Meeting Time 12:30pm - 2:00pm 
Location Firehouse (Clay UM Church South)
Address 17646 Cleveland Road South Bend, IN
Link to Google Map
We met in the main hall at Clay Firehouse Youth Center where Hodge Patel, District Director from the Office of Congressman Joe Donnelly spoke on “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and How it Impacts You”. Mr. Patel explained how Federal programs are impacting the Michiana Community, and explained what Congressman Donnelly can, and cannot do to directly impact the job picture in South Bend, Elkhart, Mishawaka and surrounding communities. We were pleased to hear about a new Veterans Clinic that will bring new jobs to the area, and were interested to hear about developments with Electric Motor Company. Those interested in becoming more involved with Congressman Donnelly's efforts are encouraged to contact his office and learn about opportunities to participate in advisory councils on subjects ranging from Veterans Affairs to Jobs.
Speakers:
Amy Kanouse of Indiana's medical support programs
Norm Robertson leader of St. Pious Job Support Ministry and owner of Mishawaka's Express Employment
Norm spoke on the importance of building an effective job search campaign.
Read more...Meeting Time 12:30pm - 2:00pm
Location Firehouse (Clay UM Church South)
Address 17646 Cleveland Road South Bend, IN
Link to Google Map
Demystifying the job search puzzle seminar is scheduled
RSVP: michianacareernetwork@gmail.com
Elkhart, Ind. -- April 25, 2009 -- People Between Jobs (PBJ) and the Michiana Career Network (MCN) groups presented the first of two free presentations focused on "Demystifying the Job Search Puzzle" Friday, April 24th. Sixty people attended the first half of the seminar at Elkhart's First Presbyterian Church.
Make plans to attend the second half of the seminar on Thursday, April 30th at the First Presbyterian Church 200 East Beardsley Avenue, Elkhart, Ind. Presentations are aimed at providing job seekers guidance and insight on useful skills in uncovering and landing their next position.
Presentations topics scheduled for Thursday, April 30th include Networking, Establishing a Successful Job Search Campaign, Keys to Successful Interviewing and more. Several speakers are area individuals in various stages of their job search. These presentations are directed towards professionals and managers in Elkhart and St. Joseph Counties that are currently undertaking a job search.
These presentations are free, although a small volunteer donation will be accepted to help defray some of the costs of the presentation materials. Due to limited space, please RSVP by no later than Tuesday, April 28th.
To reserve your seat, send an email to
michianacareernetwork@gmail.com
expressing your interest. A confirming email will be sent.
Map to 1st Presbyterian Church - Elkhart
Meeting Time 12:30pm - 2:00pm
Location Firehouse (Clay UM Church South)
Address 17646 Cleveland Road South Bend, IN
Link to Google Map
South Bend Meeting Moved to:
1st Presbyterian Church, Elkhart
200 Beardsley Ave, Elkhart, IN
The April 24th meeting was moved to Elkhart Presbyterian Church in support of the Job Search seminar being held by PBJ and MCN.
The meeting split into groups by function, sharing leads, backgrounds, and job search strategies within respective professions.
Elaine A. Kendell, Financial Advisor at Merrill Lynch for Global Wealth Management spoke on maintaining financial security during a job transition. Elaine and a colleague answered questions about transitioning 401K funds after leaving an employer. Information from Elaine is posted on the Blog under Financial Resources.
The group shared progress on job searches after the presentation. Don Locke reviewed resumes at the end of the meeting.
The membership was polled for interest in a half-day seminar on effective networking techniques. The motion was accepted with 90% interest. The MCN leadership team will begin making plans for the seminar the second or third week in April. Volunteers will be needed to help: select a site for the seminar, plan sections of the presentations, and for speakers. More to come in the next few days.
Larry Podojil presented "Functional Networking through LinkedIn". The presentation focused on ways to use LinkedIn to identify networking contacts. The presentation was held in the Firehouse Sanctuary to take advantage of the large projection screen for the presentation, after which the group ajourned to the basement to share networking progress as small groups.
WNDU was on site for interviews on the formation of MCN and review job seeking progress with members. The interview will air on WNDU's evening broadcast Thursday April 2, 2009. WNDU has asked if members of MCN or PBJ are available to answer questions during the Thursday evening broadcast. Anyone interested in helping others understand how our local networking groups can help with their job search - please contact Eric Huggins at eric.huggins1@gmail.com or 574.850.7-31.
Read more...Greg Wilkerson met with Kari Huus, reporter and Robert Hood, multimedia director from MSNBC.com today at the Daily Grind in Elkhart for about 1 hour. MSNBC asked a lot of questions covering a range of topics for the area. Greg was able to include information about our networking group efforts at MCN, PBJ, PBJ II. Although the two reporters Greg spoke to are leaving to go back to Seattle, two more reporters will be coming back to the area soon. Kari, one of the MSNBC reporters, wanted to know if the MSNBC reporters could attend one of the PBJ or MCN meetings. Greg said they could as long as we have advance notice. 
News from Greg Wilkerson @ PBJ
March 25, 2009
We moved to our new larger space in the basement of Clay Church's Firehouse Youth building this week. The new space allows more room for our expanding group and provides much better facilities for our guest speakers.
Mike Watson from Work One sent Kerry Laughman from United American Insurance to meet the group. Kerry is a Branch Manager looking to hire 20 new area representatives. Kerry spoke to several people in the group about setting up interviews next week. Kerry can be reached at 574.287.8519 or uasouthbend@yahoo.com.
Mary Roehmer spoke on depression, helping those in attendance to understand the causes and signs pointing to potential problems. She helped us to understand we can avoid problems by eating well, exercising regularly, getting out and meeting people - and seeking professional help and guidance when needed.
WSBT reporter, Darla Hernandez filmed a segment for WSBT's "Faces on the Unemployed". Several of our members had an opportunity to speak on the benefits received from attending MCN meetings. See a transcript of the story or view the video.
Larry Podojil and Eric Huggins announced a series of discussions on networking best practices to be held on weeks without speakers. The eight week series is designed to help MCN members practice effective networking processes for finding new jobs.
The series will cover:
We closed the meeting by sharing networking experiences in small groups.
Read more... Carolyn Anderson brought us up to date on upcoming speakers. Carolyn Anderson and Larry Podojil lead the group in job search discussions and personal sharing.
Friday's meeting represented our current high-water mark for attendance, with 23 people attending the meeting. The meeting started on a high note as we learned David Carr is leaving the leadership team to accept a position with WBND. David has been instrumental in helping craft our messages to the community.
Congratulations - Dave! Your presence will be missed. Two other members were out or were planning for interviews as well - one in Ft Wayne and the other at Notre Dame.
Friday's meeting focused on presentations from Pratik Royshoudry and Work One. Pratik, a local entrepreneur responsible for the Networking Web Site: MyLatch.com and member of the MCN leadership team, gave a presentation focused on building and communicating your personal brand in a Web 2.0 world. Pratik's presentation discussed ways in which resumes can be quickly modified to standout as recruiters rely more and more on search programs to sort through the many responses to open jobs. The presentation went on to highlight the common recruiter's practice of Googling potential candidates for additional background, and how new tools such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Personal Blogs can be used to ensure online searches find job seekers at their best.
Work One returned again Friday to highlight how Indiana Career Connect can be customized to act as a virtual recruiter for job seekers.
Summary
The group met to continue defining focus and to establish practical, procedural and systematic processes for meetings. All attending agreed the MCN will make decisions based on the needs from current group members and address changes when needed in the future.
A suggestions was made to have monthly speaker who could clarify critical unemployment and job search questions regarding Unemployment Insurance Benefits and Stimulus package details.
Meeting Highlights /Action Items
Meeting Agenda & Forum - ALL
Will continue with the activities on what have you done for job searching, yourself, and others this past week and next week
Action Item: Manage MCN on LinkedIn – Carolyn, Vern
Action Item: Build MCN BLOG and website – Eric, Daisy
Will determine the usage of LinkedIn
Examine the creation of BLOG
Action Item: Request assistance from society of HR managers (SHRM) – Carolyn
Information Sought:
Suggestions
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