PSGCNJ Executive Director’s Report

By Rick Verbanas, Executive Director, PSGCNJ
Greetings,
Over the last ten weeks, much has happened for your Professional Service Group of Central New Jersey (PSGCNJ). Only a few of the dozen or so PSGs remain active since the May 25 removal of the Department of Labor’s sponsorship of the PSG program. I am pleased to say, PSGCNJ is alive and well.
What have we done since hosting our last DoL sponsored meeting on May 21, 2012?

• We found a new location for the Monday General Meetings at Temple Beth-El in Hillsborough.

• We established a new phone number (732-445-573) and email address (info@psgcnj.org).

• We have continued to book speakers and offer networking at weekly meetings.

• In an effort to streamline decisions during this critical reorganizational phase, we created a new Executive Council that includes: one representative from each committee, an Executive Director, and Vice Director.

• We created five task forces to help with Infrastructure, Equipment, Legal Entity, By-Laws, and Sponsorship. As a result,

• We voted to become a Non-Profit 501(c)4 (Social Welfare Organization) and are applying for approval;

• We have re-written and approved a first draft of By-Laws which will be submitted to General Membership over the following weeks;

• We have received donations of a laptop, projector, microphone with speaker, and camera tripod (we still need a video camera);

• We have gathered and mined our membership data; temporary storage has been secured.

• We reorganized our committees to share manpower.

• We restructured the Opportunity Center, including a new member profile system, and new methods of contacting employers.

• We continued to offer Advance Resume Reviews and Mock Interviews, and have had a week of Job Search Training for new members.

• We launched a new blog, “Transition to Success,” and transferred over 150 newsletter articles for easy searchable access. We went from 20 views in May to 1,700+ page views in July!

• We publish three to five new articles every Monday.

• We created collateral and instructional documents for members to assist in marketing PSGCNJ.

• We contacted more than 15 news sources to promote our General Membership meetings and the benefits of PSGCNJ.

• We continued to videotape our guest speakers and upload them to the video library for your reference.

• We created committee job titles and descriptions, including a list of open positions to make it easier for members to volunteer.

• Oh, yeah… and we had a picnic in June, providing active and landed members with some fun!

As you see, we have been busy. There is probably much more I am forgetting, or may not even be aware of. Please allow me to express my sincerest gratitude to all those who have helped us achieve so much, in such a short time. Without your combined efforts, we would have closed like most of the other PSGs. Give yourselves a huge kudos!
If I were looking for a job (and I am), I would be using these impressive results for my CAR (Challenge, Action, Result) examples on my resume. If I wasn’t involved in the above, I would be searching the committees’ current openings and finding a way to volunteer at least three hours each and every week so I can get the CARs and show what I have been doing while in transition. To me, that is one of the major advantages that separate us from just being another unemployed networking club.
We’ve accomplished a lot and there is more to do. Yes, we are alive, and we should all take pride in that. I believe we can thrive, though. Thank you to all who are doing their part (and some well beyond that) to help see that happen.
Happy Landings!
Rick Verbanas