Jobless and financially stretched? Seminar offers help for both
Jobless and financially stretched? Seminar offers help for both
If you’re unemployed, you are probably bearing the brunt of two crushing forces these days. The first is a job market that is so challenging it may make you question whether you’ll find work before your unemployment benefits run out. The second comprises your everyday financial obligations — rent or mortgage, car payments, debts — that you have to meet in the meantime, paycheck or no paycheck.
Jeff Burns and Nicole Foltz know that these pressures are greater than ever in today’s economy, which is why they are teaming up Saturday for a free seminar to help you get ahead in your job search and keep your finances on track.
Burns, a financial planner with Blue Rock Advisors in Winston-Salem, will handle the money side of the equation, while Foltz, lead recruiter with TRC Staffing’s Winston-Salem office, will focus on the job hunt.
Originally from Greensboro, Burns says he does a lot of business here and wanted to give back to his hometown during these trying times, so he called up Foltz to ask if she wanted to share her expertise with job seekers. The result is a “one-stop shop” for the unemployed, Burns says.
Foltz will address topics such as: using online job-search sites to your advantage, writing a résumé that works best in the current economy, interviewing and what questions to ask an employer, and strategies for networking, which is an especially important element in times when fewer employers are advertising job openings publicly.
She says she encourages job hunters to stay active in their communities through social gatherings and business-related events.
“You can’t just stay at home and hope a job will find you — you have to go out and find it,” Foltz says.
But while you spend a lot of your time searching for a new job, it’s also important to keep a close eye on your expenditures. Burns recommends using money-management software or simply keeping a handwritten record of your expenses so you can see exactly where your money is going. He says this helps a lot of people see in plain ink how many unnecessary purchases they are making and where they can cut costs.
Other topics he’ll address include tax issues related to unemployment benefits, and what to do with the retirement savings from your job. Sometimes, in the panic following a layoff, people become tempted to draw from their retirement accounts to make ends meet, but Burns says abandoning your future financial security for the sake of short-term stability is a bad idea.
“A lot of folks look at it as money they can ‘get,’ and that’s the last resort,” he says. “It surprises me that a lot folks don’t understand the ramifications of cashing out a retirement plan early.”
Contact Patrick Collins at 412-5934 or by e-mail at patrick.collins@news-record.com.
“You can advance from what you know, not who you know.”
Dave Hauser
director of logistics and distribution for the Piedmont Triad Partnership, referring to job mobility
