Past News Stories Of The Long Island Breakfast Club
To contact the Long Island Breakfast Club
Email info@longislandbreakfastclub.org
Tel – 516 308 2291
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
TAKE A COFFEE BREAK ***LIGHT & SWEET*** WITH THE LONG ISLAND BREAKFAST CLUB
THOUSANDS ACROSS THE COUNTRY WILL BE TAKING THEIR MORNING BREAK THURSDAY JUNE 18TH AT 8:00 AM WATCHING THE LIBC DYNAMICS ON CNN AND LIVE THURSDAY JUNE 18TH EVENING AT 8:00 PM!
Thousands OF People across the US will be having breakfast in their offices and homes with the Long Island Breakfast Club on Thursday, June 18th at 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM. An exclusive interview was held at a recent meeting by the CNN producers in West Hempstead, Long Island Hosted by The Bristal in Woodmere, Long Island. The Long Island Breakfast Club is GOING LIVE On Thursday Evening June 18th at 8:00 pm with host Anderson Cooper and Ali Velshi on the “CNN Money Summit “Money and Main Street,” airing on CNN Thursday 6/18 at 8:00 am and 8:00 pm! This hour will explore the consequences of the job meltdown as it has been felt on Main Streets across America.As stated by Founder Valentina Janek, “Although it is not uncommon for people to frequently change jobs, it is a struggle for middle age seekers to gain employment. – “They say in the end, all that really matters are the connections and relationships people share.” “When people come together simply due to similar circumstances, things happen.” The founders are accepting new members and considerations for submissions for stories to be published in a new book called “Life After The Big Bad Boot.”The organization is an example of diverse individuals forming together to part of the big plan to decrease age discrimination as well as promote “Experience Counts!” The founders are accepting new members and considerations for submissions for stories on the effects of downsizing and interviewing to be published in a new book called “Life After The Big Bad Boot.”Next meeting will be held on Saturday July 11th 2009 at 9:00 AM.
The Long Island Breakfast Club was founded in 2006, an organization providing advocacy, support, career and employment counseling, referrals and good old-fashioned laughter to prepare experienced mature individuals for productive employment. Counted among the membership are women and men who have recently been downsized and looking for support to continue positive reinforcement to gain employment back in the corporate world. Membership is encouraged for any individuals who need the extra support to continue momentum in searching for jobs in the mid-life years.
The Long Island Breakfast Club invites members of all ages, male or female, to join our ranks and experience the camaraderie and bonding to help you get through the interviewing cycle in mid-life. The organizations strong proponents are to work with individuals who need the positive reinforcement to job search after losing a job in the mid-life years. It is the goal of the organization to assist with providing referrals, companionship, business networking and contacts for interviewing as well as mentors for each individual’s success.
The Club currently is servicing the communities of Nassau and Suffolk Counties, and was founded by five individuals who were seeking employment and experiencing much difficulty due to their wealth of experience and their age.
David Gussin 516ads
LI Networking & CNN …
Congratulations to Valentina Janek & her team at the Long Island Breakfast Club. CNN was at LIBC’s last monthly event and liked it so much they want to shoot LIVE, so here’s the deal: The Long Island Breakfast Club – LongIslandBreakfastClub.org will be on CNN’s Money Summit / Money and Main Street II Show, hosted by Anderson Cooper & Ali Velshi – Live Thursday 6/18 @ 8PM. Check it out, good chance you’ll see fellow LI networkers. Nice.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/nyregion/20jobs.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Meeting to Mingle, Résumés in Tow ( excerpted from article )
Some clubs are started by employment consultants — sometimes out-of-work ones — who hope to drum up clients. Others arise spontaneously.
The Long Island Breakfast Club began three years ago in a diner in Melville with five middle-aged, out-of-work professionals who had been commiserating over coffee and doughnuts.
“Nobody would hire us,” said one of the five, Valentina Janek, 57, who has worked as a media consultant. “We were, A, too smart and, B, too old.”
Soon the diner owner, too, wanted nothing to do with them — for loungers, they were not ordering enough food. And so, homeless as well as unemployed, the group expanded into a formal organization, charging $15 in annual dues and cadging space for meetings from large restaurants and assisted-living centers.
The recession has propelled the Breakfast Club’s e-mail list to 800 people, and monthly gatherings draw about 100. At meetings, the club advises, members should not just collect business cards but also strive to make genuine connections. And so they end up trading war stories, like Stephanie Carlino’s reminiscence about an interviewer’s out-of-left-field question: “Why are manhole covers round?”
“That can make you leave the interview feeling like a moron,” said Ms. Carlino, 61, who is also one of the original five and has been out of work since April.
Chris Fidis, 50, another founder, got a job at Verizon, but still attends meetings to buck up the others. He tells people that losing a job “is not your fault.”
“The company changed or the business model changed,” Mr. Fidis said. “Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again.”
NewHydeParkIllustrated.com Calendar
Friday, 11 September 2009 00:00
Breakfast Club Fundraiser To Honor Rocco Iannarelli Thursday, October 29
Long Island Breakfast Club has announced that it will honor North Hempstead Town Receiver of Taxes Rocco Iannarelli at an Italian Heritage Day Event entitled An Evening in Tuscany to be held at The Westbury Manor, Jericho, New York from 6 to 11 p.m.. Tickets are available at $85 per person. This fundraising event is sponsored by the Long Island Breakfast Club, a career advocacy organization for mature professionals with a motto of “experience counts.” For further information www.LongIslandBreakfastClub.org.
RetirementLifestyle
Long Island Breakfast Club helps the unemployed
Frank LaRosa 53, of Valley Stream attends a meeting of the Breakfast Club. LaRosa said he’s hoping for a job offer to come through later this month, even though the salary could be half of what he was paid at his last job. (Oct. 2, 2010) (Credit: Uli Seit)
Elise Negrin is divorced, 56, and, for the past 19 months, out of work. With more than 25 years of experience, she is perplexed that almost nobody calls her back, even for an interview. Her unemployment benefits run out before the end of the year, and she’ll soon run out of money.
“It’s extremely frustrating,” said Negrin, whose home office in Bethpage is plastered with job applications and…
August 20, 2010
David Mathison speaks to members of The Long Island Breakfast Club
“Earning an income from your experience and abilities can be daunting – especially when corporate gatekeepers are tightening their financial belts and turning a deaf ear to your voice.
That’s why the Long Island Breakfast Club is happy to announce “Be The Media,” a presentation by speaker and author David Mathison on how you can earn a living by getting your work out there independently. This special event takes place on Saturday, August 21st at 9:00 am at The Inn at New Hyde Park.
If you want to earn an income from your skills as an entrepreneur, small-business owner, writer, musician, filmmaker, journalist, activist, or speaker, you now have a platform to do so. And you don’t need a major media company, restrictive contract, or full time schedule to do it. Mathison will show how today’s media renaissance gives you the power to publish your work, self-promote it online, and then earn or supplement an income.
The painful process of looking for work is eased by joining the spirited group of the Long Island Breakfast Club. They Meet, They Eat and They Seek! FEEL YOUR OATS NOT YOUR FLAKES! You’ve had dozens of interviews for jobs you would take as a gift. You’ve seen a career counselor to validate your strategy. You’ve followed the best advice culled from recent job-hunting venues! Net Result: The process, especially lead generation is too slow. One person however motivated can turn up only one lead at a time when it comes to job hunting, business leads or contacts. You are feeling like you will lose your mind! Stress No More!”
An affiliate of HandsOn Network & 1 of 10 NYS Regional Volunteer Centers
Long Island Breakfast Club
http://www.longislandbreakfastclub.org
To provide advocacy, support, referrals and potential career changes to individuals facing downsizing and layoff. We help them embark upon potential employment remedies.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Huntington Public Library Career Blog
The Long Island Breakfast Club
The L.I Breakfast Club is a profit organization who’s mission is to help people over the age of forty find work as well as offer moral support. The clubs monthly meetings begin with breakfast and conversations. They offer a unique approach of networking, career & employment counseling & referrals, support and laughter. To learn more about the Long Island Breakfast Club please visit their website at http://longislandbreakfastclub.org.July 9, 2009 | 101 views
The club officially formed in 2006 after five middle-aged, unemployed Long Island residents became inspired to help other people find jobs. The group, which included three West Hempstead residents at the time, met at a diner for breakfast each week to discuss interview horror stories and brainstorm ways they could remain optimistic through their search for a new job.
“We decided to call ourselves the Long Island Breakfast Club because while we ate breakfast, we discussed how we could help ourselves and other experienced professionals who are over 40 find jobs,” explained West Hempstead resident Valentina Janek, one of the club’s founders and its current president. “What we’re doing is different, and it’s needed in the world that we’re living in today, where seasoned professionals have a difficult time finding a job.”
The organization provides employment and career counseling, workshops, interviewing classes and referrals, among other assistance, to help those who are seeking employment after losing jobs in their mid-life years. The club also hosts meetings each month, which includes sessions at which attendees can discuss their job interview stories and listen to motivational speeches. The club has grown from five to 190 members since its inception, and it includes residents from Nassau and Suffolk counties. To date, 87 members have found jobs.
“When people come to the club’s meetings, we try to help them forget about the interviews that didn’t go well for them, and get them more focused on re-inventing and preparing themselves for the next interview,” said West Hempstead resident Chris Fidis, another co-founder of the group. “These meetings are all about getting people inspired to move forward because finding a new job after working many years at a particular job can be very difficult.””What’s great about the club is that you meet people in a similar situation as yourself, and the camaraderie that exists at the meetings helps people to realize that they’re not alone,” added West Hempstead resident Terese Russo Santoro, the club’s marketing specialist. “It’s a positive atmosphere at the meetings where people also network to help find a job.”
Club founders also contend that some of the services that the organization provides should be viewed as unique. At the meetings, several guest speakers are simply there to help bring a little laughter to those sitting in the audience. The club also encourages job-seekers to consider pursuing a new career or something they are passionate about in between their job search.
The club has also expanded its services to include a free ride on a 10-year-old horse named Oopsy at the Lakewood Stables in West Hempstead. Alex Jacobson, the owner of the stables and a Baldwin Harbor resident, said that when members visit the stables to go on a trail ride with Oopsy, it helps them to relax for a little while and eventually enables them to regain their job hunting confidence and energy.
And news about the club’s efforts is starting to spread internationally.
After being interviewed live by Cooper on June 18, the club was featured on a news segment with Johnson on July 1. Then, just a hour after the Herald interviewed Fidis on July 2, he spoke about the club on a radio talk show in Japan. The club is scheduled to appear on a segment on Verizon’s FiOS1 Long Island news channel on Saturday.
“The response to the club is growing because the services that we provide literally fit into what’s going on in the economy today,” Fidis said. “The club is able to stand out because we have a job success ratio and our approach is unique. We’re a different kind of organization because we’re a support group and we help people get re-energized, so they can get back out there and find a job.”What is frustrating officials in the club, however, is that they have garnered very little support from local government on Long Island, which is where many of the members live. For the past two years, members said, they have been reaching out to their elected officials on both the town and county levels for assistance, but their efforts have been unsuccessful.
“The club is making great progress in terms of helping people find jobs, and we just feel that more of our local elected officials should help with what our organization is trying to do,” said the club’s vice president, Stephanie Carlino, who spoke about this issue during the recent ABC interview. “We’re trying to help a specific age group here and we understand that middle-aged professionals are not the majority of people who are unemployed. However, we still feel that our local government can do more to support our initiatives that help to find experienced and middle-aged people jobs.”
The club’s next meeting will be held on Saturday at the Piccola Bussola restaurant in Mineola at 9 a.m. For more information, go to longislandbreakfastclub.org.
Comments about this story? DWilliams@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 205.