While walking into a San Francisco Giants day game, CTN volunteer Rudy Lacoe had a chance meeting with a job seeker whom he had helped the week before. After the meeting, Rudy’s day was not going to be ruined regardless of the game’s outcome. The job applicant happily relayed to Rudy that he had just been hired for a job at UPS, in part as a result of Rudy’s help.
A Community Tech Network volunteer since 2011, Rudy currently helps job seekers at Goodwill, one of CTN’s valued training partners, in San Francisco. Although now retired, Rudy uses his skills as a banker, human resource software developer, and technical writer to help level the employment playing field for job seekers. He estimates he has assisted with over 500 resumes during that period.
“There is no reason why a job seeker should be expected to know how to write a resume. It’s something people don’t have to do very often,” says Rudy. “One of my goals is helping the prospective employer get excited about a candidate.” Rudy accomplishes that by helping the candidate create an effective resume that appeals to the employer. During his discussion with a candidate, Rudy identifies and emphasizes on the resume the skills and abilities which most closely match the job description in order to have the potential employer believe, “This candidate can do this job from day one!” He also encourages the candidate to share his or her enthusiasm about the job with the potential employer.
Rudy sometimes shows job seekers how to apply for an email account and shows them the basics of using the internet for job search, but not as much anymore. One of the things he noticed that has changed the most over the years is that fewer people need this and shares, “I guess CTN must be doing something right!”
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