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Community Corner

Looking for a Job? You'll Need Handbills and an Elevator Speech

It's a brave new world for people who haven't been in the job market for a long time, and St. Mary Immaculate's Employment Ministry tries to help.

Here’s an update for job seekers:

Resumes are out. Handbills are in.

Networking is today’s most powerful professional stepping stone.

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Don’t leave home until you’ve polished up your elevator speech.

If you don’t know what a handbill or an elevator speech is, make a date with your angel of vocational development tonight. The Employment Ministry of is sponsoring a workshop, “Seven Obstacles to a Successful Job Search,” with networking getting under way at 6:30.

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Tonight’s speaker, James F Fitzgerald, is president of an Oak Brook-based senior executive coaching firm and one of the founders of the Career Transitions Center at Old St. Patrick’s Church in Chicago. He has given hundreds of presentations and written more than 150 articles about the job transition process.

St. Mary's Employment Ministry evolved in 2008, when more and more of the flock were finding themselves out of work, community relations director David Bachtel said.

“The economy turned very sour and this was one of a couple things we came up with to help people cope with the professional and financial challenges they were facing,” he said.

For more than two years now, the Employment Ministry has hosted twice-monthly meetings with networking sessions, job skills presentations and one-on-one counseling with volunteer coaches who are experienced hiring managers. A counselor who specializes in spiritual, emotional and financial wellbeing is on hand.

Networking, Bachtel said, is the source of up to 85 percent of hiring. To get networking working for you, you need a good handbill. That’s a one-page digest of work experience and bullet points on types of companies you’d like to work for and where you’d like to live. Networkers trade and distribute handbills for one another.

“It’s a tool to help me sell you,” Bachtel said.

The elevator speech is a carefully rehearsed couple of paragraphs that answer basic job interview questions like “Tell me about yourself” or “Why do you think you are right for this job.”

“You don’t want to be stumbling on these answers,” he said.

To see that you don’t, check out employment ministry meetings at 7 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month in the Faith Sharing Room of the St. Mary Immaculate Parish, 15629 S. Route 59. Meetings are free and pre-registration is not required. If you are new to networking, come for a 6:30 pm introduction to networking tools.

Future programs include:

  • July 12 -Networking/Work Session
  • July 26 -Kevin Crews/“Is Your Resume a Frequent Flyer in the Circular File?”
  • Aug. 9 -Networking/Work Session
  • Aug. 23 -Lauren Milligan, ResuMAYDAY/“How to Craft Your Job Search Campaign.”
  • Sept. 13 -Networking/Work Session
  • Sept. 27 -Becky Brillon, Community Career Center/“Federal Job Application Tips”
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