Greenwich Entrepreneur Creates Job Search Tool

GREENWICH, Conn. – As college graduates hit the job market and the unemployment rate ebbs and flows, one Greenwich resident has created a new tool called “jobgenda” to help work-seekers manage their searches.

“The job search requires so many different dimensions to keep it moving forward. Every week, if you can do a combination of things, you can stay the course,” said Sonal Rinello of JumpStart Advisors LLC. She created the jobgenda, which is part job search journal and part organizer.

Two years ago, Rinello was making her own return to work after her youngest son went to school. She was overwhelmed despite her experience in finding clients as a project consultant for more than 10 years. She began creating checklists and spreadsheets to get organized, but she needed something more.

“I started creating templates for myself. Then people were like, ‘That’s a really cool idea.’ I realized there was something here that I couldn’t find in the marketplace. This is an opportunity for me to create and help people looking for jobs, and jobgenda was born.”

The jobgenda has five sections and 160 pages of helpful hints, meeting checklists, trackers and templates for better managing to do's, next steps, contacts, mailings and more.

“There’s a lot of power for people in what I call the world of the checklist — being able to fill in a blank and feel like you’re on top,” says Rinello. “This is a mechanism to do that. This empowers them to say, ‘I can really do this.’ And it’s all in one place that I can carry with me anywhere. I can be better prepared and have my notes.”

Even as technology develops rapidly, Rinello says there is still a need to physically write something down in a notebook format when it comes to a job search.

“Culturally, you can take jobgenda into your meeting – taking your iPad into a meeting to take notes is still not the cultural norm,” she said. “This is meant for a range of people. It can go anywhere, anytime, and it’s not dependent on wi-fi or 3G. Even now I talk to college students and I ask them how they do this today, and they said, ‘I use a spiral-bound notebook.’”

Local retailers, including Splurge Gifts, The Drawing Room, Mill Street Home, The Rye Stationer, Barrett Bookstore, Juliska Flagship and Wendy Gee, have stocked it in their shops. More products are in development for jobgenda – including an online solution. To learn more about the product or to buy it online, visit the jobgenda website. 

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