New Haven Independent

So she came Monday morning for job-seeking advice to Career Express, the mobile unit of the state Department of Labor that set up shop at the Stetson branch library on Dixwell Avenue.

Career Express, the department’s only traveling one-stop job-assistance Winnebago, carries staff and equipment to offer vocational advice to some 300 to 500 people per month across the state.

Roberts-Gage was the first person that counselor Charles Goorhigian saw Monday morning.

She told him she’d worked until recently at the Arden House Care and Rehab Center in Hamden, where she injured herself. After surgery in December, she was told she couldn’t’ work with so many patients at the same time. One-on-one patient care was suggested to her as alternative.

She’s been looking for that kind of work while collecting workmen’s compensation. Roberts-George supplements her income through being an on-call pre-school teacher for the Board of Ed.

Those calls are not coming to her too often. “Right now, everyone’s holding on to their jobs,” Roberts-George said.

So she’s also considering retraining in cosmetology.

Goorhigian gave Roberts-George a list of reliable online job sites. He also pointed out to her that her resume needed spiffing up.

“Use more highlights, so it’s more easily glanceable. Put your core skills right at the top,” he suggested.

Roberts-George took in the advice . Then they returned to how serious Roberts-George was about switching fields. She said she was.

Goorhigian asked her how she was financing the retraining. She told him workmen’s compensation was funding it. However, classes would not begin until later in the year.

“I’d push the issue of training with them. Especially with the economy so bad,” he said.

“Your resume is your marketing tool. [It must] communicate your value and skills within split seconds,” said Karen Quesnel (pictured), who’s been driving the Career Express Winnebago for the state Department of Labor for five years.

Goorhigian gave Roberts-George his personal contact information at the local CTWorks office, a satellite branch of the department of labor on Marne Street in Hamden.

He asked her to revise the resume and then to give him a call so he could look it over again. At that time he said he’d also help her set up a more easily accessible email account so prospective employers could get back to her.

“We are sort of a one-hit wonder,” said Quesnel. She was referring to the nature of the advice offered by the mobile unit. That’s why they make sure “people walk away with a plan and a place to go.”

“Your resume is your marketing tool. [It must] communicate your value and skills within split seconds,” said Quesnel.

The Winnebago was in for repairs this day. So instead of holding court on wheels, she and Goorhigian set up shop in Stetson’s conference room, where their laptops would have to do. Normally, the Career Express bus has eight computer workstations, satellite access, and a 42-inch plasma monitor so Quesnel can do workshops for clients like Roberts-George.

Roberts-George thanked Goorhigian for his time and put on her coat and stepped away and into the main room of the library.

She said she found the 25-minute session useful. “I haven’t updated my resume in years,” she said. She especially found the job sites she’d been given useful.

The mobile unit will become mobile gain within days. The next stops in our area are at Elm Street on the Green on Wednesday; and at the Fair Haven branch library on Grand Avenue on Friday, Oct. 30, at 9:30 a.m.

Click here for a list of locations for the department throughout the area.

And here to contact Karen Quesnel and for more information on Career Express’s schedule.