By Dana Williams
With this idea in mind, members of the club are working diligently to make a change in the corporate work force of today by fighting against age discrimination.
³If you have experience, the employers don¹t want you, and if you¹re old, they don¹t want you either,² said West Hempstead resident Valentina Janek, 54, a founder of the club. ³We¹re trying to change that by helping experienced and seasoned professionals find employment.²
While exchanging job searching and interview horror stories at the Sweet Hollow Diner in Melville earlier last year, five Long Island residents decided that they wanted to take a stance against the mistreatment of adults who are over 40 and returning to the work force. This initiative began the formation of the Long Island Breakfast Club, a new organization that aims to provide employment and career counseling, contacts, and referrals, among other assistance, to help individuals who are seeking employment after losing a job during their mid-life years, according to its Web site. Networking with each other, and sharing advice has helped four out of the five founders find employment as well.
³We take members from all ages, but our mission is to continue to support people who are searching for jobs in their mid-life years,² Janek said, who now works as director of marketing at ARS Financial Services in Jericho. ³We also have mentors who are experienced in certain professions that help our other members with information about skills and jobs.²
The Long Island Breakfast Club-which was named after the five founders¹ weekly job-search breakfast meetings- held its first official meeting at the Sterling Glen senior living residence in Roslyn on Aug. 11, and all of the founders said it was more than a success.
The club, which currently provides services to communities in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, has already recruited more than 50 members, Janek said, and the founders said they plan to continue to work at building the club¹s membership. The Long Island Breakfast Club¹s goal is also to give job seekers positive reinforcement, and help them to remain optimistic about finding employment, according to club founder and West Hempstead resident Patricia Locurcio, who is currently still looking for a job in the legal or communications professions.
Many women and men who attended the club¹s first meeting wanted to find out how they can take advantage of the opportunities that the club offers, explained Wantagh resident Stephanie Carlino, 58, also a club founder. Carlino now works as director and chief executive of the Long Island Neurological Institute in Rockville Centre. One of the highlights of this club is that working individuals can network with each other to share experiences, and learn about possible jobs in their professions.
³There were so many people that were in the same positions that we were in, so we all thought: how can we help other people?² said JoAnn Fiorentino, another club founder. Fiorentino now works as a director at Rainbow Chimes in Huntington. ³The club allows people to exchange information, resources and it¹s comforting to know that there are other people out there who are in the same position as you.²
Members of the club, many of whom are adults returning to the competitive job market after working many years in a particular occupation, believe that it¹s a challenging task to find employment with companies that do not want to give experienced professionals salaries commensurate with their experience. ³You get all kinds of responses from employers like Œyou¹re overqualified¹ or Œyou¹re asking for too much money¹ or Œwe can¹t hire you because you might leave and find something better¹,² said West Hempstead resident Chris Fidis, 48, another founder member of the club.
Fidis, who now works as an implementation manager at Verizon, also said that unemployed people are unable to take advantage of professional resume services because they can not afford them. As a result, the club offers members a chance to have their resumes reviewed and improved by mentors, so they can be more marketable when they are applying for jobs.
Members of the club have also started the ³Pay It Forward Program² where they ask companies to contact the Long Island Breakfast Club for resumes that might suit their job openings.
³The companies can come to our meetings to meet people looking for jobs or they can e-mail us, and we can forward them resumes from members in our club,² Janek said.
The club hosted its second meeting on Wednesday at the Sterling Glen of Roslyn, and the next meeting will be on September 12. For more information about the club, visit www.pro-fusion.us and click on Long Island Breakfast Club.
Comments about this story? DWilliams@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 282.
