Service to the Church

There are opportunities to serve everywhere in the church. Every event that goes on at St. Stephen’s requires man or woman power to advertise, setup, run the event, and cleanup. Your talents and spiritual gifts can be used in any of our ministries. Don’t let them sleep!

Here are some upcoming events where servants are needed:

3/14/2004 High Attendance Day – see Shirley Morden or the Outreach Director for your Sunday School class

4/11/2004 Easter Sunday – servers are needed for the Continental Breakfast

5/09/2004 High Attendance Day – see Shirley Morden or the Outreach Director for your Sunday School class

5/15 – 5/16/2004 Women’s Day Celebration – see Theresa Ware

The Job Scene

With the advent of technology, the Internet has made the search for employment easier for the job seeker, or has it? While the Internet has placed thousands of jobs at our fingertips, it hasn’t made it much easier to find a job.

Many have spent months sending resumes and cover letters out for positions that they appear to be a good fit for to never even receive a response other than the acknowledgment that their resume was received. Often, when responses other then acknowledgment are received, it is often that the position was closed, or the position was filled by a candidate that was a better fit, or their skills more closely matched the position.

So, you examine your resume, again. Then, get a second and third opinion. The feedback is great, “The resume is on point, Wow!” So, you send it out again. Still, there are no offers for an interview. What is wrong! What gives here?

A local human resources recruiter commented, “With the Internet, now thousands of resumes come in daily to fill just one position. It is more difficult for an individual to be noticed within the stack. For just this one position, it will take me two weeks to go through and select candidates for an interview. I’ve received over a thousand resumes for this position.”

And, the candidates that she finally selects for interviews exceed all of the requirements for the position.

The recruiter above manually screened the applicants. However, many large companies use resume tracking software. Resumes are scanned and saved in the tracking software. The resumes are then compared to the position. The software looks for keywords. If your resume doesn’t have a good fit to a number of these keywords, it moves on to the next one.

With the sheer number of applicants for one position in Southern California, it is evident that competition is pretty tough all the way around. Entry-level, mid-career level and advanced level job seekers are all experiencing difficulty in their job search.

So, what can you do to stand out from the pack?

Pray – ask the Lord where He wants you to be.

• Listen – to the Lord’s response to you.
• Talk – to friends, family, and fellow Saints. Let them know you are looking for a job.
• Look – for hidden opportunities. Statistics say that 97% of jobs are found in the “hidden” job market (e.g. word of mouth). Only 3% are landed using the traditional methods (e.g. newspapers, employment office, etc.)
• Network – build a network of professionals inside and outside the industry and career field you are interested in. Keep in contact with them and retain current phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers.
• Follow-up on resume submissions and interviews. Contact the company directly unless application instructions request that you refrain from doing so. Find a personal phone number and place a call. Find a personal e-mail address and send a note. Better yet, go directly to the company and make contact in person. Just make some sort of contact with a person who might be able to get your resume to the next step.
• Update – update your resume accordingly for each position that you apply for. For instance, your resume might list a number of technical skills. You may have Microsoft Office Suite as an area that you are knowledgeable in. However, if the job listing specifically requests experience in Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, and Word, then change your resume to list out these applications separately. These will be keywords any resume tracking software will look for to find candidates to interview for the position.
• Persist – be persistent and don’t give up. Your blessing may be right around the corner.
• The job hunt can be a very discouraging process at times. Be encouraged and don’t lose hope. Keep looking. Keep submitting those resumes. Keep following up. Then wait for the Lord to place you in the position that He wants you in.
• Psalm 27:1 The LORD [is] my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD [is] the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

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