The employment network group is a ministry designed to give those who are searching for a vocation and those willing to help them a roundtable forum to discuss their situations. In addition to the roundtable format the group has a speaker each week and serves as a clearing house for a variety of resources. The guest speaker and topic for each week can be found on the Current Events page of this web site.

The group meets each Monday morning at Severna Park United Methodist Church from 8:30 to 10:30. The meetings begin with prayer and a roundtable discussion on each person’s situation. Others in the group offer suggestions and networking opportunities.

This networking group is open to anyone, you do not have to be a member of our church to participate.

What to do when you first lose your job

This is a life changing event where one goes through many of the stages of grief. We can beat that to death so we will move on to some of the things you should and could be doing.

Of course you must do some financial calculations and take care of all of the necessary conditions of life – health insurance, paying the mortgage, etc. This varies with how much severance you may have, is someone else in the house working, and how much you have in savings. You need to begin to feel at peace that for a certain period you are going to be able to care for you and your family needs.

Here are some “do’s”:

1. Maintain or perhaps increase your physical fitness program.

2. Maintain or perhaps increase your spiritual development.

3. Volunteer. One of the issues many of us face when we lose our job is the feeling of not contributing. Volunteering gives you the opportunity to help others and begin to expand your network.

4. Use electronic media to send out resumes but understand it is probably the lowest success rate of any way of finding a job.

5. Network.

John Nicodemus, one of our resources said that job seeks should judge their day on a point system, striving to get at least four points per day:

Get ½ point for sending out a resume.

Get 1 point for having a personal phone call.

Get 2 points if you make an appointment.

Get 3 points if you have an appointment.

RESOURCES

• Anne Arundel Workforce Development Corporation, www.aawdc.org . They claim to have one stop shopping for job seekers. They have 6 offices in Anne Arundel County.

• John Nicodemus, is coach and business advisor. John has been of enormous help to many of our job seekers john@calltheman.biz.

• SCORE, www.score390.org is an organization of retired and current business executives that help small business or those considering starting a small business. Ray Robertson is a member of our church and one of the councilors rayandleah@verizon.net.

• David Lohff is a financial planner www.ameriprise.com and his e-mail address is david.c.loff@ampf.com . David can give guidance concerning the financial pressures of losing ones job.

• Linda Zahn of the Greater Severna Park Chamber of Commerce, info@severnaparkchamber.com . The Chamber sponsors numerous networking opportunities.

• Corporate Brokers place technical people in jobs. www.corporatebrokers.com and Shane Ireland is the contact, shane@corporatebrokers.com.

• Peter McMillan, acts as a coach and advisor pmcmill@aol.com.

• Tony Caruso can help with cover letters, resumes and networking skills TCaruso333@verizon.net.

• Mike Peduto, can help with Federal Applications mpeduto@stevton.com.

• www.quintcareers.com/job-seeker.html is a good general website recommended by Barbara Zinck.

• Diane Jackson, Division of Consumer and Community Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board. Helps and has information on consumer credit issues Diane.jackson@frb.gov.

• Glen Tudor, is in charge of hiring engineers and architects at the US Naval Academy tudor@usna.edu.

• Janet Ladd is an excellent coach and resource for interviewing techniques; ladd.janet@gmail.com

For further information please contact: John Covington:

Email: Sean Wise