Works For Me: In 2009, take advantage of local networking resources
Works For Me: In 2009, take advantage of local networking resources
As 2008 drew to a close, you couldn’t go a day without hearing word of another Chapter 11 filing, another plant closing, another layoff, buyout or bailout.
These terms characterized the precarious economic climate in which the job market shrank faster than your retirement savings. Unfortunately, that trend may well continue this year. Finding a job in 2009 will be no easy task. The unemployment rate in Guilford County was 7.7 percent in November, according to the most recent data available from the N.C. Employment Security Commission. That’s up from 6.8 percent in October, and indicates that a lot of people are competing in a market with relatively few job openings.
The silver lining is that it also means there are plenty of people out there to network with, plenty of stories to share and plenty of advice to take in. As much as you may want to crawl into a hole and wait it out, you simply can’t afford not to get your face out there in this competitive job market.
“I always tell folks that your first meeting is your hardest meeting,” says Damian Birkel, a career counselor and founder of nonprofit job support group Professionals in Transition (PIT), which holds weekly networking meetings in downtown Greensboro.
Every week, downsized and underemployed Triad residents gather to network, gain advice from guest speakers and discuss topics related to the job search.
While the Internet and print ads can serve as important sources during a job search, Birkel says most job seekers tend to rely too heavily on them to find work. “If 80 percent of jobs come from networking, you should allocate 80 percent of your time to networking,” he says.
The Greensboro chapter of PIT meets from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays at the Greensboro Cultural Center at 200 N. Davie St. For more information, call 757-1099 or visit www.jobsearching.org.
If you’re out of work in High Point, you also can find motivation and support on Tuesdays, when the Triad Job Search Network (TJSN) meets.
For the past 15 years the group has attempted to get job seekers “out of the house and get them in a networking mode,” says Glenn Wise, TJSN facilitator. He says the number of participants at meetings has recently doubled from about 20 to 40, mostly consisting of white-collar workers.
“Most of them have been working for a (long) period of time and they’re really not accustomed to the job search routine,” Wise says.
TJSN meets from 9 to 11 a.m. Tuesdays at the Covenant United Methodist Church at 1525 Skeet Club Road. For more information, call Wise at 643-1419 or visit http://tjsn.net.
In Rockingham County, where the unemployment rate approached double digits in November, the stakes are high. A spike in layoffs is causing more people to take part-time jobs just to pay the bills while looking for full-time work, says Susan Steinberger, community resource coordinator for Goodwill Industries’ Community Resource Center of Reidsville.
One of the ways the center is trying to assist the unemployed is through Job Search Bootcamp, a twice-monthly workshop and networking event. The workshop was on hiatus for the holidays, but Steinberger is looking to resume it in February with an information session about the Career Readiness Certificate (CRC). The CRC is a credential that gives job seekers and employers a measurement of proficiency in areas of reading, applied math and problem-solving. Some employers use the CRC as an indicator of how prepared a person may be for a job. The certificate is earned by successfully completing an assessment test at Rockingham Community College. It is free to the unemployed, a group growing larger by the month in the county. In November, the unemployment rate there was 9.7 percent, up from 8.6 percent in October. The rate was 5.8 percent in November 2007.
For more information about the Career Readiness Certificate, Job Search Bootcamp or other assistance offered at the Community Resource Center of Reidsville, call 637-1010. To reach Greensboro’s resource center, call 275-9801.
Works for Me is a monthly column that takes a look at topics of interest to job seekers and highlights local career-related events. Patrick Collins can be reached at 412-5934 or patrick.collins@news-record.com.
