By Paula Day

"Helping people help themselves," might be the motto of St. Jude's Job Network, the six-year-old brainchild of retired Marine major, Jim Knocke.

Meeting on Monday nights, the network brings together newcomers in the job search, returnees who have gotten work and volunteers whose skills and knowledge help with information and encouragement in one-on-one dialogue with those still job searching.

"We draw people from across the spectrum," commented Knocke, "management level, professionals, high school dropouts, housewives, divorcees, people in their 50s and 60s."

A common goal unites the group: on the part of the job searchers, to do everything necessary to find employment and on the part of the volunteers, to support and help searchers find jobs.

Meetings are loosely structured. The first evening, newcomers are oriented to the support group. They pinpoint their needs. "No one knows everything" (about the job search and market), observes Trudy Knocke, Jim's wife. "We go with the flow. It's a sharing situation."

Simultaneously, returnees to the meetings may select from a menu of topics according to their needs. These include help in identifying job goals, learning resumé techniques, organizing the job search and polishing interview skills through role-playing.

Retirees like volunteers Bob Ellis and Fred Newcomb form "circles of assistance and friendship" as they orient searchers to using libraries to research companies for job opportunities.

The network does not list jobs. Rather, in the process of sharing, searchers learn of possibilities by word of mouth. There are no recruiters or job schemes, Knocke points out.

"There is virtually no administration, no paperwork. We're not tied down by reports. Our budget is about $1,000."

The first meetings, six years and 6,000 sessions ago, were designed for 20 participants. It is not unusual to have 160 at a weekly session today.

"We try to keep the newcomer's group small," Trudy Knocke explains. "The first 15 meet in the rectory. There're usually two sessions of newcomers."

To meet the expanding need and to keep the groups small enough to maintain their personal one-on-one quality, Knocke has held training sessions to help others set up job networks. One held in late March drew 35 to 40 people from as far away as Clearwater, Fla.

New job network sessions include ones at Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Atlanta, St. Ann's in Marietta, Corpus Christi in Stone Mountain and First United Methodist in Tucker. Georgia Tech and Georgia State implement the concept and method in their placement programs.

Knocke would like to produce a videocassette of the sessions. He wants to capture the spirit of its "hands-on process," a spirit evident in the facial expressions and body language of the participants. The expression of a former "street person" who reported at a recent meeting that he is now employed driving an 18-wheeler would say more than any printer words according to Knocke. The video could be used to respond to the many requests for information about the program. Since the network depends on donations for its financial needs, Knocke hopes someone will give them the recording equipment.

The idea of the network came to Knocke six years ago. "I had a good job that I flew to on Monday, and returned from on Friday. I spent Saturdays catching up on paperwork and Sundays sleeping in order to be ready for Monday. I saw no positive future and decided to take charge of my own life."

This led Knocke to pay a job search firm a fee of several thousand dollars. He realized too late that the group knew little about the job market, kept its clients separated and offered them no support. His Marine Corps experience had taught him that survival meant working with and helping one another in a team effort. With the support of Father Richard Morrow, then pastor of St. Jude's, he initiated the first job network session.

Knocke was honored April 7 by TV Channel 11 at its Community Service Awards ceremony. In accepting the Tiffany crystal award he gave credit to "the hundred pairs of fingerprints on the crystal belonging to all the volunteers whose commitment to the program, Knocke asserts, is its backbone. He credits his wife Trudy for being the "brains."

The couple's five children have participated in the sessions. Sons Jim, Jack and Bob now have jobs as a chemist, CPA and retail manager and daughter, Lynne, is a computer programmer. Their youngest, David is a student at the University of Georgia. Jim, himself, is a full-time employee of AT&T.