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.

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