I'm Looking for a Job

“I’m looking for a job. I’m afraid my cover letter isn’t very good; do you have anything to help me write a better one?” The staff of the Newton Falls Public Library is aware that a well written cover can catch the attention of a prospective employer. The library has a variety of resources to assist this patron.

Our patron was uncomfortable using the computer, so we suggested browsing titles such as The Everything Cover Letter Book by Burton Jay Nadler, Vault Guide to Resumes, Cover Letters & Interviews by Howard Leifman, Marcy Lerner and the staff of Vault, Gallery of Best Cover Letters: a collection of quality cover letters by professional resume writers by David F. Noble and 7 Minute Cover Letters by Dana Morgan.

In order to become more comfortable with a computer, we recommended that our patron sign up for the program to assist job-seeking adults. The series of classes will be Fridays, October 22, and November 5 and 19 from 1 – 3 p.m. Registration is required as space is limited. Participants are encouraged to attend all three classes. The program has been made available through a grant from the First Place Bank Community Foundation

• October 22 - The first class is Networking and Job Seeking. In this class attendees will list people to network with and make a plan. The instructor will assist them in creating a 30 second “elevator speech” and go through some websites of interest.

• November 5 - The second will cover writing a resume. It will focus on the content of the resume and will specifically have the participants writing accomplishment statements and summary statements for their resumes.

• November 19 - The final class is Creating a Resume in Microsoft Word. This will include basic instruction that teaches how to create a resume using Word.

The Ohio Career Information System (OCIS) also has guidelines for writing cover letters on their website, http://www.ocis.org/. To have access to this site, our patron would need to use a library computer to register. Once a portfolio has been created, patrons can use the site from any computer with Internet access. There are Assessment Tools, Education and Training, Occupations and Employment resources, and an Employer Locater.