Job Readiness Seminar Deemed a Success
Learning how to market yourself on social media was a popular class Tuesday.
The Georgia Department of Labor’s Toccoa Career Center is calling Tuesday’s job search readiness workshop in Lavonia a success.
The daylong series of free workshops were designed to help job seekers better market themselves to potential employers as well as prepare for an upcoming job fair on the 28th.
“We had a big turnout early,” said Cindy Morley with the Georgia Department of Labor’s Special Projects Division who oversaw the job readiness event. “We opened the doors at 11a and the line was already long at 10:30a with people waiting to go to the workshops.”
Those attending the workshops were able to take advantage of a number of helpful classes, including how to market yourself through social media such as Facebook and LinkedIn, writing an effective resume, and even how to make your own 30-second commercial to market to potential employers. Morley said the social media class was especially popular.
“We had a big turnout in the social media class, but we also had big attendance in the resume critique class,” she said. “A lot of people want to make sure they have the right type of resume so that their skills highlight what people are looking for.”
Another popular class, Morley said, was one on how to market yourself after age 40.
“People are very interested in that because a lot more people now after age 40 are looking for jobs and they want to make sure they can market themselves without worrying about being discriminated against because of their age,” Morley said.
One area of the work readiness seminar was devoted to veterans.
Bobby King hands out information to help servicemen find civilian jobs.
Bobby King is a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Navy and now helps servicemen and women make the transition to civilian employment.
“The challenge is finding that fit between what they were trained in and a job in civilian life,” King said. “The verbage is not the same so we kind of have to figure out what they’re saying and what their job is in the military and then figure out how that translates into a civilian job. It’s a challenge, but the State has been great and we’re getting there.”
King said he had a good response Tuesday to the information he provided.
On the 28th, the Department of Labor will host a job fair on the Currahee Campus of North Georgia Tech in Stephens County. Over 60 employers from the Northeast Georgia area will be on hand to interview and meet prospective employees. Morley said job seekers should come prepared with a resume or list of work experience and dress for an interview.