Programs Help Identify What Makes You A Good Candidate For The Job

Here are programs offered in June at the (CRC) in Lake Forest. For information, call (847) 295-5626.

Articulating Your Strengths With a Compelling Resume

• Speaker: Melissa Jensen, CRC Advisor and former Grainger director of employment development.
• When: 10:15 a.m. June 6
• Cost: Free for members; $10 fee for non-members.
• Where: Career Resource Center, Grove Cultural Campus, 40 E. Old Mill Road, Suite 105 Lake Forest.

Getting noticed in today’s competitive job market requires a resume that markets your talents. While a resume will not get you a job, a well crafted one that articulates your accomplishments and capabilities can make an impact in setting you apart from the competition. Assessing your talents and skills is the essential first step to building a resume. Jensen  will offer you a framework for unearthing your unique talents and accomplishments, and then focus on the content and formats that work in today’s competitive market. Today it is all about understanding, articulating, packaging, and branding your unique talents.

Jensen gained years of cross-functional management experience at WW Grainger, finishing her employment there as director, employee development.  So she can talk comfortably with clients from many careers.

Reinvent Yourself - Be Your Own Brand

• Speaker: Bob Mullenbach, adjunct professor at Northwestern University.
• When: 10:15 a.m. June 9
• Cost: Free for members; $10 fee for non-members
• Where: Career Resource Center, Grove Cultural Campus, 40 E. Old Mill Road, Suite 105 Lake Forest.

With whole industries shrinking, some functions diminishing plus dissatisfaction with past positions, many job seekers are exploring more options. New fields like social media are creating many new opportunities as others disappear. It’s been said many times, but just what does “on your life’s journey” mean? Having reinvented himself several times, Mullenbach will lead a discussion on how you can do the same, no matter what your age or where you are in choosing an old or new career. Ready for a change? Ready for a paradigm shift? Be here, we can help.

Mullenbach graduated from Loyola University, is an adjunct professor at Northwestern University teaching principles of marketing, brand marketing; and is a member of Lake Forest/Lake Bluff Rotary.

Social Styles:  Understanding Your Social Style and Managing Its Effect”

• Speaker: Malcom Fraser and Cari Walquist, CarMal Partners.
• When: 7 p.m. June 14
• Cost: Free for members; $10 fee for non-members
• Where: Career Resource Center, Grove Cultural Campus, 40 E. Old Mill Road, Suite 105 Lake Forest.

Making connections with employment screeners, hiring managers, networking contacts and others is critical in your quest for new employment. In addition to being aware of your own social style, familiarity with the styles of those you encounter in your search will improve your ability to build connections. Are you outgoing or an introvert? Do you analyze things or wing it? How does your primary social style impact your career transition?

Fraser and Walquist will identify social styles, what they are, and how they affect our communication, judgments, and others’ impressions. They will demonstrate how your social style can help or hinder career transition meetings (networking, interviewing, etc.), and how you can develop a plan for managing them. This workshop will help you identify your social style and how to adapt your own style to meet the needs of the situation.

Fraser has held a variety of training and development positions in the Chicago area since 1978. Career development has been a special interest since 2000, when he was a consultant in the Talent Practice of a global consulting company.

Walquist is a leader and implementer of learning and organization development programs that focus on increasing effectiveness of individuals at all levels. Her career spans 20+ years working in a variety of industries from hospitality to manufacturing to pharma-healthcare.

How The Job Finds You

• Speaker: Jeff Garton, Author, Speaker, and Founder of Career Contentment, Inc.
• When: 10:15 a.m. June 16
• Cost: Free for members; $10 fee for non-members
• Where: Career Resource Center, Grove Cultural Campus, 40 E. Old Mill Road, Suite 105 Lake Forest.

Wouldn't it be nice to reverse the process (?) – instead of you struggling to find the job, the job finds you! Garton will show how to increase our visibility and branding to get the calls coming to us for the skills and talents we possess.  Garton will show how to take our message and make it into a beacon that can be zeroed in on by recruiters, employers and hiring managers.

In 2001, after 23 years inside corporate human resources – Kraft Foods & Global Staffing and Succession Management – Miller Brewing), it dawned on Garton that he would be unfulfilled if he didn’t leave to pursue his dream of owning a business. It also occurred to Jeff that it was his fear of leaving that was holding him back, not the sophisticated programs that were keeping him comfortably retained.

Expand Your Connections – Building Your Network

• Speaker: Gary Klow, Supply Chain Leader.
• When: 7 p.m. June 28
• Cost: Free for all attendees.
• Where: Career Resource Center, Grove Cultural Campus, 40 E. Old Mill Road, Suite 105 Lake Forest.

The best strategy for building relationships is helping others solve their problems.  Reframe your thinking about what networking is all about.  Show up”and you might be surprised to find the information and connections you are looking for while helping others in their quest for new employment. Come with specifics on what you are looking for, your inventive ideas, handbills, and business cards.