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Help Wanted,
Help received
Parish ministry aids Catholics in job hunt
By Andrew Junker, ajunker@catholicsun.org
May 15, 2008
SCOTTSDALE — It was Julie Goodman’s first time at St. Patrick Parish’s employment support ministry.
When it was her turn to speak, she briefly told the group about her background. She worked for years in loss prevention and human resources departments.
“I love conflict resolution,” she said. “I love the ‘win-win.’”
Goodman was one of about 30 job seekers looking for a “win-win” solution at the employment support ministry meeting May 7.
The group has been meeting at St. Patrick Parish for the last five years and strives to help men and women land the jobs they want and need.
And with the Arizona Commerce Department predicting job losses for the state in 2008 — the first year the state will have lost jobs in nearly a quarter century — outreach like the employment support ministry is more important than ever.
“It provides an opportunity for people to connect with others going through the same thing,” said Al Ingallinera, ministry coordinator.
“It enables people to have more confidence in who they are and what they’re looking for, so that when the time comes for them to have an interview, they’re more comfortable to go through it,” he said.
The format at each biweekly networking meeting is simple. Job seekers have two minutes to describe their previous experience and the kind of job or company they’d like to land in.
George Fleming, another of the ministry’s coordinators, suggested they hone their statements to a few points: the role they’re looking for, the industry they want, desired company size, the geography of their job search and a target company or two.
“Target companies,” Ingallinera explained, “are companies that fit your profile where you might want to work, whether there’s a job there or not. [The process] makes the assumption that everyone in the room is worthy of the job they’re looking for.”
Once a job seeker names a target company, the response in the room is immediate.
“I’ve got a contact in their H.R. department,” someone says from the other end of the table.
“Their regional recruiter is a good friend of mine,” someone else jumps in. “I’m meeting with him this weekend.”
Business cards appear and are passed around the circle. The two exchangers promise to call each other the next day to follow up on the job lead.
This is how jobs are found, Fleming said.
“The networking meetings help people not to be chained to Internet applications,” he said. “Only about 5 to 7 percent of the jobs that are landed are by online applications.”
Goodman was just happy that the meeting put her face-to-face with real people as opposed to the hordes of online forms and applications she’s recently gotten to know.
A different world
“The human touch is gone,” she said. “You’re out looking for a job now and it’s all computerized.”
Goodman hasn’t had to look for a job since the mid-1970s. Today’s radically different process for finding employment can be frustrating, she said.
“I’m old school,” she said. “Old school was you took your application, you met the person, and you interviewed. Now, you have to go online, you apply with 15,000 other people and it can be two to three months before you get a face-to-face interview. It’s very frustrating.”
Many of the other job seekers at the meeting were in the same boat. After having worked with the same company for years, they found themselves out of practice in looking for a new job.
“People tend not to do well in their interviews when it’s been a long time since they’ve talked to people conversationally about their interests or accomplishments,” Ingallinera said. “It’s important to be comfortable with others talking about who you are and what you’re looking for.”
It can take a lot of perseverance for job seekers to land the job they know they want, and many members of the ministry return to the meetings month after month.
Jim Godfrey went to the networking meetings for about a year. He knew he wanted a job based in Tempe and kept at his search until he got one.
He said the support ministry helped acclimate him to the job finding process, especially knowing how to navigate companies’ sometimes-labyrinthine structures.
“It helps you understand how to get into the companies and talk to the people you need to talk to,” he said. “You need to know how to get around the receptionist sometimes.”
People can learn how to do that by making connections with each other, he said.
“You’d be surprised at who people know here,” Godfrey said. “It’s amazing.”
Members of the employment support ministry also have access to a Yahoo! Internet group where they can post messages and résumés. Employers may also post job offering to the group.
In fact, the ministry encourages alumni of the group, like Godfrey, to remain connected via the Web. Oftentimes, if their company has an opening, they’ll post it to group’s Web site.
These services have helped land jobs for between 400 and 500 people over the past five years, Ingallinera said. But in addition to the ministry’s impressive track record, it also simply helps job seekers keep upbeat.
That’s no mean accomplishment, Goodman said.
“It can be depressing,” she said of her job search. “You were in a job where everybody came to you. You were valued. You were important, and now you have nothing.”
Fleming agreed.
“Trying to do a job search in solitude is a corrosive experience, a horrible experience,” he said. The support ministry “helps people stay positive.”
That can make all the difference, Goodman said.
“It’s going to get better,” she said. “We’re going to get there.”
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