Crossroads Jobs

Goal: $15,000.00

Specific Need

Help us equip 25 people with job search, placement and post-placement support. In addition to job placement services, we also provide our applicants with job search skills and tools, and a plan to get back to work. A hand up!

Your donation will be DOUBLED, up to $7,250, thanks to a generous match from two former board members, plus our current board of directors!

Mission

We get to know the PERSON, not just the RESUME! Crossroads Jobs provides free, individualized job placement and career development services to Loudoun area residents who are experiencing barriers to employment. Our job counselors work individually with job seekers, giving each one a Hand Up to help them avoid or move out of poverty. Our services are FREE to applicants and employers, provided in English and Spanish, and based out of our offices in Sterling and Leesburg.We help people secure and maintain stable employment and we offer local businesses a source of ready-to-work candidates. Since opening in the fall of 2012, our team has found more than 700 permanent jobs for Loudoun area residents who have completed our proven program.

Profile

At Crossroads Jobs, we pride ourselves on providing a highly individualized job placement program, and the need is growing. In the past two years we have seen a 50% increase in new applicants and a significant number are coming to us unemployed versus underemployed. Businesses are eagerly reaching out to us to find good employee, but many job seekers do not have access to technology at home or are unsure about how to navigate the job search. Some need help filling out required, but often confusing online applications and assessments. The technology itself can eliminate applicants from consideration -- some large employers’ recruiting systems automatically screen out anyone with a gap in their work history or omission of a keyword. Our comprehensive employment program is need now more than ever to assist job seekers in finding and keeping a job!

The program requires that each new applicant schedule an in-person appointment at one of our office locations. During the appointment, they complete a detailed application that is reviewed and discussed during a subsequent interview with one of our job counselors, in English or Spanish. During the interview the applicant and job counselor formulate a job search plan. Applicants are also required to attend three workshops, offered every other Friday: Interviewing Skills, Conflict Resolution, and Eyes-on-the-Prize/Setting S.M.A.R.T. goals. The workshops provide applicants with current , relevant information on getting and keeping a job and on formulating a career path. Once a new applicant completes they are ready to begin the job search!

Our job counselors help with the application process, work with the applicant to find a good fit, prepare them to present their best selves and call employers directly with qualified, pre-screened candidates for open positions to explain their suitability. This helps our applicants and our employers to penetrate a process that often casts out well-suited job seekers due to a missing keyword or gap that has no bearing on the person’s ability to do the job. We can bring good applicants to the attention of employers because we get to know the person, not just the resume.

While anyone is eligible for our program and services, regardless of income or circumstances, we purposely seek out those who need us most. Domestic abuse and homeless shelters, food banks, county agencies, reentry programs, law offices, and transition and educational programs are some of the places who refer people to us. Some job seekers use the skills they learn and the plan we make together to find jobs on their own. Others need more coaching and encouragement, help with applications, employer connections and interview practice and arranging.

In 2023, we had 84 permanent placements in fields that included healthcare, admin, maintenance, food service, customer service, retail, childcare, senior care, among others. Our work with disabled individuals and neurodivergent applicants, including post placement job coaching, has resulted in positive outcomes including a job retention rate at 6 months of over 75%.

The high cost of living in Loudoun and the ongoing effects from the pandemic mean unemployment can rapidly cascade into a fall through the safety net, resulting in homelessness, health problems, family breakups and dependency. Every person we can direct into a job takes a little bit of pressure off the local safety net. We offer them a hand up, rather than a handout.

Each person comes to us with a unique story, filled with struggles and courage. Through our work with them, we become their greatest fans. We hope you will become one of ours.