Get the most out of job clubs

When you're looking for a job, you could use a friend. That's what you'll find at a job club.
A friendly welcome, a hot cup of coffee and a lead or two are the stock in trade at these free meetings.
If your job club meets at a church or synagogue, it is almost certainly run by volunteers, and it might be faith-based in nature.
Tess Frost, a former human resources professional, started the job search outreach at Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minn., 23 years ago when she noticed fellow parishioners struggling with employment. Today, she and a team of volunteers meet with up to 40 job seekers a week, leading them in job search tasks and prayer.
At Colonial Church of Edina, Minn., the weekly job club does not include prayer, but facilitator Joe Oliver considers the program to be a ministry. After nearly 30 years running the job club, Oliver says it is this sense of mission that keeps the task exciting and rewarding to him.
In addition to houses of worship, you can also find job clubs at some government offices, as well as at some colleges and nonprofit agencies. To find a job club nearby, call these institutions directly or check the meeting notices in the business section of the newspaper.
Some tips
Here are some ideas to make the job club experience fruitful for you:
UBring a notebook and copies of your r & eacute;sum & eacute;. Whether you are listening to a speaker or learning to write cover letters, note-taking is a good habit to get into.
USet goals for the meeting. You should learn something that you will apply to your job search, get a lead that you will look into or meet one or two people who can offer you further ideas. If your job club meeting does not measure up to these standards, move on to another group.
UChallenge yourself. Why are you attending? If you go home feeling as if you learned nothing, dig deeper. Were you paying attention? Did you participate? Did you arrive on time and stay to the end? Did you introduce yourself to others?
UDon't assume that three job clubs are better than one. At some point, enough is enough. If you are spending every evening at a meeting, you may be robbing your actual job search of its energy. Job clubs are meant to support you in your effort, not supplant those efforts entirely.
UBe careful. One thing I have noticed with dismay is the tendency of job clubs to do exactly what they set out to do: Make job seekers feel better. This is a blessing that can turn sour.
Can warp your perspective
On the one hand, it is a great comfort to hear others' stories and know you are not alone. But if too much of your time is spent with people who are out of work, perceptions begin to distort.
Instead of a 5 percent unemployment rate, you begin to feel as if the entire city is looking for a job. Worse, you can start to believe that it is someone else's fault that you are unemployed, or that it's "normal" to be out of a job for months on end.
As with all other parts of your job search, keep your perspective.
XAmy Lindgren, the owner of a career-consulting firm in St. Paul, Minn., can be reached at alindgrenpioneerpress.com.