Lancaster: Interviewing 101 made its debut at the PA CareerLink of Lancaster County on Wednesday, January 20, 2010. This interactive workshop teaches individuals how to prepare for an interview to include all the prep work before the interview thru negotiating tough interview questions and how to successfully follow-up afterwards. All attendees get the opportunity to be the interviewer, the interviewee and a silent observer with the main focus being on how to answer tough interview questions in a classroom setting so that you can successfully negotiate any questions when you're on an actual interview.

There were 14 individuals that attended this very successful workshop, and the following are some of the feedback that was received: "The information was very clearly presented and the interaction with groups was also an asset", "The information was invaluable based on today's interviewing standards", "Very informative, I really enjoyed the breakout sessions".

Interviewing 101 is held every Wednesday, from 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm at the PA CareerLink of Lancaster County. To register for a class, please call 717-509-5613/ext 236 or 717-391-3570 (TTY) or e-mail Sabrina at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Lancaster: Congratulations to Eric Brobst, who is the PA CareerLink of Lancaster employee of the month for January 2010. Eric works as a CareerLink Specialist and PREP coordinator at the PA CareerLink. He speaks fluent Spanish which is an important skill for his work at the PA CareerLink. This, coupled with a strong work ethic, made Eric stand out among his peers who nominated him as employee of the month.

Eric is a graduate from Millersville University, where he majored in Speech Communication. He enjoys going to the gym in his down time and he also has a DJ business that he works at on the weekends (ProVolve Entertainment).

We want to thank Eric for his hard work and dedication, and wish him continued success in the future.

Lancaster:  On Saturday, January 16, the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era featured Tom Showalter, Director of the Job Club program at the PA CareerLink of Lancaster County, as a part of its Newsmaker series.  The article highlighted the way that Job Club is putting people back to work quickly in the midst of record high unemployment.  It also gave us a glimpse of what drives this veteran manager.  His job has been "a gift to me".  "It feels like something I was destined to  do."

Congratulations to Tom for this recognition and for his role as an ambassador for the work of the PA CareerLink in Lancaster County.

Ephrata: On Wednesday, January 13, 2010 during the evening, Senator Mike Brubaker hosted "Employ Your Time: Coping with Unemployment" at the Ephrata Recreation Center. The program was originally scheduled to run from 6:00 - 8:00 pm, but due to the large number of people that attended, it lasted well past 9:00 pm with the Senator answering questions in the group question and answer session and individually. Experts were on hand from eight agencies including SCORE, ASSETS, the Department of Public Welfare, the Lancaster Bar Association, the Unemployment Compensation division of the PA Department of Labor and Industry, the Office of the Attorney General and the PA CareerLink of Lancaster County to address questions around such issues as unemployment compensation, job placement, job finding scams, and various programs that are in place to help Lancaster residents find employment using a town hall format.

One lady said, "I've been unemployed for the past two years, and this is the first time that I actually feel like there is hope". This was said after she found out about some of the outstanding programs that are available through the participating agencies that were on hand. She is also looking forward to taking the Interviewing 101 class hosted at the PA CareerLink of Lancaster County. This interactive workshop is offered every Wednesday from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. at the PA CareerLink, 1016 N. Charlotte St. in Lancaster.

Our thanks to Senator Brubaker for leading this effort on behalf of the people of Lancaster County.