Successful outreach program: it took a village

Our second annual PCC Employment Outreach Event on January 19, 2013 was a success! We helped more than 100 people. We used EventBrite to manage the required registrations for this free event.

• 91 registered before event
• 14 registered attendees did not show
• 18 walk-in attendees (some attendees heard about us on the radio!)
• Grand total of ~100 attendees

~20 volunteers were in place on the day of the event, including the four volunteer leaders plus:

• AV expert for general assembly room (microphones, projection)
• 2 catering helpers in the kitchen
• Primary registration person
• 3 room monitors to get sessions started and ended on time, present certificates of appreciation
• 2 go-to-guys (including one volunteer that made a trip to the store to acquire for disposable plates)
• Point person for facilities to restoring ordinary setup
• Unplanned lunchtime speaker to share news of NJ Dept of Labor resources

Food quantity was planned for 75, and fed ~110. The quality was FABULOUS! Delicious and nutritious.
Presenters were on time and professional.
Facility setup perfect (One volunteer leader went above and beyond by bringing in his employees to help move furniture on Friday.)

I crafted a survey for our attendees and sent with the following email message:

Greetings, attendees of our second annual Employment Outreach Event at Princeton Community Church,

Thank you for attending our employment outreach event on Saturday, January 19, 2013. We hope that you found the event and presentations useful and informative. Our presenters are interested in your feedback. We want to hear about your experience. Please take a few minutes and respond to our survey http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NLDGYMG before Monday January 28.

Our lunch speaker Jessie Phillips, owner of Absolute Performance, spoke about the many resources available at the NJ Department of Labor website http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/wnjpin/findjob/findjobindex.html. Jessie invites you to send her one question. Send email to jessie.phillips1013@gmail.com.

Thank you to attendee Keith for sharing information about Mercer County Professional Service Group (PSG) http://psgofmercercounty.blogspot.com/p/about-psg.html. PSG is a peer support activity for job seekers that promotes camaraderie among individuals looking for professional level jobs.

Princeton Community Church (PCC) Employment Support Group meets on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays in the PCC Cafe (where we served lunch) at 7:00 p.m. http://www.princetonchurch.com/#/outreach/employment-support-group

Slides are posted at http://www.slideshare.net/search/slideshow?searchfrom=header&q=pcceoe.

Good luck in your job search.    
Yours in service,
Barrie Byron and the entire volunteer leadership team

We received 25 responses to our survey. Selected feedback includes:

• The best way to get out of our job search funk it to meet people, thank you for providing a venue for connecting job seekers with skills.
• The outreach was top notch. If want to improve it even more you could have had either an area for “vendors” who would be recruiters in this case or someone with jobs, or you could have had an active workshop area where you could get feedback on the spot for your resume or your elevator speech or your interview responses.
• This was a very relevant opportunity to offer to the community. The only critique I would give is that I would have loved to have heard the other workshops, elevator speech, should I start my own business but they were at the same time. Lots of great information.
• The outreach program was very well organized with knowledgeable speakers and panelists.
• The event was very well organized with very interesting topics. It would positively add to the event if local employers or recruiters would/could participate
• Speakers should use microphones for those of us who are hard of hearing.
• I thought it was well done. I’d suggest extending the sessions to a full hour. Perhaps 45 minutes of “good presentation” and 15 minutes of q&a.
• Excellent program – wish it was done in Warren County.
• Would it be possible in the future to have a list of companies who are hiring, their contact information and business interest….lunch was certainly an added bonus.
• Excellent facilities and support; excellent variety of presenters- I wish I could have gone to a couple of other breakouts conflicting with the ones I attended.

One of our presenters responded with exceptional insight to his own feedback:

• It’s always nice to hear your efforts were appreciated. Thank you for providing a very useful and supportive event. I was glad to see so many at the event (but saddened too because so many are still unemployed). This year I’ve presented to over 1,000 unemployed people and the one thing I urged them to do was to get out of their house and meet people. In my opinion, this is the best way to avoid getting into a “funk” and improve your chances of finding employment. You provided a wonderful venue for people to interact and learn. You’re a good soul.

Some Princeton Toastmasters are already asking if they can volunteer next year. Stay tuned to see if we will host the 3rd annual PCC Employment Outreach Event. It takes a village.