New Around the Mission
Career Transitions Workshop Spurs Job Seekers
April 13, 2011
When a job seeker carries a box of donuts into the Career Transitions Workshop at Grace Church in Olive Branch, Mississippi, cheers erupt from the 12-15 other attendees. Why? The donuts are a prearranged signal that a person has landed a job.
Rev. Chas Williams and family
“We celebrate with them and hear their story—how did you find out about the job, how did you get the interview, how did it go?” says the Rev. Chas Williams, who opens each meeting with a short devotion and closes with prayer.
The group gathers each Thursday from 7 to 8:30 a.m.—the early hour helps jobseekers get out of bed. Coffee and camaraderie boost flagging morale, especially in those fighting depression or age discrimination, or trying to change careers in a faltering economy.
“We’ve worked with some folks who’ve come for over a year, even two, before landing a job,” Chas says. “We get some fresh faces who are excited and land jobs fast, others who start excited and lose it quickly. We try to pick them back up, dust them off and get them back out there.”
The church planter and his father, Chuck Williams, started the Career Transitions Workshop in 2006 as an outreach to the community. Chuck was nearing retirement after a long career in sales management; he’d taught interviewing to Fortune 500 companies and played a key role in hiring. Now Chuck does the primary teaching at the workshop, assisted by Chas, and guest speakers contribute insights from time to time.
“With my dad’s skills in interviewing, our workshop does a lot of looking at how to do your best at interviewing,” Chas explains. “We do a lot of networking to find jobs that aren’t advertised. My dad also does one-on-one career counseling between meetings.”
That, along with the love of Christ, is just what some attendees need to succeed.
“I just got to celebrate today with a lady who came a few times almost a year ago, and was so shy and intimidated,” Chas says. “My heart broke for her because she wasn’t in the career world, and was going through divorce and loss of income. But we were able to encourage her and get her thinking in the right direction, connected with some resources. She just contacted me on Facebook to let me know she had landed a job.”
New jobs aren’t the only benefit of attending the workshop.
“We address the whole person, not just the practical side of looking for a job,” Chas says. “Sometimes people will share how the job search renewed or deepened their faith, and how the devotions and prayer in our group helped in that.”
Learn more at GraceChurchDesoto.org.
Posted By: Dana Bincer
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