A song of our times

I was heading to the library for book club one Sunday and the hard rock chorus of Chickenfoot's latest single, "Three and a half Letters", roared into my car. The song is devastatingly affecting. It's hard to drive to work with tears in your eyes.

   I need a job
   I need a job
   I'm willing to work
   But I need a job

The backstory? Chickenfoot's lead singer, Sammy Hagar, was inspired by correspondence he received from Iraq vets, homeless, and others desperate for work. They wanted to work--they were able to work--they just couldn't find jobs. Hagar used actual letters he received in the lyrics. Hagar and Chickenfoot hope that the publicity from the song will be a practical conduit they can use to help these folks and others in similar situations find jobs.

What caught my ear was this stanza--

   I'm sorry this letter is hand-written but I don't have a computer
   I don't have access to one
   I'm 51 years old
   I lost my wife to breast cancer three years ago
   Lost my job of 26 years one year later
   I'm homeless with no one to turn to
   I've been through a lot, brother
   I heard you like to help people
   Well, I need help

I wish the person who wrote that letter knew that most public libraries could give him access to a computer,other equipment and perhaps even technology training. The Urbana Free Library serves many folks looking for jobs every day in our computer lab. But not everyone is aware that we're there for them. We libraries all certainly have books about writing resumes, interviewing, and the job search. And we plan to provide more.

Computer & Internet Services at The Urbana Free Library

Here's a list of some of The Urbana Free Library's job hunting materials.

Listen to "Three and a Half Letters".


The guys of Chickenfoot put together a podcast discussing how "Three and a Half Letters" evolved.

If you're interested in listening to more Chickenfoot, "Three and a Half Letters" is on the album Chickenfoot III.  Follow the link or contact us at Adult Services to place a hold. 217-367-4405 or reference@tufl.info.

Veterans on the Job Hunt

A caller inquired about online resume-building resources for people moving from military service to the civilian sector.

My initial advice was to weed out the "junk sites" with Google by limiting the domains and starting with .gov, .edu, and .org.

Google's Advanced search page has this option, under Need more tools?, or you can type "site:.edu" in the Basic search box after your search terms.

Yeah, it's Google 101. But it makes a huge difference.

So I tried "military transition resume" and variations. Here's just a sample of what I came up with, listed in order of relevance:

U.S. Department of Labor

Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS)

VETS: Create an Effective Resume (pdf)

Transition Assistance Program (TAP) Manual (pdf)

TurboTap

HireVetsFirst

HireVetsFirst Military Skills Translator

HireVetsFirst Resume Writer

Military.com

Resume Center

CareerOneStop

Military Transition

Purdue University

Online Writing Lab (OWL) Resume Workshop

University of Minnesota

Resume Tutor

The Ohio State University

Resume Tips for Military Experience (pdf)

University of Massachusetts Lowell

Describing Military Experience on a Civilian Resume

Regis University

Military to Civilian Career Transition

University of Illinois Career Center

Questions About Your Resume (pdf)

Action Words (pdf)

State of Massachusetts

The Resume Guide

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Army (CC BY 2.0).