Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are taught the value of work and follow the command to work and provide for the needs of their families. Work also gives a person the opportunity to develop talents. However, sometimes finding a job may be difficult because of the area in which a person lives or because that person has not had the opportunity to develop marketable skills. This is why the Church sponsors Employment Centers.
H. Burke Peterson, a former member of the Church's Presiding Bishopric, said the following regarding Church Employment:
- There are times when neither an individual nor his family is able to do all that is necessary to find employment. In this case, the Church employment system should be ready to help the member work out his problem. Very simply stated, the purpose of the employment system is to help qualified individuals find appropriate job opportunities as quickly as possible—or in even simpler terms, to get the right person in the right spot at the right time—usually the sooner the better. [1]
The purpose of LDS Employment centers is to help people obtain the marketable skills needed to find employment, start small businesses, or improve businesses they already have. In 1999 the Church approved increasing the number of Church Employment Centers, so that there are now centers in 43 countries around the world. There are 103 in the United States and Canada and 153 in other countries around the globe.
In 2004 Church Employment Centers helped 45,830 people get into schools to gain needed skills; helped 145,572 people with job placement; and helped 9,432 people become self-employed. All of this was done with the help of unpaid volunteers. Missionaries provided 731,008 hours of service in employment centers, and members in the area provided another 351,116 hours of service. That makes a total of 1,082,124 service hours in 2004 alone.
At the employment centers, people are taught skills that will help them find jobs or reach their career goals. One way this is done is through career workshops. In the workshops, individual are first taught how to create, evaluate, and set goals. Phase two of the workshop training is to identify and develop resources needed to meet those goals, then how to make good impressions while networking, in interviews, on resumes, and on applications. The final phase of the workshop concentrates on how to grow in a new job. Such workshops have been very successful in helping people to quickly find jobs with better pay.
See also Perpetual Education Fund
References
- ↑ “The Church Employment System,” Ensign, May 1976, 113.
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