http://tr.im/h8Xt... Virginia Career Network gains more local notoriety.



By Katherine Calos

Published: March 7, 2009

If you're playing by the old rules to find a job in this economy, you may be playing for a long time.

Computers and networking have become an integral part of the job search and have taken the process beyond the traditional response to a help-wanted ad.

For people in unskilled jobs or who haven't gone through a job search for decades, the new requirements can seem daunting. Free help is available, though, from some unusual places -- including libraries, churches and online communities.

Another resource for laid-off workers will be available Monday, when the Capital Region Workforce Partnership employment-transition center opens in a former Henrico County library in Innsbrook.

Even the Library of Virginia has broadened its mission to offer computer help to the unemployed. The library surveyed the state's public libraries and found nearly 9 out of 10 reported increased Internet use by patrons since July.

Scott Firestine, director of the Appomattox Regional Library System in Hopewell, told the Dinwiddie County Board of Supervisors last month that computer work sessions increased 23 percent in December, compared with the previous year.

"At this time, it is next to impossible to look for a job without basic computer skills," he said.

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That's especially true as more companies accept -- or require -- online applications.

So to help patrons develop those skills and search for job opportunities, the Library of Virginia now has staff members available twice a week to help with online job applications and résumés.

"I got to come out of the Stone Age," joked Joseph Gary, who came into the state library last week to set up his first e-mail address and apply online for a job. His friend Johnny J. Walker had discovered the services and encouraged him to come along.

Cindy S. Church, the library's continuing-education consultant, spent more than 30 minutes working with Gary to create an online résumé and a printed résumé. Then she saved the data for him on a floppy disk so Gary could revise it if needed and get extra prints made at a copy shop.

Church said the library created the program to help laid-off state workers, but it is open to anyone who needs help. She has extended the schedule through April.

Similar programs are offered at city and county libraries in the region.

In Chesterfield, library computer usage has increased about 30 percent so far this year over the previous year, said Tom Shepley, publications and promotions manager. "We clearly are getting a lot more requests for help in the job application process," he said.

In Henrico, the library has created a "Helping Job Seekers" section on its Web site, http://www.henricolib.... The Richmond Public Library and branches offer computer classes ranging from basic skills to Excel 4.

In Hanover County, "before we started the training and workshops, we'd have people who'd come in and sit at the computer and stare at it. Or they would find people sitting at the computers and crying," said Marilyn Blake, assistant county administrator. "That's when the librarians said we have to do workshops and help the individuals figure out how to do what they need to do."

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The newly jobless are also finding they need help with networking skills.

"Many people have been in the same job for 10, 15, 20-plus years," said Lisa Rattner, small-group coordinator for Needle's Eye Ministries in Richmond. "They only know people from their current company. They've been in the same church. They've lived in the same neighborhood.

"They find themselves jobless and wonder what this networking thing is about. . . . We provide a forum for people who've never had to expand beyond their own circles."

Churches also have started offering workshops and networking groups for the unemployed.

Richmond's First Baptist Church has a weekly career-transitions group and recently held a Saturday job-search workshop. Dave Maynard, who started the group, said he has received queries from other churches on how to start similar programs.

At New Hanover Presbyterian Church, lead pastor Shane Roberson said the church, like others, has members who have lost jobs. A job-search workshop there March 14 will be an example of "how do we speak to the real-life issues of right now, the slumping economy and people finding themselves in transition with their career."

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Career change also is the focus of the Virginia Career Network, which has about 500 members enrolled through the Web site Meetup.com.

The group for people recently laid off from business and engineering jobs was created in November by Deborah Gallant, account manager with Convergent Technology Group, and Collins Denny, practice manager with Leading Edge Systems in Henrico County, as a response to layoffs by such former local giants as Circuit City Stores Inc.

"Yesterday alone, I counted over 100 people that we were helping directly through three events we were running, one in Charlottesville, one in South Side and one in the West End," Denny said last week.

The network also posts other events that could benefit the unemployed, ranging from the weekly Unemployed Cyclists Lunch Ride sponsored by the Richmond Area Bicycling Association to a military job fair March 23 at Hampton Coliseum.

People seem to appreciate the camaraderie and the programs on a range of job-search topics.

"It kept me aware of many different things one has to do to have a better chance of finding a job," Jose Perez said. "I needed to post my résumé in different search engines," he said, and one of them led to his new job as a quality-control manager.

Networking sessions also offer hope when people see others landing a job.

"There's a rule," Denny said. "If you get a job, you have to come to one more meeting and bring doughnuts. Two people came with doughnuts this morning."

Contact Katherine Calos at (804) 649-6433 or kcalos@timesdispatch.com .