ADVENTURES IN THE ERC PART 5

There have been so many “candidates”, members and non-members who I have registered and/or met since I started in Oct. It will be Thanksgiving this Thursday, so it will be almost two months since I started all this. I have now helped four people complete their resumes!! Last Friday a young man named Bryce , who has been working at DI completing job training, came in for some help. He really could not put his thoughts (or his skills) down on paper, so I kept asking questions and writing down information. I helped him write a very engaging (if I do say so, myself) “me in 30 seconds” personal profile paragraph, which should be attractive to potential employers. Then, using the experiences of his life, his training at DI and some other skills he had used (but didn't realize, like leadership), I helped him word his “skills and accomplishment” part of the resume. We added the meager employment history at the bottom along with the sketchy education. It looked really great, and earned actual compliments from our resident experts, Elder Theiss and Sister Splain!! I hope it helps Bryce get an interview. I have also helped several other people in this way. The first, Ethel, was a lovely lady from Jamaica who had mostly worked as a Nanny and had little formal education. It was such a challenge to find a way to make her skills and accomplishments appear more impressive, but, when we finished, it was quite good and will help her get a good interview, I hope (at least, my mentor, Sister Splain felt it was as good as it could be). Because of this, Sister Splain has “fed” me several more people who need this kind of help, the last being Bryce, and I have continued to improve. It is so fun getting to know these people better, and they are so grateful for the time and care we take. Richard is an older slightly mentally challenged man, who has been a good Church member all his life and is descended from the pioneers. I helped this sweet man to register and realized he was really mentally challenged. I still encouraged him to take the career workshop, which he did, and he began to grow in confidence, although his writing skills were lacking. I sat down with him and helped him identify his strengths and skills and keyed them toward the job he was seeking. I completed his resume much faster than Ethel's and he loved it (as did Sister Splain). We haven't heard from him yet, but he was going for an interview. I'm hoping he is too busy working to come in to tell us! The third resume was much more challenging. Eder, a young very motivated and intelligent (with great organizational skills) but with no English skills (in writing), was my most difficult. I really had no idea what he wrote in the wordy resume he showed me, but it clearly needed to be put it a better format. He also explained in broken English, some of the projects he had managed and they helped to build an impressive resume, after I rephrased some of his managing skills to his advantage. His completed resume was so good, it got him three interviews and job offers!! I was so happy for him. He came in, though, because he thought he might want to start a family business with his father and brothers—and he had all the information and projected expenses on paper! He must have thought I had more knowledge about self-employment than I do (which is next to none), but I encouraged him that he could probably do anything with all his talent, but he would have to choose which way to go. I asked him if he had prayed about his plans, and told him some of my experiences with answered prayers, letting him know that I felt God had an active interest in his choices!! He looked so happy and said that that was what he had come here to learn that day, and he would pray to know Heavenly Father's will in this. He also said that he loved my resume so much he wanted me to help with his brother's, which he left with me!! I told him to have his brother come in and I would do my best. I don't believe it is good to just “ do” any resume without their help and active participation. Our goal is to help them become self-sufficient, not dependent on us!