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Religion

Job seekers rely on divine guidance

A workshop covers practical matters but also encourages the unemployed and unhappily employed to find what God really wants them to do with their lives.

By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published August 6, 2005

Last August, Allison Blanchard graduated from Florida State University with a degree in community health education.

For a year, the 24-year-old would get dressed up and go out on interviews, first in Tallahassee, then Clearwater.

"It got very frustrating and depressing," said Blanchard. "It's complete desperation at times."

Then she found a program through her church that was based on the book Finding a Job God's Way and found success at last.

By using networking techniques taught at the Monday evening sessions, and a lot of prayer, she found out about an administrative assistant position at Morton Plant Mease Hospital.

She starts Aug. 22.

"The class helped a lot," said Blanchard. "They teach you good interview skills and how to sell yourself."

It also teaches how to write a cover letter, find unadvertised jobs and stretch your dollars. But most important, it offers uplifting Scripture and verses that help carry job seekers through the bad times.

The 12-week career solutions workshop is sponsored by Heritage United Methodist Church. The outreach ministry, which is based on the book of the same name by David Rawles, helps people who are unemployed, underemployed and unhappily employed.

It takes place from 6 to 9 p.m. every Monday at the Compass, 401 Second St. N, Safety Harbor.

Lee Savage, a lay leader at Heritage United Methodist who at one time was unemployed, teaches many of the classes. He tells students to not just take any job, but to look for a job God wants them to have and use the talents he gave them.

"Pay isn't the most important thing," Savage said during last week's workshop. "Career compatibility is the thing."

According to the book, students should find a career that will allow them to fulfill God's purpose for their lives.

For Jeff Piedmont, 42, that means middle management. He enjoyed his $90,000-a-year regional operations management position in North Carolina until 21/2 years ago, when the company downsized.

Since then, he moved to the Clearwater area and has been looking unsuccessfully for a warehouse management job.

"The job market down here is terrible," Piedmont said. "And it's more expensive to live here than in Winston-Salem."

This is a stressful time for Piedmont, whose wife recently gave birth to the couple's second child.

Things began to turn around when he started attending the workshop. Savage helped him write a resume, and he found a four-month consulting job through a church member.

"I was in the dumps," Piedmont said. "But since I've been going to the program, I've (discovered) there's more to life."

He said he's still searching for the perfect warehouse management job, but the anxiety has eased a bit.

He has the same bills he had when he was making $90,000 a year, but he has found comfort in God.

"When you go to the program, you don't wake up every morning saying, "I've got to get a job or I'll be homeless,' " Piedmont said. "If you're Christian, he'll take care of you."

Eileen Schulte can be reached at 727 445-4153 or schulte@sptimes.com

The 12-week career solutions workshop takes place from 6 to 9 p.m. every Monday at the Compass, a ministry center of Heritage United Methodist Church, 401 Second St. N, Safety Harbor. From 8:30 a.m. to noon Aug. 20, David Rawles, author of Finding a Job God's Way, will lead a seminar called "Career Success Factors." Admission is $25 if you preregister, $40 at the door. Call (727) 791-0234.

[Last modified August 6, 2005, 01:37:26]