Six times in the last dozen years, Ted Rozolis has been laid off. This time, the telecommunications specialist has been out of work for nearly two years.
“I always bounce back,” says the Huntington Beach, Calif., resident.
Still, he admits that the job hunt can be discouraging: “A lot of times when you’re looking for a job, you need the support of the community behind you to give you courage and hope.”
That’s why he has been a regular at Sts. Simon and Jude Church’s Career Renewal Ministry meetings. At the Huntington Beach parish, he has learned the eight steps of a successful job search and had lots of networking opportunities. He has made new contacts and learned about newer job-hunting tools like LinkedIn, an online networking site. “It’s all about who you know,” he says. “You’ve got to put yourself out there.”
Across the country, countless people are putting themselves “out there,” struggling to find work in a faltering economy. The process can be terrifying, exhausting and lonely — but these job hunters are not alone. Like Sts. Simon and Jude, many Catholic parishes have established new or revitalized existing job-focused ministries to assist those in career transitions.
In Olathe, Kan., the St. Joseph Career Transition Group at Prince of Peace Catholic Church has been running for about seven years. Participation peaked toward the end of 2009, says co-facilitator Reid Hjelmaas, and has tapered off recently — perhaps the result of many participants landing jobs. Still, numbers are pretty high — about 60 people attend the Wednesday meetings.
Gathering regularly helps participants maintain accountability and stick to their plans for networking or sending out résumés, Hjelmaas adds. Otherwise, it’s too easy for time to pass without job hunters having made any progress. “You can always be busy, but finding the right things to do” is vital, he says.
Spiritual Strength
But the St. Joseph group isn’t merely about networking tips or mock interviews. Hjelmaas notes that the spiritual side of job hunting is every bit as important as the practical side. People who are out of work progress through various emotional stages, akin to the stages of grief: wondering why this is happening to them, feeling angry and feeling hopeless.
“Typically that’s what we’re dealing with: helping people deal with the spiritual-emotional side of the activity, [and] also to help them prepare for the job search through coaching, advice for creating a good résumé [and creating a] 30-second ‘commercial,’” Hjelmaas says.
While meetings always include a networking session during which participants can share leads and contacts, they also always include a meditation, prayer or invitation to the Holy Spirit to help people during this sometimes anguishing process. About half the participants are Catholic, though many are not parishioners at Prince of Peace. “We view it as a ministry of the church,” says Hjelmaas. “Whether or not you happen to be part of our parish, whether or not you happen to be Catholic, we’re there to minister to you in a fashion that suits the need of the time.”
At St. Michael’s Career Transition Group, a ministry of St. Michael Church in Cary, N.C., Bill Taylor — one of four volunteer facilitators — “inherited” his position when he was a member of the group seeking work in his new hometown. (A transplant from Ohio, Taylor was fortunate enough to be in a position to retire when new career opportunities did not show themselves.)
Wake County — home to the state capital of Raleigh — has been very hard hit by the recession, Taylor says, noting that the area had sometimes been dubbed “the Silicon Valley of the East Coast.” Some companies went bankrupt, while others merely shrank, but the end result is an unemployment rate of 8% (as of April 2010).
The St. Michael’s group focuses on the practicalities of successful job hunting, says Taylor — but the essence of the parish-based group is spiritual. “We have people who are out there who are out of work, who are hurting — [and] the core essence of our being is to help other people,” he says. “From my standpoint, that’s the motivation.”
Job transition “can be a spiritual journey,” agrees Chris Sumptor, pastoral administrator of Sts. Simon and Jude. “It’s a tremendous opportunity to just be grace-filled and show the better part of who you are. You are not what you do.”
Tips for a Successful Job Search
1. Become a salesperson. “Like it or not, right now you are selling, and you’re selling the most important product you could ever have to sell: yourself,” says Taylor. “You’ve got to approach it that way.”
2. Work your contacts. Remember that your next-door neighbor may not own a company with an opening that fits you perfectly — but his sister-in-law may be the head of human resources at a company that does have such an opening. Be sure you have a 30-second self-commercial prepared for the moment when an acquaintance asks you what type of position you’re looking for.
3. Identify — and use — new resources. If you’re not familiar with online job-searching opportunities, get familiar with them. LinkedIn is a great place to start; you can create a personal page that will act as a virtual résumé, and you can use the networking site to connect with former and new contacts. You can also join networking groups such as the St. Joseph the Worker National Network.
4. Pray. Remember that you are not in this alone; not only are there thousands of people facing the same struggle you are, the Holy Spirit accompanies you in your search.
Elisabeth Deffner writes from Orange, California.
Prayer for Employment God, our Father, I turn to you seeking your divine help and guidance as I look for suitable employment. I need your wisdom to guide my footsteps along the right path, and to lead me to find the proper things to say and do in this quest. I wish to use the gifts and talents you have given me, but I need the opportunity to do so with gainful employment. Do not abandon me, dear Father, in this search, but rather grant me this favor I seek so that I may return to you with praise and thanksgiving for your gracious assistance. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Dan Burke: Call to Prayer: Seven Resources for your Lenten Journey
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Elizabeth – thank you for your very sensitive piece which details the anguish of being unemployed. And, details, also, the comfort of having the Church behind you.
Parish-based job search groups that you write about do, indeed, help the unemployed with the nitty-gritty of landing a job – resumes, contacts, interviewing skills.
But, the sad fact is that there are few jobs to be had in America. And, fewer still, down the pike.
The reason – American companies are Automating. And, Outsourcing.
Relentlessly.
Driven by the Free Market Capitalist creed of Maximum Profits.
Automation means that no jobs are created. Outsourcing means that jobs are created – in China.
As a result, there are, at present, 30 million unproductive [unemployed+underemployed] workers in the US. With more and more being added with each graduating class.
And, with Green Jobs, in any substantial number, still a decade away, the prospect for securing serious long term employment at an American company in the present and in the near future are, at best, bleak.
Those who are lucky enough to land a job – lose it soon enough. You begin your piece with the story of Ted Rozolis, the telecommunications specialist resident in Huntington Beach, California, who has been out of work for nearly two years – after having been laid off 6 times during the last 12.
The pressing question, then, is—how can Parish-based job search programs help Ted Rozolis, and millions like him, get off the employment / unemployment rollercoaster?
Answer - by expanding beyond the current conventional outreach to the unemployed. And, establishing programs that will make people like Ted Rozolis ready for Self-Employment. Either as individuals, or, in groups.
Most people fear Self-Employment – going into business on their own.
Yet, Jesus was Self-Employed. As a Carpenter. What better example to follow? What better Person to have by your side?
And, Self-Employment has the added advantage of job security. No Corporation can throw you out on to the streets at its whim and fancy. Sacrifice your Person at the altar of its Profitability.
Fortunately, the resources to start and run a successful Self-Employment program are available in abundance in every urban and suburban Parish.
Every urban and suburban Parish has retired Businessmen among its parishioners. Retired Executives. Retired Teachers. Retired Lawyers. Retired Accountants. All of whom can devote some of their time to mentor and guide Businesses that job searchers set up – individually, and in groups.
If every Parish in the nation, jointly with other Parishes, or severally, undertook this expanded outreach and service to the unemployed, it would make a meaningful dent in the number of jobless in the US in a very short number of years.
Even more meaningfully, it would bring stability to the lives of people like Ted Rozolis. And, millions of others. Who would, finally, settle down into the blessings of secure, long-term employment.
We have something like this in my area, but the problem is it is by the time I get home, it’d be pitch out, and I can’t drive at night.
LRoy—Could you kindly explain—“.....by the time I get home, it’d be pitch out…..” I’m afraid I don’t quite get the meaning. Thanks!
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