Resources for Job Seekers

Employment Resource Collection | Online Resources | Getting an Email Account | Programs

ERC (Employment Resource Collection)

The Employment Resource Collection (ERC) is a collection of books, catalogs, and brochures selected to help job seekers find work, professional training, and/or further their education. Subjects covered in the ERC include test preparation for schooling and trades; resume writing, job interview skills, career guidance, college and scholarship information, and other related topics. The largest ERC is housed at the Central Library in Wellman Hall with over 750 job seeker books and resources, though the Brightwood, Forest Park, and Indian Orchard branches also have impressive selections of job seeker books in their ERCs too. Most ERC materials are available for loan, though some are intended for in-house use only.

Job seeker books and DVDs are available at all SCL location including those that do not have specially designated ERCs. Please see your branch librarian for help finding these or any other library items.

Helpful call numbers:

• Careers: 331.7-331.7020973
• Test preparation: 378.1662 - 378.1664
• College (selecting and paying for): 378.3 - 378.7309
• Resumes: 650.14
• Cover letters: 650.142
• Spanish: 860s

Job Seekers Book & DVD Lists

• This list includes books that help with interviewing, using social media in your job search, taking job and career tests, starting a business, and more. See our DVD list for even more resources.

Helpful Online Resources

Learning Express

Learning Express is a web resource designed to help people find success with work and school. It is easy to use, and can help job seekers in many ways. Available for use in the library or remotely at your home or business.

For job seekers, the best places to start within Learning Express are the Jobs and Careers and Job Search and Workplace Skills Learning Centers which offer online courses, eBooks and more for creating resumes, for building networking skills, for interviewing and the like to help you find success on the job. Download our flyer here.

Log in here: Register with your Springfield City Library card number and a password of your choice.

Career Transitions

Complete, self-paced application that walks job-seekers through the entire process from assessing strengths and interests, to exploring new opportunities, to ultimately improving the chances of landing a job. With Career Transitions users can:

• Prepare build, save, retrieve and update personal career information with a career toolkit
• Assess explore current skills, occupational knowledge and interests and match them with fulfilling career paths
• Explore investigate thousands of career paths, industries, locations and companies
• Improve find educational opportunities and take classes to increase hiring chances
• Apply search job listings from around the country that meet user criteria

Log in here (Requires a Springfield City Library card)

Business & Nonprofit Databases

Use these online resources to investigate potential employers, to research markets and industries, to search for foundation grants to individuals and nonprofit organizations, and to search career and investment opportunities. All except the Foundation Center databases are available remotely at your home or business. Databases include: Business & Company Resource Center, RDS Business Suite, and Reference USA.

Log in here: Most databases will allow you immediate access; if prompted, enter your library card number.

Employment and Job Resources

Internet links to job listings, tutorials, statistics, government sites, and more. Click here for a complete listing.

Getting a FREE email account

Online job applications very often require the applicant to have an email account. Getting an email acccount is easy, and often free. To set-up your own account, click on any of the links below and fill out the registration form. Review our page for setting-up a Yahoo! email account for more information. Ask a librarian if you need assistance.

• Hotmail: http://mail.live.com
• Yahoo!: http://mail.yahoo.com
• Gmail: http://mail.google.com
• Mail: http://service.mail.com/registration.html

For more help, try watching these helpful videos from the Camden County, N.J. Library System:

• Creating a Yahoo E-mail Account, Part 1 - Signing up for an account
• Creating a Yahoo! E-mail Account, Part 2 - Using Your New Account

Programs

The Springfield City Library occasionally offers job seeker programs including resume workshops, career discussions, and the like. Details of those programs will be listed here so please visit this webpage again for more information.

Library Wins Grant to Help Job Seekers

The Springfield City Library is pleased to announce a federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to help build services for the unemployed. The grant is administered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and will run through the end of September, 2011.

With these grant funds, the Springfield City Library will expand its collection of job seeker books and DVDs to help build stronger library collections throughout the City. The grant will also support eductional programs designed to help job seekers find work. Staff will receive training in the best use of job seeker online resources and more. Please browse through this page to see some of the many ways in which the Springfield City Library is using this grant to help job seekers.

Federally funded with LSTA funds through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.