New Webpage Coming Soon!!!

Our Webpage is undergoing a make-over. We have a talented volunteer that is using Fresh Start as her web-design class project at CLC. 
CLC has great learning resources for professionals in transition and Fresh Start is a safe and inviting organization to practice your new skills.

If you have been searching for a long time, how do you answer this, “What have you been doing all this time?”
How about volunteering and sharpening your talent, or adding a new skill?
Come in and talk to a volunteer about how you can re-invent yourself. We are currently seeking:

• People with Grant Writing Experience (or willing to learn)
• Career Coaches / HR Professionals / People experienced in job searching willing to staff a weekly time slot
• Nominations for our Corporate Advisory Council.
• Weekly Newsletter editor (learn how to send mass emails)

Get Involved and Help Yourself and Your Skills!

Have You Landed?

On our new webpage, we have a Landings page for Fresh Start clients. Would you like to place a success story of how you were helped by FSOI in your search? Send us two paragraphs on how Fresh Start helped you. You can send a photo too. We can keep it anonymous or use your name. 

Build your brand, especially if you helped at Fresh Start in some way and improved your skills in your profession. Put your volunteer work on your resume.  Link it to your Facebook and Linked In pages as well.
 

Expanded Hours

We are now Open on Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursday from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

Come in to use a PC, network with our volunteers or get one-on-one help with your career search.
 

Subscribe to our Workshops Email to see our Monthly Selection of Workshops.

Click on Update Profile at the bottom of this email and select Workshops.

Senate Vote Sets Stage For Restoration Of Jobless Benefits. 
(Friday Update – This bill passed the house and the President signed it Thursday night.)

In another victory for President Obama, the Senate broke the filibuster on extending unemployment benefits to 2.5 million individuals, with the decisive 60th vote coming from appointed West Virginia Democratic Sen. Carte Goodwin, who was sworn in just moments before the vote. Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe voted for cloture, while Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson opposed it. Coverage is generally sympathetic to the Democratic view, with many reports saying the unemployed will get “help” after Republican “delays” prevented benefits from reaching them.
        ABC World News (7/20, story 7, 0:20, Sawyer) reported, “Help is finally on the way for millions of Americans whose unemployment checks have stopped. After two months of Republican delays, the Senate voted 60-40 on party lines to restore benefits to 2.5 million people out of work at least six months. The President could get that bill by tomorrow.” NBC Nightly News (7/20, story 6, 1:55, Williams) reported, “The Senate today cleared the way for unemployment checks to resume for 2.5 million Americans whose benefits started running out about two months ago. Republicans have been blocking this extension because it would add $34 billion to the budget deficit.” NBC then segued into a feature on out-of-work Americans. CBS did not mention the vote.
        The AP (7/21, Taylor) reports that Senate Democrats “broke through a stubborn Republican filibuster” and “pressed to restart jobless benefits.” Democrats “emphasized the plight of the unemployed and argued that putting money in the pockets of jobless families would also boost economic revival.” Bloomberg News(7/21, Faler) reports that Republicans “said the measure could have been approved weeks ago if Democrats had agreed to find other funds to pay for it.”
        USA Today (7/21, Wiseman) reports the cloture vote set “the stage for a final vote today to restore benefits that began running out at the end of May.” The Wall Street Journal (7/21, Hitt, Murray, subscription required), the Los Angeles Times(7/21, Mascaro), the Washington Post (7/20, Montgomery) and the New York Times(7/21, Hulse) also covered the story.
 

The lost art of handwritten thank you notes

What is the first thing you do after an interview? If you answered send a thank you, you’re correct. It is safe to say that with technology and email, sending a hand written thank you note is a lost art. The vast majority of communication is now electronic, which may not always be the best. One of our top priorities in the job search is personal branding and standing out from the crowd. What better way to do that than to hand write your next thank you note to a prospective employer. What is even better is that you can help raise money for Fresh Start of Illinois in the process by ordering your personalized note cards from Tukaiz. Simply visitwww.fundraising.tukaizproducts.comand place your order. When you do, 25% of the products sales price will go directly to Fresh Start of Illinois.   
 
 

Our Wish List – New or Used, we will give your donations a good home.

• PC Projector
• FAX Machine
• 22” or Larger Flat Screen PC Monitor
• 8’ x 10’ or bigger White Board
• Scissors
• Plain Wall Clock for Main room
• Easel
• Used PC’s with Windows XP operating system and MS Office licenses
• Napkins – Toweling
• New or Used Printer Cartridges for Exchange
• Unused Gift Cards with Value (We will use to purchase supplies)