Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Interview With Confidence by Dr. Ethan Becker

Our next WIN workshop is on May 14, 6:30-8 PM.

Dr. Ethan Becker, President and Senior Coaching Partner with The Speech Improvement Company, Inc., is also the co-author of the book Mastering Communication at Work. He is energetic and inspirational as both a trainer and coach to his clients. 

At this workshop, you can learn skills and techniques from a professional coach to ensure that you present yourself with clarity and confidence during the job interview. This workshop will allow you to leave a job interview with the confidence that you presented yourself in a clear, confident and effective manner. 

Please register for the workshop by clicking here.


Friday, April 25, 2014

Presentation by Jolene Jennings


Presenter Jolene Jennings provided thoughtful and helpful insight into the advantages of volunteering your professional expertise while looking for your next job. Ms. Jennings, site director of Jericho Road Project in Worcester, started by giving an overview of the agency's mission, which is two-fold: to match the professional skills of volunteers with the needs of community-based non-profit organizations to help with strategy and development for long-term growth, expansion and improvement, and; The Leadership Connection, which provides governance training for board development. 

Both job seekers and organizations benefit from skills-based partnerships--the job-seeker by remaining active in his/her profession while they're not working in a paid position, and the organization by receiving expert advice and guidance at no cost. Currently there are 30 non-profit organizations in the Worcester area which have projects in progress with the assistance of Jericho Road volunteers.

There are other benefits for job seekers as well. Through their volunteer work, job seekers can make good networking connections which can be very helpful during their job search. Recent statistics show that volunteers may increase their chances of finding a paid position by 27%.

Ms. Jennings, who holds a Master of Science degree in Nonprofit Management from Worcester State University, has twenty years of successful professional leadership in both the non-profit and volunteer arenas. Her presentation was truly inspirational and provided valuable information about the many ways in which volunteering can be a positive alternative strategy for job seekers while providing much-needed support to the area's non-profit organizations.
You can find out more information at  www.jerichoroadproject.org/Worcester 

Cynthia Carlson, WIN Coordinator

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Jericho Road Project - A Volunteering Opportunity - WIN program on April 23rd

Jericho Road connects volunteer experts with nonprofits that offer critical services to under-served residents in their communities. In addition to volunteer matching, Jericho Road also trains and places corporate leaders on nonprofit boards through our Leadership Connection Program. Jolene Jennings, Director of the Worcester branch, has twenty years experience producing visible impact in the nonprofit sector in Worcester County. She has created, enhanced and managed organizational structure and effectiveness in areas of anti-hunger, entrepreneurship, elder services, self-sufficiency, and volunteerism, and has been a dedicated advocate for girls and women’s personal and professional development since 2002. Her leadership and accomplishments include: Founding Member and Board Officer for Dress for Success Worcester; Interim Director for the Center for Women & Enterprise Worcester; and Founder and Sole Proprietor of Wise Women Resource. She will talk about what Jericho Road Worcester does and how people can use their professional skills to volunteer and stay involved at nonprofits in need between employment.

Please register for the workshop by clicking here
   

Thursday, April 10, 2014

"Your Elevator Speech" by Anne Crawford

Starting the presentation with her own "elevator speech", career coach and presenter Anne Crawford gave job seekers an effective formula for creating their own quick, concise summary of who they are and what they do.

The first element? Your name! That's followed by a short explanation of what you do--and what you can do for a company or organization. The last component is identifying your target market, which should give enough information to provoke a follow-up question from the listener. That gives the job seeker the opportunity to expand on his/her skills, talents and accomplishments.

Anne first worked with the group as a whole, offering suggestions for improving current elevator speeches for those who shared them. Then she divided the audience into smaller groups where participants helped each other create effective elevator speeches following Anne's suggestions. Job seekers left the meeting with a clearer sense of their goals and achievements and how to effectively communicate them at a moment's notice.

Posted by Cynthia Carlson, WIN participant