APRIL 23, 2009 ISSUE
Job Search Toolkit Provides Great Resources for Job Seekers
Monthly unemployment statistics from the N.C. Employment Security Commission tell only a tiny part of the story of this economic recession. The bigger story—the truer story—is that each number that goes into making up every county’s unemployment percentage represents a person.
Along with the personal financial upheaval and fear associated with being jobless, the hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians who are now out of work also face emotional upheaval and fear. Boomers worry about their employability because of their age. Younger workers face competition from the hundreds of thousands of experienced workers who are competing for the same jobs. Unskilled workers without strong educational credentials wonder if they have any chance at all. The fears are numerous, jobs are scarce and the questions are endless.
Should I change careers? Should I go back to school? Should I start my own business? What kinds of jobs will be available when the economy turns around?
While no quick fix will restore the economy, help is popping up in a variety of ways from a multitude of providers. One example is the Job Search Toolkit—www.jobsearchtoolkit.pbwiki.com—developed by the State Library of North Carolina in conjunction with the N.C. Department of Commerce, the Employment Security Commission, JobLink Career Centers and NCLive. The High Country Workforce Development Board wants to help ensure that every job seeker in the seven-county region knows about this toolkit.
Whatever your situation and whatever career questions you’re pondering, this valuable collection of resources has materials that can get you thinking in a positive and constructive way and may even help you land a job.
The resources are arranged in a hierarchy corresponding to the workshops presented in nine libraries across the state in March 2009. But you don’t need a structured workshop or facilitator to take full advantage of the materials.
Job Suggestions, Business Ideas, Tools for Success
Don’t skip the Get Started section. Because of the name, you might think this is just a tired old pep talk full of clichés and platitudes, but it’s not.
In the Get Started section, you’ll find links to the NC Career Resource Network—www.nccareers.org—a site packed with self-assessment tools that are particularly valuable for people who are thinking of giving another career a try but don’t really know what they want to do, a browsable list of 800 occupations in North Carolina, labor market trends—the best fields to consider in terms of growth, stability and salary—and even a comparison of fees and tuition at N.C. colleges and universities.
You could spend hours at this site alone, but it’s only one of the resources available at the Job Search Toolkit.
For even more ideas and guidance, NetLibrary offers 600 titles—available as online ebooks—that cover career exploration, the nuts and bolts of job hunting, education and lots more. A whopping 204 additional titles were just added in March 2009 to beef up the NetLibrary career collection.
How To Access NetLibrary
To access these ebooks, however, you need the password to NCLive, and you have to call the library to get it. This only takes a few minutes. Ask for the reference desk and the helpful librarian will give you the password.
At the NCLive sign-on screen—www.nclive.org—select either the Appalachian Regional for Ashe, Watauga and Wilkes counties, or the Avery-Mitchell-Yancey Regional library system and then enter the password. Students at the community colleges can also obtain access through the Wilkes, Caldwell and Mayland libraries.
On the NCLive homepage, click the E-Books link on the left side of the screen and then click the NetLibrary link on the next screen. The next screen you’ll see is the search page.
The ebook collection at NetLibrary isn’t set up for browsing; you really have to know what kind of book you’re looking for, but the search function allows you to search by keywords, author, title or subject.
Think creatively with your search terms. Ebooks available at NetLibrary cover everything from specific careers (truck driver, sports coach, freelance writer, funeral director, production manager and many more) to info on resumes and cover letters, business etiquette and entrepreneurism.
Learn How to Network, Use Microsoft Applications, Apply for Unemployment
In addition to all these resources, the Get Started section of the Job Search Toolkit also includes links to social networking sites, information on how to network and links to providers that offer free email accounts.
You’ll also find links to online training in Microsoft applications, as well to info on unemployment benefits, health insurance through COBRA, severance and coping strategies.
There’s More
And all those resources are in just one section of this remarkable collection. Additional sections include Where to Find Jobs—links to newspapers, online job boards and JobLink Career Centers—What to Prepare and a bibliography of selected books, many of which are available at area libraries and as e-books through NetLibrary.
While the members of the High Country Workforce Development Board realize that the Job Search Toolkit can’t create jobs, it does provide a world of possibilities, training and encouragement for anyone who wants it. And it’s absolutely, completely free.
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