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The Unemployment Problem

People are hurting into today’s economy, with massive layoffs and unemployment. Before I list the major Chicago area players (free/low cost help), let me input a few words. I have been involved with many of these resources, since I have been laid off of Motorola.

1. One resource (which I will not name, as they might be flooded with requests), offers a free green belt training program.
2. L.D.S. offers a great two day employment training workshop, where they actually tape a before and after job interview. In addition, they offer a wonderful (half-day) self-employment training.
3. Our Savior Lutheran Church has a series of employment training workshops, pioneered by David Cox.
4. J.V.S. offers the Core Four Self-Employment training every quarter.
5. My Own Business has a great, free online course, geared towards self-employment.
6. The small business development groups and S.C.O.R.E., offer free consulting, at any stage of self-employment.
7. Utilize local (in-district) junior college, career placement/transition services (I.E. – Harper College or College of DuPage).
8. The state run work-net program has training and job clubs.  The Illinois work-net, for example, has an employment search boot camp.
9. If you do a search at http://www.google.com for “small business forums”, you find online resources to discuss problems and issues, related to running a small business.
10. You can receive help with resumes, hand bills, etc., from many secular and religious organizations. They also have job clubs with speakers.
11. Check out the websites http://www.layoffmoveon.com/ , http://www.outofworkchicago.com, and http://blog.spinstrategy.com/.

Unemployment Help

Like the famous hair club for men, I have been a user, of most of the following groups. Now there are other groups catering to the unemployed and self-employments. These are only the more established, and they (or your local public reference librarian), can steer you towards others.

The Buddha once offered a story, about a person shot with a poison arrow. Rather than ask about where the arrow came from, who shot the arrow, etc. – let’s treat the injury. It doesn’t matter if the free help is Latter Day Saints, Catholic, Evangelical, Jewish, Secular, etc. Let’s heal the wounds of unemployment.

Perspective and Quality

What about employer sponsored and paid options?  Go for it!  I used Right Management for two months, when Motorola paid for it.  Then I utilized other services.  What about quality and perspective?  Let’s answer this with some real world examples.

1. Can a professional J.V.S. or L.D.S. counselor, which worked with thousands of resumes and job candidates, offer me perspective?
2. Can a S.C.O.R.E. counselor who build a 20 million dollar business from scratch offer me perspective?
3. Can the director of a small business institute, who was involved in several start of business herself, offer me perspective?

Job Clubs:

As a service to those unemployed, in the Chicago area, I offer these free (low cost) resources:

• Career Transition Center of Chicago – http://www.ctcchicago.org/
• Barrington Career Center – http://www.barringtoncareercenter.com/mc/page.do
• Naperville Career Center – http://www.communitycareercenter.org/
• St. Hubert – http://www.sainthubert.org/
• St. Thomas – http://www.stapostle.org/index2.php
• L.D.S. Employment Resources (I.E. – Naperville, Illinois) – http://tinyurl.com/dyjg6t
• J.V.S. Chicago – http://www.jvschicago.org/
• Our Savior Lutheran Church - http://www.oursaviours.com/
• Congregational Church of Batavia – http://tinyurl.com/lfpcw5
• There’s a good online site at http://www.e4myjob.com/

Self-Employment Resources:

• USA Small Business Development Center Network – http://www.asbdc-us.org/
• Illinois Small Business Development Center Network – http://tinyurl.com/cmouu4
• S.C.O.R.E. – http://www.score.org/index.html
• My Own Business – http://www.myownbusiness.org/
• L.D.S. Employment Resources  (I.E. – Lisle, Illinois) – http://tinyurl.com/dyjg6t
• J.V.S. Chicago – http://www.jvschicago.org/
• Congregational Church of Batavia – http://www.ccobnetwork.com/
• Great non-profit website talking about the plight of US unemployed at http://bit.ly/193uO2
  

If you live outside of Chicago, contact the following, for religious and secular organizations providing unemployment help:

1. Your local public library reference librarian.
2. Local churches and places of worship (I.E. – Roman Catholic Churches, Latter Day Saints, or Salvation Army)
3. Local charities like the United Way
4. Local (in-district) junior college, career placement (transition) services.

Small Business Planning

If you plan on starting a small business, I recommend the following (WARNING: This requires some time and effort on your part – but it’s well worth it):

1. Taking the free My Own Business  course at http://www.myownbusiness.org/
2. Sign up for http://www.makepeacetotalpackage.com/, and follow the daily articles.
3. Study at Inbound Marketing University at http://www.inboundmarketing.com/
4. If you can find the Core Four (http://xrl.us/be5ehr) training cheap/low cost – take it.
5. A great e-book for a marketing plan can be found at http://xrl.us/be5ed7.
6. Cool – yet useful – website: “The Business Channel” http://is.gd/3LbP5.
7. Take the free SEO training course http://is.gd/3UmE8

Then map out a business plan. If you are in the US, get help from the following resources:

1. Small Business Development Center Network – http://www.asbdc-us.org/.
2. S.C.O.R.E. – http://www.score.org/index.html.

Randy Kemp

http://www.randykempcopywriting.com