UPDATE BELOW Did you ever notice the hordes of people that congregate around a free food station at the grocery store? No one seems shy as they shovel tiny bits of food in their gullets.

Why don’t people approach their careers in the same way?

Suddenly we’re too shy to ask for help or take advantage of low-cost or free stuff that could help us when we need it — when we’re unemployed and low on money.

First off, if you get laid off and you work for a large company, and even some smaller firms, you probably were offered free career advice/training by your employer through a third party company. If you were too angry, or proud to take advantage of that when you got booted, I would call the HR department at your former employer and find out if it’s not too late to get some help.

Also, almost every state offers free job training through state department’s of labor, so head over to your local DOL and find out what’s offered. Here’s a link to help you find yours.

Believe it or not, some local universities and community colleges are offering free, or reduced tuition; and some will even let you sit in on courses for free as a way to see if it’s a subject you want to pursue.

If you’re over 55 and meet certain income requirements you can take advantage of free training offered by the AARP through its Senior Community Service Employment program that “helps job seekers improved their skills, obtain training and find a job. The goal of the program is for participants to gain the skills they need to find and sustain employments in the workforce.”

For those pondering a career switch into technology, Microsoft is offering some free stuff through its Elevate America page.

Some non traditional ways to get career help include volunteering folks. If you’re pondering a career change, you may want to volunteer your services to a local nonprofit and do jobs that may be related to something you’d like to pursue.

And don’t be shy to ask people you respect in your community to mentor you if they have time. That could mean a cup of coffee or a phone call now and then, or even just emailing an individual questions from time to time could be a godsend when you’re trying to figure out your career direction.

I want all of you to Google “free job training” today and look at the endless offerings available to you right now. AND PLEASE, BE SMART ABOUT YOUR SEARCH!! There are an endless amount of scams out there right now, so make sure the free help you’re looking into is from a legitimate company or organization or government group.

You can also get some free advice at About.com’s Job Search Forum; and if you’re on Twitter there’s a group called JobAngels that connects people that need help with people that can provide it, for free!

This past holiday season, Alison Doyle, a great career writer, asked a bunch of career experts if they’d offer to help a reader. Many of us did, but I never got anyone to take me up on the free career advice I was offering. OK, maybe no one really wanted advice from me, that’s a possibility; but you would think I’d get at least one email with one question, no?

And speaking about free, last week, FedEx Office offered consumers free resume printing. I wondered how many took advantage of that. I contacted FedEx this morning and I haven’t heard back yet. I’ll update this blog when I get a comment.

UPDATE: A FedEx Office spokeswoman got back to me saying 1 million copies were made as part of the free-resume-printing offer. Love that many of you said “yes” to free.

Bottom line though, none of the free offers will help if you don’t walk over to the table and take a sample.

If you get a chance, tell us about any free resources that are out there. Also, share your story about getting free, or low-cost help in this economy.