networking groups, career counselors

[david at thekramers.net (David Kramer)]

On Friday 31 January 2003 01:47 pm, Seth Gordon wrote:
> Soon after I announced being laid off, someone on this list recommended
> WIND Networking.  A friend of mine also gave me the name of a career
> counselor that he highly recommended.  I'm thinking of using both these
> resources, but I have reservations about the cost -- WIND costs $10 per
> meeting, and a career counselor, it seems, charges about $80 per hour.

WIND and The Career Place (and JVS-boston.com, and others) can offer you a 
shorter career coaching for more like $15.

> If we hold our family expenses down, down, down, we can live off my
> wife's salary plus my unemployment checks until the unemployment
> benefits run out.  So before I sign up for either of these services, I
> want to be sure the money will be well spent.  They've obviously been
> very good for some people who've used them, but I'm not sure if I'm the
> sort of person who would benefit.

You can come down to one or two with no other commitment to see if you like it 
or not.

> Can anyone who's been to a WIND meeting or talked to a career counselor
> give me some idea of the benefits -- in particular, what I would get
> from them that I wouldn't get from a good headhunter?

For obvious reasons, I can't say whether WIND would be financially worth while 
to you, because your finances are different than mine.  I go almost every 
week, and it's worthwhile for me.
- I get tips on companies that are hiring (or not), regardless of postings
- You might find a target company, like I did
- You might find a contact into a target company, like I did
- The speakers and the facilitators often have good information
- You can get feedback on your elevator pitch and resume
- You hear what works from those who got hired
- The "Guerilla Groups" hold interesting topics (I go to the sofware one)

In addition to that, the WIND group also has a project to develop a complex 
website, which is in part a promotional tool and learning experience for the 
people working on it.  It's being done full-blown, with committees and 
documentation and all.  I'm on three different committees right now.

If you want to go together one day let me know.
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