Career Connections Helps Job Seekers Make Meaningful Connections

Career Connections, previously the Career Assistance Network for Birmingham (CAN-B), is working hard to help area professionals connect with resources, professional expertise, and other motivated job seekers to share stories and helpful tips during tough job transitions.

Gayle Lantz of WorkMatters, Gerriann Fagan of The Prism Group, and Lou Thibodaux, deacon in the Episcopal Church of Birmingham, founded CAN-B two years ago as a website. The initial goal of CAN-B was to bring together information from local church career ministries and monthly meetings for job seekers to find in one centralized website, and for job seekers to use this as a resource for networking opportunities and advice from job transition experts.

The Career Connections website has grown to a blog format with information on monthly meetings, other opportunities for networking, resources, and information on speakers for their monthly meetings. Their monthly meetings are not only opportunities for motivated job seekers to network and learn new tips from experts, though. These meetings have turned into a time for people to share their stories and experiences as they work through the sometimes difficult roller coaster that is a job transition. This was never a defined goal for Career Connections, but the leaders are happy to see that their work is offering support to others.

Career Connections is not the only group that has been formed to support the long-term unemployed during their job transitions; Career Builders, Career Assistance LLC, and others are just some that were highlighted in this article written by Roy L. Williams from The Birmingham News.

Career Connections meetings are held on the 4th Monday of every month. Join them this month at their meeting to hear from Glenn Phillips of Forte` Incorporated.

Score: 1 for Networking

A Testimony on The Power of Networking

Cathy Hulsey is a volunteer in our Birmingham community. She shared a story with Team PUI that we knew had to be shared with the entire community.

Taking the initiative to do some networking can seem tedious and exhausting. Too often we are guilty of talking ourselves out of a networking opportunity for one reason or another. Next time you begin to talk yourself out of attending an event or other networking opportunity for any reason, please think again.

Cathy’s story is a testimony on the power of networking, and we hope that all of you will remind yourself of this story before turning down a chance to take a step into the unknown and meet new people.

Here is Cathy’s Story:

“I attended the last TechBirmingham event in April at the request of a friend. Seeing as how this was an event geared towards IT technical people, I didn’t see how this would benefit someone with my background in HR and Project Management. I was wrong.

I made many contacts that evening, one of which passed my resume on to the CEO of his company. The CEO immediately followed up with me and scheduled an interview. After several discussions, an executive level HR position was created for my knowledge and skill sets within the organization.

I can’t stress enough how valuable networking events such as this can be. This is an excellent event and opportunity to network.”

Cathy Hulsey
VP Human Resources and Legal Services
EPL, Inc.

*****

Readers, do you have any successful (or even unsuccessful)
networking stories to share from a time when you least expected it?
In your opinion, what makes a good networking event?

Please leave a comment and tell us what you think.

Follow this link for other valuable opportunities to network.

SRMSDC Business Connections 2011

August 16, 17, and 18 will bring a unique opportunity to our business community.

The South Region Minority Supplier Development Council (SRMSDC) is hosting their 2011 Business Connections Conference at the Sheraton Birmingham. This 3 day conference will focus on the changing dynamics of our global, national, and local economies, and present ideas for strategies to position your company for success.

We think this is a good way to spend a few days in August. Register here.

Here’s the schedule of events at a glance:

Tuesday, August 16

Golf Classic
Highland Golf Course
Registration & lunch – 11:00a
Shotgun start (that’s fun) – Noon

Opening Reception
The Birmingham Museum of Art – 6:30p

Wednesday, August 17

Opening plenary session – 8:00a
Education & development workshops – 9:30a
MBE Minority Business Enterprise showcase luncheon – Noon
Tradeshow – 1:30p
Dynamic MatchMaking – 3:30p
Crystal Awards dinner – 6:00p
*all activities will be held in the BJCC South Meeting Hall

Thursday, August 18

Corporate and Supplier Diversity Town Hall Meeting – 8:00a
featuring Cheryl Pearson-McNeil, SVP, Public Affairs and Government Relations, The Nielsen Company

Ms. Pearson-McNeil holds responsibility for widening the scope of The Nielsen Company’s government, community, and corporate social responsibility programs, as well as the company’s philanthropic commitment to multicultural communities. In this role Ms. Pearson-McNeil works to expand public outreach efforts across the company’s Media, Business Media and Consumer businesses. She leads the company’s diversity advertising strategy and co-manages two of its three external advisory councils.

For those of you coming from out-of-town, reserve your room at the Sheraton Birmingham by calling (205) 324-2011, and make sure that you mention the “2011 Business Connections Conference” to confirm your discounted rate! Or, reserve online here.

Register Here

TechBirmingham

Not just for the “techie” — we promise.

TechBirmingham’s goal is to bring together industry professionals a few times a year for networking, tradeshow, and education events.

Their website has a lot of wonderful information – check that out for more.
Follow them on Twitter: @techbirmingham
Subscribe to our calendar for details on their events.

BSHRM

The Birmingham Society for Human Resource Management (BSHRM)

BSHRM is a group of HR professionals from any and all industries that you can think of… no, seriously. The Birmingham SHRM chapter is one of the largest local chapters. They have varying backgrounds and interests, but they come together to help people (and have a lot of fun doing it!).

BSHRM has chapter luncheons each month – the programs are full of information and it’s a great time to network with professionals from all over the map.

Check our their website for all the details
Be sure to follow them on Twitter, too: @BhamSHRM
Subscribe to our calendar for their luncheon dates

ALsocme

The Alabama Social Media Association (ALsocme)

First, go ahead and pronounce it: AL-Sock-Me

Second, this is a curious new group around Birmingham doing a lot of neat things.

They are a professional organization open to anyone who wishes to share ideas or advance their own knowledge of social media. Social media is all the craze these days, and ALsocme knows how it is used by businesses, organizations, and consumers, and they want to share this information with all of us *thank you* — did I mention that the events are really neat, typically free, and not your everyday professional get together?

Check out their website for the details straight from them
Follow them on Twitter: @ALsocme

Bham Venture Club

The Birmingham Venture Club (BVC)

The Birmingham Venture Club is an association of business professionals who have joined together with a noble purpose: to increase the amount and quality of venture capital-related activities in the Birmingham area.

They have luncheons every other month (wonderful opportunity for networking). These luncheons also typically feature a speaker, expert panel, and/or 3-minute presentations from entrepreneurial companies looking to take the next step.

Click to visit their webpage for the complete details
Follow them on Twitter – @BhamVenture
Check our calendar for luncheon details