State Representatives Dian Slavens (D-Canton) and Marc Corriveau (D-Northville) will hold a special green town hall meeting on Thursday, July 23 at 6pm in the Community Room. They will share information about job opportunities in new and emerging industries like renewable energy. Slavens and Corriveau will be joined by Liesl Clark, deputy director of the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth. No registration is necessary.

Our Speed Interview Practice Session is scheduled for August 13 from 7-9 p.m. and we need your help to make it work. We are looking for 10 community volunteers to pose the interview questions. It's very easy and will only require a couple hours of your time. It's set up like a speed-dating session: interviewers will ask one question of each candidate and then write a very brief comment. We will provide the interview questions.

This opportunity is ideal for hiring managers, HR people or anyone that has had experience conducting interviews. If you are interested, contact Laurie Golden at goldenl@cantonpl.org for more information.

"Determining What You Want From Your Career" is one of the many job resources available in the LearningExpress Library database. With completion of the questionnaire, you will learn more about yourself and the work environment you want. Once you know this information, you will be able to focus your job-search efforts better. As a result, you will save considerable time and energy because you will apply only for jobs that you are qualified to fill, that you are interested in, that you will be happy pursuing, and that will help you achieve your goals.

Success stories are inspiring. In Outliers Malcolm Gladwell explains how several factors are important for a person to become really successful in any field. It is a fascinating read.

Looking for a job? Try the website snagajob.com. They are the #1 source for hourly and part time jobs which connects seekers with 100,000 active job listings from top employers across the country. There are also listings of full time jobs. You can search by zip code to narrow it down or browse by job type. Find your job today!

On June 11, the Today Show ran ran a segment on the important role libraries play during the recession.

Spiff up that resume and learn sure-fire interview techniques at three workshops to help job seekers offered at the Canton Public Library.

Christina Stark, a human resources specialist, will help attendees prepare for the job market with the following programs.

Resume Development, July 16, 10:00AM-Noon. An excellent resume is a marketing document that is well written, attractive, interesting, appropriately formatted, has a professional quality, and contains no inaccurate or misleading information. Guidelines and worksheets will be provided to help you develop that marketing document. Current issues for job seekers, cover letters, and the Internet will be discussed.

Interview Strategies, July 29, 10 a.m.–noon. Getting that interview is the culmination of your job search efforts. Interviews not only include that face-to-face time with your potential employer but could include personality, knowledge, and behavioral assessments. This workshop will cover information about the types of interviews, the importance of preparation, and questions you can expect (and you should ask).

Speed Interview Practice Session, August 13, 7-9 p.m. Get real life practice answering interview questions in this round-robin style format. As a prerequisite, you must attend the Resume Development and/or Interview Strategies class.

Online registration with a valid library card is required for all programs. You may register two weeks in advance of program date at our Program Calendar. Community volunteers are needed to act as interviewers for the Speed Interview Practice Session. Call 734-397-0999 to sign up.

The Better Business Bureau has warned job hunters about the following job scams: online job scams geared towards graduates, employment scams, FTC-work-at-home schemes, job applicant "reshipping" and "forwarding" scams, donation processing job scams, phony federal job listings, and

Date: June 23, 2009 | Time: 9:30 a.m.
Discover how to use the ReferenceUSA database with its 14 million potential employers nationwide as a job searching tool! Session topics include how to put together your information in a resume, networking, researching for company information, and negotiating techniques. Register online, this class now open to residents and non-residents alike.

U.S. Representative John Dingell’s office has compiled a guidebook entitled, "Displaced Worker Assistance and Training Opportunities Guidebook," which includes information on unemployment benefits, food stamps, foreclosure assistance, job training programs and more.

Have you ever heard of government grants? This is government money that, for qualified individuals, does not have to be repaid.  There are grants for women, minorities, business, housing, college, and private reasons. You could get $20,000.00 to fix your house, $50,000.00 to start up a business, another grant to pay your tuition and another to help pay your bills.

If you are considering or looking for a federal government job, check out GovCentral.com.  Discover how to get a government job th

With the GM bankruptcy and related layoffs, there is no question that the people of Michigan are going through some tough times and are wondering where to turn. That is why CPL has joined with other members of the Metro Net Library Consortium to develop a checklist to help those that are facing unemployment and feeling overwhelmed by the recession. Tough Times - Library Lifelines is a list of resources to help you: file for unemployment, find affordable health insurance, find a new job, keep your home, maintain and repair your credit plus find additional assistance.

This information in .pdf format

Filing an Unemployment Claim

File online or by phone with the Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA), the State of Michigan's source for unemployment claims.

At $1.50 for the first page and $1 per additional page for outgoing domestic faxes (international faxes are $4.95 for the first page and $3.45 per page thereafter), Canton Public Library offers self-serve faxing at reasonable rates. But did you know that in many cases, you can scan and email your document(s) for free — avoiding fax charges altogether? Canton Public Library has flatbed (letter-size) scanners you can use at no cost. Once you have your scanned documents, simply send them to the recipient from your web-based email account from the same computer you used for scanning.

Spring is the perfect time to learn about one of the worlds oldest occupations: farming. Check out these informational books about how to do it, or stop by the Canton Farmer's Market, Sundays from 10am to 2pm, to chat with real farmers and pick up fresh fruits, vegetables and other treats.

Update [8/31/2010]: As of September 1, 2010 we no longer offer one-on-one appointments with a librarian.

Get one-on-one assistance from a librarian on reference projects, Internet use or other library services. Make an appointment and our librarians can help you post a resume to a job hunt site, learn to navigate the web and set up email, obtain in-depth reference assistance, research a health topic, learn to use a database, and more. It’s your own private consultation with a reference librarian. Ask at the Reference Desk to set up your appointment.

Have you ever noticed the current state of the world and wondered...WHY?  Visit Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonist Index for a different view of today's events.

April 2, 9:30-11:30 a.m.
Need a professional-looking resume? This class teaches you to use the resume templates in MS Word. Also explore popular employment websites. Prerequisite: MS Word I or equivalent

Filing for unemployment benefits just got a little easier with the release of Filing your claim for unemployment benefits & finding a job - a joint effort of the Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) and the Michigan Works! Agencies. This 17 minute DVD provides information on the claims-filing process for unemployment compensation and answers many of the typical questions asked by unemployed workers. Multiple copies are available at the Library.