Career Resource Center

I give them five stars!!!
The advisors are the best!!! I enjoy their sessions very much.
During a time of experiencing pain with a loss of a job, this truly is a safe place. Kelly is the best. She totally gets the big picture!

I was pleased to find CRC, an organization that actually helps and supports job-​seekers. They have a good track record too – 80% of their members find jobs. I have worked with recruiters and they try to place me in a «less than ideal» position so they get a commission.
CRC is unique because there are 1on1 advisory sessions that resolve an individual’s issues and give you insight from the employers’ perspective. Most of the class facilitators and speakers are amazing and share their expertise and years of experience. The mock interview sessions were realistic and revealing – I made some important changes to how I interview. Thanks CRC!

For the price, this is not a bad deal. The best part for me was the one-​on-​one counseling sessions. I was using a resume format that was less than ideal, and they steered me in the right direction. I also got some advice on things like email etiquette and the suggestion to volunteer to add to my experience and connect with some people within the field I wanted to go into.
Almost everything else was about networking, which frustrated me to no end. You can get the same advice from countless career advice books and any other career counselor on the planet. They all sell LinkedIn like they’re being paid to do it, and the main advice was to contact every person I ever met and «link in» with them. The CRC people don’t seem to understand that not everyone is a socialite who knows hundreds of people. This advice did not help me in the slightest.
I went to a couple of group sessions; even though the CRC claims it’s expanded to help people of all ages, the sessions were exclusively aimed at baby boomers and contained info you can easily find on the internet. I won’t go again.
I knocked off an extra star for these two annoyances. First, the way they manage appointments is beyond annoying. They call to confirm your appointment, and if you don’t respond right away, they start calling and emailing you nasty threats that they will cancel your appointment. Once I had to cancel at the last minute because I fell ill, and some nameless woman left a really nasty voicemail message for me, insinuating I was too stupid to know about their 48-​hour cancellation policy. Of course, they close all the time and never give 48-​hour notice. It’s all unnecessarily invasive and rude.
Second, when I had an interview, I scheduled a mock interview, and the interviewer refused to do the interview with me when I got there because she didn’t approve of the job I’d applied for. I had another appointment with my regular counselor before the interview, and he didn’t do anything to prepare me either. That was the final straw. What kind of «career resource center» can’t even prepare you for an interview? (I got the job, by the way, despite the CRC.)

I’ve been very happy with the services offered by the CRC. Considering that most of the staff here are volunteer, I’ve been pleased with their responsiveness and willingness to lend a hand. I’ve had several 1-​On-​1 sessions, all of which have been useful. I’ve also attended several of their class room sessions and here too I’ve walked away with some good ideas or direction in helping me in my job search.
It’s important to remember… it is «you» who owns you’re resume and drive in finding a job… the CRC is but one tool in your bag to help you along.

I was referred to this place in 2010, after I’d lost my job. The fee was one hundred dollars. In exchange for that I received exactly nothing. No help with searching out new positions or fields in which my skill set might work, no help with expanding my search strategies. No one with whom I spoke new the first thing about my profession or how I could improve my professional profile.
So what did I learn over the course of a year? The importance of networking! Quite a revelation. I was told to «network,» that is, to contact every person I’d ever met and plead my case with him or her. When that yielded nothing, the obvious solution (according to CRC) was to network even harder. Networking, illustrated with a few anecdotes about how someone’s babysitter had a cousin who turned out to have gone to school with someone who knew a Fortune 500 CEO, and presto! the next thing you know, that person had the job of his dreams.
The place is filled with job-​search materials that your local library has, along with the usual handouts of job-​related websites. This requires an office and $ 100? Of course, every so often these geniuses send requests for donations. I throw them out promptly. Having given them $ 100 I couldn’t afford, I’ve already done more for them than their dealings with me deserve.
A waste of time and money.

The Career Resource Center is an almost all volunteer organization that specializes in career counseling for experienced, professional workers. They offer a personal approach to career guidance but they are focused on results.
The Center offers one-​on-​one appointments with volunteer counselors to help with resumes, practice interviews and general assistance in organizing the job search. The Center also offers skill-​building programs, such as Microsoft Excel, LinkedIn and more.
If you are a professional looking for work, this is a great resource. There is a one-​time fee for new clients; however, it’s a small price to pay for the quality services available.
If you have spare time and a desire to help people, consider the Career Resource Center. As you can imagine, their services are in high demand during these economic times, and they need all the volunteer help they can get.
Financial donations help provide resources at the Center, bring in speakers, maintain the facilities and pay the three full– and part-​time workers.
The Career Resource Center is a little bit difficult to find. It’s in the Grove Cultural Campus, on the lower floor of the Lake Forest Symphony Music School. When you enter the cultural campus, you’ll pass the buliding on your left, park in the lot at the end of the building, and walk around the back of the building.