Author: Diana Doggett
Planning Unit: Fayette County CES
Major Program: Positive Employability
Plan of Work: Build Engaged and Empowered Communities
Outcome: Long-Term Outcome
Job Club is a collaboration between Fayette County Cooperative Extension, University of Kentucky Alumni Career Services and University of Kentucky Human Resources. In addition, Job Club has partnered with 300+ urban businesses as well as local agencies, unemployment services and government to provide job search support to those who have been laid off or gone through an unexpected job loss, unemployed or in career transition. The purpose of Job Club is to provide a positive environment for motivated job seekers to meet, connect, share and learn. The free group is open to the public and meets the second and fourth Tuesday of each month, from 9:00–10:15 a.m. Job Club is a unique example of UK’s land grant mission, providing a vital link between campus and general community by disseminating research-based job search strategies. As a result of COVID-19, Job Club transitioned to virtual program delivery in March 2020 via Zoom Webinar and Facebook live stream. Comparing 12 month data (March 2019 –January 2020) and (March 2020 – January 2021), Job Club attendance increased by 154% (840 vs 2,135). Average virtual attendance was 101 with 181, the most for any session. Job Club was founded in January of 2013 in Lexington, KY. Based upon annual attendee surveys, eighty-six percent of past participants reported improving their employability skills as a result of Job Club. Since its inception, 2,160 job seekers and 281 employment recruiters have benefited from attending with 234 participants gaining new employment. This computes to $10.5M in successful Job Club attendees’ employment compensation. Job Club’s virtual access has reached attendees from 60 counties and 30 states. Participants also receive nutrition program information and resources at each session.
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