Adult Services Roundtable
Topic: Employee Search Support
Attendees:
Shannon, Hoover
Kelly, Springville Road
Leslie, BPL
Debbie, Leeds
Terri, Vestavia Hills
Pam, Southside
Susan, Trussville
Deidre Sims, Bessemer
Michelle, Irondale
Laura, BPL
Special Guest: Bill Carlson, InfoGroup, ReferenceUSA
NEXT MEETING: September 15, 2016 at Bessemer Library TOPIC: Maker spaces, Unique places/collections
How do we keep our patrons from going on Internet Explorer and googling "resumes"? We talked about ways to intervene with patrons so that we can direct them to proper tools in searching for jobs online and in building resumes more efficiently and effectively. Too many patrons are finding resume builders online, spending too much time building something, then finding out the service charges for the template. It was suggested that we investigate the possibility of posting a link on the library desktop.
Microsoft Resume Template is one of the basic tools we have to offer patrons.
Other things we can do is direct them to Learning Express (we are very much in the mode of "use-it-or-lose-it" with many of our database tools). Learning Express provides high-school equivalency information, software tutorials, adult learning, and a career center. There is also a great number of testing practices within this resource.
For example, did you know that ALL basic food service entry-level applicants have to pass a Food Safety Certification through Jefferson County? These certification tests are available online through the JeffCo Health Department:(http://www.statefoodsafety.com/food-handler/alabama/jefferson-county)
Some library employees encourage patrons to visit the Alabama Career Centers. There, people are trained and paid to attend to employment needs such as basic resume building, certification help and completion, and many other aspects of prospective employment. https://joblink.alabama.gov/ada/r/resources
Another example of libraries in action is Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest. Their Tech Department leads classes on resume building. One noted thing they mention to prospective applicants is the importance of including "keywords" in your resume. By that it means that now, computer programs are reading resumes and those computers are programmed to look for specific terms in a resume -- called Optical Character Recognition. OCR means if your wonderful resume doesn't mention specific things, it will never even reach a human for further consideration. VH works to help patrons include vital terminology so that their resumes can get past the computers and into the hands of humans. (Learn something new/frightening everyday!)
Another resource for our libraries to use is Homework Alabama. Surprisingly, they provide support/help 10 am - 10 pm job search assistance. Once you've arrived at the Homework Alabama website, you can visit the "Adult Education and Career Center" to learn more.
I brought up the question of whether patrons are asking for the use of computers for online interviews through webcams, Skype, or Google Hangouts, etc. No one said that they had had too much of this but there was concern brought up about patrons needing quiet spaces to conduct interviews using the library's WIFI (bringing their own equipment). It was noted that librarians would benefit from a community listing of available quiet/conference rooms available to the public in spaces other than the library. For example, Habitat for Humanity's ReStore in Irondale provides a free quiet conference room to the public. This might be a valuable resource to market to Chamber of Commerce offices too.
Please post here or on our Facebook page if you have other employment search support tools not mentioned here. The more ideas, the better!!
Next, InfoGroup's ReferenceUSA database presented by Bill Carlson.
Bill's business card (if anyone wants to contact him for more information.)
Bill highlighted tools on ReferenceUSA that could be used by prospective job hunters. For instance, on the front page of RefUSA, you see a selection for US Jobs/Internships. Evidently, InfoGroup generates content for this section *everyday*. By using the site Indeed.com, which is a job search aggregate, they can merge job openings with their own research into companies and provide a depth of information to the job seeker that can help them in the search.
For several screenshots of links on ReferenceUSA that are key for patron job searches, please go to this document in Google docs.
