn Good Résumés" by Yana Parker; Ten Speed Press.) than your central problem, which is a lack of focus in your background. You show too many little pieces that don't integrate smoothly into a whole.

Contact your professional organizations and ask what career resources they can make available to you, from sample résumés to job listings to fellow professionals in your locale.

Additionally, identify several people holding the kinds of jobs you want and seek guidance from them as well. Draw up a list of questions in advance, be businesslike and ask, "What must I do to complete my preparation to hold a job like yours in another establishment?"

Finally, pack away the thought that you're too old to hire. I won't end with an inspiring thought other than to tell you that old is when your friends compliment you on your new alligator shoes and you're barefoot.

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.

©2001 Tribune Media Services, Inc.