St. Louis Post Dispatch Article 8/16/2009

Posted on STLtoday.com (go to original)
 
Church workshop tries to help jobless
Posted:  08/16/2009 3:00 AM

By Tim Bryant - MARYLAND HEIGHTS — Just spending time with people who understand the stress of unemployment is a confidence booster, says Christina Portell, an out-of-work mom who attended a job workshop Saturday at Grace Church.
Portell, 36, and her 3-year-old son are living with her parents in Overland while she tries to find a job. She has been unemployed since she was laid off early this year from a nonprofit organization involved in children's disability issues. Job interviews have been few, said Portell, who has a background in information technology.
"People I used to work with ask, 'Where are you working?' and when I say I don't have a job they say, 'You're still unemployed?'" Portell said.
She spoke as she sat at a table of unemployed people attending what church officials called the "I Need A Job" workshop. Barbecue lunch was included in the $10 fee more than 50 people paid for the all-day program on brushing up résumés, improving job interview skills and learning how to hang on to newly won jobs. Also among the sessions, taught by church members, was an explanation of government unemployment benefits, supplemental health coverage and help available from utility companies.
Bob Presley, head of Grace's workplace ministry, said the workshop was for anyone out of work, tired of a dead-end job or weary of toiling "for the boss from heck."
"We've all been through the emotional turmoil of unemployment," he said.
Presley, 52, included himself. After losing his job five years ago, Presley started Eagle Environmental Management, which advises companies and municipalities on how to deal with environmental matters.
He said that even with the nation's unemployment rate near 10 percent, people looking for work must try not to give in to despair.
"We all have gifts and abilities," he said. "We all have skills that we've learned."
The church has offered workplace advice for years. Grace's leaders decided a few months ago to expand the program to a full-scale workshop.
"I think probably because we're in a recession, this fills a need that people have," he said.
Another workshop attendee was Sue Brady, who in June left her job as a buyer for a furniture company. Boss problems, she said.
"My health was more important than a paycheck," she added.
Brady, 52, of Webster Groves, said she found the workshop valuable.
"My biggest 'ah-ha moment' was to write my career plan in pencil and give God the eraser," she said. "Just because I know what I want might not be the best thing for me."
Information about topics covered in the workshop is at gracefinancialfreedom.org, which will have notices about future workshops, church officials said.
Brady said she is hopeful of landing a management job with a big-box membership store, such as Sam's Club or Costco.
Portell said she was told that 300 people are lined up for each job in her field of information technology. She said she tries to remain hopeful, even when it "seems like a thousand to one."