Job Seeking – and Finding – Through a Diverse, Yet Personal Resource

Career connections offered at free workshops for the Christian Science community

Jeremy Jarvis says that like so many other times in his life, listening to his dad paid off.

Last fall, when The Albert Baker Fund’s Career Alliance held an event in Chicago, Jeremy’s dad suggested that his son, who was in the beginning stages of a job search, make the drive from Indianapolis to check out what this event had to offer.

“I went with an open mind,” Jeremy says. He needed to, he says, because after not finding much response from his college’s alumni and career offices, he realized a smaller, more personal approach might be likely with this Christian Science-based organization.

As it turned out, having that open mind led to Jeremy making connections with at least 15 Career Allies, all coming from a wide diversity of fields. “After the event, for the next two weeks, I had an information interview almost every night,” he says. “Every single person got back to me.” He had a job within two weeks.

That diversity of resources, he continues, along with the ABF Career Alliance’s more “open-armed approach,” gave him the confidence to explore different fields and, as he says, become greatly enriched by the personal stories of how professionals found their careers. He says that as interesting as the practical motivations and strategies were to him, the added – and unique – element of the Christian Science perspective gave him what he could never find from any other career fairs or interviews.

Improv actor and ABF Career Ally Alice Stanley (far left) leads an interactive workshop at the ABF Career Alliance in Chicago last year to demonstrate how improvisation can lead to better collaboration in the workplace.

Diversity of resources, says Alice Stanley, also gave her the biggest take-away from that same Chicago event. Alice, who works with Second City Improv in Chicago, took part in an interactive segment of the Career Alliance event.

“Career conferences usually provide one speaker,” she says, “but at this event, having many kinds of advice and resources is so helpful.” As a Career Ally, she says that the greatest benefit is giving back because so many people helped her along the way. Alice, who received ABF funding for both her undergraduate education and graduate education, says she feels gratified to have a way to give back to ABF and encourage others just starting their careers.

Click on the following locations to register for an upcoming Career Alliance event: Walnut Creek, CA(Saturday, May 20) and Mercer Island/Seattle, WA (Saturday, June 3). These events are open to the entire Christian Science family, including those friendly to Christian Science.

If you have career experience and are ready to give back to your fellow Christian Scientists, ABF has a place for you as a Career Ally. Learn more