NEWPORT BEACH : Church Helps Many in Search for Jobs

Most of the people coming to Our Lady Queen of Angels Church on Saturdays aren’t looking only for spiritual guidance.

Like Linda Hobson, many are jobless and need help finding work, writing a resume or learning how to use a computer. The Catholic church has been providing those services for more than a year, helping hundreds find jobs.

Organizer Martin F. O’Toole said the center also provides something else: motivation.

“People get very, very down and throw up their hands when they can’t find a job, but the most important thing we stress is that there are a lot of jobs out there, so we give them self-esteem and convince them that they can find those jobs,” O’Toole said.

Hobson, 48 and out of work since November, spent a recent Saturday morning scanning the job lists and receiving a healthy dose of moral support.

“I think this is marvelous,” said Hobson, who was laid off her sales job in November. “They give us emotional support as well as potential job leads. That’s terribly important because (the job search) is very, very discouraging.”

O’Toole said many unemployed people are embarrassed about their situation, “especially those who have worked in middle and upper management and in the aerospace industry for most of their lives.”

“A lot of those people just don’t know how to go about a job search, and we try to focus them on networking as being the most important aspect of finding a job,” he said.

The church has enlisted the services of a group of volunteer counselors, accountants, attorneys and professors. The job lists include hundreds of federal, secretarial, construction, health care and sales jobs.

Addressing a room full of job seekers, O’Toole urged them to visit libraries and find out all the information they can on the occupation they want to enter. “I encourage everybody to go to as many meetings as you can and read the trade publications because it’s a very competitive work environment out there, and you need to get to know people and do your research,” he said.

For Cathleen Sweeney, who has been out of work for more than a year, that means learning to use a computer in order to get the banquet management job she wants. She’s been receiving lessons at the church since September.

“I have to learn new software or I’ll be at a disadvantage,” Sweeney said. “I come here for moral support too.”

John Haber of Fullerton came looking for any job and found a few leads. “I think more churches and community groups need to do this to help us people who are jobless find jobs,” he said.

Several churches in the county refer parishioners to Our Lady Queen of Angels, and anyone, no matter what his or her religion, is invited to attend the workshops, O’Toole said.