Is Hope on the Horizon?

Photo by Luis Argerich

I don’t watch many news shows. My husband is passionate about news and information but I tell him that I can find out anything I want to know on the Internet. But last night while I was making dinner, he had NBC’s Dateline on and I couldn’t help but watch. The story was America Now: Friends and Neighbors by Ann Curry. Here’s a quote from the show:

All across America, it is happening. People are hurting.

For some, this economy may be turning around. But millions of families are at risk of going hungry in one of the richest nations on earth. The number of Americans visiting local food pantries has jumped 30 percent in the past two years alone. And here, in this rural region of Ohio, the very heart of America, the need is especially urgent…the stories poignant.

Tonight, a very personal look inside the lives of families who’ve had it all vanish – jobs, homes, and dreams. How do you choose between paying your bills and feeding your kids?

Perhaps because of my own involvement with the career industry and with my interaction with Margo Rose’s passionate #HireFriday outreach for job seekers, the story hit me hard. Margo is from Cincinnati, Ohio and whenever I can connect a person with an area, it becomes more real for me.

Reading through the comments on the story, there was a lot of criticism and blaming of the individuals by those commenting. It is always easy to look from the outside and see how you would do it better or differently but one of the contributing factors to the challenges for job seekers is that depression often sets in. Clinical or not, when an individual feels hopeless and slides into depression, it can be very difficult to be proactive and think of solutions.

Is Hope on the Horizon? Job-Hunt.org

There are many resources out there and more that are expanding every day. Yesterday I was reading through Susan Joyce’s Job-Hunt.org, where there is a wealth of job search information and connections to many resources. The site subtitle is:

Connect to Your New Job Here – Information and Links to 15,588 Employers & Job Search Resources

The challenge for job seekers is to know where to look.

Career professionals are continually using Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to push out solutions. For people who may not have access to computers or the skills to use them, this doesn’t help as much and they may feel there is no hope on the horizon. I find this to be true when I work with my clients. Some of them are very technologically in tune and already know many of the things I share with them. Others are not sure at all how to search for jobs with a computer or what resources are out there and once they find a lead, applying online can be a real nightmare.

I do believe there is hope on the horizon

But I also believe it takes all of us, career professionals, other job seekers, HR professionals, and people in the workforce, working together to provide information and opportunities for others. If you have not gotten involved in efforts like #HireFriday, where jobseeker information is tweeted out to the general population on Fridays to let HR, recruiters, and hiring managers know who is out there that may be a great addition to their staff, perhaps it is time.

Perhaps it is time for you to find a way to help.

Donate food to a food pantry, offer your technology skills in a free job search clinic, teach a class on how to interview better, or just offer to help watch someone’s children while the parent goes to an interview.

In the past few years, job seekers have banded together throughout the country because of #HireFriday, sharing each other’s information, critiquing Linked profiles and resumes, offering tips to jobs in the fields of those looking, and cheering when one of them gets an interview or lands a new position.

It is easy to criticize, but harder to get in there and help others. What will you do this week to help someone?