Lisa's Story
Author: Lisa Harrington
Lisa volunteers at the Rondo Library open lab, and also recently volunteered at the George Latimer Central Library during the Winter Carnival. She is currently seeking a new job in her third career as a business analyst and project manager.
Lisa has several important reasons for volunteering at the library while looking for work herself. She believes in helping people and making a difference, and she believes her own job search makes her a more empathetic teacher for patrons in open lab who may be struggling searching for jobs.
Currently, in addition to volunteering in open lab helping people with job search, resumes, and other computer projects, Lisa has undertaken a project for the library. She is researching the feasibility of computer classes for small business owners, taking the time to connect with Rondo Library’s partners in small business development and beginning to work on a set of standards for what would be included in the class.
Lisa’s best advice for other job seekers is to take advantage of workshops available at area workforce centers, to try volunteering, and to hone an elevator speech and contacts at career fairs. She sees volunteering as aiding her job search by helping her stay upbeat and practice good time management. She also appreciates library resources that help her skills stay sharp, like the Dunn and Bradstreet database and Lynda.com.
Lisa’s favorite recent memory of library volunteering happened during this year’s Winter Carnival, when she witnessed a multigenerational crowd spontaneously begin telling stories prompted by a library slide show. She loves helping generate space for ad hoc communities that leave people enriched as they move on.