No more insights
I had to take a long-hard look at the information being provided and if it was really assisting many people to find employment. While few made comments, most people that contacted me rather than look up the answers in the articles presented, wanted individual help. While I used to do this as a volunteer, limits in time and resources limited my participation. I hated to turn people away without helping in some way, so I was just giving resume formats that worked in the past, while including an employment workbook.
This scenario had continued for the last 6 years. I began writing this blog as a way to address the many who had contacted me who wanted copies of a newspaper article I had written. In it’s heyday, I was authoring 60+ articles per week for various newspapers throughout the US. Many of those papers have closed due to Internet providing news and their inability to remain open and competitive in a ever-increasing non-print economy. I witnessed 34 papers close, out of the 60 that I wrote for. I assisted many newspaper columnists to locate employment elsewhere, as well as assist many more to structure their resumes to “market” themselves towards prospective companies.
In this trend to eliminate published news, I felt it best to end that portion of my volunteer efforts at the end of 2009. I will also end my involvement in the volunteer effort that has taken me on a journey of helping many friends, associates, family members and complete strangers. I have placed or assisted in placing a little over 6,000 people in the last 14 years. About 900 in a church “calling” that I had. For the 1st 3 years I was a ward employment specialist, the next 3 years, my better-half and I were stake employment specialists and had a great team in Mr. Maxwell, Mr. Brooksby and Mr. Moss, who were instrumental in accomplishing 543 placements in the last year of our participation in that “calling”.
Since then, my wife and I have continued to assist members of our faith (http://www.lds.org) and everyone and anyone that had been referred to us by friends or family. We first participated as a way to help our fellow Christians, then expanded upon it to help those that needed it, regardless of their religious, political, nationality or standing on any particular issues. We assisted because they needed help and for no underlying agenda. We did not use our format for assistance as a proselyting agenda.
It has always been our intent to help who needed to be helped. We were never looking for accolades, or to be known in the community, as most of our assistance remained confidential to the people we were assisting. But it is surprising to note that most people don’t report back to inform us that they “landed” a job that we helped them find. Quite frankly more often, we found out from either the friend that referred them or through a family member.
We are thankful for our faith and our determination to make a difference in peoples lives. We have always done this effort pro-bono. We had never charged anyone for our services. That included the newspapers we wrote for, the Professional Placement Companies that we assisted or to the individual coming to us. This was not a money making adventure for us, it was however very costly as this philanthropy endeavor began to ‘take on a life of it’s own’. We will continue to serve our community of Corona/Norco, California as well as be involved in local philanthropy endeavors to include;
Soroptimists (http://www.sicorona.org/),
Inspire (http://www.inspirelifeskills.org/),
Great Love Foundation (http://www.greatlovefoundation.blogspot.com/) and contribute to our local
Boy Scouts of America (http://bsa-ciec.org/openrosters/view_homepage.asp?orgkey=21).
We are also creating a college scholarship fund with the University of California. We encourage all to be involved in your community and in the lives of your neighbors.
We are all each other’s neighbors.
We wish you prosperity and the best that this life has to offer.
Gary “Mac” McGee
Moroni 8:3
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
Gary, It’s amazing the impact that just one caring person can make. You certainly are a testiment to that. I know you helped me when I was looking for work. I don’t think I got a job directly by your placement, but my resume has never been the same since that time. Your “insights” will be a part of my career track until I retire. And I will likely pass on things I’ve learned from you to my kids and friends as they struggle through their careers. I’m mostly sad to know that I was not responsible for one of those 14 “thank you” notes, but I should have been. I’d like to fix that error now my friend…Thank you! - Ken
Uncle Gary,
Thanks for sharing the post with us. I of course have been helped many a times by you and Geekie…for which I am so thankful. Your journey of helping others in finding employment has been quite successful…but even more than that…I hope you feel happy and proud of yourself for the great service rendered.
I hope you and Geekie have more time to enjoy the little things…and I hope you keep up your garden so we can enjoy fresh veggies when we visit next.
Love you both so much and thank you for your example and love! Leanna, Ernesto & Azaleia
Thanks for keeping us updated on the wonderful work you and Karin do. You have blessed the lives of countless people - including our little family here. You are a great force for good here in this part of the vineyard.
Loves,
Alita, Curtis and family
Thanks so much for always helping me when I needed it Uncle Gary. Not so much with job placement, but you were always the one I’d ask when I had questions on taxes and such like that. You are so knowledgeable and so helpful and I am greatful for all your help with everything. Sad to see the end of your articles but I totally understand 
Love Alicia
Sorry to see this end. Wish that the articles could still help those looking to improve their employment status. It’s been a good run. Thanks for all the time and effort spent in this endeavor, you are truly a godsend to those who were helped in any way with the information provided. Now on to the next adventure.
K