More Job Search Resources Than You Want to Shake a Stick at -- and Free for Job Seekers

As my unemployment enters its 6th week, I am actually feeling OVER-employed. Why is this? Well, in addition to volunteering my marketing expertise, perfecting (nearly) my resume (more on that in an upcoming blog post) and going to all the networking job events and following up with contacts, I am booked almost nonstop every day.

 

I’ve also been allocating time to several free seminars, and then to even more resources I can take advantage of as a result of going to those seminars. This adds to my sense of being over-employed and not having enough hours in the day to process everything. As my ex-husband used to say (and I didn’t get a severance package from him!!), “more than you can shake a stick at.” I just need more hours, not sticks, to do all the steps related to researching opportunities, crafting cover letters tailored to the job postings and following up that’s part of my search.

 

One of the seminars was an introduction to Project Management Institute (PMI) training and certification. It’s 84 hours of training offered by my local state university and funded entirely by the Department of Labor (DOL). In short, FREE. This course would lead to certification for a skill set that I have done routinely and has been taken for granted by my previous employers. Having this PMI certification would be compelling from a commonly accepted criteria basis in any company as well as another talking point as to what I have been doing since being laid off. Of course, it would be hard work attending class and taking a 4-hour exam during the lovely summer months. The tug to go to the beach with my young sons versus sitting in a classroom several days a week is palatable, but my focus is on using all resources that come my way to regain an interesting marketing position. Additionally, PMI offers local and state networking meetings and other events that are powerful in linking up with employers that really crave this skill set to move their projects forward. In the first class that graduated from PMI this year at just my little local university, 8 out of 20 folks (40%) found new positions within 3 months of the coursework. All of them felt the PMI certification made a solid difference in landing their new professional livelihoods.

 

After this seminar, I went to an orientation seminar at the DOL. Again, all the resources are FREE! There are many local/regional Labor offices throughout each state and county, all funded by taxpayer dollars. (You can find your closest One-Stop Career Center here.) After I listened to the orientation seminar, I almost didn’t walk through the doors labeled “RESOURCE” in bold letters, but I was desperate to find a fax machine I could use for free. I had a critical one-page document to fax to an 800 number that day but was loathe spending money on faxing to a free number. So I thought, “Walk through those doors, ask nicely about using a fax.” And there it was -- FREE and not being used. Those 10 steps saved me money and at least a half hour of running to yet another location to find a fax service. As they say, time is money and the DOL helped me that day on both accounts. In fact, walking through those doors opened up a number of other possibilities for me.

 

These offices offer career counseling in a variety of ways. They are staffed with support personnel, computers, copiers, faxes, printed materials and job seeking courses. I was amazed at the number of workspaces available in a clean, spacious environment. They also supplied a very long link list of job and data banks to use for researching job opportunities. Again, more resources than you can shake a stick at.

 

The DOL is not just about unemployment checks. It can be a professional work home while you are seeking work. You can have a free office to go to every day to insure a routine and discipline in seeking employment. Some people may have an outplacement services package as part of their downsizing event, but not everyone receives this additional benefit. The DOL support facilities offer much of the same coursework and a structured environment to enable job seekers similar to outplacement services. Best of all, the DOL centers are available for use during the length of time you are unemployed and receiving unemployment checks.

 

What resources have you found to be free and compelling in your job search?

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