Hockessin networking group connects jobseekers

Thanks to Web sites like Monster.com, the jobless can reach out to potential employers with just a few keystrokes. A LinkedIn profile is almost as good as a resume and jobseekers can browse for real-time openings on Twitter.

But to a group of people gathered in the basement of Hockessin Baptist Church on a Friday morning, no form of social media could supplant the handshake and elevator speech of traditional networking.

“Online networking is great for information, but I don’t think it does a good job representing yourself overall,” said Rodney Jordan, chair of the Community Matters Networking Group.

The group held its inaugural meeting in February to give Hockessin’s jobless a chance to meet, share information and support one another face to face, Jordan said.

Sixty-five people came to that first meeting, after word was spread through the blogosphere at lightning speed by founder Ken Grant, and they have been going strong ever since.

More than 30 people, many newly unemployed, came to the group’s weekly meeting on March 6, each grabbing a cup of coffee, filling out a nametag and finding a friendly face in the crowd.

They exchanged business cards, hand shakes and war stories from their time pounding the pavement, scanning the want ads or scouring the Internet in search of employment.

“It’s a full-time job, looking for a job,” said Kathy Hubbard of Avondale, Pa. “One certainly has to keep a positive outlook.”

Hubbard spent 17 years working for one company before being laid off in January. She spends four or five hours in the library each day searching for job openings, she said, and it can get discouraging very quickly.

But she was hopeful the networking group could help provide some direction for her job search and show her new ways to use the skills she possesses, she said.

That’s the beauty of face to face networking – people can get a sense of what type of person they are dealing with, what their strengths are and how they can be useful, said Jordan.

“Networking is about learning what you can do for somebody,” he said.

It’s also about learning in general, he said. The group will eventually offer classes in everything from resume writing to computer skills to help attendees in their job searches, Jordan said.

And the group’s wide variety of attendees – everyone from engineers to truck drivers – gives them an edge because each person brings something different to the table, he said.

Many sitting around that crowded table offered advice to their fellow job seekers, like Laurie Bick, of Newark, who advised people to volunteer during an extended job hunt, which she has done during her continuing, two-and-a-half year search.

“In my darker moments, I wonder how I’m going to get through the next day, but there’s always a silver lining to every dark cloud, right?” she said.

Bick came to the group to connect with others and just seeing a roomful of people who can relate to her story was encouraging, she said.

Sudden unemployment is a very discouraging situation, said Hockessin resident Dale Robinson, who was laid off the day before the networking group’s meeting.

When he got the news, the first thing he felt was panic, followed immediately by concern for how he was going to support his wife and three children, Robinson said. Things may be bleak today, but good things come out of struggles, he said, and struggles are best shouldered with the support of others.

“I am 100 percent optimistic,” he said. “I think that’s the only way I can succeed, going forward.”