Resources for Upgrading Employment

Provident Principles and Practices
by David Edwards and Sophia Bischof
Part II

Do you need better-paying, more-challenging, or more-enjoyable employment?

Do you know how to interview and how to write a job-winning resume in the latest style?

Would you like to start your own business but don’t know exactly how?

PRINCIPLE: LDS leaders have enouraged us to develop self-reliance in the area of providing for our wants and needs. They have said that employment is an essential part of self-reliance. (See, for example, The First Presidency, Conference Report, Oct. 1936, p. 3).

PRACTICES: ~20% of our local church members are currently unemployed/underemployed. A speaker at a presentation at the Mesa LDS Cannery a few weeks ago told about a great series of LDS employment workshops. Comparable workshops cost thousands. For members, these are free!

The Employment Resource Services (ERS) Center is at 235 El Dorado Circle, Mesa, AZ. Hours are Monday through Friday from 9am to 4pm; also on Tuesday from 4pm to 8pm. Please call or email first to reserve workshop seats. Contact them at (480) 829-8999 or at wel-ec-mesa@ldschurch.org.

Career Workshops at the ERS Center on 2nd & 3rd Wednesdays of each month, from 6pm to 10pm, or at the Mesa AZ Alta Mesa Stake Center, 5350 E. McLellan Rd., Mesa, 1st and last Wednesdays of each month, from 6pm to 10pm. For everyone. Goals, resources, interactions and continuity.

Professional Workshops at the ERS Center on 1st and 2nd Saturdays of each month, from 9am to 4pm. For professionals, managers and executives. Proven job search skills, networking.

Self-Employment Workshops at the ERS Center on 1st and 2nd Tuesdays of each month from 6:00pm to 9:30pm. Business success cycle, starting a business, business plans, financing, taxes, etc.

Resume Writing Class on Tuesdays 9am to 11am; also on 4th Tuesday monthly from 6pm to 8pm.

Family Financial Workshop every 4th Thursday, 7pm to 9:30pm, sponsored by Gilbert Val Vista Stake, at Gilbert Jr. High Seminary, 1001 N. Burk Street, Gilbert. Credit cards, financial forecasting, financial management. To reserve a seat, contact Wallace Jacobs at (480) 715-8437 or wallace.h.jacobs@intel.com.

LDS Provident Living Web site for additional information about employment and job-seeking: http://providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,5944-1-3037-1,00.html (see also http://providentliving.org/ for many other good ideas on provident living)

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