UNIVERSITY EXTENSION SERVICE SPONSORS FREE SEMINARS: CAREER OPTIONS EXPLORED AT WORKSHOP

Workshop leader Janet Ghio of the University of Missouri-Columbia told participants of a recent Cape Girardeau workshop on career options for dislocated workers that job hunting is a "full-time job preferably 35 to 40 hours a week."

The participants attending the University Extension workshop came from four counties in Southeast Missouri. Such workshops have been held throughout Missouri for four years and are sponsored by Missouri University Extension, county university extension councils and the Career Planning and Placement Center of the University of Missouri-Columbia.

The career options workshops are designed to help people in rural areas who have been laid off, displaced, transitioned from the farm to a new career or reentering the job market become better equipped for the job search.

"The workshops help participants identify transferable skills, write effective cover letters and resumes, complete applications, practice job interviews and plan and implement job search strategies and networking," said University Extension specialist Rick Sparks of Jackson.

Susan Mills, also a University Extension specialist from Jackson, said, "These workshops are not traditional school lectures but rather mini-lectures followed by activities, interaction and practice of the skill being learned."

The next career options workshop is tentatively scheduled July 8-9 at the Holiday Inn in Cape Girardeau, depending on enrollment. Sparks said the workshop will be conducted if at least 20 persons enroll.

Anyone interested in attending the free, two-day workshop should contact the County University Extension Center in Jackson at 243-3581 or call the Missouri Career Information Hotline at (800) 392-2949 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday and Wednesday through Friday. The hotline can be reached on Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.