Resume. Maintain a current, up-to-date, resume to help you keep a focus on your past accomplishments and future goals. This is helpful even if you aren't looking for a new job.
	Continuing Education. Participate in continuing education to help you increase your effectiveness on the job. Consider this, Why should your employer give you that next raise or promotion if you are the same person with the same skills and experience they hired years ago? Give your current employer and any future prospective employer good reasons to value your abilities. For assistance with educational strategies, visit Life University. Click here to visit Life University now. Other links for continuing education: Academic Services Resource Group at Resources for Life Yes2Kollege.com
	Don't Just Secure Your Job - Secure Your Workplace. The traditional competitive workplace mentality is one of watching out for yourself. Securing your workplace is about watching out for everybody and striving to make your business/department/organization profitable, effective, productive, growing, and secure for everyone.
	Consulting. Consider starting a consulting business. Even if you only work 10 hours a month. At $40 to $60 an hour, that could mean an extra $5,000 by the end of the year. In addition, consulting can give you experience and learning opportunities that you might not get on your regular job. You might even be able to bring some additional skills and knowledge to your full-time job that will benefit everyone. Click here for more information on starting a consulting business.
	Multiple Income Streams. When rock climbing, there is a general rule that you should maintain three points of contact. For financial and career stability, consider having three or more sources of income. You wouldn't put all of your money in one place. For the same reason, you should depend on a single source for your income. Click here for more information on starting a consulting business.
	Career Assessment. How is your current job impacting the other major areas of your life such as family, health, faith, finances, and your ability to improve your world? If it isn't making these areas of your life better, consider how you can improve the situation. If improving the situation isn't an option, consider a different job. For an inspirational story from the Faith Resource Group about changing careers, click here.
	Balanced Living. The future stability and effectiveness of your career greatly depends on how balanced and healthy the rest of your life is. Visit the Resources for Life Map Page to explore how you can improve and secure the various areas of your life such as family, health, faith, finances, and your ability to improve your world. Click here to visit the Map Page now.

	Corridor Careers This is an excellent resource for finding professional jobs in the Iowa City, Coralville, and Cedar Rapids areas. [click here]
	Technisource (of Cedar Rapids) Excellent source for local employment opportunities. These are sometimes short-term jobs that can turn into full-time employment. 4800 North River Blvd NE, Suite 200 Cedar Rapids, IA 52411 Phone: (800) 330-0309 or (319) 378-9220 Fax: (319) 378-9229 Email: CedarRapids_jobs@technisource.com
	University of Iowa Employment Services The University of Iowa is one of the areas best employers. The online listing of Professional and Scientific employment opportunities is updated regularly, so check back frequently for updates and new listings. [click here for UI Employment Services]

• 6FigureJobs
• AboutJobs.com (Intern Jobs, Overseas Jobs, Resort Jobs, Summer Jobs)
• AllStarJobs Canada
• America's Job Bank
• Ants (projects for freelance writers)
• Business Plan Center
• Career Babe
• Career Builder
• Career City
• Career Hunters
• Career Magazine
• Career Resource Center
• Career Site
• Career Journal - The Wall Street Journal
• ComputerJobs.com Dream Jobs - Advice for Web Developers (Wired Magazine)
• Dice [ Main Site | Free Tools ]
• Emplawyernet - Legal Jobs
• Reference Research - What are your references really saying about you?
• Equal Opportunity Publications Guru.com - Support for Independent Professionals
• HeadHunter.net
• HerHomeOffice.com - Support for Home Based Business or Office
• HotJobs.com
• Intern Jobs
• Internet Career Connection
• Job Options
• Job Search USA - JobSearchUSA.org
• Jobwire
• KForce
• Minority Career Network
• Monster
• More Business - By Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs
• Muslim Career Center
• Nation Job Network
• Occupational Outlook Handbook
• Online Job Store
• Overseas Jobs
• Public Interest Jobs (PIRG)
• Quintessential Careers
• Resort Jobs
• Retail Recruiter
• Salary.com
• Senior Job Bank
• Small Business Help Center
• Summer Jobs
• Technisource
• Teksystems
• Theatre Jobs
• Thingamajob
• Transitions Abroad - Travel, Work, Study
• Unappreciated.com
• Virginia Tech Career Services
• Web Jobs USA
• Work At Home.com
• Work at Home Dot Com
• Workopolis - Canadian Jobs

A full-time consulting position may feel too risky for many people. However, part-time consulting is a great way to make additional income. The tax benefits of having your own business can be significant. Services such as Freelance.com provide a public venue to get the word out to a 'warm market' of people who are interested in the services you offer. Explore your interests. Ask yourself what work you would do if you could do anything you wanted: computer programming, training, lawn care, healthcare, financial services, etc.  Then figure out a way to get paid to do that. You may need some additional education or technology, but begin where you are at. Create a web page and business card. Begin with your personal network of family, friends, colleagues, and associates. Perhaps they could use your services or at least they could help spread the word. The Technology Services Resource Group at Resources for Life is a consulting business that was 'organically-grown' over time thanks to the word-of mouth advertising of satisfied customers. Click here to learn more about the business model.

Small 'Home-Made' Enterprises. Creating your own business from scratch can be a fun and educational experience. Here are links to some sources for inspirational and progressive insights into developing a home-based or small-scale business:

• Chandler Guild - learn about how to start your own business in candle making and crafts.
• Sohodojo - Great source for learning about progressive approaches to small-scale and home based business.

The following text from Systems Unlimited of Iowa is an example of workplace-workforce integration and holistic intercooperation. Notice how the mission, vision, core values and job description are all interrelated and interdependent. The resulting syngergy acheives a positive outcome that is greater than the sum of the parts. (20030822fr)

Mission Statement

• Systems Unlimited, Inc. exists to serve children, adults and families with disabilities and other challenges to achieve their maximum potential and quality of life.

Vision Statement

• To be innovative in the design and delivery of individualized supports and services for our consumers.
• To be recognized as the leading provider of quality / cost effective supports and services in our region.
• To be a leader in service provision in the state.

Core Values

• Everyone is Important. Persons served, employees, families, volunteers, donors, funding agencies and tax payers are all a part of our community. Respect for diversity enriches our ability to achieve our mission successfully.
• Through Partnerships, We Can Serve Wisely. When all involved participate together in a spirit of cooperation and respect, we can establish and maintain the highest standards of performance.
• Honest and Open Communications are Essential to Successful Results. Trust, creativity and partnerships are always the result of clear communications. In writing, conversation and decision-making, everyone is responsible for building a common ground of understanding for effective action to take place.
• All Choices Come With Responsibilities. Every person and every organization must make choices. We will make the best decisions we can with the time, resources and information available. Every choice also comes with the responsibility to act in a conscientious and principled manner. Rights and responsibilities are connected as we advocate for self determination and self sufficiency.
• Constant Learning Allows for Constant Improvement. Ongoing and in-depth education will expand our knowledge and our ability to consistently improve our services to meet the changing needs of those served, and those serving. We all must support an atmosphere which encourages creativity, and continual reexamination and redesign of practices.
• We Control Our Destiny. Systems Unlimited belongs to all of us. Therefore, we are all responsible for the outcomes we achieve.

JOB DESCRIPTION

• POSITION: Resource Coordinator
• PROGRAM ASSIGNMENT: Supported Community Living
• IMMEDIATE SUPERVISOR: Director of Supported Living
• MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: Preference of a BA/BS from an accredited college or university and two years of administrative or supervisory experience. A Human Service background and experience in service provision is essential. Must have the ability to communicate effectively with a variety of individuals having varying abilities. Must be able to read a wide variety of documents, expand or edit those documents and maintain them in an organized manner.
• POSITION SUMMARY: The Resource Coordinator is responsible for mobilizing team members to support consumer and organizational outcome measures. Resource Coordinators utilize the strengths of each employee and delegate accordingly. Responsibility for those duties being performed as required by the code of the state of Iowa, contractual provisions with funding authorities, and the policies and procedures of the agency remains with the Coordinator.
• ESSENTIAL JOB FOCUS: The employees personal conduct embodies the values listed below and their actions reinforce these values in others.
  • Ensures people are the center of the choices made for support and that they have everyday lives.
  • Upholds the spirit of the Agency’s mission and vision.
  • Clearly articulates our set of core values for the team or entire organization.
  • Continually reflects on the core values to make sure they are appropriate to achieving the desired goals.
  • Embodies the core values with his/her own behavior.
  • Encourages others to apply the core values in their own decisions and actions.
  • Aggressively confronts and deals with pockets of ignorance and resistance.
• EVERYONE IS IMPORTANT: Makes customer satisfaction our first priority. Identifies consumers as customers and any potential customers as anyone who may have an impact on consumers’ lives. Adjusts approach to fit the personality and coaching needs of others. Generates positive energy and channels stress-induced negative energy to positive uses. Understands that respect for diversity enriches our ability to achieve our mission successfully.
  • Establishing relationships is the utmost priority.
  • E-mail messages and phone calls should be returned within 24 hours.
  • Creatively and purposefully recognizes others for great performance.
  • Gives constructive, timely feedback.
  • Meets established time frames or proactively negotiates a different time frame.
• CONSTANT LEARNING ALLOWS FOR CONSTANT IMPROVEMENTS: Resource Coordinators guide employees to identify their individual leadership styles. Develops new competencies if skills become outdated and encourages employees to do the same. Willing to improvise and compromise. Learns their way through a situation. Takes personal responsibility in developing other leaders in order to build an organization that remains successful even when he or she is not around. Helps each and every employee generate the high level of positive energy needed to let go of old ideas and old ways of doing things and to develop new and better ones. Thinks about their experiences, draws lessons from what they know, and then figures out how to share those lessons with others.
  • Seeks out training opportunities for self and the agency.
  • Shares information learned with others.
  • Performance Reviews accurately reflect employees’ strengths and areas of improvement.
  • Purposefully plans for the development of individuals (employee and consumer) and teams using goals/objectives and vision statements.
  • Ensures that quality Competency Based Training is fully implemented and changes according to individual need.
  • Coaches and supports the employee/consumer to achieve their individual success according to the employee/consumer’s definition of success.
• WE CONTROL OUR DESTINY: Resource Coordinators periodically analyze and document the relationship between resource allocation and personal outcome attainment. They assess changing realities and amend ideas as necessary. They describe a winning future. Coordinators control their emotions to increase their control of the situation. They look for opportunity. If an opportunity is not immediately apparent, they keep on looking. If they can’t find opportunity they create it. Examines work routines to ensure they are in step with the agency. Takes personal responsibility for managing change. Exhibits cool headed thinking, a clear focus, and well aimed action. Demonstrates self directed behavior. Looks for ways to save time, money, and effort without sacrificing high standards. Gives himself/herself permission to be pioneers, to explore, to go forward without guarantees, and without a road map. Makes no compromise in personal ethics, the caliber of his/her output or their overall productivity. Sizes up the current situation as it really is, not as it used to be or as he/she would like it to be.
  • Ensures programmatic realities are reflected in each individual’s budget.
  • Monitors the income and expenses to ensure cost effectiveness.
  • Assumes personal responsibility for identifying problems and solving them.
  • Manages the responsibilities of a Resource Coordinator within 40 hours per week.
  • Uses information obtained from Periodic Service Reviews to increase the quality of services.
  • Assures Consumers goals and objectives are implemented and documented.
• ALL CHOICES COME WITH RESPONSIBILITIES: Builds the case for structural/organizational change in order to reach individual and organizational outcomes. Faces the hard facts and makes the tough calls. Gives oneself time to get a broader range of view of the situation. Deliberately chooses to be positive, optimistic, and enthusiastic. Shifts job priorities to match changes in individual and organizational priorities. Recognizes bureaucratic practices that get in the way and takes actions to change them. Does not tolerate mediocre performance in oneself or anyone else. Thinks in terms of possibilities rather than limits. Takes personal responsibility for solving problems.
  • Willingness to take educated risks.
  • Learns from mistakes (admits them, fixes them, and moves on)
  • Recognizes and initiates the celebration of individuals’ and organizational successes.
• THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS, WE CAN SERVE WISELY: Integrates activities and processes; make sure people work together. Creates an atmosphere where the spirit of team work and ownership change peoples’ lives. Creates partnerships with external and internal customers. Recognizes that the consumer is our priority customer. Is cognizant and works cooperatively with all internal customers (Accounting staff, Human Resources staff, Office Support staff, Employment Systems staff, Family Systems staff, Summer Program staff, Special Olympics staff) and all external customers (state of Iowa, other providers, transit, rec centers, schools, Grantwood AEA, hospitals, parents and guardians, neighbors, funders, case managers).
  • Includes the consumer in all areas of planning and knows what is important to each consumer.
  • Actively facilitates all team members’ participation in a person centered individual service plan.
  • Knows what is important to each parent/guardian.
  • Knows what is important to each Case Manager.
  • Makes a conscious effort to establish new partnerships and to increase the quality of established partnerships.
  • Mobilizes partnerships to influence societal norms, funding regulations, and to change lives.
• HONEST AND OPEN COMMUNICATIONS ARE ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESSFUL RESULTS: Leaders pursue the truth and can explain it to others. Breaks down boundaries between work groups so that communication flows fast and freely. Is willing to admit mistakes and show vulnerability in order to serve as an effective role model for others. Identifies the source of a problem and will go directly to that source to solve the problem. Communicates consistently with employees and never leaves them uninformed.
  • Keeps all internal and external customers informed when changes occur.
  • Is able to identify the most effective way to relay information to parents/guardians, consumers, Case Managers, employees, etc.
• SECONDARY JOB DUTIES: The following duties fall within the areas of responsibility of the Coordinator, but may be delegated to others on a permanent basis if necessary.
  • Transports consumers to appointments or events in the community.
  • Facilitates training for staff in conjunction with other members of the team.
• IV. POSITION AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT
  • Is responsible for keeping information regarding history, progress, medical, and personal desires confidential and updated. This includes main files (hard copy), data base information, and facilitating a functional customer driven service plan (ISP).
  • The position requires the performance of tasks requiring visual, manual, communication and analytical abilities within an independent work setting.
  • The position requires that the work be performed in the homes of the consumers. Therefore, the ability to travel independently extensively in the community and to access a variety of residences and offices is preferred.
  • The position represents the organization in many different forums. Professionalism in dress and conduct as well as appropriate representation of the agency is expected.
• The job duties and performance expectations for this position are based upon the Mission and the Core Values of the agency. The description, therefore, forms expectations of ethical, values-based behavior in the provision of services.