I have been working for the Federal Government for over 33 years, most of the time in human resources (training, career planning, employee development, HR). I have written three courses on career planning and have conducted numerous workshops on career planning to thousands of individuals at Federal and local government agencies, professional associations, conferences, and non-profit organization. I have also been a career counselor in interagency job centers during Federal RIFs. I have had a wonderful Federal career and I wanted to give other members of my community the opportunity to be civil servants, too.

I developed a Federal Resume and Job Search Workshop and have been conducting it (at no cost) at my church, the Capitol Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church, in Washington, D.C. Since February of 2009, I have conducted three workshops and I plan to do another in October. We got the word out to the community via newspaper, radio (I was interviewed live on the Tony Richards radio show on WHUR), television (I was filmed by NBC 4 local news), our church bulletin, and word of mouth, and we have had approximately 400 participants from the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area so far.

In addition to the workshops, I also meet with individuals after my church services on Saturday to provide one-on-one resume and job search support. This week, I will be training job counselors at a Northern Virginia community center how to help their clients find Federal jobs. I will continue to provide this service to my community as long as I can. I consider helping people to find work as a ministry.

"To whom much is given, much is required."