Jack Bick knows what it takes to land your dream career.
As a certified career coach and member of the St. Jude Career Alliance committee, he’s been working with people in Collin County for about a decade now, adding tools to their job search repertoire to help differentiate themselves from other job seekers.
About five years ago, Bick, a former publisher of the Dallas Business Journal, developed the “Be Mission Critical” curriculum that the St. Jude Career Alliance uses, pulling from a lifetime of experience in journalism, mentoring, and sales. Two years later, he published the book “Be Mission Critical: Own Your Dream Career,” offering readers comprehensive, marketing based strategies to take their job search to the next level.
“I've known Jack Bick for over 40 years,” Mark Vittert, a mystery media mogul, wrote in a review of Bick’s book on Amazon. “He built the entire advertising/sales organization for our business journal company beginning in 1980. There was no guidebook for this effort, Jack just simply utilized his innate strategy abilities, leadership qualities, and remarkable positive approach.
"Jack built the organization for a number of our newspapers around the country and did a remarkable job. He was responsible for hiring many individuals and was universally successful in that process. If anyone would know and could identify the most important aspects of finding and securing the right job for themselves, Jack Bick would be a most outstanding coach and instructor.
“What Jack Bick has to say about finding and securing the right job for you is most definitely worth listening to.”
Now Bick wants to help you land your dream job as part of the St. Jude Career Alliance Ministry’s Be Mission Critical: Own Your Dream Career virtual job search workshop. The weekly Zoom-based job search is free of charge and open to all people of any faith, ethnicity, age, etc. “Everyone is welcome,” St. Jude Career Alliance announced in its Dec. 21 press release.
The Zoom-based job search workshop begins at 9 a.m. and ends at 11 a.m. each Wednesday via zoom for five weeks beginning Jan. 6.
Networking needs
It comes at a time when unemployment numbers are at 8.3 percent in Texas and 6.7 percent across the country, according to the most recent data by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “That is a lot of lives,” Bick says. “Because every person that is unemployed also has a family, and they have people and obligations to people. It’s a big ripple effect, and I think that it is very important that we address this problem.”
Bick says that North Texans are lucky, in part, because there are a lot of self-help groups and churches working to educate job seekers.
“I think because this place doesn’t exist without jobs, without commerce and that is how it grew up. I’ve founded business journals and never seen a place where networking is more important. It is an artform here."
Bick knows a thing or two about networking. He spent years networking at newspapers, magazines, and online publishing as well as producing business expos and award events. The Dallas Press Club, Texas Community Newspapers Association, and the Small Business Administration have recognized him for excellence. He received the SBA’s Media Advocate of the Year. He was also the Allen Business Person of the Year and the Plano Business Person of the Year in 2000.
“If they had a playoff for best networkers, people in Dallas wouldn’t be allowed,” he adds.
There are also successful business people like Bick who are volunteering their time to help job seekers in need.
“But the more important thing, the curriculum is designed to really help people to know what to do and how to do it and when they’re doing and why they’re doing it,” he says.
Virtual job workshop experience
During the five-week virtual workshop, Bick and other job search experts — Mike Barett, Greg Mechler, and Walt Glass — plan to address specific marketing-based methodology topics, including the marketing mindset, selling resume, and conversational interviews.
“We suggest a very personalized approach that avoids the normal way of doing it,” Bick says. “We like to make it into a conversation as opposed to being a firing squad because it works. It allows you to differentiate yourself as the individual that you truly are and allows you to stand out in their mind.”
Bick points out that it is difficult to make yourself stand out when you’re simply applying for a job. Employers are only going to spend 10 seconds to look at your resume. The last thing you want to do is “use all your ammunition in your resume.”
“How do you stand out in the situation with 100 to 500 [other job seekers]?” he asks. “There are so many resumes that are chasing after the jobs. Wouldn’t it be better to approach them and instead of saying, ‘I saw your job,’ come in and say, ‘I want to work for your company.’ That’s how we differentiate ourselves.”
Need to Know
Interested parties who wish to join these Zoom meetings should click on this link <here>.
Pass Code: 019521
Schedule: 9-11 a.m. Wednesdays via Zoom for five consecutive weeks beginning Jan. 6. Career experts will address the specific marketing-based methodology topics each week as follows:
Jan. 6, Be Mission Critical: Deep Dive – Marketing Mindset
Presenter: Jack Bick, certified career coach, the Be Mission Critical Creator, and former publisher of the Dallas Business Journal and Collin County Business Press.
Jan. 13, Be Mission Critical: Impact – Selling Resume
Presenter: Mike Barrett, volunteer employment coach
Jan. 20, Be Mission Critical: Touch Points – Targeted Search
Presenter: Greg Mechler, partner, The Human Advantage, Inc.
Jan. 27, Be Mission Critical: Conversational Interviews
Presenter: Walt Glass, interview success coach
Feb. 3, Be Mission Critical: Summary – How It All Works Together
Presenter: Jack Bick, certified career coach, the Be Mission Critical Creator, and former publisher of the Dallas Business Journal and Collin County Business Press.
The St. Jude Career Alliance Ministry helps those who are unemployed/underemployed, career builders and college students to develop individual career strategies and meets via Zoom at 9 a.m. most Wednesdays. In addition to the career marketing workshops, the ministry offers other career-oriented speakers and presentations at weekly Wednesday morning Zoom meetings as well as training in job search skills, support groups and job-hunting resources.
For more information, visit www.stjudecareeralliance.com or email [email protected].
