We can use some help here.
We have been contacted by folks who are finding they need to re-enter the workforce after a long period of stable employment. The reasons for this vary; following a catastrophe, change in marital situation, deaths.
We would appreciate information or links providing guidance on re-entering the workforce, especially at mid-life or older.
You may be eligible for Unemployment Assistance while you are making your search.
A few suggestions:
1. Write your own autobiography, telling your own story, warts and all. This is just for you (although you may find yourself someday sharing it with kids, grandkids, or good friends, who may remember other things to add to your story). One of us has done this before, using Billy Joel's "We didn't start the fire" as a backbone, listing what we were doing when each of those historical events transpired. This the beginning of looking at your strengths and weaknesses.
2. Describe in your autobiography your roots, where you came from, your teachers and the schools you attended, the colleges you applied to, your experiences there, stories about that first job and how you found it--and maybe lost it, and got another. This is the beginning of re-building your job-hunt skills.
3. Write about your personal experiences along the way, places you've been, dreams, friends and lovers, and be sure to include the names of people you met and with whom you worked. This will be the beginning of your contact list.
4. List the things you have done in the past-- your strengths, skills, presentations, papers, publications, trainings, representations. Start by looking back through whatever you may have prepared in the past of this sort, including copies of older vita, certifications, or license applications, to remind yourself of what you've done. Googling yourself is a good way to find out what you may have done in the past and forgotten.
5. Be as thorough as you can, and try to leave no more than a six month block unaccounted for from high school forward. If you were out having a child, caring for an ill family member, hospitalized, or out of work, be overt in accounting for that time; your potential employer will likely be asking you to account for that time.
6. Looking ahead, make a bucket list, of things you want to do
7. Now, make a list of your skills, talents, strengths and weaknesses. Think of yourself as a valued asset which will have a synergistic benefit to your next job . Especially if you have considerable experience, education or training, think of yourself as not merely filling a position, but what you bring to the position, over and above those minimum requirements.
8. Visit a website that describes how to make a vita or resume. There are many different kinds of free websites to assist in this process. You may never need to submit a formal vita or resume, but we've found this helps better organize ourselves in terms of our feelings of professional worth.
Job Search has a great how-to site at http://jobsearch.about.com/cs/curriculumvitae/a/curriculumvitae.htm
Emory University has one which helps on building academic vita at http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/vita.html
9. Go see what's out there. You can start with your newspaper's classified ads (Sunday's are best), but in the mental health professions there are a variety of established free specialized websites.
http://www.apa.org/careers/index.aspx
http://www.careerbuilder.com/jobs/keyword/mental%20health/
http://www.nachc.org/careercenter/JobSearch2.aspx?JobTypeID=2&gclid=CInF5f_F5K4CFU3UKgodumDxYQ
http://www.jobsinminneapolis.com/jobs.asp?pagemode=10&category_id=1504
http://socialservicenetwork.com/
http://www.monster.com/
Consider something related to what you may have done previously.
Teaching at community colleges can give you some income and free time to interview elsewhere, as an example.
10. Finally, go back to those contacts you've described in #3 above. Google them, see what they are doing now, recontact them if it makes sense to see what resources they might have or suggest.
We would appreciate information or links providing guidance on re-entering the workforce, especially at mid-life or older.
You may be eligible for Unemployment Assistance while you are making your search.
A few suggestions:
1. Write your own autobiography, telling your own story, warts and all. This is just for you (although you may find yourself someday sharing it with kids, grandkids, or good friends, who may remember other things to add to your story). One of us has done this before, using Billy Joel's "We didn't start the fire" as a backbone, listing what we were doing when each of those historical events transpired. This the beginning of looking at your strengths and weaknesses.
2. Describe in your autobiography your roots, where you came from, your teachers and the schools you attended, the colleges you applied to, your experiences there, stories about that first job and how you found it--and maybe lost it, and got another. This is the beginning of re-building your job-hunt skills.
3. Write about your personal experiences along the way, places you've been, dreams, friends and lovers, and be sure to include the names of people you met and with whom you worked. This will be the beginning of your contact list.
4. List the things you have done in the past-- your strengths, skills, presentations, papers, publications, trainings, representations. Start by looking back through whatever you may have prepared in the past of this sort, including copies of older vita, certifications, or license applications, to remind yourself of what you've done. Googling yourself is a good way to find out what you may have done in the past and forgotten.
5. Be as thorough as you can, and try to leave no more than a six month block unaccounted for from high school forward. If you were out having a child, caring for an ill family member, hospitalized, or out of work, be overt in accounting for that time; your potential employer will likely be asking you to account for that time.
6. Looking ahead, make a bucket list, of things you want to do
7. Now, make a list of your skills, talents, strengths and weaknesses. Think of yourself as a valued asset which will have a synergistic benefit to your next job . Especially if you have considerable experience, education or training, think of yourself as not merely filling a position, but what you bring to the position, over and above those minimum requirements.
8. Visit a website that describes how to make a vita or resume. There are many different kinds of free websites to assist in this process. You may never need to submit a formal vita or resume, but we've found this helps better organize ourselves in terms of our feelings of professional worth.
Job Search has a great how-to site at http://jobsearch.about.com/cs/curriculumvitae/a/curriculumvitae.htm
Emory University has one which helps on building academic vita at http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/vita.html
9. Go see what's out there. You can start with your newspaper's classified ads (Sunday's are best), but in the mental health professions there are a variety of established free specialized websites.
http://www.apa.org/careers/index.aspx
http://www.careerbuilder.com/jobs/keyword/mental%20health/
http://www.nachc.org/careercenter/JobSearch2.aspx?JobTypeID=2&gclid=CInF5f_F5K4CFU3UKgodumDxYQ
http://www.jobsinminneapolis.com/jobs.asp?pagemode=10&category_id=1504
http://socialservicenetwork.com/
http://www.monster.com/
Consider something related to what you may have done previously.
Teaching at community colleges can give you some income and free time to interview elsewhere, as an example.
10. Finally, go back to those contacts you've described in #3 above. Google them, see what they are doing now, recontact them if it makes sense to see what resources they might have or suggest.