Looking for work is never easy. It can be both lonely and daunting. Job seekers can feel overwhelmed from day one of their job search and not know where to turn. The whole job search process has become even more complex what with the use of internet and social media as methods for job searching.

The team of professional employment consultants at the Windsor Job Resource Centre recognized this. Always looking for new ways to support clients, employment consultants Janice Langille and Mairi Munn came up with the concept of a Career Café – the first of its kind in Nova Scotia.

“The aim of the Career Café is to provide an informal yet supportive environment for our clients to meet, discover new methods of job searching and to feel confident about the whole job search process,” says Janice Langille. “We want to see our clients employed faster, in better jobs that are the right fit and to find the whole job search experience a rewarding one”

With free coffee supplied by local coffee shop TAN, job seekers are encouraged to drop in to the Job resource centre’s newly decorated and up-dated workshop room, every Wednesday morning between 9am and 11am. Newcomers can expect a warm welcome and lots of lively discussion.

Ms Langille says “This isn’t necessarily all about us imparting information to our clients. We look for active involvement from those who attend and we hope to learn as much from them as they learn from us.”

An important component of the Career Café is to give clients the confidence to market themselves.  During their time at the Career Café, clients are encouraged to look at themselves from the prospective of a potential employer.  Whilst many people are aware of what they are good at, most are reluctant to promote themselves as they are concerned with being seen as conceited.

“We want our clients to recognize their strengths, to look at what it is they are bringing to the table with regards to skills and abilities” according to Ms Langille, “we encourage them, along with the Career Café peer group to look closely at their motivators and strengths. By doing this they can really target not only the right job but the right type of employer.”

With a rolling roster of ever evolving topics, the Career Café covers everything from ‘Resume Critiques’ and   ‘Ace the Interview’ to   ‘First Impressions Do Count’ and ‘How to Recession Proof Your Career”.

‘Our aim is to get people to not only learn new things about themselves and the job search process but to have fun and make new connections along the way” explains Ms Langille.

One of the highlights of the Career Café and something Janice Langille is extremely excited about is the involvement of local business owners and Employers with the venture.

“So far we’ve had a highly successful open house with community leaders, business owners and potential employers, not to mention representatives from the Regional Development Authority and the Hants King Business Development Centre,” enthuses Langille, “We’ve also introduced an extremely popular “Meet the Employer’ session. Our initial session saw local business owner and employer, Charlie Aubie of Speed Pro come in and spend a couple of hours talking in a relaxed setting about what his company has to offer and what he looks for in an employee. We have a couple of other people lined up to do something similar in the future. We also had another highly successful session with Andy McLean from Ski Martock coming in to do the same.”

It’s this enthusiasm that Ms Langille and the team at the Windsor Job Resource Centre are hoping will become infectious and get people within the local community excited about job searching.

As Langille says; “There is no denying it’s challenging times for people seeking work but if we can keep them upbeat and excited not only about the whole job search process but optimistic about their future and the future of the community then we are doing our job.”

The Career Café takes place every Wednesday morning between 9am and 11am in the workshop room at the Windsor Job Resource Centre which is in the Scotia Bank Mall, 80 Water Street, Windsor.

Article by Mairi Munn, Employment Consultant Windsor Job Resource Centre

Step 1: Create your keyword list
Look at 3 job descriptions for the position you're seeking and note the "must haves." From this list, identify the qualifications that you possess. Choose at least 8 skills that you have and that are most sought after by employers.

Step 2: Add a Skill Highlights Section to Your Resume
Use the keywords from your list to a Skills Highlights section at the top of your resume. Here's an example for an Executive Assistant:

• Advanced Microsoft Office Skills including MS Word, MS Excel, MS Outlook, MS Power Point.
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Step 3: Weave Keywords throughout your Resume
Also work the top keywords into the body of your resume, where relevant. For example, degree requirements would appear in your education section. Don’t worry about repeating the same keywords more than once. In fact, keyword frequency counts in many ATS's so this can work in your favor.

When possible, use different forms of the same keyword to account for different search terms, including abbreviations and synonyms. So, if you reference your MBA also include the phrase Masters of Business Administration.