Jackie Das, Contributing Blogger
Wow – the last time the Mesa “laid off” event took place back in May there were about 30 people present. Last night over 125 people registered. The room was packed with people trying to land that next great job. And what a great evening it was. Jessica opened the evening with an introduction and a short talk on her mission to get everyone back to work. There was no microphone but Jessica’s energy and enthusiasm came across loud and clear!
We had a great speaker (Dennis Deaton) talking about a topic that affects us all – choosing whether to be a victim or an owner. In today’s economy, it is easy to become a victim but that won’t help anyone in the long run. For one, your attitude will show through at interview and people will shy away from you because you’re whining instead of trying to stay positive. Playing a victim only increases the damage – hey, you lost your job but you’re still the same person with the same skills and talents and no-one can take that away from you. Besides which, these challenges help us to grow and learn and improve our overall life experiences. Great messages. Way to go Dennis!
After Dennis’s speech, we had a couple of hiring companies on hand. One of them was Cre8tive Associates (Samantha Korbal) and they’re an events planning company that is looking for people to work at Cardinal’s games between now and the end of the year. It’s a great way to earn a bit of extra money just in time for the holiday season and it seems like they’re a great company to work with.
Another exciting opportunity here in the Valley is the arrival of Power-One, a renewable energy company. Their HR director (the newly hired Jennifer Swenson) gave a fantastic speech about what the company is doing as well as their financials and growth prospects which are pretty impressive. They are hiring 350 people at all levels and it looks like a great company to work for and with all the interest in renewable energy, they are definitely one to watch for future opportunities For further details check out their website at www.power-one.com
The evening finished up with a couple of other job leads presented by Sandi Ashton who is now events coordinator at JobSeekers AZ followed by the résumé writing and other break-out sessions.
Something that Sandi said at the end deserves mention – it’s always a great idea to volunteer especially if you’re out of work. It gets you out of the house, helps to lift your spirits and builds self esteem and it gets you networking. So if you’re sitting at home and you’ve got some spare time, come and join us – you are more than welcome. You never know where it might lead!
Together we can get Arizona back to work!
The next event in Mesa is on 9/27 at Central Christian Church starting at 6-30pm.Check out the website – JobseekersAZ.com – for news and upcoming events.
Jackie Das
Sept 14 2010
www.headstartcareerservices.com
