For nearly a year, Kimberly Burns was without a job.
Laid off as an executive assistant at a health insurance company in September 2019, the Plymouth resident’s search for work continued for almost a year. Meanwhile, businesses and restaurants, movie theaters and department stores, schools and other establishments temporarily closed or personnel worked from home to help prevent spread of the novel coronavirus.
Since the start of the pandemic, business activity and the economy have remained uncertain. According to the most recent data, unemployment in Minnesota was double in September what it was one year ago that same month — 6% versus 3.2%. Emails, virtual meetings on the internet and telephone calls have replaced many in-person job interviews. Interviews conducted in person also have drawbacks, such as the need for face coverings and social distancing, further complicating the search for work, Burns said.
“It was utterly hard,” she said. “I tried to keep my attitude up, worrying and praying. I kept saying, ‘The only way to climb this mountain is one step at a time.’”
She had help — from her husband, Derek, who continued to work, and from her faith as a Catholic. Burns, who attends Mass at St. Joseph in New Hope and the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, also found a dynamic and supportive career transition, job networking and accountability group at Holy Name of Jesus in Medina, on the border with Plymouth.
Led the last six years by Mike Bangasser, a member of Holy Name and owner of a manufacturing equipment company in Plymouth, the ministry had been part of Holy Name for at least 10 years before he took over. The group primarily helps people find entry- to mid-level white-collar work by helping job searchers develop interview skills, hone resumes and foster contacts with people that can lead to jobs. People don’t have to be parishioners or Catholic to participate.
“I am willing to help anyone who needs help, especially those who love Jesus, or are struggling with their faith, that I can influence as well,” Bangasser said.
A 2018 Catholic Spirit Leading with Faith Award winner, Bangasser said he got involved after finding an employee for his company with assistance from Holy Name’s ministry. “I thought I should give back and help the group,” he said. “I’ve been doing it for quite a few years and I love it. It’s great to meet new people.”
Networking
Maintaining and increasing job-related contacts is key to an effective job search, he said.
“You meet random people, layers of people and they help you meet other people,” Bangasser said. Many who have had success report having met someone who knew someone who knew of a job — and even the person doing the hiring — which led to a good position, he said.
Bangasser’s group is one of several faith-based, job search groups in the Twin Cities. The Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, St. Joseph Business Guild in North St. Paul and Grace Church in Eden Prairie are just three examples of groups that help people find work (see sidebar).
There also are government-sponsored job search programs, and people receiving unemployment assistance are required to stay active in the job hunt. Bangasser and others encourage people to use any avenue available.
“Almost all new jobs land from some form of networking, and you never know what event, group, etc., that God will lead you (to), to meet the person” who can help find the right work, Bangasser said.
Burns said she used government-supported and other job search tools. “A parish-based group felt more like a community or family,” she said.
Before the pandemic, Bangasser’s career transitions group met every third Thursday at Holy Name, and his accountability group, intended for those seeking weekly support, for about an hour each Tuesday at his business. The ministry turned to virtual meetings with the statewide shutdown in March, but resumed in-person in August — this time in lawn chairs in Holy Name’s parking lot. Weekly accountability meetings continue to be held virtually, but by Oct. 15, the career transitions group was back indoors at Holy Name’s monthly gathering, wearing face coverings and social distancing.
“It was a fantastic meeting with about 20 people attending,” Bangasser said. “There were many new people, and everyone was excited to finally have a meeting in person and inside.”
About a dozen people attended the career transition group’s Sept. 17 outdoor meeting to hear Kari Elias, a senior partner with an employee recruitment firm in Eagan, talk about the employment picture and navigating the challenges of COVID-19.
“You can apply all you want online but the best route is, who do you know?” Elias said. “Last year, your application would be one of five. Now, your application will be one of 50.”
Tips include writing effective cover letters, Elias said.
“Write something unique to the job you are applying for: ‘Here’s how I match up to the position,’” she said. “It’s not easy to change your resume each time. They are not spending a lot of time on your resume anyway. Write a good cover letter; be likable; show how you can fit in as a team.”
Elias gave the group homework for the week: “I want three solid follow-ups (to job applications). Not three voicemails, not three emails. I want you to get three people on the telephone.”
Helpful support
Paul Go, 49, said he moved to the Twin Cities from North Carolina with his wife and daughter in early August to be closer to family, and joined Holy Name. A college librarian, he came without a job prospect. Then the pandemic hit higher education particularly hard. Now, he is looking for work in software development.
“It’s going OK,” he said several weeks after the September meeting. Go said his network of connections has grown quickly, and he is using it to help others find work, even as he searches for a job. It’s “good to have that camaraderie and support,” he said.
Matt Earhart, a Holy Name parishioner laid off in February in retail management, learned about Bangasser’s group from a neighbor who also attends Holy Name. He attended his first meeting in March. Six months later, after networking, dusting off his resume, practicing interviews and polishing an “elevator speech” for employment, he was hired as a risk manager for an engineering consulting firm.
Bangasser’s group was enormously helpful with “the support and the prayers,” said Earhart, who now is volunteering with the ministry as a resource for others.
Burns said she heard about Bangasser’s group through a friend, and she followed Bangasser’s advice despite her own reluctance.
“I’m very extroverted, but I don’t like to ask for help,” Burns said. “I had a really hard time with networking. I needed to build up a LinkedIn profile. This was right before COVID, so it was hard to find a job.”
Bangasser is wonderful at encouraging people to work hard at finding a job, even when they don’t want to, she said.
And it is hard work, Burns said. For her, it included networking with Bangasser’s group and the job search group at Grace Church, where she attended webinars, signed up on a job board and attended an eight-week job search training program. She also took online computer classes to sharpen her skills and Zoom courses on any number of job-related topics, while connecting with people attending those classes who might be helpful.
“I really, honestly did not think I would find a job after COVID,” she said.
But Bangasser’s insistence on never giving up led her to contact a friend of a friend with connections to a home security, air and water systems company in Golden Valley. With that person’s company connections and recommendation, she submitted her resume, interviewed for the job and started work Aug. 24 as an executive assistant, helping the president of products and solutions and a vice president in marketing.
“I connected with that person and we had a two-hour conversation,” Burns said. “It’s not always that main connection. It could be two connections down from that.”
“You never find an end to God’s faithfulness,” she said. “I feel so fortunate and so thankful.”
Burns recommends Bangasser’s group, and others like it.
“It’s a place you can go,” she said. “You can share. You’re not being judged. Mike’s there to help you, he gives you the tools.”
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JOB SEARCH HELP
Lisa Bryant of Cottage Grove has worked in communications for about 20 years, sometimes full time, more recently making ends meet through a part-time call center job and freelance work at small nonprofits.
With interview, resume and other assistance over the last 10 years from the Employment Ministry at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, she sought and won various jobs. Even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bryant landed another full-time communications job in June, this time with a nonprofit environmental initiative that works to protect soil, water and air.
“Every resume I sent out got a response, and I was able to hone my skills at answering interviewers’ questions successfully,” said Bryant, 55, of her most recent job search, praising the one-on-one assistance that Basilica’s ministry emphasizes.
Janet Grove leads the ministry at the Basilica. She said it has been busier since the economic downturn began in March, caused by temporary shutdowns and the struggles of some businesses to stay afloat during the pandemic.
Last year in September, one or two people a week might contact the ministry, which currently is serving about 140 people, Grove said. Now, about three to four people each week call for help, she said.
Six job coaches are lined up to assist people. Before the pandemic, the meetings would be face to face. Now, it is telephone and Zoom calls, Grove said.
But the faith-driven effort to help the unemployed continues, buoyed by the generosity and hard work of many, said Grove, who has been with the ministry for 17 of its 35 years.
“This is a program for our whole community,” Grove said, emphasizing that people of all faiths are welcome. “If people are working, that is good.”
The Basilica’s ministry also can help people who might be in less-than-satisfying jobs explore their talents, hopes and dreams, Grove said. Some job coaches are more like life coaches, she said, asking people, “What is your story, how long have you been looking, what are you looking for?”
“Our program is one-on-one,” she explained.
Grove said she works with other faith groups on employment ministry, including nondenominational Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie and that church’s new branch, just across Loring Park from the Basilica.
Mike Bangasser, who leads a career transitions group at Holy Name of Jesus in Medina, said help also can be found at the nondenominational Grace Church in Eden Prairie, which offers an extensive job search program titled Crossroads Career Network.
Harry Urschel, a member of Grace Church and a partner in a Twin Cities executive search firm, said he leads 42 volunteers as they offer job interview, networking and other assistance. Grace Church, in turn, networks with other job ministry efforts, including Woodbury Lutheran in Woodbury and North Heights Lutheran in Arden Hills, Urschel said.
Bryant said she isn’t Catholic, but years ago she heard about Basilica’s Employment Ministry through a job search support group. The ministry’s ability to reach employees and executives of large corporations, even within its own congregation, was impressive, she said.
“So, I trucked over to the Basilica and got connected,” Bryant said.
A source of job-search connection specifically for Catholics is the St. Joseph Business Guild, founded in March 2019 by retired entrepreneur Roger Vasko and three of his friends from St. Peter in North St. Paul. The guild offers opportunities for spiritual enrichment as well as an online business directory, job posting and job seeking lists and other networking opportunities. It has about 250 members and it is growing, Vasko said.
As the pandemic wears on, it is a good place to explore career opportunities and meet people willing to help, Vasko said. It costs $35 a year for individuals and up to $200 a year for a business, depending on the its revenue, he said.
The guild is ideal for networking, said Vasko, a 2004 Catholic Spirit Leading with Faith Award winner.
“You can go right to the owner (of a business) if you want to,” he said. “These are people who want to help.”
— Joe Ruff
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Career transition help
Holy Name of Jesus in Medina:
hnoj.org/career-transition-group
Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis:
mary.org, search for Employment Ministries
St. Joseph Business Guild:
sjbusinessguild.com
Grace Church in Eden Prairie:
mncrossroads.com
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