Jobs and Career

These resources are designed for first-time job seekers, the unemployed and job seekers making career transitions

Email

It is beneficial to have a professional email. An email account is necessary for many job functions. If you need to learn what email is, how to set up an account, how to reply to and send emails, and more click here.

Free Email Address Providers

Practice Skills & Get More Help

To succeed in today’s job market, candidates need to have basic computer skills (at minimum) and be able to navigate popular software and the Internet with confidence.  These are known as Digital Literacy Skills. The resources in the list below can help you start building Digital Literacy Skills, so you can land your next job.

Digital Literacy Skills

  • Computer basics Multiple resources to increase different aspects of digital literacy skills put together by Librarians at Fresno Public Library.
  • Visibone Touch Typing Tutor and TypingClub provide simple instructions on typing and give you opportunities to practice your typing.
  • Mousing Around Games help you practice your computer mouse skills.
  • Microsoft Learn offers tutorials to increase your skills with using Microsoft Office products, such as Microsoft 365 and Teams (frequently used in modern work environments).
  • Google Digital Literacy - Learn job-ready skills from anywhere, through free, video-based lessons.
  • TechBoomer Digital Literacy provides over 100 free courses, with thousands of step-by-step tutorials and informational articles that can help you learn anything and everything about the Internet's most popular websites and apps.
  • Grow with Google offers free virtual workshops, events and 1:1 coaching sessions to help you get the most out of digital tools.

Literacy Skills

To succeed in today's job market along with digital literacy skills, candidates might need to increase literacy skills. Literacy skills include reading, writing, and understanding (reading comprehension). If you feel you could benefit from practicing literacy skills, please browse the resources listed below.


Job Candidate Skills

Explore Careers and Retraining Opportunities
  • Professional Development Skills - Keep up to date with the trends, skills, technologies, and other aspects of your field.
  • Goodwill San Joaquin Valley Inc. Training  provides workforce integration services for people facing barriers to employment in the Greater San Joaquin Valley. Goodwill’s Human Resources team works with community partner agencies to deliver on-the-job-training to help people with employment barriers participate in the workforce including people with disabilities and Veterans.
  • Salvation Army programs to help people get, and keep, consistent employment.
  • Adult Schools  Search for Adult Education opportunities with this tool, choosing from several hundred public adult schools, community colleges, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, library literacy programs, and county offices of education.
  • Career Technical School - State Center Community College District is considered the leader in career and technical education for Fresno County. These accredited colleges offer a variety of quality vocational programs.

Free Professional & University Courses

  • LinkedIn Learning helps anyone learn software, technology, creative, and business skills to achieve their personal and professional goals. Requires a valid library barcode and PIN to use.
  • Occupational Outlook Handbook provides information on education needed, earnings, job prospects, and working conditions for hundreds of occupations.
  • California Occupational Guides provides detailed information on California wages, job outlook, education, and licensing requirements for approximately 300 occupations.
  • Apprenticeship - Find Apprenticeship Offices in your area. Apprenticeship Offices work with companies and unions to develop Registered Apprenticeship opportunities, learning a trade or job under the guidance of a professional.
  • O*Net helps job seekers pick the job to match the skills they already have or find out what skills are required for their dream job.
  • Valley Community Small Business Development Center (SBDC) - The Valley Community Small Business Development Center promotes the development, growth and success of small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs throughout Fresno, Tulare, Madera, and Kings Counties.
  • Small Business Administration - U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) continues to help small business owners and entrepreneurs pursue the American dream. The SBA is the only cabinet-level federal agency fully dedicated to small business and provides counseling, capital, and contracting expertise as the nation’s only go-to resource and voice for small businesses. SBA’s E-Learning Courses has everything you need to educate yourself on entrepreneurial best practices and available financing options.
  • Job Corps is a free residential education and job training program for youth adults 16-24.
  • Americorps - Serve alongside other Americans for the betterment of every community.
  • California Conversation Corps offers a unique and challenging, paid experience for young adults, transforming their lives through developing new job skills, expanding personal growth, and conserving California’s natural resources.
  • Rapid Response - The Rapid Response program is designed to help businesses make potential layoffs less traumatic for their employees and less costly to their business. They regularly offer free webinars for jobseekers, in addition to other types of assistance.
  • Peace Corps is a service opportunity for motivated changemakers to immerse themselves in a community abroad, working side by side with local leaders to tackle the most pressing challenges of our generation.
  • Proteus provides education, employment, and community services to a diverse customer base, including tools to assist with career exploration and courses to improve job skills.
  • Workforce Connection prepares people for careers in various industries to promote self-sufficiency, not just jobs to carry them through to the next paycheck. They do this by providing opportunities that build the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to meet employer needs and be competitive in the workforce of today.
  • Mynextmove.org - Sponsored by the Department of Labor, this resource helps you figure out what you might want to do for a living.
  • Farmers and Ranchers - looking at a beginning career as a farmer or rancher, USDA has resources to make you succeed.
  • Mentorship for Farmers & Ranchers - Score has partner with the USDA to provide business mentorship to help farmers and ranchers.

Resumes

  • Resume Resources Librarians within Fresno Public Library created a web page of games & resume templates to help you learn how to build your own resume.
  • A Functional Resume focuses on your experience and skills, instead of your chronological work history. It works well for people who are changing careers, or those who have gaps in their employment history.
  • A Chronological Resume typically lists each job you have held in order, beginning with the most recent. This type of resume works well if you have several years of relevant experience.
  • A Combination Resume lists your experience and skills first, and your employment history next. It allows you to both highlight your relevant skills and to provide the chronological work history that some employers may be looking for.
  • Find Library books on , Cover Letters, & Interviews.
  • Dressing for an Interview is important. If you need assistance, you can turn to these organizations within Fresno County: 
    Fresno State’s Clothing Closet provides free professional attire for enrolled students.

Library Resources

These online resources, available to you for free through Fresno County Public Library, provide you with reliable information for your career planning and job search. You will need a valid and current Library Card to access these. Click here to learn how to get a Library Card.
  • Gale Business contains full-text coverage of all business disciplines, including accounting, economics, finance, marketing, management and strategy, and business theory and practice.
  • Gale Business Entrepreneurship - Search to learn how to plan, fund, start or manage your small business.
  • Gale Business Insights Global offers access to case studies, in-depth statistical data coupled with deep research, and the ability to compare global economies, countries and industries.
  • Career Preparation – Learning Express - Are you preparing for a professional exam? Are you curious about a particular occupation or looking to improve your workplace skills? Prepare for an occupation exam in social work (ASWB), civil service, law enforcement, teaching (CBEST), and more! Choose the Career Preparation Center and begin your path to a bright future.
  • LinkedIn Learning helps anyone learn software, technology, creative, and business skills to achieve their personal and professional goals. Requires a valid library barcode and PIN to use.
  • MorningStar Investments Services provides investment data and reports on more than 30,000 mutual funds, stocks and ETFs. It also includes portfolio management tools.
  • Peterson’s Test Prep - Prepare for GED, SAT, ACT, PSAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, TOEFL, U.S. citizenship, the military and more. Get information on college programs, tuition assistance, as well as career advice.
  • Reference Solutions provides business and residential directories including phone numbers, addresses and detailed company information. Great for job searching or building client lists.  Also contains a listing of 855,000 physicians and dentists in the country.
  • VetNow supports our community's veterans and their families with navigating the VA bureaucracy, providing academic tutoring, and employment transition assistance.


Job Search Skills

When you’re searching for a job, it is helpful to keep an open mind and use different methods to stay motivated, keep organized, and follow up with potential employers.  
It is a good idea to plan for your job search before you start. These tutorials can help:

  • Online Job Searching - These tutorials cover methods for searching online classified sites, job search sites, company sites, and staying safe from scams.
  • Job Search Tools - use these resources to plan the best method to job search.
  • Applying for Jobs Online - This page outlines the process of filling out and submitting a job application and includes tips and advice for completing an application.
  • Jobs & Networking - This tutorial teaches the most effective strategies for networking and searching for a job online, including using social media sites. Here is a video to make you aware of privacy considerations when using social media.

Job searching can be a long process. Here are some additional resources to help you cope while job searching:

Looking for Job Postings?

Warning: Be careful of online job postings that sound “too good to be true.”  There are many job scams that must be avoided.  Do some research about the company and check with the Better Business Bureau before applying.
Begin looking for open positions with these links (listed in alphabetical order):

  • Americasjobexchange.com - Job listings from state employment agencies and from private employers. Formerly America’s Job Bank, affiliated with the Department of Labor.
  • CalJOBS - Job openings in California, tutorial video
  • Calopps.org - Find public sector jobs in California.
  • Careerjet.com - A search engine that gathers and lists results from thousands of web sites, with coverage in over 90 countries.
  • CareerBuilder.com - Nationwide newspaper ads
  • Careers.org - Extensive directory of links to reference resources for careers and education, sorted by topic and region.
  • Careeronestop.org - It serves job seekers, businesses, students, and career advisers with a variety of free online
  •  tools, information and resources.
  • Craigslist.com - A classified job advertising website, with sections devoted to goods and services.
  • Edjoin.org - Find education jobs.
  • Governmentjobs.com - Browse open government sector jobs.
  • Indeed - Search job sites, newspapers, associations and company career pages through this site.
  • JobBank USA - Find Nationwide job postings.
  • JobsFresno - Fresno Regional Workforce Development Board built this site for job seekers looking for a career in manufacturing.
  • Jobs/Employment webpages of major Fresno employers
  • LinkUp.com This site searches jobs on company sites from small, mid-sized, and large company career sections. Postings are updated whenever the company web site is updated.
  • Major Employers in Fresno County
  • Monster.com: Monster is a source for jobs and career opportunities, along with career, hiring and recruiting advice.
  • OnwardCa: OnwardCA is an initiative of companies, foundations, and humans to get California workers displaced by COVID-19 essential life services and back to work as quickly as possible.
  • Poachedjobs.com - Find employment in the Food Service Industry.
  • Pridestaff  is a local organization that helps you find the right job for you.
  • Prime Labor & Staffing: is an employment agency for Northern and Central California,
     specializing in clerical and industrial staffing.
  • Sequoia, Kings Canyon and Yosemite - Find open Hospitality positions at Sequoia, Kings Canyon and Yosemite National Parks.
  • SimplyHired.com - This site searches thousands of job boards, classifieds, and company sites. Advanced search options include type of job, type of company, keyword, location and the date the job was posted. Searcher can establish alerts to have job listings sent on a regular base.
  • SnagAJob.com describes itself as “the #1 source for hourly and part-time jobs.”
  • USA Jobs is a one-stop source for Federal jobs and employment information
  • ZipRecruiter.com: Search for jobs in your area with this site.

You're Hired!

  • Negotiate Your Job Offer
    LinkedIn Learning offers a video tutorial on how to get the best outcomes from a job offer.
  • Success
    Accepted a job offer? Learn what comes next.