Jay Litton and Katherine Simons, RUMC Job Networking

“North Fulton Business Radio,” Episode 215: Jay Litton and Katherine Simons, RUMC Job Networking

RUMC Job Networking has touched literally thousands of lives in the well over two decades of its existence. Jay Litton and Katherine Simons, co-leaders of this ministry of Roswell United Methodist Church, join the show to talk about how they have morphed their programming to a virtual platform, advice they’d offer job seekers in this economic climate, and much more. The host of “North Fulton Business Radio” is John Ray and the show is produced virtually from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® in Alpharetta.

RUMC Job Networking

For over 25 years RUMC Job Networking has been providing employment workshops, ‘mini’ job fairs, and evening dinners with keynote speakers to those in need of employment or job readiness. RUMC Job Networking exists to teach job seekers how to begin and sustain a job search while providing emotional support and encouragement. They provide this support through mentoring, community prayer partners (all faiths and denominations), and support groups.

Since 2010, they have been training on job readiness while making states and other countries aware of the need for Job Networking including: Holland, Singapore, Portugal and London. The impact of this program has reached the attention of ABC World News, Fox 5 News, the Wall Street Journal, and the Atlanta Journal. Their interview on National Public Radio discussed how a community works together to help the unemployed. They have developed close relationships with the state and federal departments of labor and have attended events hosted by the White House and the Community Partnerships for Faith Based Programs. They have reinforced that we are filling a gap they cannot serve.

RUMC Job Networking meets the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month. During the coronavirus pandemic they have gone virtual, still meeting on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month, so they can stay engaged with job seekers during their job search.

To connect with RUMC Job Networking, visit their website to find their next meeting and agenda.

Jay Litton

Jay Litton is a Senior Enterprise Account Executive at Sumo Logic. He is a seasoned enterprise sales/sales management executive with a track record of success as both an individual contributor and in sales leadership roles. During his career, Jay has achieved top performing status during at both start ups and multi-billion dollar organizations.

He has been providing career advice at RUMC Job Networking since inception of the ministry. With Katherine Simons, he co-leads a team of over 300 volunteer professionals who donate their time with an eight-hour agenda twice each month. Jay is also known as the creator of the WoW! Interview™ having taught over 10,000 professionals in career transition.

Jay previously appeared on Business RadioX® in 2017; you can find that episode here.

Katherine Simons

Katherine Simons is the previous owner of DDS Staffing Resources specializing in the temporary and permanent staffing of medical and dental staff . She also partnered with her son-in-law Tim Rush, in ownership of a Healthcare Job Board, Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC which features www.advancedpracticejobs.com, the largest and most successful job board highlighting nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

In addition to co-leading RUMC Job Networking with Jay, Katherine has served as Chairperson for New Members and Assimilation at Roswell United Methodist Church, a 6000 member congregation, She serves on the Board of Directors for the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce and on the HomeStretch Board of Directors.

Katherine is author of Loving Your Neighbor, A Faith Community’s Response to the Unemployment Crisis, written in 2010, but so timely in our current environment.

Show Notes from Jay and Katherine:

• Stay Positive, Move Forward and Keep the Faith…
  Stay Positive by…..

  1.  Keep your energy level high through diet, exercise, rest, and positive thinking

  2.  Surround yourself with friends who have a good story to tell.  Stay away from “downers”

  3. Trust that God has a Plan for your life and it is up to you to see and hear it.  Be willing to try new things.  It could lead to his plan.

  4.  Be like Thomas Edison….see every “no” as that much closer to a “yes” answer.  Learn from the “no’s”

  5.  Go places where you find positive people .  Today, there are many ways to connect with positive ideas on-line.

  6.  Be ready everyday for a virtual interview.  Be dressed.  Look the part.

  Move Forward by…

  1.  Continuing to learn and try new job search techniques

  2.  Connecting with people in your industry

  3.  Practice and prepare for company interviews PPQ

  4.  Track how many calls you need to make to accomplish a result.  A result may be a conversation, an introduction, a new direction, an interview.  Once you know how many calls it takes to get to one of these results, schedule every day to make the necessary calls.

  5.  Treat the process like an Adventure.  You never know what’s around the next corner.

  6.  Keep a notebook of all successes and lessons learned.

  7.  Clear up conflicts that would cause references to be less than stellar.  Never give reference for a job without calling person first to ask and explain the opportunity.  A positive or negative reference can make or break the next step.

  Moving Forward…

  1. Learn LinkedIn like never before.
  2. Learn Zoom – interview yourself on camera with a free Zoom subscription
  3. Research – Get daily emails from the Atlanta Business Chronicle and other information rich sources that are locally based.

  Keep the Faith by…..

  1. We believe that you should not do your job search alone. God should included through prayers.

  2. Take our Crossroads Career class which covers 7 steps of the job search and shows how God is in every step.

  3. Consider taking a bible study via a free Zoom subscription with a few friends.

  4. See God work in other people by listening to others and see where you can help.

   

  Final comments…

  1. Notice that people are being hired. We just received an email on Wednesday from an excited job seeker that attended one of our recent mini job fair.

  2. Believe it is not “if” but “when” you will go on next interview

  3. Continue to stay in shape….work head, heart, and body muscles

  4. Where can you volunteer your time…even virtually to help others or a nonprofit group that helps others.

  5. Biggest surprise? Lots of layoffs but companies are hiring.

  6. Biggest concern? The layoffs mean quality people are hitting the market. You need great job search skills and persistence to win.

  Taking Action!

  1. Attend our virtual RUMC Job Networking meeting on Monday, April 13th and our upcoming meeting agenda. Visit the RUMC Job Networking website for details.

  2. Subscribe to our email Groups called Groups.io. to get the job leads submitted to us by employers and volunteers.

North Fulton Business Radio” is produced virtually from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn, and others.

Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has grown to become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions with over $13 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.