Churches helping job seekers

The unemployed in metro Atlanta are turning to churches for help in record numbers.

They are not showing up Sunday mornings, but rather on weekdays for help with résumés, interview practice and networking.

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Churches such as Transfiguration Catholic Church in Marietta have had job-help ministries for years. Others, such as Saint Mark United Methodist Church on Peachtree Street, have started a ministries recently in response to the growing need.

Unemployment has risen to its highest level in 26 years. It’s 8.1 percent in Georgia, which means more than 393,000 Georgians are looking for work, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In the ministries, volunteer helpers have noticed the steadily climbing numbers.

“Usually, we have eight to 12 or 16 people on a Monday night,” said Mike Lang, who runs Transfiguration’s ministry “This past Monday night, we had 27.”

The church holds weekend workshops that feature classes such as managing money during job-searching. Last October, so many were looking for help that the church held two workshops, she said. About 50 showed up for each.

“That’s a lot for us,” Lang said.

Jack Sherer, who runs Saint Benedict Catholic’s program in Duluth, said many of newcomers are recently laid off mid- or upper-level managers who have hit middle age.

Volunteers are seeing the effect on employers as well. Some church programs bring in industry leaders who have jobs available to talk to candidates.

Andy Whitlock of Newnan First United Methodist Church said, “Whereas in the past, we might have eight or 10 [employers] come out. Now, we are lucky to get two or three.”

The type of help varies from church to church. Church leaders often know of each other’s work and visit each other’s classes to learn or to avoid repetition when creating their own programs. Some churches may have 10 job seekers, and provide them with one-on-one help. Roswell United Methodist Church sometimes has more than 300 show up for its job ministry, one of the oldest in the Atlanta area.

The volunteers who help are often former job seekers, like Whitlock. He went to the Roswell Methodist group in 2003. He was so impressed and grateful after he got a job that he started a similar program in his own church in Newnan.

“One of the things that comes out of this is, pay it forward. Let us help you, then you turn around and help other people,” he said.