Career Jump-Start met on Tuesday, 19 February 2013 at First United Methodist Church at 503 North Central Expressway in Richardson, Texas. They met in room 230A&B because the United Methodist Men were meeting in Ogden Fellowship Hall. This room change occurs on the third Tuesday except during the summer time because of United Methodist Men meetings. The sign in the photograph that follows appears in the church lawn nearest the room where Career Jump-Start is meeting. When this sign is not outside of Ogden Fellowship Hall, go to the parking lot nearest Custer Road and look for this sign near the west end of the building. When you find this sign on the west side of the church:

1.       Follow the sidewalk at the left of this sign to the doors on your left (about the middle of the building)

2.       Enter the building through these doors

3.       Go up the stair case or take the elevator to the second floor

4.       Turn right in the hallway on the second floor

5.       Go to the end of the hallway where you will find room 230A&B

6.       Enter the room through the left door and sign-in at the registration table

Career Jump-Start meets in Ogden Fellowship Hall on most Tuesdays. When you find this sign on the east side of the church (the side close to US-75 Central Expressway):

1.       Enter the building through the door closest to the sign

2.       Go to the right down the hallway

3.       Enter Ogden Fellowship Hall through the second doorway on your right and sign-in at the registration table

There were 19 people in attendance at the Career Jump-Start meeting on Tuesday, 19 February 2013. General remarks before the program included:
  • Assessments attempt to determine your comfort zone. 
  • Assessments are company specific. 
  • Your digital image needs to be pristine especially while looking for a job.
  • Read documents backwards to find things that you miss be reading the document forward. 
  • Office Max and Office Depot are merging. 

Robert Sage presented an excellent review of “Only BFFs Need Apply” by Logan Hill from Bloomberg Businessweek 07-13 January 2013. This magazine article states that companies are hiring people who fit the existing corporate culture even though they are not the best qualified for the position. Culture and diversity are described in this magazine article; however, diversity is beyond the scope of this meeting. Culture is about interactions between people. How do choices you make indicate how well you fit the workplace?

Robert wrote workplace positives and negatives on a white board as people in the meeting named them.

Workplace Positives:
  • Family Friendly
  • Christian Oriented
  • Teamwork
  • Halloween Competition
  • Fun at Work
  • Employees as Valued
  • Golden / Platinum Rule
  • Lunch and Share
Workplace Negatives:
  • Pass the Buck
  • Not Invented Here
  • No New Ideas
  • Always Done This Way
  • Good Old ____ Network
  • Politics

Glassdoor (an online database of information about interviews, salaries, and jobs) collects questions asked by hiring managers. There has been a significant increase in the number of questions asked to determine cultural fit. Companies have distinctive cultures. This culture at Southwest Airlines include going to a weekly party.
 
You should research people who will be interviewing you; Google and LinkedIn are great tools for this. Strive to develop a rapport with the interviewer. A nice firm handshake is important.

“You signal trust in four ways: Look them in the eye, smile, open your body language, and synchronize …” Bloomberg Businessweek, 07-13 January 2013, page 65.

Books recommended in this article are:

  • How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or Less by Nicholas Boothman
  • The Fine Art of Small Talk by Debra Fine

Both of these books are available from Amazon. If you want to purchase them from Amazon, help support CareerDFW and CareerUSA as follows (this does not change what you pay; however, CareerDFW and CareerUSA receive a portion of the purchase price):

1.       Go to http://careerdfw.org/J/ or http://www.careerusa.org/

2.       Scroll to the bottom of any page on either of the above websites

3.       Click on the Amazon advertisement

4.       Make purchase from Amazon

A wild card is a statement at the end of a 30-second introduction to catch attention. “He walked on fire during the initiation ceremony.”

LinkedIn profiles will replace resumes. There are 30,000 to 40,000 recruiters who are online.

Remember A-R-P (Awareness – Research – Preparation)

 
Seven Loaves CommUnity includes several segments of service. The Seven Loaves Food Pantry provides clients one week of healthy food and is the portal that provides access to resources for other needs. Joseph’s Coat distributes free gently used clothing to registered pantry clients. Project Hope provides women in crisis opportunity to make real changes in their family's life. CareerCare helps persons who are unemployed or underemployed by providing access to career assessment testing, networking that includes 30-second commercials/introductions, training based on the Crossroads Career® Workbook, and job leads. Health and Healing is provided through Plano Children’s Medical Clinic and West Side Clinic. A Legal Clinic provides clients help with legal issues. Transitional Housing assistance is provided to clients with this need. Education assistance helps children learn to read, people learn English as a second language, and people study for general educational development (GED) tests.

Information about Seven Loaves CommUnity is available on the World Wide Web through LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Use the following universal resource locators (URLs) to find Seven Loaves CommUnity on the World Wide Web.

LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/company/seven-loaves-food-pantry-&-community-center

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/SevenLoaves

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/
#7LoavesPlano

World Wide Web pages:

Seven Loaves Food Pantry
http://www.7loavescommunity.org/home.html

Joseph's Coat
http://www.7loavescommunity.org/josephscoat.html

Project Hope
http://www.7loavescommunity.org/projecthope.htm

Career Care
http://www.standrewumc.org/connect/ministries/learning/career-care/

 
My Anchor Holds (an acoustic/soul duo based out of Nashville, Tennessee) performed from 6:45 PM to 7:15 PM in Wesley Hall at St. Andrew United Methodist Church. Husband and wife, Jacob and Katie Eckeberger, are My Anchor Holds. Jacob plays an amplified acoustic guitar while Katie sings. More information about this couple is available at the website http://www.myanchorholds.net/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MyAnchorHolds, and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/My_Anchor_Holds/.

Scott L. Engle, Ph.D. taught the first of three all-church study sessions titled “What Christians Believe” based on the Apostles’ Creed. This is a follow-up series to the “Connecting the Dots” study last fall.  John Wesley frequently quoted St. Augustine:
“In the essentials, unity; in all else, liberty; in everything clarity.”

The Apostles’ Creed began as a series of baptism questions. It carries a large part of who Christians believe Jesus is. Beliefs about Jesus define who we are as Christians.

Evil cannot be anything of substance because God did not create evil. Evil is that which destroys good. There is nothing that exists that God did not create. People choose to commit evil acts.

Who is Jesus? He is God’s only Son. He is fully divine and fully human. He is Lord.

Christ is a title not a name. Messiah and Christ are synonyms.

Caesar was known as lord. Jesus as Lord means that He is the master of creation. Since Caesar expected to be lord it was not acceptable for Jesus to be Lord.

Protestants have lost sight of the significance of the Virgin Mary. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born by the Virgin Mary. Therefore, Jesus was fully divine and fully human.

My Anchor Holds performed between 8:20 PM and 8:25 PM and class was dismissed by 8:30 PM. 

 
The 50+ Re-employment Group of Jewish Family Services in Dallas, Texas met on Monday, 18 February 2013. Mitch Jacobs led this session that was attended by 21 people. If you only apply for jobs on the World Wide Web, you have a 3 percent to 6 percent chance of landing. Job seekers should research people by whom you expect to be interviewed on Google and LinkedIn. Other useful websites include: http://www.onetonline.org/ and http://careeronestop.com/. Each job seeker gave their 30-second introduction and the group critiqued each introduction. 

 
SKYWARN™ Spotter Training, also known as SKYWARN™ School, was held in the Brownlee Auditorium of the Granville Arts Center in Garland, Texas on Saturday, 16 February 2013. The morning sessions provided basic storm spotter training and was attended by 367 people. The afternoon sessions provided advanced storm spotter training and was attended by 175 to 200 people. Thanks to the Garland Office of Emergency Management (OEM) for sponsoring these training sessions and paying for the use of the venue. This was the 38th consecutive year to have SKYWARN™ training in Garland, Texas.

Representatives of the National Weather Service office in Fort Worth, Texas, including Mark Fox, Dennis Cavanaugh, and Jason Dunn, taught this school. Online training from the National Weather Service is available at http://www.wdtb.noaa.gov/index.html. Follow National Weather Service of Fort Worth on Twitter @NWSFortWorth.

Next year the Garland, Texas SKYWARN™ School is scheduled for Saturday, 15 February 2014.

The following photograph of the Garland SKYWARN™ School on Saturday, 16 February 2013 is from Walt Mayfield, KE5SOO, ARRL North Texas Section Manager, via ARRL_NTX Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/116786575014964/

 
Seven Loaves Food Pantry served 266 individuals by distributing 3,639 pounds of food.

Joseph’s Coat gave 1,088 articles of clothing to 272 people.

Seven Loaves Food Pantry and Joseph’s Coat are ministries of Seven Loaves CommUnity. Both operate out of St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Plano, Texas. Other ministries of Seven Loaves CommUnity include Project Hope, West Side Clinic, and a legal clinic. 

 
Sweetheart Dinner and Movie on Friday, 15 February 2013 at St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Plano, Texas was sponsored by the United Methodist Men. About 25 to 30 couples participated by sharing a variety of Italian themed food items. Pellegrino® sparkling mineral water mixed with flavored syrups and crushed ice was the main beverage. Coffee was also served. Foods included sliced red and green apples, carrots, celery with caramel and ranch dips; cantaloupe; five cheeses; dip and chips; salads; lasagna; spaghetti, and breads. Deserts included fresh strawberries with whipped cream, carrot cake, chocolate cake, fruit pies, and cobblers. Festival Hall was quickly rearranged from round dining tables to two rows of sofas for the movie. We enjoyed watching the movie “Midnight in Paris” written and directed by Woody Allen. This was a pleasant evening of conversation, dining, and entertainment. 

 
Seven Loaves Food Pantry served 36 families on Thursday, 14 February 2013. These families, that include 107 people, received 1,330 pounds of food. This included fresh potatoes and eggs; frozen meats; canned protein, mixed fruit, and vegetables; dried beans; rice or pasta, and peanut butter. More information is available at http://www.7loavescommunity.org/home.html

 
United Methodist Men of St. Andrew United Methodist Church cooked and served regular and blueberry pancakes at the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper. Fruit and candy toppings for the pancakes, orange juice, and bottled water were served. Images of giant stacks of pancakes were projected onto the east wall of Wesley Hall. Tables were decorated with Mardi Gras beads and chocolate coins. This event for the entire family was hosted by the Children’s Ministry of St. Andrew United Methodist Church of Plano, Texas.

 
Scott L. Engle Ph.D. teaches a Bible study on most Mondays. He taught a study of Philemon on Monday, 11 February 2013 at St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Plano, Texas. Paul wrote this letter himself, rather than have a scribe write it for him, to Philemon regarding Onesimus who was Philemon’s slave.

On the next three Monday nights (18 & 25 February and 04 March 2013), this class will meet in Wesley Hall rather than Piro Hall. Scott will teach an all church Bible study titled “What Christians Believe” on these three Monday nights. See http://www.standrewumc.org/connect/events-and-registration/#c9190 for a description of this study.