Most viewed stories
|
| Unemployed meet for support, networking |
|
Posted: Wednesday, May 6, 2009 12:24 am
|
 Email  Print
|
County News/James Anderson Shawn Pomeroy, now unemployed for six weeks, leads a group at First Congregational Church last week.
|
|
By JAMES ANDERSON
Publisher / Editor
WASECA — When Shawn Pomeroy found out he lost his job, he made two phone calls.
The first was to his wife. The second was to his pastor.
It was the second call that led him to the First Congregational Church basement Thursday afternoon, where he led discussions with a group of recently unemployed from the Waseca area.
Pomeroy, formerly an operations manager with a Waseca manufacturing company, teamed up with Pastor Chris Meirose and within weeks of losing his job, had determined to gather together a group of others who are in similar situations.
Networking, Pomeroy says, is how he’ll land a job. He’ll do his due diligence, but he’s determined that in today’s economy, the adage “it’s who you know” rings more true than ever.
“Networking. That’s how we’re going to find jobs,” he stressed in Thursday’s meeting. Pomeroy said one of the most important things for those gathered at the meeting is that they keep in touch with each other.
“I might hear about a job for a welder. But I’m not a welder. If you’re a welder, I’ll let you now,” he told the group.
Other job clubs
Job clubs aren’t anything new. Pomeroy said that when he was first laid off, he learned of clubs held through the Workforce Centers in Owatonna and Mankato. He’s attended the Owatonna meeting a couple of times, he said, but he was interested in working with people closer to home.
At Minnesota Valley Action Council’s Waseca office, family resource coordinator Jody Weimert said her group holds a job club from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. each weekday morning.
“We work on pre-employment,” she said. The job club is required for many clients who receive cash assistance. At the MVAC’s office, Weimert said that many of the clients she sees come in without a lot of computer skills. At MVAC, they can get assistance with looking for jobs online as well as requesting benefits while they are unemployed. Weimert also helps with career counseling and recommending opportunities for furthering education through colleges or adult education.
Sharing advice
In the First Congregational Church basement, however, 40-year-old Pomeroy said most of the people he knew who recently lost their job didn’t necessarily need computer training or job skills assessments. There were other skills he was more interested in picking up and sharing with others.
“A lot of people don’t understand how to do this,” Pomeroy said, gesturing around the room after Thursday’s meeting.
The ‘this’ he referred to was dealing with the financial and emotional stress of being without a job. A lot of people also may have trouble with budgeting, he said.
“I really felt there was a need to open up this conversation,” he said.
Pomeroy handed out copies of a family budget planner to those gathered Thursday, and recommended that each of the recently-jobless pay careful attention to where their money goes each month, down to each cent.
Financial advice from others in the group ranged from cutting down on eating out, to dropping options on TV and Internet packages, to simply stop carrying cash around.
“I wish more people with jobs would work on (budgeting),” he said.
Mental hurdles
Pomeroy’s goal first and foremost, is to network with others who have lost their jobs. Helping each other through the process seems to happen naturally after that.
“Sometimes, you need a place to go. To get this off your chest,” Pomeroy said.
The fact that the job club is held in a church may be reassuring to some, but it’s by no means a focus of the group. Pastor Meirose’s involvement is strictly from a professional, counseling side, and not that of a clergy member.
“It’s not some grab to get people to come to our church,” Meirose said after Thursday’s meeting. “I’m not going to force that on anybody. I’m here to cheer you on, counsel you in other ways.”
While acknowledging the setting may turn a few people away, Pomeroy stressed that the focus of his job club is to overcome other obstacles.
“It’s the mental side of it,” he said, referring to job hunting. “There are some mental hurdles.”
Working together, he said, is the best way to overcome the hurdles.
“Maybe we can help through that transition,” he said.
“In my case, maybe it will help me.”
Pomeroy’s job club meets again from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. May 14.
James Anderson can be reached at 837-5443 or janderson@wasecacountynews.com |
|
|
|
Guidelines: Welcome to the Waseca County News community. Please keep your comments civil. Don't attack other readers personally and keep your language decent. We reserve the right to delete comments at any time.
|
Member Opinions:
By: mrclm on 5/6/09
I hope that everyone who reads this will pass the info along to everyone they know seeking employment. This group will be a great resource. I'm passing it along as fast as I can!
By: Willj5609 on 5/6/09
Good work. I was unemployed in Feb and networking is a great way to find other employment.
By: JaneDoe on 5/6/09
What a wonderful idea for Waseca area residents, kudos to Mr. Pomeroy!
By: mrclm on 5/6/09
Great write up James, and I hope a lot of people get in on this and everything else that is available to them so we can get the economy locally and nationwide moving forward again. Great leadership by Mr. Pomeroy to get this group going.
|
Login and voice your opinion!
|
|
|
|
Top Jobs | Top Homes | Top Cars
|
|
on Twitter |
|
Digg
Del.icio.us
Facebook
MySpace
StumbleUpon
Google
Yahoo!
