Saint Chrysostom's Employment Council -- A Member of the Career Transitions Network

Parish Leader: Michel K. Cade 

Program Leadership:  Michel K. Cade, Lisa Coleman, Fabrice Bonvoisin and John Grubbs Weekly meetings are held on Mondays from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM in the Harding Room at St. Chrysostom's Church, 1424 N. Dearborn Parkway, Chicago, IL 60610. The meetings normally have a guest speaker on a relevant topic and include networking sessions.  The current activity program is listed to the right.  New job postings, when available, will be reviewed at all sessions. If you have any questions, please contact us at st_chrys_empl_coun@ameritech.net. This program is affiliated with the Career Transitions Center of Chicago (CTC):  The Center is a not-for-profit organization providing career transition and job search assistance. Located at 703 West Monroe in Chicago, the Center hours are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Tuesday from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. In addition to weekly job search skill-building seminars and networking sessions held on Thursdays from 7:45 AM to 9:00 AM, services include individual job search coaching, desks with telephones, computers with Internet access, laser printers, copier, fax machines, library resources, job listings, practice interviewing, and career interest testing and coaching. There is a quarterly registration/membership charge for the services provided by the Center. A modest fee is required for various assessment instruments such as Myers Briggs. Special courses are also offered for a fee. For more information, please contact Anita Jenke, Executive Director or Eileen O’Shea, Center Manager, at 312-906-9908. For more information on the CTC go to: http://www.ctcchicago.org

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please note that the monthly  bulletin is no longer being e-mailed directly to Employment Council participants.  Program schedule will be published here monthly. August 30: Topic: Coping with Long-Term Unemployment. This presentation explores the effects of long-term unemployment on emotional health. The purpose of this exploration is to both normalize the negative feelings that are associated with long-term unemployment and to outline strategies for coping with those feelings. Our speaker will be Ian Fielding, Ph.D., LCSW. He maintains a private psychotherapy practice in Chicago and has worked for several years in the field of community mental health. He works with adolescents and adults in both individual and family settings.  He specializes in the treatment f mood and anxiety disorders, trauma, loss/grief and life transition issues. In addition to his work as a psychotherapist, Ian is a former university professor and has extensive experience as a management consultant and corporate trainer. September 6: No meeting due to Labor Day September 13: Topic: Proven Techniques for Getting More Job Interviews. Our speaker will be Steve Steinfeld.  He provides real world job search and interviewing techniques based on his experience as a sales and marketing hiring manager and developer of talent for Fortune 100 technology companies such as IBM, Xerox, and Ameritech (AT&T).  He was also a senior executive of an entrepreneurial IT consulting and engineering company, which was acquired by Accenture. He is currently a self-employed professional sales trainer, and volunteers as a strategic planning consultant to non-profit organizations through the Executive Service Corps of Chicago. Steve holds a BA in psychology from CUNY and attended the Executive MBA program at the Wharton School of Business.  September 20: Topic: Navigating a Career Transition. Our speaker will be Patrick C. Ryan, a financial advisor with the Silich Group at Morgan Stanley. Patrick will focus on all sorts of financial issues to keep in mind and/or reconsider during transition. For example, it involves looking at short term and long-term expenses (monthly living, lifestyle related goals) and balancing those expenses against transition income like savings, social security or investments. Patrick will also give tips on generating more income and decreasing taxes with opportunities unique to those in transition. He also will address the pros and cons of options that people have with their 401(k) s.  Patrick will also be happy to discuss available positions with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and how to apply for them with anyone who might be interested and qualified for consideration.  Before joining Morgan Stanley, Patrick worked for an affiliate of Bank of America in Australia. He also launched a small business that is still active today in Barcelona, Spain and in London, England. He has been a volunteer in two groups that build homes in impoverished areas of Boston and the Appalachians and is currently active with the Big Brothers and Big Sisters Club of Chicago.  September 27: Topic: Five Block Buster Job Getting Tools.  Our speaker will be Jack Chapman, a nationally known career coach with  over 25 years of experience coaching people to BREAK THE RULES of job hunting and career search and thereby SHORTCUT the time needed to make a career move. In this presentation, Jack will share with us his top five block buster job getting tools and ideas, from his “best in class” seminars: 1. How to get a response from almost every resume; 2. How to spend less time online with more results; 3. Four words that will win the interview; 4. Three minutes a day that yield an hour a day of productivity and peace; 5. How to get more money, without hurting the offer. In addition, anyone attending this workshop will receive a free pass to each one of the five training webinars or workshops comprising the above-mentioned blockbusters.  Jack’s specialties include career consulting and coaching, salary negotiations coaching, and personal growth experiential training. He has personally assisted over 2,000 individuals, one-on-one, in improving their careers and has influenced many others through seminars, courses, lectures, TV and radio appearances and newspaper columns.  He spent seven years studying in the Jesuit order. He holds a master’s degree in Vocational Guidance and his previous professional activities include education, real estate management, and corporate training and development.