Today I had the pleasure of being contacted by a local reporter who writes a weekly column called the Job Hunt.  He asked if I would be interested in helping out from time to time to address some questions from readers.

This week, he received a question about whether it’s okay to take notes in a job interview and asked if I could share some advice.

Since I have a hard time passing up an opportunity to give advice (yes, I was a former “Know it All” until life took a few swats at me), I responded to his request.  I thought I’d share some of my thoughts here.

Since interviews are business meetings, I think it’s perfectly acceptable to take notes.

The first thing I would write is the interviewer’s name, as it may not be the same person who called you.  I’d clarify the correct spelling of the name, since you will need this later when you write your “thank you” note.

You can take notes regarding some of the key requirements of the job.  Using these notes, you can later reiterate and review this information to clarify your understanding of the responsibilities and expectations.  These notes can also be used to review and highlight some key points when you write your “Thank you” note after the interview.

However, don’t let note taking distract you from staying engaged and focused during the interview.  Take light notes during the interview.  After you leave the interview you will have a chance to make some more detailed notes for yourself.

Well, those are my thoughts.  What are yours?

Today, Mr. Wendell Fant, Deputy District Director, for United States Congressman Larry Kissell (8^th District, North Carolina) visited our group to share information about doing business with the government, and the overall US employment picture. While some people are returning to work and consumer spending is up .50% straight for the last four months, it is Mr. Fant’s opinion (and the opinion of others, as well) that jobs will not be returning to the level they once were.

Mr. Fant said that the United States House of Representatives passed HR 2847, the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act. This bill is designed to help create jobs by cutting payroll taxes for businesses and investing in new surface transportation projects. H.R. 2847 contains legislation to increase tax deductions for small business expensing. Because the bill was modified, it must return to the Senate for another vote. This is expected to take place next week.

I located information about the four key provisions included in the HIRE Act:

• New Jobs Payroll Tax Exemption: offers an employer exemption from Social Security payroll taxes for every worker hired after February 3, 2010 and before January 1, 2011 that had previously been unemployed for at least 60 days.  It also allows an additional $1,000 income tax credit for every new employee retained for 52 weeks to be taken on the employer’s income tax return.
• Section 179 Expensing: helps small businesses grow by allowing them to write off more of the cost of their 2010 expenditures in lieu of recovering those costs over time through depreciation.
• Highway Trust Fund Extension: extends existing highway programs which provide states and localities with the certainty they need to make decisions on projects.  It allows for billions more to be invested in infrastructure throughout the nation and saves one million jobs.
• Expanding Build America Bonds: allows state and local governments to borrow at lower costs to finance more infrastructure projects and put people to work.

Even if a job seeker isn’t specifically looking for work in highways or infrastructure, Mr. Fant believes that these incentives will spur growth other areas of the economy as well.

Small Business Administration:

Mr. Fant addressed small businesses pursuing government contracts. The Small Business Administration (http://www.sba.gov/) has tremendous resources for small businesses, including information on preparing a business plan – which would be necessary for a government contract. The Charlotte, NC District Office of the SBA (http://www.sba.gov/localresources/district/nc/index.html) office is located at 6302 Fairview Road, Suite 300, Charlotte, NC 28210-2227 (704-344-6563 Phone).

SCORE:

SCORE (the Resource Partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration) is also located in the same building. SCORE is a national association dedicated to helping small business owners form and grow their businesses. The local website is: http://www.charlottescore.org/. Mr. Fant’s Charlotte, NC contact at SCORE is Mr. Chuck Sawicki (704-344-6576).

Matchforce.org:

Mr. Fant discussed matchforce.org (http://matchforce.org/). According to the website “MatchForce matches North Carolina businesses to government contracts, government purchasers to NC suppliers, and job seekers to NC jobs. Businesses, contracting officers, cardholders and job seekers can register, post, search and receive opportunities – and get results – TODAY!”.

Small Business Technology

The Small Business Technology Center http://www.sbtdc.org/ “has been helping North Carolina businesses grow and create new jobs since 1984.  SBTDC specialists provide management counseling and educational services to small and mid-sized businesses throughout North Carolina.” The local SBTDC office is located at UNC Charlotte, 8701 Mallard Creek Road, The Ben Craig Center, Charlotte, NC 28262-9705 (phone – 704.548.1090). Mr. Fant noted his local contact is George McAllister, Regional Director (704-548-1000).

Local Information:

Some local resources were shared and discussed by other members as well. I’ll cover this next time.

By the way, if you are interested in obtaining more information about the group, you can contact me at jliebel@vnet.net. I started this group about a year ago (through meetup.com) in response to growing unemployment in the Charlotte/Cabarrus County area. We now use LinkedIn and email for our communications. Attendance and the frequency of meetings have increased way beyond my initial dream. I continue to coordinate and facilitate the free weekly two hour group meetings (with volunteer assistance from group members). We received no outside funding. I’d like to add that donations are always appreciated. : )

It’s a lively friendly meeting where we share individual “wins”, resources, and support one another. We also share one meeting a month with the Cabarrus Regional Chamber’s Jobs One group. I’ll share more information next time about these local support resources as well.

I want to thanks Mr. Fant for sharing his time and resources with the group. I also want to thank him for being open to listening to the concerns of some of the local job seekers.

I absolutely believe in being positive, creative, and seeking opportunities.

However, I don’t know anyone who hasn’t been touched by unemployment, either directly, or indirectly, over the past few years. Using the Dept. of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers, this video vividly depicts the transformation from January 2007 — approximately one year before the start of the recession — to the most recent unemployment data available today. Of course these numbers don’t include those who have taken part time jobs, are underemployed, or just plain “gave up”.

The Geography of a Recession

If you want some help in moving forward and not being included in these numbers you might want to talk with a career coach, who also has small business experience. Joni

A free local resource for career development is the R3 Center in Kannapolis, NC. They have announced their January schedule of workshops. These workshops are FREE but you are asked to call to reserve a seat and obtain specific workshop locations.

R3 Center Announces January Schedule of Career Workshops

o New Client Launch – 2 and 6 p.m. on Jan. 4; 9 a.m. on Jan.7, 11, 14, 19, 25 and 28; and 6 p.m. on Jan. 11, 19, and 25. New Client Launch is an orientation program for persons who have never attended an R3 Center workshop or taken advantage of its other services.
o Identifying Your Career Options – 10 a.m. on Jan. 11, 14, 25 and 28;
o Letter Writing for the Job Seeker – 10 a.m. on Jan. 12, and 3 p.m. on Jan. 26;
o Looking for Work With a Criminal Record – 10 a.m. on Jan. 13;
o Stand Out & Network – 11 a.m. on Jan. 12, and 2 p.m. on Jan. 26;
o Looking for Work at 50+ – 1 p.m. on Jan. 13 and 6 p.m. on Jan. 28;
o On-line Job Hunting-Updated – 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 13;
o Interview Techniques – 6 p.m. on Jan. 13;
o Lay-Off Survival – 2 p.m. on Jan. 14;
o Job Seeking for Veterans – 6 p.m. on Jan. 14;
o Top-Five Employer Needs – 10 a.m. on Jan. 27; and
o Job vs. Staying Unemployed – 11 a.m. on Jan. 27.

The R3 Center also will offer three resume clinics to help job searchers improve their current resume or create a new one from start to finish. Please call to reserve a seat. The resume clinics are scheduled for:

o 9 a.m. on Jan. 9;
o 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 12; and
o 6 p.m. on Jan. 27.