Volunteer Helps Job-Weary

When the resession began several years ago, Maxine Hess heard a few people at her East Cobb synagogue talking about losing their jobs.

But she knew there were even more out there.

"This wasn't gonna be just two or three people," Hess said. "I knew it was going to be big."

With a background in career development and leadership coaching, she figured maybe she could be of some help.

And so the Job Support Network was born at Temple Kol Emeth.

"It has been a wonderful uplifting program for people," said Denise Jacobs, senior administrator at Temple Kol Emeth.

"It is to benefit the community and that's an important part of who the synogogue is as a whole."

In the beginning, the group met every week, then twice a month and now just once a month. The numbers had begun to dwindle.

In the beginning sometimes 60 plus people would show up, Hess said.

On a recent Tuesday night only five folks attended the group.

But Hess says she's not sure it's because people are finding jobs. A survey of past participants said many had given up on their search or were only going to come if someone had open jobs.

The group is open to members of the temple and the community and features a guest speaker each week. The speaker can be an employer, an author or simply someone who may have a different approach to finding a job.

The most clever speaker, Hess said, was a man who presented a talk about transition called "Bunny Slippers are Evil."

"Nobody talks about the transition people go through," said Hess, who has a Ph.D in human resource development. "It's not the change that is hard, it's the transition" into not having a job.

On Tuesday, the speaker was Jason Singer with Matrix, an IT staffing group in Atlanta for 29 years. He had everybody go around the table and talk about their specific situations.

Mike Singer has spent most of his life in the insurance field. But after eight months of a "black hole," he said he's starting to get some nibbles.

Jack Friedlander has spent his life as an accountant. He's been coming to the group since July.

"Maxine went through my resume and helped me," Friedlander said in his soft South African accent.

His company let him go in May. He's had a hard time finding anything because he was educated in his homeland and isn't a certified public accountant.

Hess, who started selling blouses in a department store as a teenager, has only ever lost one job. She was with Mercer University and they began cutting back at the Atlanta campus.

"It's tough," she said. "You know you did a good job, but it's still a blow to your ego and self worth."

Hess, who lives in Vinings with her husband, George, and cat, Stormy, says after three years she's ready to do something else. She's an abstract artist and wants to spend more time doing that in her retirement.

So there will be no other group meetings unless someone else picks up the ball. Jacobs said the synagogue is still looking for someone.

You can reach personnel at the synagogue by calling  770-973.3533. You may also try the yahoo group by emailing your information to tkejobs123@yahoo.com. Someone will still be keeping up with that, posting job seminars and other useful information.