Norma Blackburn has landed many jobs in her life, but her recent experience with Job Clubs of Eastern Kentucky taught her that there is a level of job search techniques that is beyond what most people imagine.

With coaching and help from Job Clubs of Eastern Kentucky in Pike County, Norma recently obtained a great job as the branch manager for the Chloe Road branch of Professional Transportation Inc. (PTI). She now manages a fleet of vans and drivers that transport railroad employees.

“Job Club is an awesome program,” Norma said, smiling. “It’s the place to be.”

The job club is sponsored by Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP), the Kentucky Office of Employment and Training, and the Pike County JobSight workforce center. It draws on these sponsors’ expertise and contacts to provide the job club’s members with information, job skills training, job leads, networking, and chances to meet with and learn from local employers.
Self-taught and self-motivated, Norma has had a varied career that started at a grocery store when she was 15. Over the years she has driven a truck, worked at a dairy and a bookshop, repaired coal trucks, and managed U.S. Census workers, among other jobs.

When her recent census job ended, she attended the Job Club in Pike County and was surprised at how much useful job search information she still had left to learn.

“I joined Job Club because I needed to freshen up on my job search skills and I needed to figure out how to market the skills I have,” Norma said, adding that Job Club helped her with those goals and many more.

At the small, informal Job Club meetings, Norma was able to get to know other job seekers who helped each other and brought each other information about possible job openings.

She also learned about how to use networking to tap the “hidden job market,” which consists of jobs that are filled through recommendations and networking and therefore are never advertised. In every community the majority of job openings are in the hidden job market.

Networking, as Norma described it, is “knowing the people who know the people who have the jobs.” These business and personal contacts are essential to successful job seeking, but they are aspects that many people overlook in their job search. 

Norma also learned resume-writing techniques, how to creatively assess one’s skills, the importance of practice interviews, strategic volunteering, and a host of other techniques, including ones as simple as sending a thank you card after an interview.

When Norma got a lead from the Office of Employment and Training about the job at PTI, the job club staff was there to help her prepare, lending her emotional support, helping her fine-tune her resume, and tirelessly performing mock interviews.

“They gave me as much support as I needed. I can still call them now,” Norma said.

Norma impressed PTI with her knowledge and preparation — and as a result she now has a challenging job she loves. 

Now Norma is supporting other job club members. She passes job leads on to the Job Club and plans to become a Job Club mentor, sharing the skills she learned with the next generation of job seekers.

Job Club Coordinator Traci Nolen said Norma’s story is inspirational, and proves the benefits of job clubs.

“Norma not only took support from Job Club, she gave back by being committed to helping her fellow club members get jobs, too,” Traci said. “She shared job leads and helped introduce the Job Club to people all over Pike County. She is a leader, a doer, and a giver, and these three extremely admirable qualities got her hired very quickly!”

Several job clubs have been organized in eastern Kentucky and more are being planned. To find out more about Job Clubs of Eastern Kentucky, call 1-877-512-WORK. Find out more about EKCEP at www.ekcep.org or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ekcep.